E-Dope Data Card by Down Range Systems

Shooting long range, engaging targets at varying distances requires some type of system to keep track of your holds. Years ago, the most prevalent practice was to use a football wristband. Then we got dry erase data boards that attached to an armband.

The problem with using an armband for data requires shooters to come off the gun, look at their wrist, and then dial dope. To improve efficiency while shooting, manufacturers made data boards that attached directly to the rifle, which keeps the card in the line of sight of your support eye.

Down Range Systems has improved the best practice of attaching the dope card to the rifle by including technology in its newest product, the E-Dope Card. When this product hit the long range shooting community, our interest was piqued. But, knowing that technology usually induces issues, we decided to see if the E-Dope Card would stick around. It has, and more and more top-level competitors are using it.

We contacted Precision Rifle Series competitor and Team Caption of the Short Action Customs Shooting team, Aaron Hipp, to see what he had to say about using the E-Dope Card. Hipp said:

I had been testing the E-dope prototype for a brief time but was more than confident enough to run it at the most important match of the season which is the Precision Rifle Series Finale/Championship. The Finale is an invite-only match and the culmination of the Precision Rifle Series regular season where the top-ranked shooters in the country battle it out for 2 days to determine who’s best.

This year the PRS Finale was held in Camargo, Oklahoma, which is known for being brutally tough on gear due to the fine dust and windy conditions. There were over eight triggers alone went down in the windy and dusty conditions all while the temps in the morning started out around 15 degrees and climbed to upwards of 60 degrees in the afternoon with winds in excess of 20mph.

The E-dope is IP54 rated which means that Rain and Dust is a non-issue. It’s also rated for temps from minus 20-120 degrees– so it will withstand temperatures that I would prefer not even shoot in. The application for inputting stage data is very intuitive and easy to use. It allows you to enter all your stage/range data in at any time and save that data for easy transfer whenever you need it. Upload to the E-Dope display is simple using NFC (Near Field Communication) from your phone. Just touch the E-dope to your phone and your data is wirelessly transferred to the display. I won’t get into the details of NFC here but the display itself has no batteries and is “charged” during the data transfer from your phone.

The E-dope will maintain your transferred data on the display for upwards of a few months with no issues. The creator of the E-Dope Card is currently working with a number of other companies to integrate E-Dope functionality into their products.

During the match, I mounted my E-dope to the side of my rifle using a Hawk Hill Data card holder which I believe is the perfect companion to the E-Dope and allows you to position the display in a number of different ways based on shooter preference.

I’ve used the E-dope in everything from direct sunlight to lowlight conditions and the E-Ink display is easy to read in any conditions I’ve had it in. There were three of us at the PRS Finale that ran the E-dope without a single issue and I plan to continue using it as my primary data display going forward.

We've talked to several competitors who use the E-Dope card and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. The E-Dope phone application is user-friendly and stores your data. The ability to store data makes referencing it when needed faster. Meaning, you can prep for a match or multiple target engagements even while off the range. Currently, the E-Dope Card can be used with the E-Dope app or the Kestrel LINK Ballistics app. Due to restrictions Apple has, the E-Dope card cannot be used for iPhones.

PRODUCT RUNDOWN:
Dimensions: 2.13″ x 3.37″ x 0.145″
Viewable screen size: 2.9″
IP54 rated: Dust and water resistant
Operating temperature: -10 degrees F to 130 degrees F
Attachment method: Hook and loop supplied
MSRP: $129
Direct link: http://downrangesystems.com/e-dope.html

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