Quote Originally Posted by Synthasy2000 View Post
Another crazy idea of mine

I had a thought that it would be possible to use an old Palm PDA (like a Palm VX - about £10 off the bay of e) as an electronic target. You'd need someway of reducing the pellet power to that of a stylus tap. I'm not sure of that bit but some kind of absorbant material. A small bit of Palm software would be needed to translate the tap position to serial code for the serial port (not USB!) that these old Palms have. You then link the serial port to a laptop (old cheap one again) near you to use as the scorer and display. Again some software needs to be written here.

I have images in my head of many shot up Palm PDAs whilst trying to select an appropriate pellet absorbing material. Mind you you could use an iPhone or iPad

Has anyone used the currently available professional electronic targets and how do they sense the pellet strike position?

Are they worthwhile?

Thanks for your thoughts.
Re. your Palm idea -
How about a matrix of say 50mm long 3mm round steel rods with 10mm long 4mm square ends passing through a plate with 3mm clearance holes at 4mm grid centers. The flat area made up by your square sections will be the target surface.
With springs between the heads and the plate you can limit movement, use a second plate with the same pattern of round holes but half the depth filled with O ring cord and the rod ends able to just hit the cord - the other end of the cord touching your touch screen
I accept no responsibility for any frustration/insanity/self harm resulting from attempts to implement any wild ideas I may throw out.
Regards,
Nick