I believe two primary home dry fire simulators are appropriate for the home. They are Smokeless Range 2.0 and Point Blank Simulator. However, they are usually set up in large rooms. I only had my bedroom to use, and the usable space was about 10 feet by 10 feet. I won’t evaluate Smokeless Range 2.0 or Point Blank Simulator in this blog post. To see a thorough evaluation, check out this YouTube video. As I get more time with these products, I’ll try and provide my own review of them.
To use these products, you’ll need to be able to control (i.e., eliminate) the sunlight in your room. I bought some large blackout curtains and cut them to fit my windows. Because I had inside blinds, I simply put them outside of the blinds and around the window. They have velcro attachments, which allow them to be removed if needed. They are supposed to be attached directly to the glass. However, I felt they would look ugly from outside my house, so I used my around-the-window attachment method instead. These cut-to-fit blackout curtains are around $25 on Amazon.
The next thing to determine is whether you’ll be permanently mounting the projector and short-throw camera or if it will be a temporary mount. Mine was a temporary mount because I had to mount the projector and camera on my bed. I picked up a long storage shelf from Home Depot, which I could put on my bed, level it, and then put the projector, camera, and computer on it. This was about $15.
For a small room, you’ll need a short-throw projector and at least an 8′ diagonal screen (e.g., 100 inches). A short-throw projector means the projector can be set closer to the screen. Smokeless Range 2.0 has a short-throw camera that is 0.5:1. This specification means if your screen is about 8 feet diagonal, the projector only needs to be about 4 feet away. The camera from Smokeless range simply sits on top of the projector. I ordered a refurbished Optoma GT1080HDRX 1080P Full HD 3800 Lumens Short Throw Gaming Projector. This project was around $750.
For the screen, I chose a retractable model. I would temporarily mount the screen and then check how your projector will display on it. You can then move the screen up or down for the best picture. I chose the Super Deal 100″ 16:9 HD projection screen for $57 on Amazon.
You’ll also need a computer. I chose an Alliwava Mini PC AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX Radeon 680M Graphics, 32GB RAM, 512GB SSD. This PC is about $700.
Smokeless Range 2.0 + Short Throw Camera is $1000.
I picked up a Tauras PT1911 for around $450 and put a Cool Fire Trainer in it with an infrared laser and extra CO2 capacity for about $600. This setup allows for recoil-enabled training.
This brings the total cost to:
$600 + $450 + $1000 + $700 + $57 + $750 + $15 + $25 is around $3600.
I put the shelf on my bed, level it, and then put the projector, camera, and PC on it. I calibrate the camera. At this point, I’m ready to use Smokeless Range 2.0. Smokeless Range 2.0 has several different applications that can be loaded. It comes with many applications. Some are more useful than others. This framework is flexible, and Point Blank Simulator can be installed as an application to Smokeless Range 2.0. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to evaluate Point Blank Simulator due to Internet issues. I commend their support, as they helped me a great deal when I was planning this project.