A normal human has a power level of about 5 (Raditz checked a cannon fodder human in DBZ episode 1). The turtle has 0.001, which is 1/5000 of that man. He wasn't comparing it to Krillin.
Only reason krillen dies so much is because he is always where the fight is. He's like that idiot who's always at the wrong place at the wrong time, because he wants to be there, at the wrong place and wrong time.
He's talking about the farmer who had a power level of 5 (5000*0.001) when raditz first touches down on earth, but I think that the scouter was somehow taking into account the gun he had, making a gun 5000 times more powerful than a really old/somewhat cowardly turtle.
everybody seems to be bad at math lol :) 5000 x 0.001 = 5, which is the power of the first human raditz met on earth.. I agree with you; it seems a bit too weak for a turtle
That was for the TV broadcast version since the FCC can't have guns shown to kids (what a load, right?) but the uncut DVD release of DBZ Kai shows the gun in Bulma's hands. What, did you think Kai was going to be unedited for kids on Nicktoons? DBZ may be for kids but American culture isn't the same as the Japanese's.
toriyama himself stated he sucked at math. The powerlevels were way off anyway. I mean, Vegeta was surprised goku got from 300-ish to 8000 in a year, yet he himself went from 18000 to... what? an easy million, over the course of 3 months or something. So lets just disregard the scouters anyway.
I believe in the show it was explained by goku as the aura being the tiny vibrations in the air that gives you an idea of how well that person is able to manipulate their energy.....which is kinda confusing because we see their powers used in outer space as well. Whole other sayains hat someones 'fighting' ability is...basically power level may not just be determined tells their threat level. It may be more than just strength
