Chronograph Reccomendations?

[TheDomFather]

$560 for the base setup, another $30 on some sort of rechargeable power supply is worth it because they go through batteries faster than a normal chronograph. Depending on what things you play with with subsonic suppressed you might also need the $45 air gun adapter to trigger it.

Maybe Santa will be nice to me this year!

 

[cfullgraf]

I have been eyeing up that lab radar for a while. Is it worth the money? From what I have seen they run about $500

Let your pocket book be your ultimate guide.

An inexpensive chronograph will give you velocity information but you will have to record and crunch the data by hand.

Add features or use new technologies and the cost goes up.

I'm not saying to buy low cost just because it is low cost, but if you are unsure of the value a chronograph will give you, a lower cost unit will provide you the velocity information and the knowledge to decide how a chronograph will help you.

If you find a chronograph is the greatest thing since sliced bread, upgrade and sell the old unit. If you find the information from a chronograph is only ho-hum, stick with the original unit and drag it out once in a while when you get curious about some ammunition.

I started with the Basic Chrony. I found that I liked getting the velocity information so when I shot the unit, I upgraded to the next level Chrony. Ditto for when I blasted the second Chrony, I upgraded to a Chrony that had a printer.

Something on the CED M2 piqued my interest and I bought it. It has a better interface with a computer for downloading the data and after buying the IR lights for the sensor, it got lots more reliable in sensing the bullets.

Next came the Magnetospeed, mine is a Version 2. No sensor down range was the interest here even though the V2 was not fully handgun capable. At the time, I was working mostly with rifles and the M2 would work fine for handguns. Mounting the sensor bayonet can be a bit of a pain when changing rifles.

Finally, the LabRadar hit the market. I like new gadgets. No sensor down range, no appendage on the barrel to affect accuracy testing while doing velocity testing, velocity data at various distances down range, easy interface with a computer via a .csv file. and some other features. I've been more likely to get out the LabRadar over the other chronographs that I have had because it is easier to set up and gets data more reliably. (Note, I have not experienced any of the issues that folks on the internet have reported. Maybe I'm just lucky but I do not use all the capability of the LabRadar either.)

All this transpired over a 25 to 30 year time frame.

 

[Toprudder]

The Caldwell and CE ProChrono definitely qualify as low cost, and both of them do shot groups and statistics. Admittedly, the Caldwell needs the phone app to do the number crunching, but that is free.

One nice thing about the Magnetospeed and Labradar is that they do not reside downrange, so they can be used at an indoor range where nothing is allowed in front of the firing line. The Labradar is also safe from lead poisoning, but I have heard of people shooting their Magnetospeed sensor by not having it properly mounted.

My first chrono was the F1 Shooting Chrony. No, I did not shoot it, I still have it as a backup, I just did not like the features. I bought the optional printer, and finally figured out how to reset the shot strings without having to step in front of the shooting line, but the paper printout was just not as handy as having the string data stored electronically and easily transferrable to my load data spreadsheet. If you do buy the F1 Chrony, get the master version that has the remote unit.

Caldwell has a new model that is inverted from what you would normally expect with an optical chrono, but it is priced higher.

I think my ultimate goal is to obtain a Labradar, I just have to save up the coin for it and I'm not sure I will be buying one soon.

 

[Offfhand]

I think my ultimate goal is to obtain a Labradar, I just have to save up the coin for it and I'm not sure I will be buying one soon.

My suggestion to anyone considering buying a Labradar unit is to wait until they offer an improved version. The current model is, well, their first effort and as with any first model there are issues to be overcome that hopefully will be eliminated in subsequent versions. Plus the fact that lower priced copies will likely come soon. Attached photo at my range shows both Labradar and Oehler 35P in use. Accuracy of each is virtually equal, but all factors considered, I prefer the Oehler by a factor of about 5 to 3.

 

[Toprudder]

My suggestion to anyone considering buying a Labradar unit is to wait until they offer an improved version. The current model is, well, their first effort and as with any first model there are issues to be overcome that hopefully will be eliminated in subsequent versions. Plus the fact that lower priced copies will likely come soon.

I agree. I have a friend that has a Labradar, and though I am very impressed with what it does, I do see room for improvement. I think they have already released some firmware upgrades. And I have heard they may have a Bluetooth option in the future.

 

[Nature Boy]

I like my pro chrono with the blue tooth adapter. Allows you to run the unit remotely from your phone using their app as well as store all your data.

Downsides would be cheapness of the plastic housing which cracks easily and the propensity to throw off weird readings when the sun is at its brightest

The total package is worth it and within the OPs budget