Garmin Xero C1 Pro Chronograph

Walkalong,
Is that the aftermarket tripod you talked about getting from Amazon in an earlier message? I like the fact the tripod legs are longer or more spayed out that the factory tripod.

Other than battery life, how do you like the screen contrast during daylight? Is it bright enough to read from a few feet?
-s
 
Got mine from Midway today. Won’t have a chance to try it until next week unless I can sneak away briefly tomorrow. This thing is teeny! I was so excited when I scored a keg of Unique a month ago that I have stockpiled .38 and .44 special handloads; same with 5.56 and 7.62 with Ramshot TAC so I have a lot of shootin’ to do!
 
Jim Watson said:
Great. I got tired of Midway restocking dates receding into the future and bought mine from a place that actually had some. I will be loading ammo today for another series of power factor tests.
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Yay, the date changed a couple of times, it was duck hunting season so I wasn't really gonna use it. My duck spots are froze over now. Hopefully gonna be able to use it this week!!!
 
Right now, going over the specs of both the Garmin and the Labradar, I'm leaning slightly toward the Labradar.

The Garmin is a cute little thing and its small size would make it very handy, and possibly better outside in mild winds. The Labradar, while larger/bulkier, puts that size to good use and stores much more data, and gives more flexibility. I also like the much more detailed specs in the manual for the Labradar vs. the Garmin. The Garmin manual I've been able to find online really isn't a manual at all, it's just simple guidelines for use. Hopefully Garmin includes something more detailed with the unit itself. The Labradar also has an LED indicator to tell you when the transmitter is emitting RF. Also, from going over posts from peoples' initial testing, it seems like the Labradar is much better at ignoring shots from neighboring lanes.

As I check a couple of sites lately, the Labradar is also now $499.95 at most places--$100 cheaper than the Garmin! It'll be interesting to see if Garmin drops their MSRP in response.
 
Alaskamike said:
As I check a couple of sites lately, the Labradar is also now $499.95 at most places--$100 cheaper than the Garmin! It'll be interesting to see if Garmin drops their MSRP in response.
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Doubtful, I would anticipate LabRadar cutting their price further to compete with Garmin, the way that the Garmin has been selling, user reviews and just simply one can carry another handgun to the range with the Garmin in place of the LabRadar.
 
Someone needs to start a poll, "Best LabRadar Backpack," it is a thing you know. I kid, I kid. But really it is that much in one's face on the size reduction the Garmin Xero provided.

But LabRadar was the cat's meow for their moment in time, kuddos to them as it was pretty revolutionary as far as personal chronograph's go.

I'm just glad I got my Magnetospeed sold ahead of others out there. Still got $300 for mine, thought I did pretty well.
 
Still waiting on my Garmin. I had planned to do a side-by-side comparison with the LabRadar, and may still do so to see how close they are, but enough other guys have already written up direct comparisons I probably won't bother. And based on others' reports, I suspect I'll put my LabRadar on the block and see what I can get for it. We'll see.
 
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Alaskamike said:
it seems like the Labradar is much better at ignoring shots from neighboring lanes.
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I'll say, flat out, that either you read these reviews backwards, or you read someone trying to defend their LR by telling lies online.

The ONLY concession I could make that would suggest the LR is better at ignoring neighboring shooters is to acknowledge that the LR ignores a lot of shots overall, even the ones you WANT to read. The Garmin does a much, much better job of 1) picking up shots, and 2) ignoring neighboring shooters. Even when it does read a neighboring shot, it does a great job of ignoring the data from the dataset.
 
As a long time user of a wired chronograph. I think it is high time I replace my existing setup with a Garmin. What sells me on a Garmin is the idea that I will be saving time setting up at the range and the small size. Having been yelled at for holding up the line to setup a chronograph in front of the bench as well as taking a second trip to the car to get my gear, the small size of the Garmin means it will fit in my backpack with my current gear and setup. Now that is appealing to me -- saving me time and labor.

Yes, I've borrowed a Labradar and have tried it out. The Labradar is a super nice chronograph. It shows velocity at various distances, and is more sophisticated in its software, However, It is overkill for what I need for a chronograph and the limited battery life is a problem for me. Will I need more data than the Garmin provides? I doubt it given I have had a basic chronograph for over 35 years now and have been satisfied with the data and its limitations.
 
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Varminterror said:
I'll say, flat out, that either you read these reviews backwards, or you read someone trying to defend their LR by telling lies online.

The ONLY concession I could make that would suggest the LR is better at ignoring neighboring shooters is to acknowledge that the LR ignores a lot of shots overall, even the ones you WANT to read. The Garmin does a much, much better job of 1) picking up shots, and 2) ignoring neighboring shooters. Even when it does read a neighboring shot, it does a great job of ignoring the data from the dataset.
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Maybe I missed it, but I really haven't found anyone who has compared them side by side. Earlier in this thread we had someone whose Garmin kept picking up the shots from the neighboring lane with what sounded like frustrating regularity.

What I don't like is that Garmin doesn't appear to publish most of their RF specs. Labradar publishes beamwidth along with many other RF specs. This is what governs what the radar is going to detect.

As someone with an RF background, I have a hard time trusting any device or antenna where the manufacturer isnt willing to release detailed specs, so I'm disappointed in Garmin in that regard.

Unfortunately about the only spec Garmin seems willing to release is antenna gain, which is a bit less than that of Labradar. That leads me to believe the beam width of the Labradar is slightly tighter (resulting in higher gain) which would indeed reduce the tendency to pick up shots from neighboring lanes.
 
Alaskamike said:
I really haven't found anyone who has compared them side by side.
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I think you’d have to have been living under a rock for the last few months for this to be true. Side by side comparisons are all over online - including my own such review on page 2 of this thread.

IMG_6752.jpeg

I’ve noticed the Garmin “notice” a neighboring shot a few times, but not many, and it has NEVER yet recorded the shot into the string (as I mentioned in this thread - I don’t know how it knows it’s a shot but also knows it’s not MY shot, but it does). The Garmin will “think” for a few seconds as if it is registering the shot, but will reject the neighboring shot and instead return to the ready mode. Alternatively, I’ve frequently had to delete data out of my LR strings from neighboring shooters at the zero line before matches, so I typically use my inertial trigger to avoid that opportunity - OR worse, more commonly, the LR just doesn’t pick up shots, especially when brakes from neighboring shooters waft the LR out of alignment from the target.

I also - as I mentioned in this thread - have carried the Garmin in hand like a GoPro and walked behind a line of shooters and registered their shots…

The Garmin has been much more selective in these few months than I have experienced with the LR.
 
Varminterror said:
I think you’d have to have been living under a rock for the last few months for this to be true. Side by side comparisons are all over online - including my own such review on page 2 of this thread.

View attachment 1189646

I’ve noticed the Garmin “notice” a neighboring shot a few times, but not many, and it has NEVER yet recorded the shot into the string (as I mentioned in this thread - I don’t know how it knows it’s a shot but also knows it’s not MY shot, but it does). The Garmin will “think” for a few seconds as if it is registering the shot, but will reject the neighboring shot and instead return to the ready mode. Alternatively, I’ve frequently had to delete data out of my LR strings from neighboring shooters at the zero line before matches, so I typically use my inertial trigger to avoid that opportunity - OR worse, more commonly, the LR just doesn’t pick up shots, especially when brakes from neighboring shooters waft the LR out of alignment from the target.

I also - as I mentioned in this thread - have carried the Garmin in hand like a GoPro and walked behind a line of shooters and registered their shots…

The Garmin has been much more selective in these few months than I have experienced with the LR.
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Hm. I want to be clear that I have no vested interest whatsoever in either one of these units.

As I took the time to review this entire 7 page thread, you are the only one who seems to have directly compared the Labradar and Garmin unit here in this thread, in an single post. You accusing me of "living under a rock" is a bit over the top. I'm trying to compare two different units with the data and experience available in this forum, which isn't squat, to be perfectly honest.

I'm not quite clear why you bring up that you carried the Garmin behind a line of shooters and registered their shots. You undoubtedly could've done the same with the Labradar, or any functioning similar unit with the same results.

With my RF background I would have to ask, did you pay any attention at all to how close you got to those people without their knowledge before you hit them with an energized radar? It may only be a 1 watt transmitter, but it has a very high gain antenna, and at 24 GHz it can actually cause tissue damage inside of about 6 ft.

Regardless, what I'm looking for is information on both of these units without a bunch of emotion.

It's clear that you favor the Garmin, and I respect that.
 
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