I recently bought a used magnetospeed sporter for less than 200 shipped recently. I built an adaptor mount to clip it on my stock picatinny rail so it don't touch the barrel. Work great, don't change harmonics and fast set-up... Like it a lot! Chrony are a pain to set-up!
Best bang for buck chronograph?
- Thread starter Brapp891
- Start date
I switched from Chrony to a Competition Electronics DLX. This model records the string and SD ES etc on my phone via bluetooth. Cost about $200 I love it.
Or, I should say, I lovED it until a guy put a Garmin om the bench so I could compare.
Or, I should say, I lovED it until a guy put a Garmin om the bench so I could compare.
Why? When one could just get a Garmin that is 1/8 the size, works perfectly, doesn't need any accessories, never drops a shot and doesn't need a users manual because its so simple to use.Find a used LabRadar that someone couldn't operate, one that's being nearly given away.... Read the instruction book 5 times (cover to cover), buy an external battery pack and a recoil trigger. It will record flawlessly.... I love my orange elephant....
Because a used Labradar still works great and is half the price of a Garmin. Some people don't care that the LR is bigger than the Garmin. Actually- none of us did until the Garmin arrived.
Apparently the Labradar LX will do this shortly:
From:
I've had pretty much every chrono made over the years, except Magnetospeed. I've got an original Labradar, and it works, I like the Excel file for calculating BC of airgun pellets. I currently have a Garmin, and will say it is the absolute best of the best. I've seen people have it on the bench beside them, and a bipod leg move the unit 30 degrees from down range and still record shots. The original Labradar wouldn't pick up a shot if a bee crashed into it and moved it .01 degree from the target. I'm intrigued by the new Labradar, but unfortunately for them, Garmin hit the market first.
I have the Caldwell. It’s a bit of a pain to set up, but it plugs into an old iPhone and I can get the data I need so I’m not complaining. It cost me about $125 plus tax on sale at the time. Bang for buck, that’s hard to beat if you’re not a competitive shooter and just want to know what your various hand loads are actually doing. I’d surely love a garmin as they look pretty sweet, but my bang for buck doesn’t warrant that cash outlay. Yours might!
The battery will go in a few years - Garmin may offer a battery replacement service, or you can use an external battery.
Well, I just pulled the plug on the garmin… mainly for simplicity of setup and compactness of the unit!! It is overkill for sure for what I do, load development for hunting inside 300m but I was sick of the Caldwell set up and error code!
This should make life easier and more fun…
This should make life easier and more fun…
Yeah my biggest complaint with the Caldwell one I have is that I can no longer use it with my phone since they did away with the headphone jack on phones in recent years. Even with a headphone-to-usb adapter the app doesn't seem to work.
I do have an old phone kicking around, but I've yet to remember to charge it and bring it with me so I've been taking photos of the chrono after every shot, not an ideal setup lol
That's why I went to the Magnetospeed velocimeters. Then a friend turned me onto the Garmin, and I bought one from Amazon, C1-PRO model.
It does everything both of the previous units did, but much smaller, lighter and overall handier.
I don't bother with using my cell phone to download the information. I'm old school and prefer to write down the info I'm interested in saving into a notebook proprietary to the firearm.
The magnetospeed is about half the cost, but it's a pain to strap it onto every barrel, and not be able to utilize the shot for accuracy purposes as well as velocity spreads etc.
I don't mind writing pertinent details in the notebook, as I'm also noting accuracy nodes with the loads I'm developing.
You can't go wrong with the Garmin units IMHO.
That being said, the Garmins can be as expensive as some shooters rifle/scope combos. So if you're cash strapped?????
I've gone with the Labradar LX, but it's the same price.
A bit less expensive is the Andiscan A3.
