So I received my Garmin Xero C1 Pro chronograph a couple of days ago. Normally, I’m the first to jump at new technology. But in this case, I owned a LabRadar since 2017 (and a few MagnetoSpeeds in between). And I was really reluctant to try a new thing until a few reviews were posted and a reasonable sample size consulted. But in the little Garmin’s case, all has been roses. So up went the LabRadar for sale and I was lucky enough to sell it in about a day.
Here’s what all the fuss is about. And here you can see one of the things that has everyone excited about...the physical size!
Hard to believe (for those who have LabRadar experience) just how tiny this is!
So I was excited to try it out today. My choice of cartridges was kind of easy. A few pistol caliber cartridges that I shoot out of lever action rifles. I say my choice was easy because...lets just say, the LabRadar had some anomalies with jacketed pistol caliber cartridges. And I’ll just leave that there.
Placement of the unit is easy. Locate it between 5” and 15” behind the muzzle, and 5” to 15” to the side. Aiming couldn’t be easier either. Just make sure the rear of the unit is facing where you’re shooting. And with all of those shots fired, the little wonder never missed a shot in any caliber! Here’s my set up today…
I shot a total of 200 rounds today. Of which, 180 were chronied. My rifles were all very clean babies and I wanted to foul each of the barrels with a few shots. (It wasn’t very warm today -just 1c.) My total time operating the Garmin was almost three hours. Another plus…the battery life. After three hours and the cold, the battery was only down 15%. Very nice!
I downloaded Garmin’s app, the ShotView app. Once you complete a session, the unit syncs with the app and all of the data is transferred over to the app. There, you can do all sorts of wonderful things. Being new with the unit and app, I only re-named each session.
Here’s my results for each caliber…
For each caliber, there was some statistical correcting going on. Meaning, I would throw out 10 shots that were the worst of the bunch (both the highest and lowest). There are some variances that are either very high or very low in every data set. My sample size was large enough (IMHO), that these shots were discarded and the numbers tightened up slightly. (Kind of like the “plus or minus 5%, 9 times out of 10” rule in statistical analysis.) And for what we’re doing here, more then adequate to gauge an acceptable average, ES, and SD number.
Another cool thing about the Garmin (again, for those who have LabRadar experience) is the fact that it won’t pick up other shooter’s shots. Even if they cross the Garmin’s radio beam down range. Here lies an important difference between the Garmin and the LabRadar. The LabRadar’s radio only transmits when it is triggered acoustically. Meaning it’s off until it’s triggered to turn on. The Garmin turns its radio transmitter on the second you start a new session. It’s always on…no sound based trigger mechanism. Also, the Garmin only “sees” your bullet leaving the muzzle for the first 20 or so metres. After that, the software figures out that is what it is measuring. So anything that crosses the beam width down range beyond that initial distance is ignored. I proved this today for my whole session. I had a fellow to the right of me about 6 to 7 feet away shooting a (loud) braked rifle. He was shooting across my path to the targets he set up to the left of the steel I was shooting at. Every one of his shots passed though the beam width of the Garmin down range. It ignored every one of them. (The LabRadar has some difficulty with these types of scenario's.)
Ok, I’ve bored you enough and I’ll stop now. But here’s my list of the pluses and minuses.
Pluses…
1. Exceptional battery life
2. Extremely small physical size
3. Easy to orient to your muzzle
4. Easy to aim
5. Not bothered by close shooters (even down range)
6. Very accurate and consistent
7. The ShotView app seems to work very well
8. Very easy to operate
Minuses…
1. Price (ouch!)
2. It won’t give down range speeds
So when I leave the range with a big smile on my face, there’s got to be a reason. Today, it was the eighth wonder of the world…the Garmin Xero C1 Pro chronograph.
Small caveat. Without berating other manufacturers, I am trying to be professional here. There are enough posts bashing the other chrony’s out there. While I mentioned some differences, I tried not to do any bashing. I hope you understand.
Here’s what all the fuss is about. And here you can see one of the things that has everyone excited about...the physical size!
Hard to believe (for those who have LabRadar experience) just how tiny this is!
So I was excited to try it out today. My choice of cartridges was kind of easy. A few pistol caliber cartridges that I shoot out of lever action rifles. I say my choice was easy because...lets just say, the LabRadar had some anomalies with jacketed pistol caliber cartridges. And I’ll just leave that there.
Placement of the unit is easy. Locate it between 5” and 15” behind the muzzle, and 5” to 15” to the side. Aiming couldn’t be easier either. Just make sure the rear of the unit is facing where you’re shooting. And with all of those shots fired, the little wonder never missed a shot in any caliber! Here’s my set up today…
I shot a total of 200 rounds today. Of which, 180 were chronied. My rifles were all very clean babies and I wanted to foul each of the barrels with a few shots. (It wasn’t very warm today -just 1c.) My total time operating the Garmin was almost three hours. Another plus…the battery life. After three hours and the cold, the battery was only down 15%. Very nice!
I downloaded Garmin’s app, the ShotView app. Once you complete a session, the unit syncs with the app and all of the data is transferred over to the app. There, you can do all sorts of wonderful things. Being new with the unit and app, I only re-named each session.
Here’s my results for each caliber…
For each caliber, there was some statistical correcting going on. Meaning, I would throw out 10 shots that were the worst of the bunch (both the highest and lowest). There are some variances that are either very high or very low in every data set. My sample size was large enough (IMHO), that these shots were discarded and the numbers tightened up slightly. (Kind of like the “plus or minus 5%, 9 times out of 10” rule in statistical analysis.) And for what we’re doing here, more then adequate to gauge an acceptable average, ES, and SD number.
Another cool thing about the Garmin (again, for those who have LabRadar experience) is the fact that it won’t pick up other shooter’s shots. Even if they cross the Garmin’s radio beam down range. Here lies an important difference between the Garmin and the LabRadar. The LabRadar’s radio only transmits when it is triggered acoustically. Meaning it’s off until it’s triggered to turn on. The Garmin turns its radio transmitter on the second you start a new session. It’s always on…no sound based trigger mechanism. Also, the Garmin only “sees” your bullet leaving the muzzle for the first 20 or so metres. After that, the software figures out that is what it is measuring. So anything that crosses the beam width down range beyond that initial distance is ignored. I proved this today for my whole session. I had a fellow to the right of me about 6 to 7 feet away shooting a (loud) braked rifle. He was shooting across my path to the targets he set up to the left of the steel I was shooting at. Every one of his shots passed though the beam width of the Garmin down range. It ignored every one of them. (The LabRadar has some difficulty with these types of scenario's.)
Ok, I’ve bored you enough and I’ll stop now. But here’s my list of the pluses and minuses.
Pluses…
1. Exceptional battery life
2. Extremely small physical size
3. Easy to orient to your muzzle
4. Easy to aim
5. Not bothered by close shooters (even down range)
6. Very accurate and consistent
7. The ShotView app seems to work very well
8. Very easy to operate
Minuses…
1. Price (ouch!)
2. It won’t give down range speeds
So when I leave the range with a big smile on my face, there’s got to be a reason. Today, it was the eighth wonder of the world…the Garmin Xero C1 Pro chronograph.
Small caveat. Without berating other manufacturers, I am trying to be professional here. There are enough posts bashing the other chrony’s out there. While I mentioned some differences, I tried not to do any bashing. I hope you understand.
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