Precision Rifle Gear Is the Garmin Xero still the Whiz Bang Chrono to get? Is there a new(er) model coming this year?

jrhtx

jrhtx

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#1
Yes I saw the 56 page thread on the Garmin.

Going to replace the Labradar. Is the Garmin Xero still the best replacement? I see Labradar has a new smaller unit out also. Any comparison?
I want easy to use, not spend range time reading manuals at the range trying to get something to work.

My luck is normally a newer model comes out around Thanksgiving for Christmas sales. Any Rumors on this?

Who is the best source for a unit? Any SH vendors?

Thanks
 
#3
Garmin….yes.

New Labradar….no, not for me. Those guys sat on their ass for years and never corrected exiting issues or upgraded the product. They didn’t give a shit about their customer base then and I don’t trust them to suddenly do so now.

As for if Garmin will issue an upgrade…WTF knows and any “rumors” you might hear are worthless unless the person spreading them is a Garmin employee who wants to get fired.

Cheers
 
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#4
I didn't quite realize how much I hated using my labradar until I bought the garmin. I bought mine from Brownells before they made it coupon code exempt. Even if a new model was released soon, I'm not sure what it would really improve upon based on my current experience.

It really is as easy as; turn it on, point it forward, enjoy the data. Great battery life, great form factor, very reliable data collection. It's small enough that I carry it around in my PRS bag now in case a newer shooter is having dope problems.
 
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#6
Having had Magnetospeed, Labradar and now the Garmin Xero; I can tell you it is the easiest to set up and use of the three. Published velocity comparisons are very similar for all three side by side. The bluetooth feature permits easy wireless downloads of the results to the app. It is small, light, very reliable and stupid simple.
I can see no reason why to purchase anything else.
(I guess that is why so many used Labradars and Magnetospeeds are for sale.)

If you are on a tight budget, the Labradar might be found as a good value. However, it's size and need for other accessories (such as external battery packs and cabled triggering sensors) might eliminate it from consideration...
 
#12
I have an Pro Chrono, Labradar and a Magneto speed.

I almost threw the Prochrono into the woods one day. Developed a hate for it.

Bought a Magneto Speed , kinda like it but it is hard to shoot for groups on rifles requiring the bayonet to hooked directly to the barrel.
Plus with the Magneto speed it wont fit on most of my handguns.

Picked up a Lab Radar and had high hopes for it.
Its kind of a pain to set up and it is bulky. Doesnt work well with 22lr unless you get an external tigger.
I have had issued with it picking up shots. Might be user error but I am thinking not.
A little disappointed for what this unit cost.

I haven't seen the Garmin in the wild yet but I will probably get one this winter.
 
#15
I have to pinch myself once in a while with the Garmin. A year ago collecting chrono data was a separate pain-in-the-ass process, with the magnetospeed.

Now it’s almost an after-thought. It has been such a fundamental change in the collection, and amount of collection, of this crucial data.

I did get my hands on a labradar quad pod that is heavier and more stable to mount it on. With an arca plate, I plop it on the pod and literally give it a little toss forward of the mat and start shooting.

I turn on the app on my iPhone and syncs automatically while I shoot and close sessions. When I get home the app syncs through iCloud to my iPad where I instantly pull it up in excel for cleanup and printing, if need be….

That is all not to mention the amount of components saved during testing and tweaking.
 
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#16
Coming from a Magnetospeed, I love mine and have no desire to even try anything else. I'd like to see the number of inputs shrink to start a new session. It's kind of idiot proof as-is so...other than that, my only complaint with the Garmin has been at hand gun ranges. It'll pick up shots three bays down unless I turn the unit away slightly. I always request the bay against the wall so I don't have shooters left and right. I have zero issues at the rifle range where it only records my shots.

I have noticed the battery, after a year's worth of use, doesn't take a full charge and never registers 100%. It's lasted through a four hour range sessions recently which is usually enough but not as long as when it was new. An external battery pack would probably be an easy enough addition if you needed more juice.
 
#17
It will take a big new product to dent the current Garmin standing/popularity in my opinion.

I started with a Caldwell, it got shot in the face and died. Moved on to a magnetospeed, which I still have and will probably keep as a backup. It had to go back for service, but that was quick and painless, so they have good CS in my opinion and experience. The Garmin is a game changer for me, never been easier to check velocity or just play with while blasting cause it is so easy to use.
 
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#19
I bought the LabRadar LX recently and got it out to the range last week. It worked great going back and forth between a 6 creed and a 7-300 NMI. It didn’t pick up any other shooters at nearby tables and worked with the unsurpassed creed and suppressed NMI. No connectivity issues with the Bluetooth or phone app. I know a lot of people got burned on the big flat LabRadar, but I liked the look and features of the LX over the garmin, not that I would turn down a garmin, and have always been a contrary sort to go against the grain… it’s a character flaw..

Not saying one is better than the other, just passing on my experience from last week’s range trip.
 
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#20
I'm amazed how well the Garmin unit works. Inside suppressed, outdoor around other shooters, it has never failed catching a shot.

All that and it can ride in my pack as opposed to needing it's own massive pack (prior lab radar user).
 
#21
The LabRadar LX feels too little too late. Caldwell has something in the works, but the only benefit you might see is getting a mildly useless BC within 100 yards and in my opinion will likely suffer from the same problems a LabRadar does.

Garmin has won the chrono wars.
 
#22
Happy with my FX true ballistics, don't have to mess around selecting velocity range like the Garmin but the Garmin is very compact, great if you want to sit it under a barrel. Being able to get a BC value for projectiles as they come from your rifle is nice.
 
#23
Lab Radar, unless they prove themselves in both customer service, and improving products in a timely fashion that are actual fixes, then maybe I’ll consider them again.

The new Lab Radar LX having an aluminum shell literally means nothing to me nor is the “it can give a down range velocity” useful to me.

My Garmin is more compact, weighs less, and performs flawlessly. It’s always in my match bag during matches incase I need it. I true up BCs at distance.
 
Last edited:
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#24
18Echo said:
I bought the LabRadar LX recently and got it out to the range last week. It worked great going back and forth between a 6 creed and a 7-300 NMI. It didn’t pick up any other shooters at nearby tables and worked with the unsurpassed creed and suppressed NMI. No connectivity issues with the Bluetooth or phone app. I know a lot of people got burned on the big flat LabRadar, but I liked the look and features of the LX over the garmin, not that I would turn down a garmin, and have always been a contrary sort to go against the grain… it’s a character flaw..

Not saying one is better than the other, just passing on my experience from last week’s range trip.
Click to expand...
Labradar’s cs reputation aside, I’m glad to see the competition. As far as I’m concerned, this innovation should’ve happened years ago. So hopefully competition will drive faster innovation, because I personally think we’re years behind.

What features does it have over the Garmin?

Thanks
 
#26
biggershooter said:
It looks like ballistic coefficient is on the way: https://www.facebook.com/InfinitionQC/

And here's a general comparison for your consideration:
Click to expand...

1727881673182.png


Sorry....couldn't suffer thru 10 minutes of his heavy french accent.
 
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#28
biggershooter said:
It looks like ballistic coefficient is on the way: https://www.facebook.com/InfinitionQC/

And here's a general comparison for your consideration:
Click to expand...

Awesome. Just saw that they had some at a trade show for $299 too. If they keep kicking things up a notch and the price down, they could start to give Garmin a run.

A year from now the current Garmin could look as antiquated as the magnetospeed….This is free market at it’s best.
IMG_5778.jpeg
 
#31
Baron23 said:
Sorry....couldn't suffer thru 10 minutes of his heavy french accent.
Click to expand...
I've done a PRS course with Yanick teaching. He's patient, thoughtful, a good coach and damn fine shooter. So it might be worthwhile getting over your aversion to his accent in return for a fairly objective and fair comparison. And technically, it's a Quebecois accent ;)
 
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#32
biggershooter said:
I've done a PRS course with Yanick teaching. He's patient, thoughtful, a good coach and damn fine shooter. So it might be worthwhile getting over your aversion to his accent in return for a fairly objective and fair comparison. And technically, it's a Quebecois accent ;)
Click to expand...
It’s not an aversion…I just have trouble understanding what he’s saying and no…I choose not to have to struggle to understand for 10 minutes.

I never implied anything negative otherwise about this fella.

Cheers.
 
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#33
Baron23 said:
It’s not an aversion…I just have trouble understanding what he’s saying and no…I choose not to have to struggle to understand for 10 minutes.

I never implied anything negative otherwise about this fella.

Cheers.
Click to expand...
Yeah I just clicked on the video. I am pretty good with accents and non Americans speaking english and he is very challenging to follow. Baron just click on the little cc button bottom right for subtitles and turn the sound off.
 
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#34
Im2bent said:
Yeah I just clicked on the video. I am pretty good with accents and non Americans speaking english and he is very challenging to follow. Baron just click on the little cc button bottom right for subtitles and turn the sound off.
Click to expand...
Thanks but I’m actually not all that keen for the topic. I had a Labradar….hence my comments above about not trusting them…and now I have a Garmin and I’m very happy with it. The End lol

And I’m not at all sure of the value of BC calculations for a radar that ranges to 100yards max. Right?
 
#35
Hmm the review says labradar LX covered if it suffers damage from recoil while weapons mounted, Garmin not so much? LX seems to have a better screen? @Holliday you saw the 299 price at a local show? Internal battery plus ability to mount external battery on the LX with LX consuming 12%battery per hr vs Garmin 9%per hr sonot too different internal battery usage. Canada vs China manufacturing.
 
#36
Im2bent said:
Yeah I just clicked on the video. I am pretty good with accents and non Americans speaking english and he is very challenging to follow. Baron just click on the little cc button bottom right for subtitles and turn the sound off.
Click to expand...
I work with Quebecois accents almost daily, so perhaps that's the difference. The CC worked pretty well - good idea!
 
#37
Baron23 said:
Thanks but I’m actually not all that keen for the topic. I had a Labradar….hence my comments above about not trusting them…and now I have a Garmin and I’m very happy with it. The End lol

And I’m not at all sure of the value of BC calculations for a radar that ranges to 100yards max. Right?
Click to expand...
Yeah if you already have the Garmin it's a moot issue. Personally my Labradar always worked as far as recording shots, It fell over twice from a height of 3 feet and still ticking. I'm a quasi fudd in that I despise apps so never tried to connect to my phone. If and when it dies there should be more reviews of the LX but if I can get it for 300 vs 600 as a poors I'm in.
 
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#38
Im2bent said:
Hmm the review says labradar LX covered if it suffers damage from recoil while weapons mounted, Garmin not so much? LX seems to have a better screen? @Holliday you saw the 299 price at a local show? Internal battery plus ability to mount external battery on the LX with LX consuming 12%battery per hr vs Garmin 9%per hr sonot too different internal battery usage. Canada vs China manufacturing.
Click to expand...
Opps I misread that was the labradar V1. Mea culpa.

I like the way they embrace weapons mounting, rather than the mealy-mouth way that Garmin excludes it from warranty, but encourages it.

IMG_5783.jpeg
 
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#39
biggershooter said:
I work with Quebecois accents almost daily, so perhaps that's the difference. The CC worked pretty well - good idea!
Click to expand...
I didn’t listen to it yet. I’m from Maine and my daughter is part Québecois. Her great grand father RIP was a old school skilled mason. Great guy. Had an old Thunder Bird he kept in his basement garage. You could eat off that thing.
 
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#41
Tried both the Xero C1 and LX side by side. Both showed the same readings.
Get the Xero C1. It's cheaper, smaller, displays the results faster, has a slightly bigger screen and it is more readable. The LX missed 1 shot out of 50 during the test where my C1 never missed a shot on the +3000 shot I made with it.
Plus on our side of the Atlantic the C1 is cheaper so the choice is really a no brainer.

Hope this helps
 
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#48
roostercogburn98 said:
Pretty sure the battery is good for 6k shots on a charge

Edit, 2k shots or 6 hours is the rated life
Click to expand...
I "think" (but can't confirm, maybe someone else can) that if you Pause the session when you're not shooting, the battery life will be longer than if you leave it active the whole time. I can't remember if I read that in the manual, on a thread here, or if I just assumed it is like the LR in that regard.
 
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#50
I know Labradar had it's issues, and I was frustrated with mine as well, and everyone wanted updates/improvements but I do think people are bit too tough on them. For a decade they were the game changer in chronos. Could they have innovated faster, made updates, etc. of course they could have. However, without competition there's little to motivate a company to do so, and for a lot of years they had no competition at all.

Certainly Garmin is the new game changer in chronos, the Xero is great it's truly made getting chrono info painless. However, as someone who has used Garmin units frequently for 30 years between GPS and cycling, trust me, I've had plenty of days upset that Garmin didn't add this feature, or their product didn't work well in this situation, or they updated accessories etc. that were not backwards compatible with older units, forcing the purchase of new units, or they refused to add software options/features that people asked for only to see those features be then put into new units released almost yearly for more $.......Garmin isn't going out of their way for the customer either, they are there to make profit. Do they have a lot more experience bringing hardened electronics etc. to the public for outdoors use, absolutely. They also know how to play the "we're going to release 3 levels of the same product every couple years to suck you into forced upgrades if you want new capability" too.
 
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