You should never buy something new because at any moment something better will come along.
Or you could buy a Garmin use the data from it to get better and stop worrying about gear
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Precision Rifle Gear Is the Garmin Xero still the Whiz Bang Chrono to get? Is there a new(er) model coming this year?
- Thread starter jrhtx
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Or you could buy a Garmin use the data from it to get better and stop worrying about gear
I don't think so
I don't agree. They had a large installed base of customers and stiffed them for years on both upgrades and obvious bugs.
I don't trust Labradar to have changed their stripes and I don't think a good company needs a rhetorical gun (competition) to their head in order to be "motivated" to support their large installed base of customers.
Just my silly view of it.
I held off on buying a chrono becuase of all the negatives associated with the ones in existance before the Garmin came out. After reading all the positive reveiws, I spent the money on the Garmin...and I'm a cheapskate so that was a big leap LOL. Soooo easy to use...I hate complicated technology, so if it's not easy to use I won't bother with it. Gets used every time I shoot a rifle, so over time I'll have plenty of data to refer to. Buy one! 
Excellent businesses don't need a threat to innovate and improve.
Innovation and improvement gets complained about as well, especially when it's used as a marketing tactic of planned obsolescence and many companies do including those in the shooting sports. Sig is a wonderful example, and an excellent business for profits, but not for the consumer.
Im a casual Chrono user, in that I want to know velocities--and have various setups for which that data is useful--but tend not to push any of those as far (literally or figuratively) as they go.
Ive had all the main ones: the older, set up 10' down range wait is it too sunny/ cloudy for the shade housing and know your sight over bore axis types, the magnometer, and Labrador and then recently the Garmin.
It is the easiest to add to a range bag, set up and use and get your data of all of them. Ive not tried subsonic, suppressed .22, but I love mine
Ive had all the main ones: the older, set up 10' down range wait is it too sunny/ cloudy for the shade housing and know your sight over bore axis types, the magnometer, and Labrador and then recently the Garmin.
It is the easiest to add to a range bag, set up and use and get your data of all of them. Ive not tried subsonic, suppressed .22, but I love mine
Yesterday I brought a brand-new (received on Friday, firmware updated) Labradar LX to a precision shoot. Overheard a guy talking about needing to know the velocity of his ammo, handed him the Labradar LX and said "aim it roughly at the target, put it six to twelve inches from your barrel and a bit behind the muzzle, and push this button to arm it". Then he used it, and was very, very happy. Easy as pie.
My Garmin works fine with my suppressed 18" bolt action 22 which is just about as quiet as a firearm is going to get lol.
Well, I received mine and got to try it out today. 8 sessions to test some subsonic loads, somehow it/I dropped 1 shot out of 20. Sure it was operator error, not the unit.
The Gramin is SO MUCH EASIER to use than a LR. I got rid of my LR and will never look back!
The Gramin is SO MUCH EASIER to use than a LR. I got rid of my LR and will never look back!
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Pick the wrong velocity ranges, and it’ll miss every shot lol. Ask me how I know
As soon as I buy a Garmin, within 3-6 months something better will be out.
ever wonder how Garmin rolled this out a few months before shot show... just a few months before the leader in radar chronographs announced their new mini version? kind of fishy on Garmin's part. you know lab radar was working on that for wayyyy more than a few months, and Garmin just happened to come out with a very similar product having not been in that game before... idk.
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@SD3Gunner Garmin released a similar version for golf a half year or a year before they announced the firearm version if I remember right. They probably used that as their proof of concept to then finish the development of the shooting model.
From what I remember, Labradar hadn't even made a peep about their new unit until well after the Garmin was released, even as the Andiscan and others were gaining serious traction. Which I find maybe more suspicious. From my dealings with LR over the phone I would not be excited to buy from them again.
From what I remember, Labradar hadn't even made a peep about their new unit until well after the Garmin was released, even as the Andiscan and others were gaining serious traction. Which I find maybe more suspicious. From my dealings with LR over the phone I would not be excited to buy from them again.
I don't find anything at all fishy about beating your competition to market.
My Garmin watch receives regular product support and software updates despite being an older generation. My Garmin Chronograph receives regular updates too. LabRadar can eat a bag of dicks.
I’ve used mine in indoor ranges quite a bit, it works. It will occasionally pick up rounds from the next lane over, but the range usually isn’t that crowded when I go. Seems ok if it’s two lanes over as I haven’t had an errant pick up from that far yet.
Sold my labradar to a f-class guy who has been happy with it. I never really got it to work with rimfire, even with the mic and recoil trigger inputs. Set up and use of the garmin is so much easier and better data. I was using the FX airgun chrono for a while and it worked pretty well, but is limited to 1100 fps or less. Garmin beats it too in functionality and set up.
Used the Garmin for the 4th or 5th time yesterday. Graduated from a prochrony to a magneto speed to the Garmin. Got asked if it was worth it. Hands down, and absolutely was worth it.
Never missed a shot, No errors. No BS set up. Compact. Still on the first charge. Areas for notes and automatically puts results on my phone when I connect it days later.
Wished I would've bought it sooner.
Never missed a shot, No errors. No BS set up. Compact. Still on the first charge. Areas for notes and automatically puts results on my phone when I connect it days later.
Wished I would've bought it sooner.
well I did not know they had a golf thing out. it seemed to me that they stole design...
My Garmin is flawless in ranges like this (my range). Not sure if this is what you’re thinking about.
The Garmin is visible on the right side of the rifle. Sometimes I’ve set it up on a big tripod farther forward so there’s more of a wall to its right.
I’ve never had a Labradar, but man did people bitch about them.
The dudes standing up for them strike me as Stockholm Syndrome chicks.
Stockholm syndrome - Wikipedia
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LR - You never had one, so…My Garmin is flawless in ranges like this (my
I’ve never had a Labradar, but man did people bitch about them.
The dudes standing up for them strike me as Stockholm Syndrome chicks.
Stockholm syndrome - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
I started with a Shooting Chrony, then went to Pro Chrono Digital, then MS V3, then LR, then Garmin. Each move up has been a significant-enough improvement that I never used the previous one again. When the LR came out, it was so much better than the MS V3 (for me, at least). It has its issues, but once you learn them and the fixes, it’s pretty solid. I got along fine with mine, and it gave me data just as reliably as the Garmin. But the Garmin doesn’t need any fixes or work-arounds that I’ve experienced. If I had to go back to my LR tomorrow (still have it), I wouldn’t feel disadvantaged. I’d just feel inconvenienced.
I don’t have a dog in this fight. It just feels like some people around here have an emotional connection to the LR.
I get it.
Men, and men like me, form strange attachments to inanimate objects.
Kinda like how feel about the BlackBerry. Thing was great. Didn’t need a case; could drop it and it didn’t shatter like my iPhone did. Was absolutely fantastic to type on. Barely made mistakes. iPhone? I make so many mistakes typing. So, so many mistakes.
But I can take excellent pics with the iPhone, the gps is awesome, weather apps, hunting apps, banking apps, news apps, social apps, ballistic apps, etc etc.
For a while I pined for the Blackberry…wished they’d come out with a new model with that same damn awesome keyboard. Kept on reading about it, checking the website, perusing the rumor mills…
But it’s dead. The company’s died. Gone.
What I’m saying is Labradar, or at least this part of their business, is dying. Try to separate from the good vibes you had. See it for it was, and for what the Garmin is. What the leap the Garmin represents.
I don’t know why bother, really, as only time heals.
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I had no intention on spending 600…………until I read this thread..dang you SH
Oh yeah , they are on expert voice for a little less
Oh yeah , they are on expert voice for a little less
I don't disagree with any of that. I wouldn't trade the Garmin for the LR under any circumstances. Mine hasn't been turned on once since the Garmin came out. I don't wax nostalgic about it, and I can't think of any features I miss that the Garmin doesn't have (downrange velocities were useless to me). I was just responding to the "Stockholm Syndrome" comment, vs. giving credit where it's due. It was a decent unit and worked well if you knew how to deal with its issues. The Garmin is next-level better, no doubt. I wouldn't want to go back.
Several years of negative comments towards LR can be found here from me. I think I had a total lemon and they refused to replace it. I worked with guys at my local gun club that were LR educated and they all would start acting like I was stupid and they would end up shaking their heads and saying I should send it back. The last time I sent it in , I think 5th time, 2 at my expense, each time they said they found the problem. The last time they sent back somebody else's, it worked much better than mine ever did. Then they contacted me and said they had made a mistake and sent me the wrong one and I had to send it back. Being a good guy I sent it back, got mine back with the same problems. I have nothing good to say about LR and never will. I have endless things bad things to say but hope Garmin whips their ass. I wasted hundreds of $$$$'s of load development ammo on that piece of shit. They should have replaced it at least by the second time I sent it back.
I don't, but my Labradar V1 has worked well since day 1. Since the app connection issues were finally fixed, flawlessly. Much successful load development. All I had to do was aim it carefully.
So the LabRadar V1 was a quantum leap compared to optical chronys. Now they have the Labradar LX, which is the equal to the Garmin. Too little (no) too late (maybe)? Time will tell.
And if someone likes to have the smallest of the small, instead of just small enough, there's always the Andiscan V3.
My app (the reason I bought the LR) issues were never fixed. LR never responded to my inquiries about it either.
yeah that looks similar, covered roof with dividing walls.
my pro-chrono wouldn't get enough light to pick up the bullets crossing the sensors, and the labradar displayed some pretty high velocities.
I had a LR. I successfully collected a lot of chrono data with it and thought it was superior to mounting a MS on the barrel as, at the time, that was the leading competing product.
Got a Garmin and gave my LR to my cousin who I love dearly and I wouldn't do that with an complete turd product.
However, I have a very negative view of the LR company...really a division of Infineon who apparently make very high end commercial doppler systems for a great deal of money.
I have never used, seen, nor know anybody who has the new little LR unit. However, I was not/am not interested in it at all due to my very negative view of the company. It takes years to build a good reputation and solid customer relationships and perhaps they will recover over time. But at the present...fuck no.
My complaints about LR...the company...have been stated here many times before and are quite simple....they did NOTHING over years to fix bugs and upgrade their product. They rested on their laurels, felt that they didn't have any competition, and did essentially nada, zip, zilch. It struck me as a "fuck the customers, we are the only game in town" attitude. So now, its fuck LR.
As for their app...IMO, it still sucked with significant flaws. Yeah, it stays connected to Bluetooth but my experience is, for just one example, when you try to delete an errant shot (from an adjacent shooter) via the app, you end up locking up the app and sometimes the unit itself. I've had to reboot my iPhone and the LR unit at times. And while BT transport may remain up...what's with it losing active knowledge of your unit??
I have not had any CS interface with LR, but there have been many reports of their awful and cavalier attitude to customers with issues.
So IMO, LR has a LOT of demonstrating to do that they have changed their stripes before I'll buy anything from them again.
Got a Garmin and gave my LR to my cousin who I love dearly and I wouldn't do that with an complete turd product.
However, I have a very negative view of the LR company...really a division of Infineon who apparently make very high end commercial doppler systems for a great deal of money.
I have never used, seen, nor know anybody who has the new little LR unit. However, I was not/am not interested in it at all due to my very negative view of the company. It takes years to build a good reputation and solid customer relationships and perhaps they will recover over time. But at the present...fuck no.
My complaints about LR...the company...have been stated here many times before and are quite simple....they did NOTHING over years to fix bugs and upgrade their product. They rested on their laurels, felt that they didn't have any competition, and did essentially nada, zip, zilch. It struck me as a "fuck the customers, we are the only game in town" attitude. So now, its fuck LR.
As for their app...IMO, it still sucked with significant flaws. Yeah, it stays connected to Bluetooth but my experience is, for just one example, when you try to delete an errant shot (from an adjacent shooter) via the app, you end up locking up the app and sometimes the unit itself. I've had to reboot my iPhone and the LR unit at times. And while BT transport may remain up...what's with it losing active knowledge of your unit??
I have not had any CS interface with LR, but there have been many reports of their awful and cavalier attitude to customers with issues.
So IMO, LR has a LOT of demonstrating to do that they have changed their stripes before I'll buy anything from them again.
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“Day 1” Garmin owners should be coming up or have come up on a year of ownership this month. To date I haven’t had any issues or asked more from Garmin pertaining to the Xero. It gives me the info I need to load develop. The battery is still holding its charge and still giving me readings. Sending chrono data from device to phone is still lighting fast.
Anyone new to the Garmin that has the “only time will tell” mentality can put that aside now.
Anyone new to the Garmin that has the “only time will tell” mentality can put that aside now.
The app issues were slowly addressed, finally being fully fixed as of a couple of years ago.
With respect to customer service, I've heard lots of horror stories although the Canadian experience was pretty good. Labradar recently changed its US service partner, which should improve things.
Having said that, decades ago I drove a crappy Ford that really was 'fix or repair daily', and swore I'd never buy another one. So the negative responses here are understandable. But time moves on and living in the past isn't helpful so I'd buy a Ford today if the value was right.
Labradar certainly should have anticipated competition and upped it's game earlier than it did.
The LR app on my phone didn't work the day I sold the unit (this year). I give credit to LR for creating the personal radar chronigraph market. Their customer service and product support was trash though. LR should hire Garmin employees to fix their CS and product development.
And that's a shame, but it is the common experience.
I misspoke about "a couple of years...", it was Firmware Version 2.0 from September 2023.
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Infinition, not Infineon, but the rest of it - yeah, pretty much.
(I think Infineon makes semi-conductors, or something like that).
The Xero remains "all that & a bag of chips". Just buy it. While you're at it- I'd recommend also purchasing the Gray Ops bump cover & Cole-tac Xero case (pick your color). I'm sincerely not trying to come across as being a jerk but the Xero is and remains such a disrupter of everything we used to know about chronographs. It's going to be a good minute before it is unseated as 'king', really- buy you one, it's awesome and the absolute best option on the market if you're shopping for a chronograph. My NRL22 scores went up almost instantly after I bought mine last year.
-LD
-LD
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It's great (except for the incorrect SD calculations, not that big a deal for most people).
How is it significantly better than a Labradar LX or AndiScan A3?
This sounds like Dillon-speak
It's in Garmin's ecosystem, which means it works (unlike LR), it is supported (unlike LR), you can buy it, the company isn't a breath from going under or leaving the market, and the company responds when you have questions.
You'd have to be completely blind to reality to think LR or Andiscan is in the same league as Garmin.
Until and/or unless Garmin abandons the segment - not likely, but they have effectively abandoned my very-expensive "BMW" Navigator VI GPS. I had some questions for support regarding the app, and was told that it was old and unsupported. The GPS works great, the app... does a minimal set of functions once I figured out the quirks, routinely disconnects from the GPS (straightforward to reconnect, but not while wearing motorcycle gloves), and while active drops all other Bluetooth connections on the phone every few seconds. So I can't make a call through the car's Bluetooth system, or even the phone's own speakerphone, until the GPS is turned off.
And LR works just fine anyway.
LR has just announced a new support arrangement in the US: https: //www.facebook.com/mylabradar/posts/pfbid029GDq83Uc2R5fdWM9yXKfnrfF2AuX4w88noYoo9USvemZX66GJyVroiVxmC4BJu2al
And see my previous remarks about Garmin support. It cannot be taken for granted.
You can buy a LabRadar LX right now from Midway, free shipping (to continental US). I got mine as a demo unit from a Canadian dealer.
Infinition Inc is not going away. They have a decent credit score and very low "Business Failure Risk Score".
Could happen.
LR has responded by my questions (e.g., "will the Labradar LX produce track files to calculate BC with?", to which they replied "no", but soon the unit will calculate BC).
I disagree, at least as regards to the devices, pricing and overall utility, although of course Garmin Inc. is a behemoth ($5.23B US in 2023) if we are comparing corporate parent sizes.
You want really small and a bit less expensive? Andiscan V3. More rugged and maybe on-gun mounting? LabRadar LX. Each unit has a niche.
LabRadar warrantees the LX for gun-mount up to .308 Winchester. Garmin does not, to the best of my knowledge, warrantee the Xero C1 for gun mounting. So it's a reasonable position.
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