This new Chronograph by Athlon looks pretty interesting for almost half the price of the Xero.
Precision Rifle Gear New Athlon Rangecraft Chronograph-Garmin Xero Killer?
- Thread starter Steel+Killer
- Start date
Damn. Looks like they just stole and copied the Xero with a few potential improvements. Thanks Chyna.
Six hour battery life seems short but I can't say I've left my Garmin on for six hours. Sounds great. That will seriously impact Garmin sales if it's readily available.
Well considering the Garmin is made in Taiwan they probably get their parts from the same place. I suppose they could have made it a triangle shape instead of a rectangle though.
They aren't even trying to hide that fact.
I wonder how the build quality is compared to the Garmin. All my Garmin gear is built very well.
Yeah, when I first saw the video, I thought he was holding a couple of Garmin units.
Probably hard to keep anything proprietary these days when everything is made in China and whoever is willing to pay more to put their label on it and change a few things around. I’m sure there’s no loyalty with China OEM manufacturers.
Probably hard to keep anything proprietary these days when everything is made in China and whoever is willing to pay more to put their label on it and change a few things around. I’m sure there’s no loyalty with China OEM manufacturers.
That’s why I don’t feel bad or give a shit when any company makes their products in China and someone else rips off their idea.
If they were made in the United States, I would pay extra and have some loyalty!
If they were made in the United States, I would pay extra and have some loyalty!
Garmin isn't going out of business and their app works every time.
The Garmin was a game changer a little more than a year ago but I said then that the industry took far too long to advance. I felt like the $600 price point was ridiculous (fortunately I paid a lot less) for what it was. But being the latest innovation with no competition, they could price how they wanted.
Then labradar came out with theirs at the same exact price-point. Market based pricing.
At $350 this makes more sense. If it performs like the Garmin, it will take a considerable amount of market share. Will Garmin hold fast or lower it’s price? Or maybe a Gen 2 with some cool features deserving of the higher price tag.
Great to see the market continuing to innovate and compete.
Then labradar came out with theirs at the same exact price-point. Market based pricing.
At $350 this makes more sense. If it performs like the Garmin, it will take a considerable amount of market share. Will Garmin hold fast or lower it’s price? Or maybe a Gen 2 with some cool features deserving of the higher price tag.
Great to see the market continuing to innovate and compete.
Options are good and if I can get one for $350 to my door I'll grab one. Paid $540 shipped for my Garmin and don't regret it one bit. Probably the single best $540 I've spent in shooting related gear.
Athlon Rangecraft Velocity Pro Radar Chronograph 707301
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The only company that is gonna suffer from this new product launch is Lab-radar. LabRadar better drop the price of their new unit to compete with Athlon not Garmin.
I really don't have the need for more than one chronograph I am very happy with the Xero it does what I need it to do for now, but if something was to happen to it, I would definitely look into the Rangecraft as a replacement.
This is totally going to be a Xero killer. Just like their tripods killed RRS, and their scopes killed Tangent. Athlon is a giant slayer.
Xero worth every penny, and shitons of Garmin stuff IS made in the USA. I'd rather support an American company that has plants and manufactures most of their stuff here than a an office building here with all their products made by our enemies.
Maybe after this ripoff Garmin's next product won't have it's origins in slave countries that don't respect our intellectual property laws.
Maybe after this ripoff Garmin's next product won't have it's origins in slave countries that don't respect our intellectual property laws.
I suppose we all have our own place in that spectrum of what we deem as an acceptable level of foreign made vs ripoff’s vs affordable alternatives vs what amount of slave labor we are willing to accept for whatever reasons that might be. For that reason I don’t see this hurting Garmin much. It might bring the cost of their chrono down some, but I don’t think that’s gonna hurt them any.
Despite whatever Jingoistic blather protectionists will offer, it's a totally undeniable fact, that competition from Chinese owned companies has been greatly responsible for USA consumers having access to much better technology/specs/features at lower prices for optics and shooting accessories than ever before.
Take especially the NV and Thermal market.
Most of the USA owned companies treated the average citizen like absolute garbage.
Then the Chinese companies came in and started offering way better for way cheaper.
Then suddenly USA owned companies kind of started being less nasty to the average USA citizen.
Take for example the rangefinder market.
I still remember the days long ago when the "big players" pretty much hated the average USA citizens and despised them.
Now we have options that get better all the time.
Competition both in price and features will in the end benefit the average freedom loving 2A supporting USA citizen far more than jingoism and protectionism ever would.
The oft maligned Holosun company has done more than any other company to force improvement in both features and price, in the small electro-optics space than anyone else.
Athlon, Arken and others are probably going to keep Vortex and such a bit on their toes to innovate and not have insane MSRPs.
Folks rag on DJI but the truth is they are responsible for the main push of USA consumers being able to have good quality affordable, feature packed remote controlled flying things.
American "patriots" are way to apt to be bowing down and worshiping big USA corporations who probably don't care much at all about them.
Take especially the NV and Thermal market.
Most of the USA owned companies treated the average citizen like absolute garbage.
Then the Chinese companies came in and started offering way better for way cheaper.
Then suddenly USA owned companies kind of started being less nasty to the average USA citizen.
Take for example the rangefinder market.
I still remember the days long ago when the "big players" pretty much hated the average USA citizens and despised them.
Now we have options that get better all the time.
Competition both in price and features will in the end benefit the average freedom loving 2A supporting USA citizen far more than jingoism and protectionism ever would.
The oft maligned Holosun company has done more than any other company to force improvement in both features and price, in the small electro-optics space than anyone else.
Athlon, Arken and others are probably going to keep Vortex and such a bit on their toes to innovate and not have insane MSRPs.
Folks rag on DJI but the truth is they are responsible for the main push of USA consumers being able to have good quality affordable, feature packed remote controlled flying things.
American "patriots" are way to apt to be bowing down and worshiping big USA corporations who probably don't care much at all about them.
Yep, the same principle applies to Holosun, etc. not completely tanking the sales of EoTech or Aimpoint. They ate into their sales somewhat I'm sure but they are still in business and selling plenty of EoTech HWS and Aimpoint red dots. The one good thing is Holosun is forcing the other companies to match their features and bring those features onto their products (things like multiple reticles, shake awake, etc.).
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The answer for Garmin is easy: Gen 2, Gen3 and beyond.
I doubt the price point coming down hurts Garmin at all. I would not doubt that they could lower their price point considerably to meet the competition.
This so-called new tech is aging fast. It’s already over a year old. Let Garmin lead the way in innovation.
Bring environmentals, downrange BC or who knows what. Have some meaningful accessories available. Have it hook directly to AB Quantum or to the Kestrel.
.
I doubt the price point coming down hurts Garmin at all. I would not doubt that they could lower their price point considerably to meet the competition.
This so-called new tech is aging fast. It’s already over a year old. Let Garmin lead the way in innovation.
Bring environmentals, downrange BC or who knows what. Have some meaningful accessories available. Have it hook directly to AB Quantum or to the Kestrel.
.
How much of the Athlon and the Garmin contain the same 3rd party components and boards?
Once the FCC type approval confidentiality period is over for both of these and internal specs and pictures are available maybe we will see similarities inside.
Millions of short range radars have been made for automobiles. That's where the tech came from.
Once the FCC type approval confidentiality period is over for both of these and internal specs and pictures are available maybe we will see similarities inside.
Millions of short range radars have been made for automobiles. That's where the tech came from.
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If this forces more things to be made here (more manufacturing jobs and tax revenue for states) and our economy to become less dependent on other countries like China, etc. then I'm all for it. Allowing domestic energy production to pick back up will put enormous downward pressure on prices more than offsetting any impact from the tariffs. Energy prices are the blood that economies run on.
This is the same thing Trump did the last time he was in office. Take the wet blanket off the economy by harvesting the enormous energy reserves our country has, put taxes on foreign goods to help protect American companies, etc....and we had one of the best economies we've seen in a long time.
I don’t think anyone is saying that either. Taiwan might not be the slave labor capital of the world but it sure aint at zero either. And I would venture to say they get a lot of their parts from China. So it’s all in how much is acceptable to you. Is some ok to a point or is it all bad regardless? Where is that line drawn? And if you draw that line for your shooting gear do you also use it for other things like phones and tv’s and other daily accessories or do you move that line for those things?
I’m not ragging on you for your choices in this matter but offering a perspective on it. None of it is so cut and dry I don’t think.
Good point, but you are mostly citing DOD contractors offering their stuff to civilians, and that's a different thing than a consumer company like Garmin. I never saw a Garmin anything in the Military. Most of our electornics said Raytheon on the side, and you just couldn't buy them.
Thirty years later a GPS does thousands of times more than a WRN-5, that was the size of a shoe box and cost $50Gs, and it fits in your pocket. It's not the features or even cost I'm even concerned with, it's the outright stealing of the patents. It's no different than taking the profit motive away from Big Pharma. They're not going to spend millions to innovate if their discoveries are stolen as soon as the first units ship. That's the problem.
I agree. The company I work for does all of our manufacturing in Taiwan. Almost every competitor is in China. Our product quality is much higher, their prices are cheaper. I don't know if there are any parts that we source from China for the manufacturing but I tend to think it is minimal, but I will ask next time I get a chance.
Mainly my point is there are a lot of people that think that Taiwan is the same as China politically (yes, there are a lot that do, I see them post all the time, saying things like "why do you think they use ROC (Republic of China) in the name of their country?". That was more my point. IMHO they are a much greater ally to us than to China and shouldn't be confused with equating products made in Taiwan with products made in China.
Typically when I have a choice I try to purchase products not made in China.
Except have you looked into pricing?
How come the same exact companies sell the same exact drugs in foreign countries for a fraction of what they sell them for here?
Why does the average USA citizen need to go bankrupt so big Pharma can make endless profits and take over and bully the governments?
Yeah, the Holosun booth was jam packed all week here at SHOT…as were many other OCONUS mfg’s booths. Most consumers don’t give a f’ck
Big pharma can eat a rancid bag of dicks. They are murderers and liars.
Not saying there aren’t egregious excesses, but it is not the cost of making the medication in materials and labor that makes it expensive. It’s the thousand they developed that did not work or caused more harm than good.
It’s no different but on a much more massive scale. We develop everything and figure it out on our dime, they steal it, pay nothing to develop it, and on top of that use slave labor.
My point wasn’t Big Pharma good, it was that if our companies can’t profit from their inventions and discoveries, but some Chinese thief can, there is no reason to make them and it all stops.
Think about it.
Once the patent runs out, I think 20 years on drugs, it’s fair game. It’s the thieves who break the rules that are destroying us.
Garmin HQ is in Switzerland and I own a lot of Garmin shit and it’s all made in Taiwan.
Athlon is a US company with manufacturing in China and Japan.
At least try knowing WTF you’re talking about if you’re going to go down that road…
A used to be 'competitor' , now runing under 3 or 4th Brand still same ol.
While speedtracker predates Xero somewhat it aged poorly , but now built in Texas , 599$ for a unit that has trouble seing past a suppresor
*i have to admit i got one of the first units when it came to market in 2022
While speedtracker predates Xero somewhat it aged poorly , but now built in Texas , 599$ for a unit that has trouble seing past a suppresor
*i have to admit i got one of the first units when it came to market in 2022
Speedtracker M4+ BUILT in Texas WITH Parabolic Adapter
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You don’t either. You just went and gave an example of looking up/regurgitating whatever confirmed your bias. Not the full detail.
You’re both right.
Garmin is a global company now with Garmin Ltd being located in Switzerland. Which is a parent company of Garmin. Confusing to some probably.
They are, and began as an American company founded in Kansas in 1989 where its operational headquarters is currently still located to this day.
They have three manufacturing facilities in Taiwan, one in China and two in the U.S.
If you need to “check the facts” then by all means. It’s not hard to find with a simple interweb search. They aren’t hiding the ball.
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Honestly, they might be able to get away with firmware updates for a lot of things.
Now it’s not a feature that I personally care about or use, but right off the bat, if they were to add a update for BC, it would pretty much be the end of the Labradar LX I would imagine.
If either company can work with AB to get this data automatically sent to AB Quantum it would be fantastic.
My #1 wish list would be environmentals either native or ported in from the Kestrel.
#2 would be to pause, reopen or merge sessions.
Your number 2 is my number 1 feature I would like to see.
I implored them to add a reopen or resume previous session. They said it’s a bit more complicated that just adding a feature. Could be done via firmware but not something they’d do for a long while. Idk anything about how implementing something like that is done or what it takes but yea. A little disappointing. Features are pretty much exactly like my Garmin. The plastic housing isn’t as nice and buttons feel a little cheaper. Obviously not the same price point. Also a little bigger than a Garmin. And the tripod is a little cheaper feeling. Do with that what you like.
“Thank goodness this is less expensive than the Garmin, as I came into this sport to be frugal.”
-Nobody Ever
-Nobody Ever
