Chargemaster 1500/ Frankford Arsenal Intellidroper Comparison

[SketchyNate]

I had the new Intellidropper ordered a few days before Ultimate reloaders review of it came out. I didn't have high expectations for any product Frankford Arsenal put out and seriously considered cancelling it after seeing how badly the scale preformed in Gavin's video. I figured id give it a try for $200 and I'm glad I did. Once I got it set up I was pretty impressed with how well it worked, I didn't have any of the drift or problems returning to zero that Gavin did. It charged fast IMO and the overcharges were minimal. I decided to pick up a brand new Chargemaster 1500 and put the Frankford Arsenal up against what has been the gold standard. I shot a short video checking both scales with some test weights and weighing some charges of varget side by side (this is the first time I have ever attempted to record a product review and ill admit I'm no Martin Scorsese but i think it shows the information that i intended it to). Here is the youtube link chargemaster1500/ Intellidropper comparison. After I reprogrammed and added a straw to the RCBS I timed 10 charges on each machine, the RCBS averaged 19.39 seconds with 2 overcharges and the F.A. averaged 19.65 seconds also with 2 overcharges. As for dispense time the F.A. is quit a bit faster but the charge time are so close because the F.A. takes about 2-3 seconds to return to zero and stabilize once you hit start or replace the pan in auto mode. I will also add that i was very surprised that the F.A. ran over 20% of the time during this test, I ran a few hundred charges out over a couple days and would estimate that it was dead on a minimum of 95% of the time. Another nice addition to the F.A. is when it does overcharge the beep at the end is noticeably different and it flashes "overcharge" on the screen. There is a trickle button in the event you have an undercharge. The powder hopper is interchangeable between the two so if you wanted to use the Dram Work Pyrex hoppers it would be an option. The scale on the F.A. is a lot more sensitive (weather that's good or bad I am still undecided), it takes significantly longer to return to zero and stabilize than the RCBS does and although i didn't experience any drift or not returning to zero while i was using it i did leave it powered on for 3 days and several times i re-zeroed it due to reading +.2 or -.2 grains. I'm not sure if it is the scales fault or where its located, my bench is in my garage which has quite a bit of temp. fluctuation, a garage door opener, led, halogen, and incandescent light turned on and off during this time. The F.A. also has a powder calibration step which I ran, I'm not sure if it actually sped things up or increased accuracy as I did no testing before i ran the calibration. The F.A. also has an app, I turned it on to see if it easily connected and it did. It looks like you can fully operate the scale from your phone, how that is helpful I'm not sure but you can save powder charges with full load data which does seem convenient. I did pay full retail for both of these dispensers and after playing around for a few days I think I'll hold on to the Intellidropper and see if it holds up long term. Let me know if you have tried one of the Intellidroppers out, I am curious if I was lucky and got a good one or if the the Ultimate Reloader demo model is an isolated dud.

 

[AznTactical]

thanks for the input. I almost bought one from Cabela's on Saturday and I still may since I have a Cabela's Visa promotion that I have to use.

 

[Cascade Hemi]

How does the Intellidropper handle H4831? Has anyone measured the Intellidropper throws on an FXD or other lab scale?