Labradar issues

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Ray
Minuteman
Jul 6, 2020
11
2
Alabama
#1
Hey guys, first post and looking for some direction.

I purchased a Labradar a couple of months ago and overall like it. It throws some erroneous MVs about 5% of the time, but I can back into them as the down range velocities seem to be fine. I probably only totally miss a shot on 1% of rounds.

The main problem I have is the SD card slot has not worked since I received it. The firmware came fully upgraded, I've tried 3 different cards (8gb, 8gb, 32gb), formated all of them, and still I only get the flashing blue light. I have been using internal memory as I thought I read it will hold 9,999 strings, but misread it as it is UP TO 9,999 strings, and it think that's with the SD card installed. Now, internal memory is full so I'm having to delete old strings.

Labradar says my slot is probably bad and wants me to send it in. They want me to pay for return shipping, and they'll turn it around in a day or two.

I use this thing every week, and would prefer to not be without it. Also, I don't want to pay for return shipping for a manufacturer defect on a newly purchased $600 chrono. I've read other users' accounts of sending in bad units and receiving a replacement, not repair, and getting a return label. I even offered to buy a new one if they'd take mine as a return once they got more units in stock.

Has anyone else had similar experience with Labradar customer service? Or the SD card issues?
 
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#2
The SD card issue I had, was in fact, me using one too large. Stuck an appropriately sized one in, and it worked perfectly.

As to return shipping costs; how much is the LR worth to you fully functioning? How new is this unit?

Heretofore, I've had nothing but good experiences with the LR CS. I thought I had damaged my LR (or another shooter had, to be exact), and they walked me through the trouble shooting process and made recommendations, before I sent it in, of things to do. Turned out the cable I was using for the battery was crap.

$20 return shipping seems like small potatoes for a $600 device...

JMTCW...
 
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#3
I've tried 3 different cards, all confirmed to be within the parameters of what should work. The unit is 6 weeks old. They didn't offer any further trouble shooting beyond what I had already done, just said that it needed to be sent in and the card reader slot was probably defective...this was over the phone and email.

My chief complaint is that I purchased a fully functional unit, but received a partially functioning unit, and they want me to pick up the shipping cost to make it work as it is supposed to, and I'll be without any unit for a couple of weeks.

My experience is totally opposite of what I expected and what I've heard other people describe.
 
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#4
It’s sad when businesses don’t stand behind their products. Labradar has had many growing pains since coming (the app still sucks) out and people have been understanding of those. I hope this makes people recondsider buying a labradar. The fact that you were willing to buy a new one and get a refund after sending yours in and them saying no is ridiculous. I will say this, for people looking for great customer service, magenetto speed is the best in the business.
 
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#6
Are all the cards you tried to use from the same manufacturer? If so, you might try a different manufacturer's card. With that said, I use a 4gb store-brand card I got at Best Buy with a digital camera a zillion years ago. It's never hiccuped even once.

I assume you're using an external battery pack? Just for giggles, try a different one. Weave a different USB/mini-HDMI cable into the test.

I'd also be communicating with LR via email, so everyone has a record of what has been said. If you purchased the unit new, and they're balking at helping with shipping, perhaps shipping the unit on your dime coupled with a pleasant phone conversation might net you prepaid return shipping. If I recall, LR is headquartered in Canada. If you do ship it back, and you do ship it to Canada, beware of USPS. I had a TriggerTech trigger (Canadian) sit for weeks in Chicago. Domestic USPS shipping can be a very cost- and time-efficient means of moving a parcel - just make sure send-receive points are both inside US border.
 
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#7
I'll try the other battery pack and cable tonight. That's a good idea, and probably try just AA batteries as well. Also, I have used 2 different brands of sd card, and I have a 3rd brand I'll try tonight.

More updates:

I've been emailing and calling all day with them, and have spoke with 2 different people there. I brought up again that I thought it was unreasonable that I should pay for the shipping, and he said that was beyond what the warranty requires. I ordered the unit May 30...

At one point, he yelled that they don't "have any damn Labradars so even if you had $5000 I couldn't send one!" So I offered that we could trade once he got one in, and "no" was the simple answer given.

One guy mentioned that most of the units that come back don't have anything wrong with them. They spend $30 on ammo and check them out then send them back. So I asked for some advice on mine, maybe something isn't wrong and I'm doing something wrong, but then he said I just need to send it back and they'll turn it around in a day or two.

This has all really been a surreal experience. They did finally offer a shipping label, so hopefully I'll get that soon.
 
#8
I suspect (like many vendors) the user paying return shipping is a policy to deter people abusing a generous return policy. As he said, they have to check every system that comes in, and that can eat up a lot of time and money on what may be a non issue or "user induced design flaw" (people not reading the manual, and trying to use the system incorrectly).

Try the different cables, cards and batteries first. It may make everyone's life easier if it ends up being one of those things.
 
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#9
Wow, I was able to use one on Friday and was really impressed with it. That customer service makes me a little gunshy to buy one.
 
#10
New update... I've tried 2 different cables, 2 different external batteries, tried internal AA batteries, confirmed the batteries only deliver 5v, and 8 different sd cards, all of which give me the flashing blue light. I've formatted everything fat32, but I'm going to try some different formats tonight to see how it shakes out.

Also, I reached out to a buddy of mine who has one of these units and his will not recognize the sd card either.
 
#11
Srs72857285 said:
New update... I've tried 2 different cables, 2 different external batteries, tried internal AA batteries, confirmed the batteries only deliver 5v, and 8 different sd cards, all of which give me the flashing blue light. I've formatted everything fat32, but I'm going to try some different formats tonight to see how it shakes out.

Also, I reached out to a buddy of mine who has one of these units and his will not recognize the sd card either.
Click to expand...
Have you tried his SD card?
 
#12
OhPees unit may be broke, but some people need to also see the business side of it. If the pay to have you ship it, then they pay for ammo to test, they pay an employee to analyze and fix then pay to return it, they are not making much money and cannot stay in business.

I used to be in engineering but now I'm in retail business. The last year has really opened my eyes on how much shipping actually costs a business. Hell you could pay out bonuses to most employees on what freight costs companies.

I see both sides.
 
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#14
@LSUbeatUby40 I see both sides as well, but there is a cost to doing business based on the market users and product quality. It seems to be a prevelant issue that people need to send them back in based on what the CS folks told me today, and often times there is nothing wrong with the unit, just user error. I all but begged for some troubleshooting advice today, and all I got was "send it in." I've got a lot of ideas from this thread today, though none have worked so far.

@Old_Longhair yep, tried that too. I'll not be insulted by the simple solution! I honestly think it is something simple. Maybe in the new firmware?

@MarinePMI I haven't tried his. Since his isn't working, I'd assume it won't work on mine either. Plus, he lives 4 hours away, lol.

I've now talked to 2 friends that have these units, both purchased in the last 90 days, that can't get the sd card to work. That's 3 for 3 for newish units straight from Labradar. I lean heavily towards firmware now.

I also have tried NFTS and exfat (and fat32 originally) formatting and they have not worked either. These are full formats, not quick formats.
 
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#20
@smoothy8500 they've not offered that information, or any other suggestions. The product manual says it has to be sd or sdhc and 32 gb or smaller, which is exactly what I've been trying. I have purchased one now that is exactly what they have listed on their website, a scandisk 16 gb, 48 mb/s sdhc card, just to see if it makes a difference. The ones I've been using include Scandisk brand, 2, 4, and 32 gb models.
 
#22
I'm sending mine back today for a different issue (arming error = bad board). It will be interesting to see if the currently functioning SD slot still works when it comes back, and whether or not they upgrade the firmware while they have it.
 
#23
I had to send mine back. Tom at Labradar helped me diagnose it over the phone, problem was the unit had to be very close to the muzzle to trigger.(Hard of hearing, in Toms words). I paid to ship it, they paid to ship it back. It was fixed and returned the same day. I spoke to two men at Labradar on two different calls and they were both courteous and helpful. This was last week, I got it back yesterday. It was supposed to be delivered last Friday, but I think the UPS driver wanted to start his holiday a little early, or he was just swamped. I had no problems with their customer service.

As far as O.P's problem is concerned, have you tried making sure the firmware is updated? Easy to do and was the first thing I did when I bought mine. Just to be sure.
 
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#24
I’ve been using this card since I got my Labradar with zero issues.

0D60EE51-4FB3-44C5-8C21-F4549EA2C503.jpeg
 
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#25
@Mad_Charlie the firmware is the most recent available.

@kimbergoldmatch and others that the sd card works for... How long have you had your unit? I'm finding that people who have newer units are the main ones having problems. It seems like units sold in the last few months have these issues. In short, I'd like to find someone that has a new unit, newest firmware, but doesn't have the problem.
 
#28
Got mine with high expectations. It's been hit or miss from the beginning.

What yardages did the group use in their setup? I did mine at 20 -40-60-80-100 , and with as precise an aim as I can direct at my 100 yard target, I still get a lot of missed shots. Sensitivity is currently at 4 ( I've used 1 and 5 with no better results ). Shooting suppressed most of the time.
I'm using a Greg Piet recoil trigger ( was trying avoid missed shots :oops: LOL ).

Any suggestions?
 
#29
this is the card I use. Works fine. https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Ultr...&psc=1&ref_=ppx_yo_mob_b_track_package_o0_img


sgtsmmiii said:
Got mine with high expectations. It's been hit or miss from the beginning.

What yardages did the group use in their setup? I did mine at 20 -40-60-80-100 , and with as precise an aim as I can direct at my 100 yard target, I still get a lot of missed shots. Sensitivity is currently at 4 ( I've used 1 and 5 with no better results ). Shooting suppressed most of the time.
I'm using a Greg Piet recoil trigger ( was trying avoid missed shots :oops: LOL ).

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

play with the aim. Move it a little and shoot. I can tell when my aim is right when I get speeds all the way to 100. Mines also set to 20-40-60-80-100. The more speeds I get, the better my aim is regardless of how well I aimed it by eye. I use a 4” piece of carbon arrow shaft to aim and that usually gets me at least 3 speeds on my distances. Mine likes to be a little more right than dead on to my eye.
 
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#30
sgtsmmiii said:
Got mine with high expectations. It's been hit or miss from the beginning.

What yardages did the group use in their setup? I did mine at 20 -40-60-80-100 , and with as precise an aim as I can direct at my 100 yard target, I still get a lot of missed shots. Sensitivity is currently at 4 ( I've used 1 and 5 with no better results ). Shooting suppressed most of the time.
I'm using a Greg Piet recoil trigger ( was trying avoid missed shots :oops: LOL ).

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
If you are shooting on anything but a wide-open-for-at-least-100-yards range, including 15-20 degrees off line of fire axis, and are getting a lot of missed shots, try the low-power setting.
 
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#31
@sgtsmmiii I almost always shoot suppressed. I set it to level 1 trigger, put the device about 6" in front and 4" to the side of the muzzle, set it to 6" offset, and I rarely have problems with pickup. I miss maybe 5 in 100 shots, and generally those are because I've bumped the aim of the device at some point. I've heard, like others have said, anything but wide open shots can cause problems... Like shooting down a tunnel or the like.

I have bigger problems with muzzle brakes than anything, but they're not terrible, and never my rifles!
 
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#33
Old_Longhair said:
I'm sending mine back today for a different issue (arming error = bad board). It will be interesting to see if the currently functioning SD slot still works when it comes back, and whether or not they upgrade the firmware while they have it.
Click to expand...
Same thing that I had to send mine back for. The CS guy said it was 1 in a million to do that. He said that he would just send me a new unit since mine was new and he did not.
 
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#34
This is a very enlightening thread. I don't own a LR but have free access to one owned by the membership at my club range. Hardly anyone uses it mainly because its really isn't very intuitive for a casual user. I've taken the opportunity to use and compare it to my Magnetospeed V3 every opportunity I get. I always have my personal power brick and cord available to power it and bought a modest memory 16 Gb SD card for my use as the club one does not have one. I can definitely relate to all problems folks have commented about and will be trying a few suggestions.
 
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#35
I've used both a labradar and magnetospeed and the labradar by far has given me issues almost every time I've used it. Everything from issues with using a battery pack to issues with a SD card. Now the magnetospeed has given me issues but its never a mixed bag like the Labradar.
 
#39
I set mine up with a cheap reflex red/green dot. co-witnessed with a large plastic speed square, makes aiming a piece of cake. I could of just used the speed square, but things move around sometimes and the dot sight makes it easy to check and adjust as necessary.
 
#40
Sounds like a faulty unit to me if you done everything suggested here, do not know what else you can try.

Just to make sure because I don’t think I saw it above(only saw you say it was shipped with the latest firmware version),what is the version on start up? It should say FW-A 1.2.4 and FW-B 1.0.0

Mind if I ask what you are doing that you use the labradar every week and can’t be without it for a few days or couple of weeks? Not saying anything against you, just wondering what and why out of curiosity.

I think we get spoiled in this community with great customer service from a lot of companies and when a company has normal/average customer service they get thrown under the bus. Not saying it is necessarily wrong/right, the companies that are providing great customer service are setting the bar for others and I’m pretty sure we have seen an uptick in the quality of customer service from other companies because of it.

So it is a good thing but at the same time we do have to realize not all companies are going to be able to provide customer service like Magneto Speed, Vortex and several other companies with great CS. Some companies are not designed to be able to afford customer service like that or do not think it would be beneficial cost wise to provide customer service like that, which those companies have to be willing live with that if they get a negative review because of it.

Just saying all of that because for me while it stinks to get a new unit and have to send it back because of a manufacturing defect it happens and I’ve had it happen before with other products and for me as long as they fixed it I was willing to pay shipping if they didn’t want to provide it. Some people aren’t happy with that and that’s there rightbut it is a pretty typical policy.
 
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#41
briscoetab said:
So it is a good thing but at the same time we do have to realize not all companies are going to be able to provide customer service like Magneto Speed, Vortex and several other companies with great CS. Some companies are not designed to be able to afford customer service like that or do not think it would be beneficial cost wise to provide customer service like that, which those companies have to be willing live with that if they get a negative review because of it.
Click to expand...

Are you serious? You are defending LR by saying "not designed to be able to afford customer service" even though they sell one of the most expensive products in the range? If I purchase something at the cost of a LR and it's accessories to provide a specific need and it fails prettty much right out of the box and get no support from their CS, have them tell me "it's defective mail it in at your cost". I'm done with them. I'll gladly give up a little functionality by going to a competitors product for stellar customer service.
 
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#42
briscoetab said:
Sounds like a faulty unit to me if you done everything suggested here, do not know what else you can try.

Just to make sure because I don’t think I saw it above(only saw you say it was shipped with the latest firmware version),what is the version on start up? It should say FW-A 1.2.4 and FW-B 1.0.0

Mind if I ask what you are doing that you use the labradar every week and can’t be without it for a few days or couple of weeks? Not saying anything against you, just wondering what and why out of curiosity.

I think we get spoiled in this community with great customer service from a lot of companies and when a company has normal/average customer service they get thrown under the bus. Not saying it is necessarily wrong/right, the companies that are providing great customer service are setting the bar for others and I’m pretty sure we have seen an uptick in the quality of customer service from other companies because of it.

So it is a good thing but at the same time we do have to realize not all companies are going to be able to provide customer service like Magneto Speed, Vortex and several other companies with great CS. Some companies are not designed to be able to afford customer service like that or do not think it would be beneficial cost wise to provide customer service like that, which those companies have to be willing live with that if they get a negative review because of it.

Just saying all of that because for me while it stinks to get a new unit and have to send it back because of a manufacturing defect it happens and I’ve had it happen before with other products and for me as long as they fixed it I was willing to pay shipping if they didn’t want to provide it. Some people aren’t happy with that and that’s there rightbut it is a pretty typical policy.
Click to expand...
sorry man... you missed the mark on this one.
 
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#43
Boxerglocker said:
Are you serious? You are defending LR by saying "not designed to be able to afford customer service" even though they sell one of the most expensive products in the range? If I purchase something at the cost of a LR and it's accessories to provide a specific need and it fails prettty much right out of the box and get no support from their CS, have them tell me "it's defective mail it in at your cost". I'm done with them. I'll gladly give up a little functionality by going to a competitors product for stellar customer service.
Click to expand...
Bsutton2010 said:
sorry man... you missed the mark on this one.
Click to expand...

I guess people like to read what they want? I actually said “companies may not be able to afford it or choose not to because they don’t see a benefit cost wise to do it”. Meaning they want to make a higher profit margin on the product. Which is fine with me but it may or may not cost them customers (which I think I said exactly that above) I was not defending them in anyway, I was giving a logical argument that there are many companies out there that have spoiled us and like I also said above have set a new standard for customer service (which is good).

Labradar is right on par with most companies as far as warranty returns it seems to me, many companies make you front the return cost then they pay for the shipping back if it was found defective. From what I have read and heard from other people the CS seems normal/average. I’ve only had one dealing with them and it was simply to answer a question and they did.

So from personal experience I have no way to“defend” them one way or another. Mine works and never had an issue with it reading an SD card or tracking bullets, that’s pretty much all I can say. I like it better than magnetospeed for what it does, not for customer service reasons.

I have bought items based on customer service, this was not one of them because customer service did not come into the equation. I based the purchase strictly off the product and what it could do. I bought my vortex scopes based off of customer service because there were a couple of scopes that were in same price range and had same feature but vortex had better customer service reputation.
 
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#44
Mad_Charlie said:
I set mine up with a cheap reflex red/green dot. co-witnessed with a large plastic speed square, makes aiming a piece of cake. I could of just used the speed square, but things move around sometimes and the dot sight makes it easy to check and adjust as necessary.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Would love to see a pic of it if you get a chance.
 
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