Monday, June 24, 2024

I promised, here's what I had a chance to try: the Garmin Xero C1

It's a portable doppler radar chronograph.  Which means no- well, let me list setting up my Chrony:
Make sure the range is cold.
Take the Chrony, which I'd already put on a camera tripod and put the sunshades on if needed, and take it out ten feet from the muzzle(approximately).
Align it with the bore.
Go back to the rifle and look through the sights.
Go back out and make adjustments(height, level, twist left or right)
Go back and check it again.
Usually curse and go do it again.  Maybe a couple of times.
That's if you want it where you can fire at a target and get the readings.  If all you want is velocity, can just set it up so you're shooting into the berm.
Don't forget to turn it on, and you can start shooting.

The procedure with this:
Take it out of the box.
Put it on the tripod.
Set it on the bench('5 to 15 inches to the side of the rifle, 5 to 15 inches back from the muzzle').
Turn it on, choose a couple of settings, then start shooting.  It'll give you the high and low velocities of the string, standard deviation, and will work on rifles, pistols, arrows, and pellets.

It saves the data so you can review it later, and it has an app you can download to work with it. 

Internal battery, comes with a recharging cable.  There's not a charger, instructions in the manual say
  1. Plug the large end of the USB cable into an external power source, such as an AC adapter or a USB port on your computer
so it will apparently work with any charger.  Yeah, I'll ask about that to be sure.  Battery life is two thousand shots or six hours continuous on. 

And it's TINY!  3x1.4x2.4", and weighs a whole 3.75 ounces; a hefty 5.7 ounces with the tripod, which is included.
I had about a half-hour messing with it on an indoor range, and I'm impressed.  I had a couple of lanes between myself and the next shooter and there was zero confusion with their shots.  I've read that if someone is close enough, like next lane, it may sometimes pick up their shots.  I may have to start saving up.  
Here's their site if you want all the specs
https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/771164

3 comments:

Sailorcurt said...

Hm. I'm pretty sure I paid about $80 for my Caldwell chrono. They're a little over $100 now, but I've had it for years and I think I got it on sale. Vs $600 for the Garmin?

You can get a cheap Chinese one for less than $50.

And my Caldwell plugs into my phone. There's an app that can record strings and calculate max/min/standard deviation etc.

So...yes, sounds very convenient for setup and probably more accurate than the Caldwell, but $500 worth?

Not for me.

I can buy a lot of bullets, powder and primers for $500.

Or a new gun.


Firehand said...

I think my old Caldwell was about $65, lo these years ago.

larryw208 said...

I bought one a couple months ago. Now I can chrony any shooting session at any time without the setup bullshit. Already solved one WTF mystery on my 338 Lapua throwing the occasional ($3) shot. Buddy wants to chrony his string? No problem, move it to the next bench. I want to hit what I shoot at and I don’t shoot short distances. Knowledge is key to competence.