LABRADAR PROS AND CONS

[Shinbone]

. . . . This is especially bad with my unit, because it won't seem to pick up the acoustic signal of a shot unless it placed about 2" to 3" in front of the muzzle, and about 6" off to the side, regardless of how the acoustic trigger is set/adjusted. . . .

This is similar to the symptom I experienced, which resulted in Labradar replacing the trigger microphones in my unit.

 

[Ned Ludd]

This is similar to the symptom I experienced, which resulted in Labradar replacing the trigger microphones in my unit.

I considered that, and spoke with them about it. I just decided I didn't want to deal with having to send it back as it is useable the way it is. Replacing the internal acoustic sensor with either an external kinetic or acoustic trigger ought to do the trick, and I might have done that anyhow.

 

[Big Bo]

Love my LR. Was carrying it in a backpack, went to a Plano case for the protection. I also carry the tripod in the Plano along with the external battery.

 

[nmkid]

'cos there's no one else around!

There were 19 other shooters at my 100 yard range on Sunday, many blasting away with semi-autos. An acoustic trigger would have been impossible to use. (Next to me I had 4 guys, LE, all trying to sight in one gun. It was freakin' mayhem.)

I'm retired so I have the benefit of going shooting Mon.-Fri. thus avoiding the scene you described.

 

[PatMiles]

I'm retired

Best damn job you'll ever have!

 

[mjl650]

I'm retired so I have the benefit of going shooting Mon.-Fri. thus avoiding the scene you described.

Yup, love it when I have the range all to myself for a couple of hours in the early morning.

 

[JBO]

There are no Cons if you are using the Bluetooth interface.

I have owned them all and now it is just the LabRadar...

Exactly!

 

[DR_2297]

I store mine in a harbor freight hard case.

mine would not trigger worth a darn until I purchased an external inertia trigger - now it is 100% reliable.

3D print the picatinny rail section that attaches over the poor excuse for an aiming notch and get yourself a cheap QD red dot. Aiming made simple.

 

[243Mendoza]

even with an external trigger, the unit may have problems picking up a 223 bullet in its beam.

 

[Shinbone]

My Labrador tracks .22 cal flat base bullets quite well. The first photo is from Berger 52 gn FB Target bullets in a .22-250. As indicated on the screen, the unit "sees" these .22 bullets past 50 yards, which provides enough data points to calculate an accurate velocity. BTW, 3924 fps is the fastest velocity my Labrador has ever measured, which is why I took the photo.

Haven't tried it with boat tail .22 bullets, which are harder to follow due to their still smaller base.




Properly aiming the device does become critical with these small bullets. The old scope mounted on top of the Labradar ensures the main lobe of the radar beam is directed right along the bullet path to maximize the return signal. (I did some testing to determine the direction of the beam relative to the scope's cross hairs, and that configuration is easy to repeat.) With this setup, I can track .30 cal bullets past 100 yards.

 

[Ccrider]

Will not track much over 3900 fps.

 

[skeeljc]

Note on triggering: I will bet that the external trigger disconnects the internal acoustic microphones. Other wise you could still get false acoustic triggering.

The Doppler trigger setting is not to be used with firearms. The doppler trigger trips when a projectile enters the radar cone. It is used for large diameter objects like maybe paintballs.

 

[skeeljc]

I used my Labradar for the first time today. Here are my comments:

Pro: It works. It did not miss a shot in 60 shots fired (.223 Rem bolt gun).
Pro: The APP is very convenient even if it is a bit hard to navigate.
Pro: Aiming it is not critical.
Pro: It works 6" behind the muzzle.
Pro: The built in trigger(microphones) work well

Con: The APP looses bluetooth connection a lot.
Con: The external trigger causes lots of false readings.
Con: It did not record any readings beyond 50 yards

Overall I am very pleased with it. It is simple to set up. I used the APP to arm/disarm it and to review the data and delete any extraneous readings. I believe my problem with the external trigger has to do with cycling the bolt on my Remington 700. I used the internal microphones for the last five shots and it only recorded my shots. I am not going to use the external trigger next time.

 

[DR_2297]

even with an external trigger, the unit may have problems picking up a 223 bullet in its beam.

90% of what I shoot is heavy .224 bullets. No issues ever and generally track out to 75 yards.

 

[skeeljc]

90% of what I shoot is heavy .224 bullets. No issues ever and generally track out to 75 yards.

I was shooting FB 52 grain target bullets. It did track all 60 shots out to 50 yards.

 

[zivadaddy]

Pros:
Allows you to chronograph every shot, without causing any issues with barrel harmonics.
Very easy to deploy & run multiple rifles over it.
Within ~1-3 FPS of my Magneto Speed every time I've measured against it.
Allows you to extrapolate BC of bullets, because it tracks most out 50-100 yards.

Cons:
Interface is clunky, non-intuitive, and slow to respond.
Internal AA battery life is horrible; everyone is using USB battery packs with them.
Will require some ramp time to use... nobody is powering a LR on out of the box and using it seamlessly without an instruction manual.
Can trigger off other rifles at crowded ranges.
Will require some experience before you can get it to "work like it should" all the time.
Aiming the unit can be a PITA in some circumstances.
You gotta take care of them; I've read reports of them being fragile, and I had to send mine back because it got knocked out of calibration.

For a lot of people it's the best chronograph on the market (myself included), but it's going to take some time & effort on your end to learn how to use it, and how to deploy it correctly.

Once you get that down, they're freaking amazing.

Edit: You'll also want these accessories.
A carrying case of some kind, either from LR themselves or a Pelican etc.
A base plate, either from Lab Radar or someone like Arko machining.
An external USB battery (this is a requirement, these things don't run for very long off internal batteries).
Recoil/Inertia trigger - Triggers off recoil of the rifle vs. sound...invaluable if you're shooting on public ranges.

I’ll add to this. I’m using a ballistic military laptop backpack. Storage for everything LabRadar related. The external trigger is the bomb if you’re having issues with reads without it. When you get an external battery pack, buy one that also charges from the sun, you’ll never run out of juice. With an external pack put the timers on max settings.