I was thinking about a letter to Santa, it would fit in a Christmas Stocking!
Why so many people selling their LabRadars?
- Thread starter saltonman
- Start date
Turbulent Turtle
F-TR competitor
I'm reading the comments here about the Labradar, (I do not own one, I've been using an MS V3 for quite a while now) and I went to the manufacturer's site. It;s Infinition and they are located in Trois-Rivieres, QC, Canada. They have been in business since 1996 and they do Doppler radars, lots of them. It appears that the Labradar is the only consumer-type product they offer, all other products are for defense industry purposes.
They do mention the LabRadar and they have a few links to the latest specs and software, unfortunately these are dated 2018, 5 years ago.
Speculation warning: I can't help but think that the Labradar device was someone's pet project at Infinition and they sloughed it off to a distributor so as to not be distracted by supporting a consumer product. Of course, I could be totally off-base here.
Anyway, Garmin has a huge catalog of electronic consumer products and the Xero would be just another such product. They know how to support consumer products.
They do mention the LabRadar and they have a few links to the latest specs and software, unfortunately these are dated 2018, 5 years ago.
Speculation warning: I can't help but think that the Labradar device was someone's pet project at Infinition and they sloughed it off to a distributor so as to not be distracted by supporting a consumer product. Of course, I could be totally off-base here.
Anyway, Garmin has a huge catalog of electronic consumer products and the Xero would be just another such product. They know how to support consumer products.
Hmm, I might be interested in one of these. we still have an old Chrony, which we haven't used in a while because it is a hassle to set up and really need two people to do so.Xero® C1 Pro Chronograph
www.garmin.com
I have been mostly doing rimfire lately where a chrono is of limited use. This is offtopic here so apologies but since there seem to be more chrono users here than on the rimfire forums. Just a quick question - Can anyone think of any way a chrono could help in rimfire competition? Only thing I can think of is checking sorted ammo to see if the velocity correlates with flyer vs weight, rim thickness etc. Just curious and again apologies for the side track
was just thinking the ones who should really be losing sleep over this Garman are the manufacturers of the Andiscan, FX, and Bullet Seeker. The big draw was the reduced size and updated functionality compared to the Labradar but with a hefty increase in price. Garman was smart in pricing their unit right with the LR
Anyone want to bet they will have a price drop soon or simply disappear from the market. There is simply no reason to buy any of the other Doppler units now. If I already owned one now I would certainly keep using it but for the old optical owners like myself I know which unit I will be buying when I switch to Doppler
Anyone want to bet they will have a price drop soon or simply disappear from the market. There is simply no reason to buy any of the other Doppler units now. If I already owned one now I would certainly keep using it but for the old optical owners like myself I know which unit I will be buying when I switch to Doppler
Denys, I don't like the reliability of the LR but I absolutely love Trois-Rivieres. Circuit Gilles Villeneuve was one of the favorite tracks on the racing series my son competed in. Brings back fond memories. He won the Grand Prix du Trois-Rivieres twice:
Turbulent Turtle
F-TR competitor
I always figured the large, flat shape of the Laradar was due to it needing a larger antenna. And, the antenna was large because of the low frequency and low transmit power level the Labradar worked at, both of which would require a larger antenna. My guess is that Garmin came up with a doppler radar circuit that works at a higher frequency, and so the antenna can be much smaller.
I've had a Labradar for about 4 years. I am very happy with it. Once I got over the initial learning curve, it rarely misses a shot. While there were many improvements I wished for, the only feature of the Labradar that I really wanted upgraded was its maximum velocity limit of 3900fps. My 22-250 easily exceeds that velocity. My .300WSM shooting 120 gn bullets comes closes to bumping up against that limit, which means if I drop down further in bullet weight, the Labradar won't be able to measure bullet velocity. Uhg. The Garmin unit's maximum velocity is 5000fps, so I'll be getting one once the early adopters prove its reliability.
And, there is pretty much no way Labradar will recover from this set back. They have sat on their laurels for about 8 years while everyone begged for an upgraded model. Now that a bigger company has come out with something better at the same price point, almost everyone will shift to it. Labradar is now so far behind the technology curve, they'll never muster the energy to catch up and compete. The number of Labradars suddenly flooding the used market is proof of just how far Labradar fell behind. There's a saying in the tech world: "Your technology will soon be made obsolete, the only question is whether you or your competitor will do it." Labradar chose to let a competitor do it.
JMHO.
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I absolutely hope this crono works outstanding.... I like my Labradar but have to admit it's to big and that scares me because it acts like a sail and when the winds blowing I am scared it will tip over.... It would be nice to have a smaller crono that would work... Unfortunately if a spend another $600 on one I am pretty sure my wife will be me with a cast iron skillet....Hmmm??? I've been using Garmin GPS's for about 20 years and they all have had no problems or issues. My most recent Garmin GPS that I've had for 4 yrs now also has a dashcam and a backup camera that connects wirelessly and all it's feature have worked great. I expect the Garmin Zero that'll be arriving in a couple days will perform as expected. But of course, there's always those outliers that happen and cause some people to sour on the company.
Maybe it wasn't a Garmin I had sooo many problems with there was two major brands and one was very good and the other not so much... I looked online right fast and since covid alot of companies no longer exist... My new truck just uses my phone and displays it on the dash so you no longer need a dash mounted gps....
I was able to read it. Trying to create an account from my laptop, the site redirected me to the subscription page every time. Trying from my phone, I was able to sign up and read the article. Odd
I’ve had my LabRadar for at least 5 years. I have accepted the issues discussed anytime the product comes up in discussion. If a better product is in the works I would probably buy it AFTER I see it operate. I have added the better base, trigger mike, a hard foamed case. I keep a wood baffle for big bore guns at the range. I created a new “short version” check/setup list/instruction. I suspect when a better system is in use the LabRadar will plummet in resell value. Wish I had booked SHOT to have a look -see what new speedometers are out there. Hope someone going brings us a report.
I’m only 75 and mine was delivered yesterday!
rijndael
Silver $$ Contributor
It was pretty rare to see sales on Lab Radar units ... that seems to have changed.
From https://www.anarchyoutdoors.com/labradar-1/
From https://www.anarchyoutdoors.com/labradar-1/
I will be surprised if they are still on the market in 2025, or at least the old version. They may come out with a new model. I do expect to see other doppler-based units offered in 2024 by N American based companies such as Caldwell and CE as alternative choices.
I would buy one of the Garmins if I was still active in F class but chronoing is pretty useless in rimfire benchrest. Rimfire ammo either has flyers or it doesn't
joshb
Gold $$ Contributor
I think they’re going to dump as many of them as fast as they can!
rijndael
Silver $$ Contributor
Yup, got to catch the people who've missed the Garmin release. No one wants unsalable inventory. At least it's not like BudLite where it has a product expiration date.
rwj
Gold $$ Contributor
Labradar’s business plan may not have included making upgrades. It could be that it was limited to developing/marketing a novel product, recover related costs, and make a reasonable profit.
Larry Koch
Silver $$ Contributor
It could be that they have enough cash and was riding it out. Small company turbulence. Wives, daughters, girl fiend.
Garmin should be able to sell it much cheaper as the market gets saturated with Chornographs of all types.
Garmin should be able to sell it much cheaper as the market gets saturated with Chornographs of all types.
you know, a tuner.... like to add weight to the nose of a paper airplane..
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