Spoken like a true EE. Thanks.
Caldwell Velociradar
- Thread starter dhagerty40
- Start date
How long before manufacturers drop the 24ghz units in favor of the 60ghz units?
As technology moves along making 60ghz (or higher) radars for several applications, not just sporting radars, will become more profitable.
Getting FFC approval will get easier as more and more chips and antenna arrays hit the market.
Will the 24ghz units be left high and dry without support?
As technology moves along making 60ghz (or higher) radars for several applications, not just sporting radars, will become more profitable.
Getting FFC approval will get easier as more and more chips and antenna arrays hit the market.
Will the 24ghz units be left high and dry without support?
Nvcnvc
Gold $$ Contributor
I have a Garmin and shot over 1000 rounds so far. It has recorded everyone. With the Labrador before the trigger it used to miss one in every 5 or 6. After the trigger installation it still missed one in 15 20. Worthless in my opinion. Garmin is the industry standard for aviation electronics and other radar instruments. They are the best and most reliable.
nakneker
Gold $$ Contributor
Garmin crossed the finish line first, R&D win for them. The Caldwell sounds like a decent unit but I’ve already bought the Garmin, sold the LR and I’m satisfied with the little Garmin. I’d try the Caldwell if I wasn’t happy, I do like the BC feature on the Caldwell if it’s accurate, not a required feature for me though.
I'd like to see downrange data from the Caldwell.
Just how well does it work in real life?
How does the acoustic trigger work in tight shooting lines, with nearby breaks?
Just how well does it work in real life?
How does the acoustic trigger work in tight shooting lines, with nearby breaks?
Old units will be left without support. We have been a "throw away and replace" economy for decades.
It's called planned obsolescence. 
Man, talk about user friendly. The Garmin is like Christmas every time I use it.
mike mccormick
Silver $$ Contributor
Labradar was never really supported. If you needed assistance from them, it was pretty much nonexistent. That's why they can stuff their new one.
This is my review after the first 2 sessions with Velociradar.
We have several known and well tested projectiles with very good BC data.
We took this to the range and as another has said, the microphone would pick up other peoples shots, but the recoil jack did work. It's not too inconvenient to use wrapped around the magazine.
We noted, next to a Garmin most of the shots were within a few feet per second WHEN IT ACTUALLY READ. Which at this stage is only about 75% of shots.
The BC data is wild and often no where near what the actual projectile BC is, which means we cannot trust the BC data at this stage.
We had several erroneous readings at say 500 feet per second.
I believe this affects the dope chart which also gives non-sensical reading.
Even with poor signal it appears to read an OK MV... most of the time.
However we bought this due to it's BC feature for projectile geometry test, and so far it has been abysmal.
I don't think this system works well at a ranges where you shoot over target boards or berms which must bounce back signals that interfere, which is unfortunately 90% of ranges world wide. We found aiming it slightly high helped this to a small degree.
It's my opinion this unit MAY work on open, flat terrain but we are yet to test that. I will update my review as more testing is complete.
As for now, if you are just interested in MV, there is a better more reliable choice out there right now, and there are 2 products which are far more reliable that tracks bullets to 300 meters, and is far more trust worthy. One particular projectile we know after 2000 rounds of testing is 0.39 G1, almost right on the money, the Caldwell reads it from between 0.119 G1 and 0.40 G1. Does it do what it says on the box? NO! I'd return it at this stage and may look into my options for doing that at this stage.
Further updates to come.
Right now you'd be better off putting your garmin 100 meters down range and shooting over it (or 200 etc) and then calculating your BC. It's a proven method now and will work better than the Caldwell in 100% of cases. Thinking of sending mine back, but wont until we do open air testing.
We have several known and well tested projectiles with very good BC data.
We took this to the range and as another has said, the microphone would pick up other peoples shots, but the recoil jack did work. It's not too inconvenient to use wrapped around the magazine.
We noted, next to a Garmin most of the shots were within a few feet per second WHEN IT ACTUALLY READ. Which at this stage is only about 75% of shots.
The BC data is wild and often no where near what the actual projectile BC is, which means we cannot trust the BC data at this stage.
We had several erroneous readings at say 500 feet per second.
I believe this affects the dope chart which also gives non-sensical reading.
Even with poor signal it appears to read an OK MV... most of the time.
However we bought this due to it's BC feature for projectile geometry test, and so far it has been abysmal.
I don't think this system works well at a ranges where you shoot over target boards or berms which must bounce back signals that interfere, which is unfortunately 90% of ranges world wide. We found aiming it slightly high helped this to a small degree.
It's my opinion this unit MAY work on open, flat terrain but we are yet to test that. I will update my review as more testing is complete.
As for now, if you are just interested in MV, there is a better more reliable choice out there right now, and there are 2 products which are far more reliable that tracks bullets to 300 meters, and is far more trust worthy. One particular projectile we know after 2000 rounds of testing is 0.39 G1, almost right on the money, the Caldwell reads it from between 0.119 G1 and 0.40 G1. Does it do what it says on the box? NO! I'd return it at this stage and may look into my options for doing that at this stage.
Further updates to come.
Right now you'd be better off putting your garmin 100 meters down range and shooting over it (or 200 etc) and then calculating your BC. It's a proven method now and will work better than the Caldwell in 100% of cases. Thinking of sending mine back, but wont until we do open air testing.
SEM
Gold $$ Contributor
I know why.. But can not figure out the mentality behind releasing something NOT proven. There can only be so much profit built in to cover warranty or replacement costs, I do warranty repairs for several manufactures I am puzzled how they manage. But grateful for the work
jghoghunter
Gold $$ Contributor
This is exactly what I expected from Caldwell, too bad! I was hoping to be wrong. For reference I bought the original Labradar when it first came out. Mine worked great with absolutely no problems, loved it all except for its size. 2 weeks after they started shipping the new LX mine quit working probably due to a power issue with a new battery pack I bought. Talked to customer service about what was going on and he hooked me up with the new LX and it has worked perfectly, probably shot close to 700 rnds over it.
I don't know what use 100 yd velocity would do for me (wife and I shoot prone 600yd for now).
I adjust my dope on target. Initial velocity is useful for load development, and monitoring our reloading process.
Here's some points to consider:
Clear path to "see" bullet. With the Garmin (and probably the LX) ground clutter from shooting prone for a few yards since the BEAM has some vertical beam width, and big target boards for 20 yds might cause inaccurate readings. Aiming for SHORT range is a lot less critical than aiming for 100 yds.
With the larger units with large antenna arrays beam width is less making pointing an issue.
Trying to get out to 100yds, prone might be a problem with ground reflections or target boards.
Bench shooting would help with ground reflections. If you think a radar unit will "SEE" a bullet @ 100yds when shooting at a large 100yd target (or barn) you are wrong.
Bullet in beam Vs acoustic will obviously eliminate most adjacent lane triggers.
Kinetic sensors include barrel time in the calculation but eliminate most false triggers.
The more complicated the SETUP, the more likely users will get it wrong and have problems.
The original LR looked like a committee put it together.
Yes the Garmin works. It's simple to use, gives velocity (close to the muzzle), users can pack it around.
I adjust my dope on target. Initial velocity is useful for load development, and monitoring our reloading process.
Here's some points to consider:
Clear path to "see" bullet. With the Garmin (and probably the LX) ground clutter from shooting prone for a few yards since the BEAM has some vertical beam width, and big target boards for 20 yds might cause inaccurate readings. Aiming for SHORT range is a lot less critical than aiming for 100 yds.
With the larger units with large antenna arrays beam width is less making pointing an issue.
Trying to get out to 100yds, prone might be a problem with ground reflections or target boards.
Bench shooting would help with ground reflections. If you think a radar unit will "SEE" a bullet @ 100yds when shooting at a large 100yd target (or barn) you are wrong.
Bullet in beam Vs acoustic will obviously eliminate most adjacent lane triggers.
Kinetic sensors include barrel time in the calculation but eliminate most false triggers.
The more complicated the SETUP, the more likely users will get it wrong and have problems.
The original LR looked like a committee put it together.
Yes the Garmin works. It's simple to use, gives velocity (close to the muzzle), users can pack it around.
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Not to sound disrespectful (genuinely.) but I had a great deal of trouble reading and understanding your post.
Just to re-iterate we did in fact shoot it at a 500 meter target at a significant incline off a bench to check BC with a completely clear line of sight/flight with no interference from anything and it still gave whacky readings.
I was really hoping for more but right now, very disappointed.
Probably going to send it back and ask for a refund.
Did more testing today.
Absolutely abysmal. Missed shots. Wild readings. We had 2 shots out of about 100 that read 2 bars on the signal quality bars. The rest of the shots didn’t read, were weak signal or just total garbage. At 100 meters across a range and even pointing up, completely unrestricted at the 500 meter target we got jack and Ships.
Absolutely abysmal. Missed shots. Wild readings. We had 2 shots out of about 100 that read 2 bars on the signal quality bars. The rest of the shots didn’t read, were weak signal or just total garbage. At 100 meters across a range and even pointing up, completely unrestricted at the 500 meter target we got jack and Ships.
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