Athlon chronograph

[J_idaho]

Do any of them calculate BC other than velocaradar? It would be very useful with my archery stuff.

 

[boltfluter]

Most things with the name Caldwell on them are entry level at best. Their pricing makes no sense to me, when you are up against a Garmin quality unit. Won't take long for the raptor to go extinct! Lol.
Paul

 

[MAC1]

On my first two outings with my Athlon, I had really far offset numbers, very sporadic results both high and low on the first outing compared to my LabRadar LX and my Garmin, with these two units agreeing within a 2-3fps offset, but the Athlon ranging from -13 below to +25-30 above these two. On the second day with the Athlon, I had another Garmin and another Athlon set up all side by side - 5 chronos running concurrently. The 2x Garmins were within 1.5fps (usually within 3/4), the LabRadar slightly faster again by a couple of fps, then BOTH Athlons were running higher than the other 3 by ~20fps rather consistently. Athlon responded that a factory reset should fix that offset. For what it is worth, I did not do the offset before this subsequent outing, hoping I would see the same offset and a correction after doing the reset, but the offset was gone during this trip.

View attachment 1663673

I shot ~200 rounds across the units installed into that test fixture two days ago, and unfortunately had significant co-channel interference which caused me to remove my LabRadar V1 and a Caldwell Velociradar from the comparison, but I stored a continuous string of over 100 rounds for all 6 units (2x Athlons, 2x LabRadar LX’s, and 2x Garmins) - I’m compiling data now, but will admit, exporting the strings from all 6 units has been frustrating - I cannot get one of my Athlons to sync to my phone at all, it will connect and will confirm connection on both ends, even to the point of allowing the firmware update, but it will not sync the sessions, despite a few hours of reinstalling my app, reconnecting the devices, powering off and on, etc. I cannot get this particular Athlon to sync.

I DO have some fits that occasionally my Garmin will sync to the wrong phone, then it won’t send the sessions to the correct phone, but this isn’t so much of a problem, I simply export from whichever phone receives the data, BUT this Athlon won’t send the info anywhere.

It seems like a lot of people missing this part of the setup.

Place the Velocity Pro Radar within 4-10” of the muzzle or riser of
the bow, along the X,Y,Z axis. On large caliber firearms be cautious of
placement to avoid muzzle blast, especially when using aggressive
breaks.


Op from your images it looks like you are outside of the 4-10".

Garmin 5-15".

 

[Turkeytider]

1.40.61.1 was issued last week, Thursday or Friday. The app is your resource for updates.


So far, the Velociradar has felt much like a repackaged LabRadar V1. I’ve had frustrating issues with aiming, despite aligning through the aiming peep integrated onto the body to the point that I have almost given up trying to concurrently test it with any other brands. At the $500 list price for the Velociradar, the LabRadar LX and Garmin Xero C1 are better performers, easier to set up and operate, and much smaller. At the $400 promotional/sale price on the Velociradar, the Athlon is again smaller and easier to use, and ALL of them have easier aiming. The LabRadar V1 is cheaper than the sale/promotional price of the Velociradar and remains to perform nearly the same. If Caldwell adjusts their pricing model to align with the current market, tagging the Velociradar at $350 regular price, then it would be a reasonable option. But the performance is lagging for the price.

View attachment 1663812

I must be looking in the wrong place on the app. Saw no indication of an update to download to chronograph. Phone/ app is connected to the chronograph, as far as I can tell.

 

[J_idaho]

Most things with the name Caldwell on them are entry level at best. Their pricing makes no sense to me, when you are up against a Garmin quality unit. Won't take long for the raptor to go extinct! Lol.
Paul

I don’t know if it made it past existing. There aren’t even any notable reviews online. No real good comparisons. This is a very good comparison but it got kicked out right off the bat. If the bc works well it should be a good tool for guys building site tapes for archery. Which is a huge market. Even if it’s a little slow or clunky that feature would be invaluable. Oh well I’ll wait for price to drop to rock bottom and get one.

 

[Varminterror]

Do any of them calculate BC other than velocaradar? It would be very useful with my archery stuff.

The LabRadar V1 has multi-tracking, which can be used to calculate BC. The LX is meant to be able to do so after a firmware update, but I have not yet played with the new update to try it for myself.

I’m haven’t played much with multi-BC for archery, beyond truing single BC at the range, but since these are always sub-sonic, there’s less criticality for multi-BC calculation. I’ve used the BC calc function of the LR V1 in the past and can’t say I found it to actually be more useful than the BC specified by manufacturer or trued BC’s shared online by shooters. After fighting with aiming and the massive size, for the relatively high cost, I would state plainly that the BC calc function of the Velociradar would not be worth buying the VR over any of these others as a single feature determination to purchase.

 

[Varminterror]

There aren’t even any notable reviews online. No real good comparisons. This is a very good comparison but it got kicked out right off the bat.

I placed a pre-order on a Velociradar 3-4yrs ago, but it never delivered. They finally brought it to market, but the market had passed them by while they were in development. So now it is grossly overpriced and underperforming compared to the rest of the market - not a lot of adoption interest there.

The pictures and experience I shared here are from the preliminary testing I am doing now to improve experimental design for larger testing and comparison. I will offer review for each unit, inherently, since I really can’t do any other comparison without reviewing each individually.

The purpose of that initial test pictured above was to test for interference, and observe opportunity for concurrent testing of multiple units within a given brand. I shot around 200 rounds during this prelim test, not even part of the overall experimental design. The end result was difficulty which disqualified 3 out of 9 chronographs from that concurrent matrix, meaning they have to be tested separately - and doing so means MORE rounds must be fired for me to make the same experimental observations. Testing each individually, this same result would take at least 600 rounds, but because I could test 3 pairs of units together, I could test multiple matrix aspects at the same time (Garmin interunit, LabRadar interunit, and Athlon interunit consistency, G vs. A, G vs. L, and L vs. A consistency), all with the same 100 rounds. The Velociradar will have to be tested against my other units without the co-channel Athlon active. My LabRadar V1 will also have to be tested against the other units without my OTHER co-channel Athlon active - and they’ll both have to be more individually tested with focus to make sure each shot is being recorded.

I will be doing archery, shotgun, rimfire, suppressed rimfire, centerfire, and suppressed centerfire testing with these units (as applicable), with 11 chronographs in hand to do so. It’s a big experiment.

 

[WSnyder]

1.40.61.1 was issued last week, Thursday or Friday. The app is your resource for updates.

My version is 1.40.61 and the app says no updates available.

 

[Turkeytider]

My version is 1.40.61 and the app says no updates available.

That’s my version as well. I don’t even see where in the app it says that no updates are available. Where is that? Don’t think Varminterror would have said one was available if it wasn’t. Pretty well confused at present.

 

[Varminterror]

My version is 1.40.61 and the app says no updates available.

 

[WSnyder]

View attachment 1663877

Well it just made a liar out of me and updated. I’ve tried it half a dozen times in the last week and at least twice today before just trying again and it updated.

 

[WSnyder]

That’s my version as well. I don’t even see where in the app it says that no updates are available. Where is that? Don’t think Varminterror would have said one was available if it wasn’t. Pretty well confused at present.

Third photo, hit update. If there is no update available a white rectangle will temporarily pop up at the bottom of the screen and say “no new version”.

 

[Varminterror]

To update firmware (iOS)

Open the app, which should start at the ballistic calculator landing screen.

Click the 3 lines in the top left corner to open the function menu and select “connect device”.





If you have not connected previously to a Velocity Pro Chronograph, then you will select “pairing” from the “Connect Device” screen



You will have to enter your phone settings app (grey gear) and Bluetooth settings, then connect Bluetooth to your respective Velocity Pro Chronograph.

If you have previously connected to a Velocity Pro Chronograph, then select “Velocity Pro Radar” in the device menu




Once you have entered the Device page, you will see your available Chronographs, and under each will be two control links, “update firmware” (if the Chronograph isn’t connected, this box will say “reconnect”) or “manage.” When no firmware update is available, clicking to update will say “no update available.” Clicking “manage” will take you into your device where you can sync sessions and review old sessions.



In the Manage tab, you can also check which firmware version your device has by clicking “settings” at the bottom left



Which will display the current firmware version, as I posted above.

 

[WSnyder]

Click the 3 lines in the top left corner

Aka “hamburger”.

 

[JB10]

I just took my rangecraft out for 1st time today. Never had any issues. It worked to my liking but i dont have much to compare too. I have used magneto speed many times and always changed poi. Old style chronograph my brother in law had sometimes would not work. Does this read actually? Good enough for me. Just gives me an idea what my loads are doing. What i did find interesting was in my 20 practical with a 40gr hornady it was 120fps faster than a berger 40gr with same powder and charge weight. I did not expect that and had same point of impact on paper.

 

[Turkeytider]

WSnyder, V, thanks so much for your assistance in this.
The app does indeed acknowledge the new firmware version.

When I look in the chronograph itself, under the subsection “ About “ under the main category of “ Settings “ , it shows under VERSION: 1.40.61, not 1.40.61.1. Does that match what your unit shows?

 

[WSnyder]

WSnyder, V, thanks so much for your assistance in this.
The app does indeed acknowledge the new firmware version.

When I look in the chronograph itself, under the subsection “ About “ under the main category of “ Settings “ , it shows under VERSION: 1.40.61, not 1.40.61.1. Does that match what your unit shows?

Yes, exactly that. Different between the unit and the app.

 

[Turkeytider]

Yes, exactly that. Different between the unit and the app.

Thanks. I suppose that 1.40.61 must be the “ base” software for the chronograph itself.

 

[KMW 1954]

Most excellent job my friend. Good to see you keeping busy! I got a feeling you are enjoying this!

 

[Varminterror]

Most excellent job my friend. Good to see you keeping busy! I got a feeling you are enjoying this!

Rain is REALLY screwing up my schedule for these tests this spring - now summer... I waited for the Athlons to deliver so I could include them, now the month of May has been WET. Planned a LOT of shooting for the long, holiday weekend, but ended up watching rain falling for 3 days instead. I did get to finally complete my interference test - I do have some co-channel units (very low odds, but a statistical reality nonetheless).

Hoping it's finished up for this week now I steal away a few evenings.