Jager
Gold $$ Contributor
Some of you might remember that I posted a review last summer of the AndiScan A2 chronograph
https://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/andiscan-a2-doppler-chronograph-labradar-killer.4100134/
And then in the fall I posted a review of the Garmin Xero C1 Pro
https://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/garmin-xero-c1-pro-the-one-to-rule-them-all.4108145/
We now have a new entrant in the micro doppler chronograph market - the AndiScan A3
https://www.sqi-andix.com/andiscan-a3/
Jan Sykora, the owner of SQi-AndiX, contacted me a couple months ago and asked if I would be interested in reviewing the A3. I said sure. So I have been evaluating an early production model of the new chronograph for some time. Below are my thoughts, followed by a few comments from Jan in response to those.
**************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Left to right: The Garmin Xero C1 Pro, the (previous generation) AndiScan A2, and the new AndiScan A3
The backstory here begins nearly a decade ago, when Infinition, a Canadian defense contractor, introduced the Labradar to the civilian chronograph market. The Labradar used the same very precise, very accurate, and very consistent doppler radar technology long used by militaries around the world. It instantly transformed the civilian shooting market, offering for the first time a fast, accurate, easy-to-set-up chronograph solution. It was expensive. And the software that ran it was rather klunky. But for serious shooters it was worth it.
Despite Infinition’s failure to update the Labradar in any meaningful way, its chronograph remained unchallenged for years. Until a couple years ago when SQi-AndiX, an upstart company out of the Czech Republic, suddenly appeared offering the same very precise, very accurate, and very consistent doppler technology in a dramatically smaller package. The nearly foot-square dimensions of the Labradar dwarfed the diminutive, cigarette-pack size of the AndiScan A2. A doppler chronograph you could literally put in your pocket.
Alas, the AndiScan A2 was very expensive, costing hundreds of dollars more than the Labradar. Worse, where the Labradar’s software was indeed clumsy, at the end of the day it did what it needed to do. The software driving the AndiScan A2 was hideous, among the worst user interfaces I have ever seen. The device’s file handling was a disaster; and it made data loss incredibly easy.
The A2 was an example of excellent hardware crippled by awful software.
To their credit, SQi-AndiX took those concerns to heart when designing their next iteration, the AndiScan A3. Did they succeed?
Before we step into that, it’s important to recognize one other important development. When I purchased and reviewed the AndiScan A2 during the summer of 2023, that unit was the only micro-sized doppler chronograph on the market (not including very low powered units intended for things such as air rifles). SQi-AndiX had stolen a march on the entire industry.
In the fall of 2023, however, Garmin introduced their Xero C1 Pro, a similar micro-sized doppler chronograph. And unlike the AndiScan A2, the Garmin had good software and an intuitive user interface. Its price point was extremely competitive, coming in at nearly half that of the AndiScan A2; and cheaper even than the Labradar. And Garmin, a company with deep pockets and global distribution and production-at-scale economics, had a massive marketing and sales channel advantage over smaller firms like Infinition and SQi-AndiX.
The Garmin Xero C1 Pro took the market by storm. It was snapped up by serious shooters everywhere, who almost unanimously found it a marked improvement over every doppler unit that had come before. And because of their widespread distribution channels, Garmin was able to get their new chronograph into numerous retail and online outlets, something that Infinition and SQi-AndiX only rarely achieved.
Garmin changed the game. And that inevitably forms the backdrop to any chronograph that now tries to enter the market.
So now comes the AndiScan A3.
If the cigarette-pack-sized doppler chronographs like the AndiScan A2, Garmin Xero C1 Pro, Labradar LX (yes, even Labradar finally bit the bullet and introduced a smaller unit) can all be described as “micro” devices, the AndiScan A3 doubles down on that smaller-is-better philosophy with an even tinier unit. You almost laugh the first time you remove the A3 from its protective plastic case. It’s about half the size of the A2.
The size is undeniably charming. And that charm gets additional emphasis when you heft the device. It feels solid and dense. Its case, unlike the A2 and the Garmin, is made of metal. It feels tiny and substantial and elegant.
You power it on and after a couple seconds the black-and-white intro splash screen turns to color. There’s something you didn’t expect!
But it doesn’t take long before it has you wondering. Is this chrono actually too small? And turning it on its side, you see an exposed USB-C port (The A2 had an exposed USB-C port, too, but that was on the bottom, where it was less likely to see water intrusion). I’m guessing most of us are unlikely to use our electronics out in direct rain. But it would be nice to have a bit of waterproofness against incidental things like rain blowing under the roof atop a shooting bench. Or that roof leaking. The SQi-AndiX website describes the A3 as “dust and rain resistant.” But to what degree is not described. Notably, the Garmin has an actual IPX7 rating.
The AndiScan A3 comes with an Arca-Swiss plate on the bottom, with a standard ¼-20 tripod thread socket drilled into that. So mounting the A3 is quite easy. But it’s notable that the Garmin comes with its own small, cheap, serviceable tabletop tripod. It’s ready to go, out of the box. One wonders why SQi-AndiX could not likewise include an inexpensive tripod solution for the A3.
The Garmin and the new AndiScan A3. The user must provide a tripod (or other mounting solution) for the A3.
Out in the field, after a false start, the AndiScan A3 performed well. Since I had experience with SQi-AndiX’s previous A2 chrono – which specifically suggested positioning the unit back near the chamber of the rifle. And since the original A3 User Guide also suggested positioning the unit back near the chamber (“roughly 30-70 cm back from muzzle”)… that’s what I did. With abysmal results. The new A3 failed to register over half the shots.
Replacing the A3 with my A2 chrono, in the exact same position, the older unit picked up all shots.
As it turns out, SQi-AndiX changed the radar pattern on the A3 and the original User Guide suggesting placement back near the chamber was incorrect. The AndiScan A3, like the Garmin, should be placed off to the side of the barrel by a few inches, and up near the muzzle. Once I made that change the A3 became extremely reliable, picking up shots from high power rifle, rimfire rifle, pistol, and air rifle.
When the Garmin Xero C1 Pro was introduced, one of the signature technology changes it introduced was signal detection via radar reflection, rather than the acoustic triggering that the Labradar and AndiScan A2 used. This method of triggering the chronograph proved to be far more reliable than the older acoustic method. So we were delighted to find that the AndiScan A3 also includes this better, faster, more reliable means of signal detection (the A3 also includes the older acoustic signal detection as a configurable option, should a user wish, but the default config uses the newer method).
One of the benefits of the AndiScan A2 was that it provided a configuration page allowing the user to customize the exact, precise position of the chronograph – something notably lacking in both the Garmin and the original Labradar (I have not had an opportunity to examine the Labradar LX and so cannot speak to that unit). The A3 also offers this much-to-be-applauded feature.
At its essence, the AndiScan A3 registers accurate, reliable chronograph data, like all of its doppler peers. Unlike its peers, it allows one to dial in its positioning to achieve an extremely precise result. This is important if a benchmark reference exists (such as a previously used chronograph that one wishes to “marry up to”).
The AndiScan A2 had marginal battery life. At matches I would routinely power off the unit between relays in order to save power. When the Garmin was introduced all that changed, with the new Xero C1 Pro bringing sufficient battery capacity for quite a few hours of steady use. Happily, the AndiScan A3 does, as well.
By far the biggest flaws with the AndiScan A2 were its user interface, its file handling, and the ease with which data could inadvertently be lost.
The good news with the AndiScan A3 is that that potential data loss problem has largely been eliminated. But its user interface, like its A2 forbear, remains difficult. And while the A3’s file handling is somewhat improved over the A2, it remains a very poor implementation.
The physical hardware of the AndiScan A3 may be elegant. Its software is anything but.
The challenges are not with configuring the A3 – mostly a set-it-and-forget-it kind of thing. Nor are they really with how the unit is operated out in the field. Like the earlier A2, the difficulties begin when you get back home and wish to extract the various data series for analysis. Getting that data from the A3 into a computer is much harder than it ought to be.
With the Garmin Xero C1 Pro you set the unit on the bench in front of your rest, a few inches to the side of the barrel and a few inches back from the muzzle. You press the power button. And then you press the ENTER button a couple times. At that point the unit is armed and displays four cross hatches, indicating it is ready to capture any shot that proceeds down its radar path.
With the AndiScan A3 you likewise set the unit (affixed to the small tripod that you have separately provided) on the bench, more or less in the same position as the Garmin. You press the power button. And then you short-press the ENTER button to arm it.
It’s notable that the Garmin is always armed when its ready-to-display-a-shot screen is staring back at you. You’re not ever going to forget to arm it.
The AndiScan A3, in contrast, uses the old school still-has-to-be-armed method when its ready-to-display-a-shot screen is staring back at you. Arming the unit is certainly simple to do. But it’s inevitable that a shooter will occasionally forget, only realizing that they failed to arm the device when the shot they just fired fails to register.
The “armed” indicator on the A3 is a small, white square. SQi-AndiX could help things a bit by making that square a more visually striking color.
Ultimately, the in-field experience of both the Garmin and the AndiScan A3 are quite good. I'd rate the Garmin a tiny bit better. But not by a lot. Both chronos are a considerable improvement over the original Labradar.
Back home is where the two devices demonstrate a totally different vibe.
With the Garmin, one need not even turn the chrono back on. You can leave your Xero C1 Pro in your range bag. All the data of your shooting session is safely ensconced within the Garmin ShotView app on your smartphone. You had your smartphone in your pocket while you were shooting. But you never took it out, and you never opened up that Garmin app. The Garmin chrono sitting on your bench seamlessly transmitted its data to that app on your phone, in the background, without you doing a thing. Back home, it takes only a minute to grab your phone, open up the ShotView app, and transfer that data to your computer. Done and dusted.
With the AndiScan, you must open up a browser, access a Remote Shell (RemShApp) web page you previously saved from the SQi-AndiX website and stored on your device – smartphone or computer - power on your A3, and then connect that Remote Shell web page to your chrono. At that point the Remote Shell can access the files on the A3, and through various commands you can list them, review them, and download them.
If all that sounds rather kludgy, you’d be right.
But it gets even worse. Because the Remote Shell uses the BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) protocol to connect the A3 with whatever computer or smartphone you’re using, the browsers it can use must support that feature. Most don’t. You’re basically down to Google Chrome on Mac, Windows, and Android; and Bluefy on iOS. Sorry Apple users, Safari isn’t going to work for you.
The whole thing is a mess. And feels very much like an afterthought.
So what to make of it all?
To answer that, we must return to the point made earlier… that the introduction of the Garmin Xero Pro C1 changed everything. The Garmin is simply an outstanding doppler chronograph, with excellent hardware, a delightful form factor, good software, good support, and a compelling price point. It is extremely reliable, capturing shot after shot without hiccup or drama. Any chronograph which hopes to challenge it must demonstrate it is better somewhere.
It seems that the AndiScan A3 has focused on its even smaller form factor as its most compelling feature. And yet, is that tiny package really a benefit? It’s notable that the smartphones most people carry today are bigger than the original iPhone that Steve Jobs introduced all those years ago. When using our fingers and our eyes to interact with a device, there’s a point at which smaller becomes a disadvantage. I’m not sure but that the AndiScan A3 has crossed that threshold. The only scenario I can think of where the continued march smaller might be a benefit is if one wanted to mount the chrono directly to a weapon. And yet, who does that? Certainly not competitors or shooters doing serious load development.
In the end, it’s its software that cripples the AndiScan A3. To have any hope of competing against what Garmin has wrought, SQi-AndiX is going to have to entirely reengineer their software approach. They need a clean, simple, intuitive, binary smartphone app. They need to make their chronograph as dead easy to use as Garmin has theirs. And they need to give hard thought to the question of why?
Why would anyone buy their product, or anyone else’s, when the Garmin Xero C1 Pro exists?
***************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Comments from Jan Sykora:
Manufacturer's response
(1) Native iOS/Android App
We have prioritized first to provide an universal Remote Shell App (windows/mac/linux/iOS/Android) due to its versatility w.r.t. the platform and capability of solving both BLE and USB-serial communications including live control/view and FW update procedure on all these platforms. However a native iOS/Android App is under development and will be available later.
(2) User interface of AndiScan unit
There are essentially two major paradigms in designing a user interface on small form factor hardware devices. (a) The first is a "Menu based" interface, and (b) the second one uses "Direct function mapping on control keys" (classical example = e.g. Casio watches). Each one has its pros and cons. The former one is easier to use, but typically requires much more key presses to get to the desired function and can a bit difficult to implement on small displays, the latter one is much faster to operate, requires less button pressing, but at the expense of the necessity to learn the operations from the user guide. We have opted, due to the hardware constraints, for the latter one. However, we can implement a hybrid user interface or a SW configurable option to adaptively switch between these interfaces in future SW upgrades.
(3) Water resistance
Final production units are IP67-alike dust/water resistant, i.e. short/accidental submerge into water up to 1 meter. Namely the USB-C and acoustic ports are fully water tight. However the unit does not have a formal IP67 certification.
(4) Why new A3?
(4.a) Priorities of every user are different. A feature that is essential for one might not be noticeable for the other. A3 profiles its features into somewhat different direction that the others. (4.b) A3 is developed by a small and very flexible company. We are open to listen to customers and implement features essentially "on demand". A3 is a flexible and open system. (4.c) A competition of more products is always profitable for customers, as was proved two years ago with the introduction of micro chronographs A1 and A2.
----
---
Jan Sykora
https://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/andiscan-a2-doppler-chronograph-labradar-killer.4100134/
And then in the fall I posted a review of the Garmin Xero C1 Pro
https://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/garmin-xero-c1-pro-the-one-to-rule-them-all.4108145/
We now have a new entrant in the micro doppler chronograph market - the AndiScan A3
https://www.sqi-andix.com/andiscan-a3/
Jan Sykora, the owner of SQi-AndiX, contacted me a couple months ago and asked if I would be interested in reviewing the A3. I said sure. So I have been evaluating an early production model of the new chronograph for some time. Below are my thoughts, followed by a few comments from Jan in response to those.
**************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Left to right: The Garmin Xero C1 Pro, the (previous generation) AndiScan A2, and the new AndiScan A3
The backstory here begins nearly a decade ago, when Infinition, a Canadian defense contractor, introduced the Labradar to the civilian chronograph market. The Labradar used the same very precise, very accurate, and very consistent doppler radar technology long used by militaries around the world. It instantly transformed the civilian shooting market, offering for the first time a fast, accurate, easy-to-set-up chronograph solution. It was expensive. And the software that ran it was rather klunky. But for serious shooters it was worth it.
Despite Infinition’s failure to update the Labradar in any meaningful way, its chronograph remained unchallenged for years. Until a couple years ago when SQi-AndiX, an upstart company out of the Czech Republic, suddenly appeared offering the same very precise, very accurate, and very consistent doppler technology in a dramatically smaller package. The nearly foot-square dimensions of the Labradar dwarfed the diminutive, cigarette-pack size of the AndiScan A2. A doppler chronograph you could literally put in your pocket.
Alas, the AndiScan A2 was very expensive, costing hundreds of dollars more than the Labradar. Worse, where the Labradar’s software was indeed clumsy, at the end of the day it did what it needed to do. The software driving the AndiScan A2 was hideous, among the worst user interfaces I have ever seen. The device’s file handling was a disaster; and it made data loss incredibly easy.
The A2 was an example of excellent hardware crippled by awful software.
To their credit, SQi-AndiX took those concerns to heart when designing their next iteration, the AndiScan A3. Did they succeed?
Before we step into that, it’s important to recognize one other important development. When I purchased and reviewed the AndiScan A2 during the summer of 2023, that unit was the only micro-sized doppler chronograph on the market (not including very low powered units intended for things such as air rifles). SQi-AndiX had stolen a march on the entire industry.
In the fall of 2023, however, Garmin introduced their Xero C1 Pro, a similar micro-sized doppler chronograph. And unlike the AndiScan A2, the Garmin had good software and an intuitive user interface. Its price point was extremely competitive, coming in at nearly half that of the AndiScan A2; and cheaper even than the Labradar. And Garmin, a company with deep pockets and global distribution and production-at-scale economics, had a massive marketing and sales channel advantage over smaller firms like Infinition and SQi-AndiX.
The Garmin Xero C1 Pro took the market by storm. It was snapped up by serious shooters everywhere, who almost unanimously found it a marked improvement over every doppler unit that had come before. And because of their widespread distribution channels, Garmin was able to get their new chronograph into numerous retail and online outlets, something that Infinition and SQi-AndiX only rarely achieved.
Garmin changed the game. And that inevitably forms the backdrop to any chronograph that now tries to enter the market.
So now comes the AndiScan A3.
If the cigarette-pack-sized doppler chronographs like the AndiScan A2, Garmin Xero C1 Pro, Labradar LX (yes, even Labradar finally bit the bullet and introduced a smaller unit) can all be described as “micro” devices, the AndiScan A3 doubles down on that smaller-is-better philosophy with an even tinier unit. You almost laugh the first time you remove the A3 from its protective plastic case. It’s about half the size of the A2.
The size is undeniably charming. And that charm gets additional emphasis when you heft the device. It feels solid and dense. Its case, unlike the A2 and the Garmin, is made of metal. It feels tiny and substantial and elegant.
You power it on and after a couple seconds the black-and-white intro splash screen turns to color. There’s something you didn’t expect!
But it doesn’t take long before it has you wondering. Is this chrono actually too small? And turning it on its side, you see an exposed USB-C port (The A2 had an exposed USB-C port, too, but that was on the bottom, where it was less likely to see water intrusion). I’m guessing most of us are unlikely to use our electronics out in direct rain. But it would be nice to have a bit of waterproofness against incidental things like rain blowing under the roof atop a shooting bench. Or that roof leaking. The SQi-AndiX website describes the A3 as “dust and rain resistant.” But to what degree is not described. Notably, the Garmin has an actual IPX7 rating.
The AndiScan A3 comes with an Arca-Swiss plate on the bottom, with a standard ¼-20 tripod thread socket drilled into that. So mounting the A3 is quite easy. But it’s notable that the Garmin comes with its own small, cheap, serviceable tabletop tripod. It’s ready to go, out of the box. One wonders why SQi-AndiX could not likewise include an inexpensive tripod solution for the A3.
The Garmin and the new AndiScan A3. The user must provide a tripod (or other mounting solution) for the A3.
Out in the field, after a false start, the AndiScan A3 performed well. Since I had experience with SQi-AndiX’s previous A2 chrono – which specifically suggested positioning the unit back near the chamber of the rifle. And since the original A3 User Guide also suggested positioning the unit back near the chamber (“roughly 30-70 cm back from muzzle”)… that’s what I did. With abysmal results. The new A3 failed to register over half the shots.
Replacing the A3 with my A2 chrono, in the exact same position, the older unit picked up all shots.
As it turns out, SQi-AndiX changed the radar pattern on the A3 and the original User Guide suggesting placement back near the chamber was incorrect. The AndiScan A3, like the Garmin, should be placed off to the side of the barrel by a few inches, and up near the muzzle. Once I made that change the A3 became extremely reliable, picking up shots from high power rifle, rimfire rifle, pistol, and air rifle.
When the Garmin Xero C1 Pro was introduced, one of the signature technology changes it introduced was signal detection via radar reflection, rather than the acoustic triggering that the Labradar and AndiScan A2 used. This method of triggering the chronograph proved to be far more reliable than the older acoustic method. So we were delighted to find that the AndiScan A3 also includes this better, faster, more reliable means of signal detection (the A3 also includes the older acoustic signal detection as a configurable option, should a user wish, but the default config uses the newer method).
One of the benefits of the AndiScan A2 was that it provided a configuration page allowing the user to customize the exact, precise position of the chronograph – something notably lacking in both the Garmin and the original Labradar (I have not had an opportunity to examine the Labradar LX and so cannot speak to that unit). The A3 also offers this much-to-be-applauded feature.
At its essence, the AndiScan A3 registers accurate, reliable chronograph data, like all of its doppler peers. Unlike its peers, it allows one to dial in its positioning to achieve an extremely precise result. This is important if a benchmark reference exists (such as a previously used chronograph that one wishes to “marry up to”).
The AndiScan A2 had marginal battery life. At matches I would routinely power off the unit between relays in order to save power. When the Garmin was introduced all that changed, with the new Xero C1 Pro bringing sufficient battery capacity for quite a few hours of steady use. Happily, the AndiScan A3 does, as well.
By far the biggest flaws with the AndiScan A2 were its user interface, its file handling, and the ease with which data could inadvertently be lost.
The good news with the AndiScan A3 is that that potential data loss problem has largely been eliminated. But its user interface, like its A2 forbear, remains difficult. And while the A3’s file handling is somewhat improved over the A2, it remains a very poor implementation.
The physical hardware of the AndiScan A3 may be elegant. Its software is anything but.
The challenges are not with configuring the A3 – mostly a set-it-and-forget-it kind of thing. Nor are they really with how the unit is operated out in the field. Like the earlier A2, the difficulties begin when you get back home and wish to extract the various data series for analysis. Getting that data from the A3 into a computer is much harder than it ought to be.
With the Garmin Xero C1 Pro you set the unit on the bench in front of your rest, a few inches to the side of the barrel and a few inches back from the muzzle. You press the power button. And then you press the ENTER button a couple times. At that point the unit is armed and displays four cross hatches, indicating it is ready to capture any shot that proceeds down its radar path.
With the AndiScan A3 you likewise set the unit (affixed to the small tripod that you have separately provided) on the bench, more or less in the same position as the Garmin. You press the power button. And then you short-press the ENTER button to arm it.
It’s notable that the Garmin is always armed when its ready-to-display-a-shot screen is staring back at you. You’re not ever going to forget to arm it.
The AndiScan A3, in contrast, uses the old school still-has-to-be-armed method when its ready-to-display-a-shot screen is staring back at you. Arming the unit is certainly simple to do. But it’s inevitable that a shooter will occasionally forget, only realizing that they failed to arm the device when the shot they just fired fails to register.
The “armed” indicator on the A3 is a small, white square. SQi-AndiX could help things a bit by making that square a more visually striking color.
Ultimately, the in-field experience of both the Garmin and the AndiScan A3 are quite good. I'd rate the Garmin a tiny bit better. But not by a lot. Both chronos are a considerable improvement over the original Labradar.
Back home is where the two devices demonstrate a totally different vibe.
With the Garmin, one need not even turn the chrono back on. You can leave your Xero C1 Pro in your range bag. All the data of your shooting session is safely ensconced within the Garmin ShotView app on your smartphone. You had your smartphone in your pocket while you were shooting. But you never took it out, and you never opened up that Garmin app. The Garmin chrono sitting on your bench seamlessly transmitted its data to that app on your phone, in the background, without you doing a thing. Back home, it takes only a minute to grab your phone, open up the ShotView app, and transfer that data to your computer. Done and dusted.
With the AndiScan, you must open up a browser, access a Remote Shell (RemShApp) web page you previously saved from the SQi-AndiX website and stored on your device – smartphone or computer - power on your A3, and then connect that Remote Shell web page to your chrono. At that point the Remote Shell can access the files on the A3, and through various commands you can list them, review them, and download them.
If all that sounds rather kludgy, you’d be right.
But it gets even worse. Because the Remote Shell uses the BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) protocol to connect the A3 with whatever computer or smartphone you’re using, the browsers it can use must support that feature. Most don’t. You’re basically down to Google Chrome on Mac, Windows, and Android; and Bluefy on iOS. Sorry Apple users, Safari isn’t going to work for you.
The whole thing is a mess. And feels very much like an afterthought.
So what to make of it all?
To answer that, we must return to the point made earlier… that the introduction of the Garmin Xero Pro C1 changed everything. The Garmin is simply an outstanding doppler chronograph, with excellent hardware, a delightful form factor, good software, good support, and a compelling price point. It is extremely reliable, capturing shot after shot without hiccup or drama. Any chronograph which hopes to challenge it must demonstrate it is better somewhere.
It seems that the AndiScan A3 has focused on its even smaller form factor as its most compelling feature. And yet, is that tiny package really a benefit? It’s notable that the smartphones most people carry today are bigger than the original iPhone that Steve Jobs introduced all those years ago. When using our fingers and our eyes to interact with a device, there’s a point at which smaller becomes a disadvantage. I’m not sure but that the AndiScan A3 has crossed that threshold. The only scenario I can think of where the continued march smaller might be a benefit is if one wanted to mount the chrono directly to a weapon. And yet, who does that? Certainly not competitors or shooters doing serious load development.
In the end, it’s its software that cripples the AndiScan A3. To have any hope of competing against what Garmin has wrought, SQi-AndiX is going to have to entirely reengineer their software approach. They need a clean, simple, intuitive, binary smartphone app. They need to make their chronograph as dead easy to use as Garmin has theirs. And they need to give hard thought to the question of why?
Why would anyone buy their product, or anyone else’s, when the Garmin Xero C1 Pro exists?
***************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Comments from Jan Sykora:
Manufacturer's response
(1) Native iOS/Android App
We have prioritized first to provide an universal Remote Shell App (windows/mac/linux/iOS/Android) due to its versatility w.r.t. the platform and capability of solving both BLE and USB-serial communications including live control/view and FW update procedure on all these platforms. However a native iOS/Android App is under development and will be available later.
(2) User interface of AndiScan unit
There are essentially two major paradigms in designing a user interface on small form factor hardware devices. (a) The first is a "Menu based" interface, and (b) the second one uses "Direct function mapping on control keys" (classical example = e.g. Casio watches). Each one has its pros and cons. The former one is easier to use, but typically requires much more key presses to get to the desired function and can a bit difficult to implement on small displays, the latter one is much faster to operate, requires less button pressing, but at the expense of the necessity to learn the operations from the user guide. We have opted, due to the hardware constraints, for the latter one. However, we can implement a hybrid user interface or a SW configurable option to adaptively switch between these interfaces in future SW upgrades.
(3) Water resistance
Final production units are IP67-alike dust/water resistant, i.e. short/accidental submerge into water up to 1 meter. Namely the USB-C and acoustic ports are fully water tight. However the unit does not have a formal IP67 certification.
(4) Why new A3?
(4.a) Priorities of every user are different. A feature that is essential for one might not be noticeable for the other. A3 profiles its features into somewhat different direction that the others. (4.b) A3 is developed by a small and very flexible company. We are open to listen to customers and implement features essentially "on demand". A3 is a flexible and open system. (4.c) A competition of more products is always profitable for customers, as was proved two years ago with the introduction of micro chronographs A1 and A2.
----
---
Jan Sykora
