Athlon Rangecraft Compact Chrono Tested

[59FLH]

Yes, and no.

The photo with 8 units mounted above was taken during my pre-experimental DoE phase, during which I determined interference potential and identified units which don’t play nice together, and start up and channel assignment protocols to eliminate co-channel interference. The Caldwell didn’t play nice with one of the Athlons, so I cut it out - I had to reassign the LabRadar V1 channel, but aiming that thing is such a PITA, I cut it from that phase of the side by side test, and added a specific phase to test those individually against the Garmins as relative controls (only have one V1 and one Caldwell on hand).

So the data series’ captured in the rest of the matrix have been captured with the co-channel interference potential Eliminated.

There are multiple replicants of these tests in which the Athlons bounce above and below the other brands, but the Garmin and LabRadar tend to track together within the expected precision. No, this agreement is not a guarantee they are reading true velocity, but effectively, both Garmins and both LabRadars have to be WRONG if ONE of the Athlons is right (5 out of 6 must be wrong). Alternatively, all 4 of the LabRadar LX’s and Garmin’s could be right.

Better processing of the signal(s) in the Garmin & LR would be my guess. Not likely the antenna, but could be.

 

[kelbro]

Has anyone noticed a 'sequencing' issue with the way that it records shots?

I tried mine out yesterday doing some load development and was shooting 5 shot groups in .2gr increments.

I missed starting a new session after my first group of 5 so there were 10 shots recorded in the session. In the summary, the second 5 shots were listed as 1-5 and the first 5 were listed as 6-10.

 

[unodemo]

The more I read, the more I find there isn't enough difference to make a difference in the Athlon vs Garmin measurements and usability. They are both good at what they do.

I chose the Athlon over the Garmin for two reasons. The lower price and the complete kit. (Garmin made a booboo by not including the carrying case) I've been familiarizing myself with the Athlon at my local indoor range. It isn't picking up shots from other lanes...normally. The Athlon did pick up some shots that came from another firing line when "someone" decided my target was fair game. But that's a story for another forum starter.

The trick I find to setting up the doppler devices is to learn where to place it on your bench 1) where it is not in your way and 2) less likely to pick up shots from next door. I found the left edge of the bench close to the partition is good. If I pick up a shot from the left, then I move the radar back a bit, delete the shot(s), and carry on. I added a surplus adjustable tripod to my kit so I can set the radar at my eye level for offhand ops.

My Caldwell and its iPad will be dug up some day at an archeological site.