Not sure if this is the right spot for this subject, but seemed the best fit to me, mods please move it if it belongs elsewhere...

I brought the new Labradar chronograph a few months ago and it arrived just after I had left for South Africa for a hunting trip in June. It took a while to get my act together forr using it, but I have played with it enough now to get a feel for the thing.

This is the new microwave doppler radar chronograph. Its roughly the size of a small pizza box, and weighs a few pounds. It comes with multiple mounting setups that you can buy for it. I got the bench top and the tripod set ups for it. The bench top is probably best for someone who is shooting at covered public range firing points, as you don't need to go downrange at all to set it up. The tripod set up allows you to use multiple heights and is probably the more versatile system to use.

It comes with 3 "velocity range" set ups that you can use. Handgun (250-1700 FPS) Rifle, which is from just under 1000 FPS on up, and Archery (66-738 per the manual) I did play with rifle and handgun a bit, but I am not an archer, and not really interested in that, but it would also work with airguns, I suppose.

The first time I used it, I had some issues as I couldn't be bothered to read the manual other than a quick scan. The second time out, I had no problems.

The big issue is that this thing is putting out microwave energy. While at low power, they do make numerous mentions of potential health hazard if you stand downrange of an armed (emitting) unit.

Set up is amazingly simple. Mount it on its system, aim it at the target you are shooting at, power it up and arm it, place the gun muzzle to the side (slightly in front if you have a break on the gun) and shoot the target. it takes about 2 seconds per shot so you do need to take your time, but once I had it set up and shot at thr right rate, it didn't miss any shots... Except... You need to be careful about the sound sensitivity setting (or use a external trigger) as suppressed .223 did not trigger the acoustic trigger to read the shots. No problems once I pulled the silencer though.

I did run it against an Oehler M35, and while the results were similar, I had some degradation issues (missing shots, etc.) due to putting the Oehler unit in front of it. Using the same ammo but separate strings, the agreement was good.

It will run in pretty much all conditions, unlike the light based chronographs, but I haven't tried it in rain. I have shot in the dark (fine) and variable weather conditions (storm moving in) without issues.

The data it gives is: average, Hi, Lo, Extreme spread, SD and 6 different range velocities that you can set as to which you want. It can also give power factor (at range 0) KE and knock down factor. It will also track time of flight to each of these distances as well.

I had hoped that I could use it to determine actual BC's at range. I don't think it is set up for that, and while I could do the number crunching from the data given, it does not (at least at this point) give you that info on the data screen. Also, for the long range boys, its of limited use as the radar only picks up projectiles to a limited range. I had no issues with .26-.375 projectiles, with them being able to be tracked out to 100+ although the company does state that .30 is about out to 130 yards or so. .22 CF rounds disappeared after 70 or so yards. Supposedly the smaller projectiles give shorter range traces.

It easily allowed me to do load work up accuracy tests at the same time as getting velocity data.

I did not try and wring out max velocities (the highest I tried was 3500 FPS from a .26 Nosler) but the company states it maxes out around 3900 FPS. It also comes in 2 versions due to export laws. In the US and Canada you can get the higher powered version ("standard version") outside of that its the reduced power version. It looks like the only difference is length of distance it can trace bullets.

It does allow a fair amount of customization of output units, and what distance traces you can print out. They did note that V0 is wherever the bullet enters the radar wave path if you use doppler trigger, so if you use a substantial offset, it can be a substantial ways down range, and the traces are measured from that point- so it does not function as a rangefinder at all. If you use internal trigger (sound) it gives actual V0.

The print outs are in Excel format- which is not something I am fond of, as it requires buying a new program- or you can page through on the unit itself.

You can pull the data off via a USP cable to your computer. I presume at some point they will make a bluetooth version, but it is hard wired for now.

The bad news is that it is not cheap. $500 or so for the unit itself, and the mounting systems add up to close to $1K all in with shipping.

To me, the ease of use, lack of concern of variance for sun position, the lack of risk of shooting the damn thing, and the easy port of data to the computer make it worth while. The fact that it essentially agreed with the gold standard Oehler is a big plus as well.

The use of excel (money to MS and a new program to learn) and the cost are negatives, but not substantial ones to me.

I do recommend the Labradar.

Good write up. I have one as well. While speaking with a company rep about mine, he said you can use it in the rain. Just slip a clear plastic bag over the whole unit. The plastic bag won't interfere with measuring velocity and you'll still be able to see the numbers on the screen.

Another tip he passed on to me is about aiming the unit at your target. I use a speed square in conjunction with the aiming notch but he recommended a plastic stir stick like the one you would use to stir your coffee held in the notch.

Good write up.
The technology has been around for many decades. We used it in the Navy back in the 80's for Phalanx and the 5"/54 gun systems. It good to see it is now offered to the public.

Bought one and I am happy with it. I have also external microphone for archery.

PRO:

Works great in indoor ranges with fluorescent lighting. Works also great with "high blasting" calibers like 500 S&W (with chrono I found at least 20-25 feet muzzle to chrono distance is necessary).

Can measure bullet velocity at different distances (nice to see how different bullets drop velocity, even with handguns).

It is easy and fast to set up.

I like it much.

CON:

Doesn't detect air rifles and some low powered air rifles at its own. External trigger (microphone) must be installed. Archery kit actually works for that.

With current version of firmware, it can change units from imperial to metric and vice versa, but now it shows energy only in ft-lb. I like joules more.

Jiri

I love the "complaints" that it can't track a .22 bullet beyond 100 yards, as though the person already has a chronograph capable of doing so.
How many need to track a .22 bullet beyond 100 yards? That should be enough to establish all the ballistic data you need for longer ranges.

PS: joules, newton, etc. to me are stupid. I like actual base units because you can understand the base units. A joule is one Newton acting through one meter. A Newton is 100,000 dynes or 1 kg-m)/sec^2. I know grams, meters, and seconds, so I can get some grasp on it and I can easily use kg-meter/sec^2 in equations.
F=MA. F is Newtons, Mass in kg. Calculate the acceleration. Much easier with the base units.

I own an Electronics manufacturing business - run from my basement.

We make 2 or 3 products using Doplar microwave sensors.

They are very effective for motion sensing.

Any radiation is so small and low that they are not a restricted item. We import the sensors from UK & Singapore and test the product here all the time.

I wish I had the know how to develop a product like that.

noylj,

you might visit Oehler's website, and look at the M43 chrono. It is possible to track bullets out to 300+ yards, and do BC's from the ratianed velocity numbers. That includes 22's.

Everyone I know who bought one loves it. The only complaints that I have heard about them were about flimsy mounts. I just wish that they had come out a year or two earlier. I got tired of waiting for them when my PACT Model 1 crapped out 2 years ago.

I would be leary of this product.A good friend of mine retired from the Air Force.He was a radar tech.He has been fighting brain cancer for 5 years now.Three quarters of his group HAVE BRAIN CANCER. Coincidence?He is getting a disability for this,but The Air Force will admit nothing.

It is likely your friend operated equipment powered by something a bit more powerful than 6 AA batteries. I also lost a friend to cancer last year who used to be radar technician with the German army. He had been exposed to serious amounts of radiation which could not possibly be generated by a battery-operated device like the Lab Radar.

Another CON for labradar:

If you are measuring for example 500 S&W, different loads, you have to switch handgun/rifle mode. It will NOT measure slower loads in rifle mode and it will NOT measure faster loads in handgun mode (or it will measure wrong). I believe it can be fixed by firmware update.

Jiri

I plan on getting on soon, Re the brain cancer issue I'm just going to wear my tin foil hat to the range.

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
noylj,

you might visit Oehler's website, and look at the M43 chrono.

Would you mind posting a link as I've searched Oehler's site to no avail.