Well, I have both a Chrony and a good one with the O in front. The chrony is now relegated to its box in the borrom drawer, cause the one with the O does not give me the problems you are talking about. I have never had an error or no reading on my Oehler. Not so for the chrony which has all of the previous posters problems. Actually it doesn't take me any longer to set up my Oehler than the chrony. I just use my camcorder tripod that I got from Sears some years ago and I do not take my skyscreens apart. I taped them together and leave the whole unit in one piece. I taped the wires to the 4 foot conduit that came with the Oehler and I just have to put the skyscreens into the tripod which takes all of 5 seconds cause I leave the attachment shoe on the conduit. The secret is in setting your rifle in a vice or rest Aimed at the middle of your target with the action OPEN and then going and setting the tripod up so that you are looking at the barrel through the middle of the skyscreens. I can have it set up in just about 2 minutes and ready to shoot.
The chrony does work when the conditions are right (cloudy), but the Oehler works all the time.

The Chrony will do great. I've had one (same one) since they first came out and it does everything I need: it tells me how fast my bullets are going. As I've posted elsewhere, keep a log on each rifle including the best load and the average velocity. Then when you get some throat erosion and have to seat your bullet out a bit to compensate you can use the Chrony to adjust your powder charge. Not that one of the higher priced spreads wouldn't do the same thing but, as posted, the price is right. One thing that I've done over the years is any time I'm not using the Chrony, I put tape over the sensor holes to avoid an accumulation of dust and crud, and I unhook the battery. I don't know if that makes a difference but it makes me feel better and I guess my Chrony is 20 years old or better and its still going strong.
One hint: if you are gonna use a rifle with a scope that is too powerful to see the Chrony, use a rifle of similar profile but lesser scope to set up your sand bags and such then swap rifles.

I don't get to the range as often as I'd like so, as a result, I'm just a casual shooter. I wanted a chronograph but I didn't want to spend a lot of money on one and I also wanted one that just did the basics. I purchased a Chrony and I have been very happy with it. It's nice to have a chrono when working up handloads. I did make an Excel spreadhseet that I plug the velocities into when I get home. It calculates the average, high, and low velocities; also the extreme spread and standard deviation.



Just my thoughts on it.....

-Bob F.

It is nice to hear that some of you enjoy your Chronies. I am happy for you. Now my experiences with them and their service dept.( if they really have one )has been awful. I gave my first two away and shot my third one. My Oehler may take me a little longer to set up but it is dependable all the time.When I did need the help of their service dept. it was damn near immediate and I did not need to speak Pakistany to communicate to those Texas boys. I hope your Dad gets a lot of use out of his. roger

My favorite chronograph (Custom Chronograph) sits in a bottom drawer--only because it is obsolete and I haven't been able to buy the paper screens since the late 80's. I replaced it with some "inexpensive" off-brand (I cannot remember the name), but sold it--it wasn't worth a hoot. Bought a Chrony to replace the off-brand--it now resides in the same drawer with the obsolete Custom Chrono. The Chrony had the same difficulties as listed in the previous posts--I did not like the aggravation, nor did I trust it. I bought an Oehler. It works--very, very well. There is also another chronograph on the market but I can't remember its name either (brain fade today), but they are the same outfit that produces the Pressure Trace hardware and program, it is allegedly a very good chronograph also.

Casey

Isn't dad worth an Oehler?

Just returned from the range with my Master Chrony. Man do I like that Chrony. Set it up and shoot. It keeps tabs on the string, give you info on Hi's/lows/ spreads, means, and it prints them out on the little thermal printer.

Simple,yet it will provide all the information you or your dad will require. Only thin you need is a tripod to put it on.

There are a lot of great chrongraphs out there. The Chrony Master was the best bang for the buck I could find when I bought mine.

Just my opine

I used a chrono for the first time today. The entry level Chrony. I shot a .460WM, .458Win, 9.3x64 and 9.3x57 across it without incident. One thing I did notice was each round was about 5fps slower than the previous. Warmer bbl?

[" One thing I did notice was each round was about 5fps slower than the previous. Warmer bbl?"

No. Tired Chrony, or maybe a cloud was passing bye or the big bores kept tilting the chrony a little more each shot. Call the factory they'll give you some swell answers. Roger