The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: alfsauve on April 20, 2015, 05:00:40 PM
-
Well, not mine personally, and no I haven't purchased one.
This isn't exactly a "new" announcement since they were at 2014 SHOT show, but I thought some of us may not have heard of it before. They're getting dinged for the delayed rollout, but if this works and the price point is right...
(http://mylabradar.com/images/radar.jpg)
http://mylabradar.com/
Basically you put it along side your shooting position and it can give you velocity of anything from highpower elephant guns, to handguns, to pellet guns, to arrows.
To me is the really big selling point is it goes along side your shooting position, NOT DOWNRANGE. You're not shooting at it but by it. You know what they say about chrono's? There are two types. Those that have been hit and those that are gonna be. This take out that worry.
I'd get one and see if my local range wouldn't let me set it up as a service so that I can charge $1/shot to chrono loads for shooters.
Here's the YouTube link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFfGp3CYAr8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFfGp3CYAr8)
-
Looks promising.
Ans $1.00 per shot isn't an unreasonable price considering cost of a chrono, hauling it out and back, and the "stress" of not picking it off.
Can you print out a customers strings?
Also, make the price $1.25 and give $0.25 to the range :D :D
-
I watched the video at the website and it looks great. Amazing technology that will likely come with a hefty price.
-
I think you can download the string to a smart phone or tablet. Maybe email them instead of printing.
Estimate price is $600.
-
$600 is not a bad price for a serious shooter.
You save that in setup and take down time pretty quick for an avid reloader.
-
So many toys. So little money.
LabRadar is close to it's first real shipment. They're taking orders (and credit card #s) for real. $559, no frills.
http://www.buymylabradar.com/ (http://www.buymylabradar.com/)
I've had their web site on my computer desktop for almost a year now. And now it's time. Two problems. Money is tight. And I joined an large outdoor range. Well that's where the money went, but also at the range, I get a whole shooting bay to myself when I go. No cold/hot range problem. Setup my Chony, no problem, took readings on 5 different load using 5 different guns. I don't have a NEED for the LabRadar now.
Maybe some money will just fall out of the sky this week.
-
Amazing technology that will likely come with a hefty price.
Remember, nothing gets cheaper faster than electronic technology. Look at big screen TV's, cell phones, and digital cameras. This will be no different. In our sport look at laser sights and digital range finders.
-
This time next year it will be debugged and under $400
-
I'd pay the $1 to test some of my loads.
-
The data can be downloaded to a USB drive or a SD, so the "customer" can take their results home for analysis...better than a printed copy.
Have a hand full of small capacity USB drives available for resale to customers.
-
You can get a chronograph for 1/5 the price. It needs to come way down to compete with them.
-
You can get a chronograph for 1/5 the price. It needs to come way down to compete with them.
Tue JF, but then there's two types of optical chonographs. Those that have been hit by a bullet and those that are going to be.
-
You can get a chronograph for 1/5 the price. It needs to come way down to compete with them.
My local range does not allow any gear to be placed down range.
It is ideal in situations like that.
It can also be setup no matter how busy the range is without waiting for or causing a cease fire.
Same benefits when packing to leave.
-
It can also be setup no matter how busy the range is without waiting for or causing a cease fire.
With the new range, I get a whole shooting bay to myself, so this is no longer a problem. Which is why the LabRadar is has dropped on the priority list.
Good news, is Miss Kitty, said "Yes," to the purchase. Love that lady. But given the new situation, the money is better spent on ammo, or scopes or a new tactical AR.
-
Two items at the range:
First, having a whole bay to myself is fabulous. For the second time, I setup my Chrony and recorded dozens of shots. It has worked flawlessly outdoors. Indoors I had issues getting the light right. This is great.
Secondly, while on the 100yd multi-user range, there was a guy practicing position shooting. Had the stiff leather jacket and glove, matt everything. I took a break and wandered down to see what he was doing. He had the neatest gear. ($1,600 neat)
This was a small tubular camera with accelerometer that clamped on his barrel and has a USB cable to his laptop. What it does is, after the shot, replay the aiming wiggle. It highlights the last hundred or so milliseconds to show trigger let off. This isn't a camera that shows you where your shot went, but how it got there. Wish I had gotten the name of the company. They have a less expensive dry fire version as well. Can be used on pistols as well. For the very serious target shooter. BTB, his aiming hold, prone, was less than 2MOA. On a 20 shot, 200yard, National Match target he had all 10's. AR-15 w/ standard iron sights.
-
Tue JF, but then there's two types of optical chonographs. Those that have been hit by a bullet and those that are going to be.
Do you know, and appreciate, the skill it takes to shoot one of the sky screen support wires without hitting anything else?
-
It's here. It's here. MyLabRadar arrived last night. I won't be able to get to the range until next week. I will give it a go using my air rifle in the basement though.
I've been following another thread on rimfire central. Trigger by muzzle blast is a little iffy with rimfire and suppressed guns, so you have to manually arm it. Shot measurement evidently is good, though apparently you do have to be carefull to keep the radar pointed at the target.
As I knew before it shipped, the big hole has to do with data management.
On my wish list
Direct printing capabilities.
USB file management of both the internal memory and the SD memory
Internal memory dump to SD card
IP Network interface for data transfer
Wifi for data transfer
Bluetooth for:
Printing
Data transfer via smart device app
Device control (setup and arming) via smart device app
More later.
-
NEXT WEEK? >:(
Gee, Alf...you gotta' do somethin' different and get us a range report this weekend. :)
I would not worry about the data so much...the old thing I have prints out on thermal strip paper. I put info on a pad to keep track and then put it in a spreadsheet.
-
With my Chrono I r=write down each string in my log book after I shoot them. I don't write the individual velocities, just the Hi, Lo, Avg, & SD. So lack of a printer isn't THAT big of a deal, but it's an option with the Chony and the Oehler, I'm not sure with the Caldwell, CED, PACT or the Magnito.
-
Took it down to the basement and tested it with my .22 air rifle.
Took a while to figure the right combination of settings. The air rifle doesn't have enough "blast" to activate the trigger, but once I set it to Doppler activation with handgun it worked great. I did get a few false triggers and I don't know if that was me waving the muzzle in front of the unit or the confined space causing reflections of the radar wave. Remember I'm only shooting at about 7yds in a confined space. Metal bullet trap and concrete block walls.
Here's what a series looks like from the SD Card.
Device ID LBR-0002163
Series No 1
Total number of shots 11
Units velocity fps
Units distances yd
Units kinetic energy ft-lbf
Units weight grain (gr)
Stats - Average 672.83 fps
Stats - Highest 895.62 fps
Stats - Lowest 549.23 fps
Stats - Ext. Spread 346.4 fps
Stats - Std. Dev 99.08 fps
Shot ID V0 V1 V22 V33 V43 V55 Ke0 Ke1 Ke22 Ke33 Ke43 Ke55 PF1 Proj. Weight Date Time
1 896 892 848 805 780 765 26 26 23 21 19 19 13.2 14.8 2/27/2016 11:01:26
2 799 784 784 784 0 0 20 20 20 20 0 0 11.6 14.8 2/27/2016 11:01:28
3 663 658 578 578 576 553 14 14 10 10 10 10 9.74 14.8 2/27/2016 11:01:40
4 641 643 636 629 598 550 13 13 13 12 11 9 9.52 14.8 2/27/2016 11:01:55
5 549 549 0 549 549 549 9 9 0 9 9 9 8.13 14.8 2/27/2016 11:02:13
6 641 641 635 635 635 0 13 13 13 13 13 0 9.49 14.8 2/27/2016 11:02:26
7 597 560 0 0 0 0 11 10 0 0 0 0 8.29 14.8 2/27/2016 11:02:39
8 725 725 725 725 725 0 17 17 17 17 17 0 10.73 14.8 2/27/2016 11:02:47
9 646 646 634 634 634 634 13 13 13 13 13 13 9.56 14.8 2/27/2016 11:02:55
10 642 642 610 0 610 610 13 13 12 0 12 12 9.5 14.8 2/27/2016 11:02:58
11 602 602 602 602 584 547 11 11 11 11 11 9 8.91 14.8 2/27/2016 11:03:13
AND it provides a spreedsheet for each shot giving you down range tracking. Useful if you want to develpe bullet drop table/chart. Even though my whole range is only about 10yds, it thought it was tracking out to 65yds, which means in that confined space it was getting a lot of false noise. SNR drops below 10 frequently. I might take it upstairs and fire a few shots in the backyard later.
Device ID LBR-0002163
Series No 1
Shot No 2
Time (s) Vel (fps) Dist (yd) SNR
0 799.1 0 -
0.033021 799.64 8.75 7.09
0.055021 806 14.64 9.27
0.057021 803.04 15.18 11.51
0.083021 815.47 22.19 7.15
0.085021 817.38 22.74 9.93
0.093021 818.13 24.92 9.51
0.105021 807.22 28.17 11.34
0.115021 809.12 30.86 12.84
0.131021 813.16 35.19 8.79
0.135021 815.46 36.27 9.87
0.157021 830.51 42.31 10.87
0.183021 841.34 49.55 8.9
0.189021 841.51 51.24 7.09
0.201021 831.69 54.58 9.03
0.203021 829.44 55.14 8.28
0.221021 814.1 60.07 7.8
0.223021 819.17 60.61 8.21
0.229021 806.05 62.24 7.47
-
On my wish list
Bluetooth for:
Printing
Data transfer via smart device app
Device control (setup and arming) via smart device app
Okay, in the manual it says there is a Bluetooth signal strength indicator, but no where does it say what the BT can be used for. I guess they're planning on adding that and I'm glad they've thought ahead about it.
-
A couple of quick experiments, still in the basement.
Yes, just for the heck of it, I got the radar detector out of the car and it goes off big time when I "arm" the Labradar. You knew it would, but I just wanted to see. I may rig up a test to see how far away the detector can detect it.
I tried Low Power, in the basement to see if it would improve the SNR. Fired 10 shots with the air rifle and didn't have any false shots, but the SNR was slightly worse than in high power. I wonder if the high power false detections were a result of the blower in the dehumidifier which is located right next to the pellet trap downrange?
I also held my cell phone next to the unit and enabled BlueTooth. Was able to get two different ID's when I turned on the LR, but the LR screen didn't show BT icon, nor obviously was I able to "pair".
One suggestion I'm sending in to provide a radar "gun" mode, as well as allowing for advancing (coming at you) measurements. It would make the unit so much more versatile if it could be used like a traditional radar gun.
-
First day at the range with MLR. I tested all my pistol ammo. Not with every gun, but at least with my most used ones. I bought a 6.6Ahour rechargeable USB battery pack from Office Depot/Max and used it as a power source. Worked well and after 45 minutes of use still indicates >80% charge. Notice I'm not firing exactly from the side more from the upper corner. Worked well there. My concern with revolver was the side flame, but if one is careful I don't think that's going to be a problem.
Only negative of the day is that I forgot the SD memory card. So all the results are stored internally and can not be transferred to my computer. Not a huge loss, but I'll be glad when they upgrade the firmware to allow internal memory transfer.