I suggest something more modern. Like FX Pocket Chrono. Definitely radar based.

I'm still hanging on to my conventional chrony because it's there, but it very rarely makes for easy and trouble free tuning.

Let me highlight:
It's finicky to say the least.
You need to install the awkward shades in bright daylight.
It doesn't work under led lighting.
It's a hassle to line it up with your target.
It does eat a lot batteries so always carry spares.
You will eventually misplace some of the shade rods leaving You unable to use it on a sunny day.

The price difference is negligible. Maybe others will have more insight.
 
I'm happy with the Caldwell that I picked up for $120 a while back. It can be a little picky about lighting, but a couple of Harbor Freight $1.00 LED lights took care of that.

DSC_1002.JPG


Cheers,

J~
 
  • Like
Reactions: Deerstalker
I went through 3 entry level chronos over a space of 20 years in my youth so I learned the hard way to buy once cry once. These weren't reliable by not picking up all the shots, gave incorrect velocities as confirmed by the higher end one I bought towards the end of the 20 years, and also one broke.

Although my Oehler P35 works great for everything else it doesn't pick up 17 cal pellets well, and sometimes not at all, and is time consuming for set up and take down.

I recently ran across a deal on a Garmin Xero and that thing is awesome and convenient. Much higher level of convenience and it has a permanent place in my gun accessories tote.

It took me much of my youth to learn to buy quality at a sacrifice. Meaning if you have to sell some stuff or put "it" on the CC for a few months and pay some interest that the experience is often cheaper in the end or at least much less hassle.
In fact the worst mistake of my life as far as guns go was not buying a used target rifle I saw in a GS. It would have cost me $600 in the mid 1990's which was the value of most of my guns at the time(which I could have sold in a short time to recoup funds) but not buying this particular jewel of a rifle cost me thousands over the years in rinse and repeat crappy rifles that weren't worth buying in the first place.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: bustachip
I own two of those cheap Chinese bolt to the barrel chronographs. I bought the second one cuz the first one flaked out for the second time. However I fixed it again for the second time due to bad solder joints. A transistor solder joint lifted from the board. These things must be made by elementary school kids or prison inmates. The poorest soldering job and assembly I've ever seen. However the price of so cheap and they work so well I have two of them like I said. I use them when adjusting velocity on guns because it's much easier than a regular chronograph. Some of my guns require you to take off the stock making it difficult to shoot over other chronographs. I also have a labradar that I use to find ballistic coefficients when I need something more.
 
I do bench-rest with centerfire and .22, bought Challenger Pro .22 to help me learn to read wind. I have a Garmen chrono which seems to work very well. A retired mechanical engineer who shoots with us bought two so he could compare. If I have the details straight he shot 1000 rounds of mixed centerfire and .22 and the two chrono's were in agreement to within 0.02%. By the way I am new here, been lurking and listening for a couple of months. I really look forward to getting to know you guys.
 
I been using that cheap $30 china chronograph ( bolt on barrel one) for a few years now .. no issues at all .

No thrills nuttin fancy but does all I ask of it ..
I don’t like to attach my FX V1 chronograph to my barrel or moderator so as not to influence barrel harmonics. I like to check velocity while shooting groups, not either/or.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Richieg
I bought the Nate Chrony via pyramid air. So far so good. I only have one gun (HW50s). I am a bit of a klutz with setting up any electronic stuff so my better half helped me hook it up to the iPad - which she said was easy. Next day I went out and used it and it worked.
With the HW50 being a break barrel I took a little care in making sure that I didn’t bash it as it was cocked, but it didn’t make the effort harder. At some stage I’ll get a longer cable because during the cocking it’s too easy to accidentally pull the cable out of the USB.
For those who are unfamiliar with the unit these are my initial observations, this is my first chrony so I can’t compare it with anything.

1) It’s portable and easy to set-up .

2) You could take it anywhere

3) It’s a clever design - costs are kept down by not needing providing an app, a separate screen, or a internal battery.

4) it’s only for airguns.

5) I think it’s a good tool for newbies. If you order one be sure to read up on which adaptor comes with it and which one to order. They ship directly from Australia so if you think you might need several adapters combine shipping. If you think you might want one, buy it before international delivery slows down for the holidays. For me, delivery was 4 or 5 days faster than expected and was about a week as I recall.
 
I do bench-rest with centerfire and .22, bought Challenger Pro .22 to help me learn to read wind. I have a Garmen chrono which seems to work very well. A retired mechanical engineer who shoots with us bought two so he could compare. If I have the details straight he shot 1000 rounds of mixed centerfire and .22 and the two chrono's were in agreement to within 0.02%. By the way I am new here, been lurking and listening for a couple of months. I really look forward to getting to know you guys.
You learn to read the wind by Never shooting with out windflags Crony has nothing to do with reading the wind. You will like this game. No reloading and almost no cleaning. Groups at 20 meters in the zeros. Groups in the 1s are bad groups.
 
just looked at Nate chrony ,way to complicated to me , and i would need set up another devise to use it . useless by itself .
If that's complicated just wait till you spend an hour trying to get a traditional one setup and it still won't read half your shots. It's less complicated that linking a Bluetooth one to a device.