Whats the actual benefit of the "FX true ballistics chronograph?"

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fiske said:
For example, the Android version lacks the bullet database, session statistics, dope cards, and graphing tool. These features should be added to the Android app in a month or two. I would say that it's best to continue using the Android app to keep all data in one place.
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Ok, thank you. My TBC is still "in the mail", but I will be looking forward to the updated Android app!
 
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@fiske: Thanks for your insight in the matter!

The only question that is left unanswered is: at what ranges is the bullet speed ACTUALLY MEASURED to extrapolate the rest of the data?

It seems that all the pundits are constantly steering away from answering this as for the fear that it will take away the marketing speak that it "tracks the bullet in real time", which translates to many people into thinking that it is MEASURING the velocities (and deriving the BC from that) at ALL the ranges shown... (Which of course it is not doing at all...)

Hopefully you or somebody can finally spill the beans! (it really doesn't make it a worse product if it is out in the open, on the contrary!)
 
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I've had a Labradar since they came out - pre-ordered and got mine well before they were generally available. Ignoring the triggering issues (particularly with airguns) the Labradar is/was pretty cool. BUT! It turns out that the BC calc just wasn't as useful as I expected. Sure, you get a number, and that number might be better (as in 'more correct') than the manufacturer's number, but at the end of the day - who cares? If you're going to shoot your rifle across the range, you're going to develop your own dope. Take the manufacturer's BC (or some other published BC) and that will get you one paper. After that, you're going to figure out where you are at any given range by collecting your own data. There's really not much point in refining an estimation before getting precise data. At least in my case, getting a more precise estimate meant nothing. It's kind a cool, but it's probably been at least three years since I tried to measure a BC, even though I have the capability. Around the time I bought the Labradar I'd have been all over the FX True Ballistic Chrono. Now, I'm not so excited. I have a Garmin - not the same beast, but it's the one I use because it's small enough to always have with me and it never misses a shot. That said, it only reports "muzzle" velocity and factors which can be calculated from that (energy, momentum / power factor).

Much respect to the designers, it's a cool tool, but I think it goes well into the realm of IIP ("Inconsequential Increments of Precision").

The usual disclaimers: I have no stake in any of these companies or their products. I don't even have a YouTube channel to pimp my opinions (solicited or not). If you have a strong preference for one, that's fine by me.

GsT
 
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fiske said:
First, I must say I am one of the app developers, so my view might be a bit one-sided. Here's what I do in a shooting session. I'm showing rimfire data because that's what's on my phone. Anroid users do not yet have all the features shown here.

I begin with a shot to see the elevation needed that day for the specific bullet. Bullet types and temperature changes (which are big in winter) can really affect this. For example, in one session, I used two similar bullets (new Lapua Midas+ and old Lapua Midas+).

View attachment 422920 View attachment 422921

(from last row) The new bullet needs 25 clicks for 100 meters (109 yards), but the old one needs 33 clicks.

When I shoot, I look at the standard deviation, vertical spread, and mean radius. My favorite bullet is the new Lapua Midas+. It has a vertical spread of about 1 MOA at 100m.

View attachment 422923

I had to switch to the old Lapua since the new was out of stock. Turns out, there's a big difference (the old one has a 3MOA vertical spread).

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You can see this data on a chart too. I've recorded many shot strings with both bullet types. On the chart, the old bullets are in blue, and the new ones are in red. The Y-axis shows the vertical spread in MOA, and the X-axis lists each shot string's number.

View attachment 422925

Looking at velocity standard deviation downrange could show similar results if you prefer that method.

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There are many more ways to analyze your shot strings if you want to.

View attachment 422929 View attachment 422930

I hope this helps.
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fiske said:
That's a reasonable suggestion. We'll make 'dope cards' feature first and then see if we can do the smartwatch thing like Strelok.
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After using this for quite some time, another feature I’d like to see is a Standard Deviation for BC. The Chrono shows BC and Average BC. A SD for BC would show stability consistency of the pellet/slug and allow development of velocities that are most stable/accurate for that barrel/ammo combination.
 
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