New Athlon chrony
- Thread starter bustachip
- Start date
I bought the Athlon Rangecraft chrony and used it for the first time at the range today. Works like a dream and easy to use. I compared the speed with Air Chrony and the Athlon is generally 10 fps faster. Not sure which one is more accurate but the standard deviation for both came out to be very similar. Whichever is the case, the Athlon will be the one I'm taking to the range moving forward.
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@Joedirt199 Can the Athlon be placed close to the target and still be able to read the velocity of the shot? The manual instructs users to place the Rangecraft chronograph 4” - 10 from the muzzle.
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I think that will be the BC update they are working on. Will require one at the gun and one at the target. Haven't heard an official notification yet.
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@Joedirt199 To be clear, I’m asking if you know if the chronograph can be placed near the target as is without a firmware update. The manual doesn’t mention anything about it. I’m wondering if you as a user have tried doing this to get velocity readings further out aside from velocity at the muzzle.
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I haven't used one but was keeping up with a thread on snipershide about it and the garmin. I think it reads in bracket speeds so as long as you set it with the target speed in that range it should pick it up. Like pistol speeds vs rifle round speeds. It doesn't just read from zero to whatever.
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Precision Rifle Gear - New Athlon Rangecraft Chronograph-Garmin Xero Killer?
I don’t have anything super technical to add. I’ve been perfectly pleased outside of the fact of having to write down what string belongs to what. I have yet to get it to actually connect to the app on my phone, that does not seem to want to work.
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How does the Athlon Rangecraft chronograph handle high summer heat? Has anyone experienced issues due to heat? If so, what sort of issues?
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I was out the other day at 97 in the morning shade. I noticed no difference in a gun I was tuning and the previous session with it that was at 77
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I think this is only an issue if the unit is super close to a LabRadar or other types of high output interference. In the video I saw only one of the Athlon units was affected and he had several.
I have the Xero, got it before the Athlon was released, came from a ShootingChrony (that was reading about 40fps hot), LabRadar and an AirChrony. The only downside of the Garmin is it is slow. The AirChrony is great but you can't shoot through it and use the scope. LabRadar is great if you have the microphone and the space to run it.
These little units are awesome, if I didn't already have the Garmin i'd scoop up the Athlon in a heartbeat.
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If you have two you can use the two velocity measurements to get your BC, the only issue I can see if that you don't know exactly where the pick up points are close and far. Supposedly these things measure at 10 feet from the muzzle, not an issue at the gun, more of an issue downrange where you have a hard stop at the target (*only an issue if it is not ten feet). If the unit is looking ten feet past the target for the projectile it won't pick it up. A little experimenting will likely get you in the ballpark, or use a different chrony at the target (like a ShootingChrony) and keep the Athlon unit at the rifle.
You could use the two chrony method before these radar units were released.
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Same post as above but this guy is going for bust testing chronys... He talks about what he believes is causing the Athlon's to get frisky. Plus his test rig is just epic. lol
www.snipershide.com
Precision Rifle Gear - New Athlon Rangecraft Chronograph-Garmin Xero Killer?
I work in data analysis and this obsession over extreme spread is strange to me in this context. ES is just an equation, it’s not a measure of accuracy. At best, it’s a proxy for consistency. Case in point, you can have a single digit ES, and still miss your target entirely for a multitude of...
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FYI, if you're having issues syncing data from the hardware to your phone, make sure the hardware has the latest firmware version. That fixed my issue. I'm using an Android phone but I'm not sure that matters.
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Here’s a decent podcast episode with an Athlon project manager associated with bringing the Rangecraft chronograph to market.
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It is a doppler radar unit and is tracking the speed of the projectile as it is moving away from the unit. I could be wrong, but I do not believe it would work placed by the target.
Are you trying to determine BC's? The FX True Ballistic Radar Chronograph & LabRadar are doppler and can give you BC's.
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@mwgm2020 Thats what I’m trying to determine. Whether figuring BC or just trying to to determine the velocity around impact distance, I’d like to know if the unit is capable of capturing these readings. From what I read, Garmin released a firmware update where Xero users can now capture a downrange reading. I’m wondering it the Rangecraft has similar capabilities.
Yes I’m aware of some units that calculate BC. The FX True ballistics seems to be the main compact unit that can do so. I haven’t seen any Labradar LXs for sale on any sites. I’ve read bad reports on the Caldwell Velociradar (IIRC it also calculates BC).
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