I bought a cheap. Chinacom Amazon chrono that was supposed to work....it didn't. It now sets in a box, going to the trash.
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New FX Pocket Wireless Chronograph V2
- Thread starter MiniMe
- Start date
I Have the FX v2. It's my first chrono and from my ignorant point of view worked fine. Just learning the app. For some reason, I had the chrono on a gun and when I was filling it up the chrono went off like I shot 30 shots. I was not able to figure out how to delete them from the string. Size and app are a plus for me. I like it but I have nothing to compare it with.
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Removing 8 Philips head screws and there is a 2 pin connector that just pops off. Would take less than 5 mins. I googled the number off the battery and found them on Amazon for a reasonable price.
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When I got my FX Chrony V2, it marred the picarails on my 2500 dollar BRK Ghost...
(I call it the revenge of FX...
)
It would not unscrew (I figured it was on purpose, as it seemed it was some type of friction clamp, or to prevent the bolt unscrewing fully... turns out it wasn't... So when I wanted to get it off the gun it was stuck. I finally got if off, and when I wanted to separate the nut and bolt it required so much force to unscrew that it broke the screw! If you look closely in the picture you can still see a piece of it "welded" inside the nut!
Anyway the Chrony itself was unreliable as hell, so I had it replaced and...
The second one is working fine, like it should!
But... the clamping mechanism (or lack thereof...) is not very handy, there should have been at least a knurled finger screw, so one does not need to get out the hexdriver everytime when attaching or detaching the chrony, or it should have a toolless spring type clamp.
And on top of that it is a pain if you want to use it for both picatinny and non picatinny equiped guns, you need to unscrew the clamp with 4 hex screws, replace it with the concave part and rescrew the 4 hex's. And that time and time again if you have multiple guns with and without pica rails to chrony...
So room for improvement right?...
Then let's start off with a picatinny spring clamping system that does not require any tools to attach or detach...
For this you only need an M4 (meaning 4 millimeter) thick bolt with a locking nut, a piece of shrink tubing and a small spring. (ISO the M4 you can use an imperial size that comes close, it is not critical in size, as long as it is slightly thinner than the original (M5) because it makes the clamping mechanism work a little smoother when covered with shrinktube.
The shrink tube has a dual function: to prevent marring of the pica rail the Chrony attaches to, and to make the moveable piece of the clamp slide easier.
So when shrunk on the bolt you want to cut the shrink tube off long enough so it passes THROUGH the hole of the moving plastic clamp part, and if your spring has a large enough diameter it may be exending into the coils of the spring, but it does not have to.
The spring lives between the locking nut on the very end of the bolt and the plastic moving clamping piece. It goes into the hexagonal recess where the regular nut used to be but of course it needs to be wider than the hole the bolt passes through, so the spring compresses when the moving part is pushed towards the locking nut.
You have to figure out the exact length of the bolt depending on the size and strength of the spring used, and how hard you want the clamping force to be while still being able to "hook" and "unhook" the Chrony to and from the picarail. (This takes a little trial and error, but when you get the right length you can saw off or dremel the end off. Take your time when Dremelling, as you must not let it get so hot to melt the plastic pieces nor the plastic ring of the locking nut! (of course have the whole thing unscrewed from the chrony (by means of loosening the 4 hex screws on the side of the chrony) while working on it...)
You need a selflocking nut so it will not work itself loose when operating the mechanism, or due to any recoil of the airgun. (you could use a regular nut with locktite instead, but that takes time to dry and makes it more cumbersome to adjust on the fly, if your clamp is just too tight or too loose)
The picture shows a thousand words:
Once finished it now has a perfect spring tensioned clamp that needs no tools to get on or off your picatinnyrail equipped airgun. Cool!
Now on to make it user friendly when using it incidentally on a non picatinny rail equipped airgun with the supplied concave piece...
As it turned out, the supplied FX concave piece has 4 holes, so it seems they maybe intended something like I envisioned, but they didn't pursue it as it was more costly for them. Anyway it made life much easier for me to draw someting up that could be used...
After some spielerei with Fusion360
Voila:
A 3D print piece of picatinnyrail for the Chrony to clamp onto, and a small "table" to connect the whole encillada to the FX concave part.
The silver screws are used to join the "table" to the concave FX piece, (that is where FX made the holes already for me) and the black screws are to join the small piece of pica rail to the table.
There are no extra holes or any other permanent deformations to the original FX hardware, so If ever wanted, everything screws apart, and nobody is the wiser!
The completed thing looks like this:
And since we already had a toolless springclamp equipped Chrony V2, we can now simply attach or deattach the whole thing in under 1 second...
Ooh yeah baby!
When used in this manner, it is a little higher than when using it the way FX intends it, but it still a lot smaller(!) than the earlier version of the FX Chrony, and you have the same flexibilty that is a lot less time consuming as well!
Should you want to make it, the 3D print file can be found here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6360272
And please upload a picture if you printed it!
Anyway, signing of for now... tata...
(I call it the revenge of FX...)It would not unscrew (I figured it was on purpose, as it seemed it was some type of friction clamp, or to prevent the bolt unscrewing fully... turns out it wasn't...
So when I wanted to get it off the gun it was stuck. I finally got if off, and when I wanted to separate the nut and bolt it required so much force to unscrew that it broke the screw! If you look closely in the picture you can still see a piece of it "welded" inside the nut! Anyway the Chrony itself was unreliable as hell, so I had it replaced and...
The second one is working fine, like it should!
But... the clamping mechanism (or lack thereof...) is not very handy, there should have been at least a knurled finger screw, so one does not need to get out the hexdriver everytime when attaching or detaching the chrony, or it should have a toolless spring type clamp.
And on top of that it is a pain if you want to use it for both picatinny and non picatinny equiped guns, you need to unscrew the clamp with 4 hex screws, replace it with the concave part and rescrew the 4 hex's. And that time and time again if you have multiple guns with and without pica rails to chrony...
So room for improvement right?...
Then let's start off with a picatinny spring clamping system that does not require any tools to attach or detach...
For this you only need an M4 (meaning 4 millimeter) thick bolt with a locking nut, a piece of shrink tubing and a small spring. (ISO the M4 you can use an imperial size that comes close, it is not critical in size, as long as it is slightly thinner than the original (M5) because it makes the clamping mechanism work a little smoother when covered with shrinktube.
The shrink tube has a dual function: to prevent marring of the pica rail the Chrony attaches to, and to make the moveable piece of the clamp slide easier.
So when shrunk on the bolt you want to cut the shrink tube off long enough so it passes THROUGH the hole of the moving plastic clamp part, and if your spring has a large enough diameter it may be exending into the coils of the spring, but it does not have to.
The spring lives between the locking nut on the very end of the bolt and the plastic moving clamping piece. It goes into the hexagonal recess where the regular nut used to be but of course it needs to be wider than the hole the bolt passes through, so the spring compresses when the moving part is pushed towards the locking nut.
You have to figure out the exact length of the bolt depending on the size and strength of the spring used, and how hard you want the clamping force to be while still being able to "hook" and "unhook" the Chrony to and from the picarail. (This takes a little trial and error, but when you get the right length you can saw off or dremel the end off. Take your time when Dremelling, as you must not let it get so hot to melt the plastic pieces nor the plastic ring of the locking nut! (of course have the whole thing unscrewed from the chrony (by means of loosening the 4 hex screws on the side of the chrony) while working on it...)
You need a selflocking nut so it will not work itself loose when operating the mechanism, or due to any recoil of the airgun. (you could use a regular nut with locktite instead, but that takes time to dry and makes it more cumbersome to adjust on the fly, if your clamp is just too tight or too loose)
The picture shows a thousand words:
Once finished it now has a perfect spring tensioned clamp that needs no tools to get on or off your picatinnyrail equipped airgun. Cool!
Now on to make it user friendly when using it incidentally on a non picatinny rail equipped airgun with the supplied concave piece...
As it turned out, the supplied FX concave piece has 4 holes, so it seems they maybe intended something like I envisioned, but they didn't pursue it as it was more costly for them. Anyway it made life much easier for me to draw someting up that could be used...
After some spielerei with Fusion360
Voila:
A 3D print piece of picatinnyrail for the Chrony to clamp onto, and a small "table" to connect the whole encillada to the FX concave part.
The silver screws are used to join the "table" to the concave FX piece, (that is where FX made the holes already for me) and the black screws are to join the small piece of pica rail to the table.
There are no extra holes or any other permanent deformations to the original FX hardware, so If ever wanted, everything screws apart, and nobody is the wiser!
The completed thing looks like this:
And since we already had a toolless springclamp equipped Chrony V2, we can now simply attach or deattach the whole thing in under 1 second...
Ooh yeah baby!
When used in this manner, it is a little higher than when using it the way FX intends it, but it still a lot smaller(!) than the earlier version of the FX Chrony, and you have the same flexibilty that is a lot less time consuming as well!
Should you want to make it, the 3D print file can be found here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6360272
And please upload a picture if you printed it!
Anyway, signing of for now... tata...
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Id love to see a attachment available for sale, that houses the V2 chrony securely, and then simply friction slips over the last few inch's of a front mounted 480cc carbon fiber bottle. Seems like that would be an ideal location for the chrony, as long as its able to take readings, sitting that far back from the muzzle.
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Meh, don't be so inclined to disregard rechargeables. Nearly every device that has a rechargeable battery has the ability to replace said batteries and renew it. For example, my Norelco razor, that had the battery soldered in place (and NEVER intended by Norelco for me to replace it, but to buy a new razor)... I took it apart, de-soldered it and re-soldered a new battery in, about 3 times. 15 years later, I still use it. I'm sure with the V2 it is very easy to replace the battery, if one wanted to.
And for anything with standard replaceable batteries, come off a few bucks and order some serious rechargeables:
AA: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09L5MGMFY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
AAA: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BMPQC1VN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Charger combo: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08BCN29G2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Beats the heck out of the 1.2VDC NiMh batteries as well as alkalines.
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Anyone knows if they fixed the problem V2 had with unreliable readings for .177? I don't know if it is something software update could solve. That is the only thing stopping me from buying V2 now.
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Not just unreliable with .177 brand new one 10-15 fps lower when compared against two different Caldwells my second one I'm done!!!!
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Bummer. They blew it with this one then. They could've have a great product if they haven’t rushed it. Not intersted in Garmin, because of the price.. Looks like V1 is the best purchase for me.
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Vlado, for many years I was competing in archery, almost all my club members had some sort of chrony's, but we all were talking different speeds. Many times of arguing we have tested 10-15 chronographs right there in the archery range, side by side. The shocking was -- no two the same.
I just told you the story don't get emotional with chronies and radars. Pick one and stick with it.
I have the very first FX radar, replace it ones under warranty, this second radar is working ever since.
FX ver.3
Also, I upgraded with a screen and external battery power
I already have the parts, but didn't got there yet to make the cable removable... as I have it on the green lazer
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Thank you for the honest advice, @bigHUN . I liked the size of V2 but since I only shoot .177 for the time being, V2 is out.
I like what you did to your FX.
If I get one, I will do external power mod for sure.
Display mod is too advanced for me, but I am ok with checking the phone.
On a side note, If you do decide to move, I am inviting myself for a visit. Would love to learn something new and meet a fellow forum member.
I like what you did to your FX.
If I get one, I will do external power mod for sure.
Display mod is too advanced for me, but I am ok with checking the phone.
On a side note, If you do decide to move, I am inviting myself for a visit. Would love to learn something new and meet a fellow forum member.
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It was in my plans to come for a visit in October, but one surgery cut my plans and need to wait for nice weather again. Postponed for May, I will stay mostly in Kikinda and BudaPest, planning about a one month maybe.... I would also like to see the BR club beside Belgrade, we can meet. More to follow.
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