My Labradar has finnaly arrived!

[Younger]

The Brown truck delivered my Labradar this week. It was a long wait, over a year. Today I put the batterys in the unit and headed out to the range. The temp was 34 deg and the wind was out of the SSW at 15 mph. Set up was a snap. I had built a table support simular to the one Labradar sells with scraps of wood and some screws. It worked out great and cost nothing.
I used some Wolf steel case 100 gr to get up to speed on the operation of the unit. I then fired 5 rounds of Hornady Custom 123 gr SST for a test. The Labradar worked great. I quickly fired the 5 rounds of SSTs and picked up my gear and headed for home. The wind chill was getting nasty. Will be out again tomorrow with warmer clothes. I have to reset some of the parameters on the radar to better complete the data collection.
I love the unit so far. Ease of setup and operation makes shooting with a chrono (radar) a fun part of shooting. I had a Shooting Chrony that was not fun to setup.
I hope the attachment works. It shows how the data is dowloaded in the spread sheet.
I was shooting my truck gun, a 14.5 inch Saber Defence barrel.

[IceAxe]

That's good to here, I too ordered one a while back and I am still waiting. I was wondering (concerned) if there would be any difficulty with it tracking the boat tailed bullets, but if you are getting good readings on the SST's we should be fine. Were you able to get down range velocities?

[Klem]

Sounds good.

So, looking at the read-out it's picking up downrange velocities at 25, 50 and 75yds, but not 100yds?

Is this one of the power-limited versions or 'full-power'?

[NugginFutz]

Pretty sure they're all reduced power, if sold in the US of A.

[Klem]

What????!!! I thought you guys were the last bastion of freedom?!

Do you know if they sell full power to anywhere where there's a postal system?

[Younger]

I was at the range today and found out that the target was 99 yds from the end of the muzzle. I changed the parameter to 99 yds and got 2 out of 3 velocity readings. I then set in 95 yards and received velocities consistently from then on. I will move to the 200 yd target the next time I am out and check how far out I can get a velocity reading. There are 5 programmable points for velocity readings down range.
Normal transmitting power is 4.84 dBm and the antenna gain is 22 dBi. What ever that means. The US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have a Standard and a Low power setting. Only the EU is restricted to the low power setting. I was operating the unit on the standard power setting.
Battery life is a possible concern. There are power saving features, however I have none set at this time. The temp was hovering at 33 deg today. OM says 14 degs is the low operating point. This may be a factor here in NoDak. So far I like the unit.

[NugginFutz]

What????!!! I thought you guys were the last bastion of freedom?!

Do you know if they sell full power to anywhere where there's a postal system?

I can't locate the email they'd sent late last year, but one of the delays they experienced had to do with an regulatory issue with their power output. As a result, they said a modification (power reduction) was required.


Here is some expected performance data according to their website's FAQ, as of today.

What range performance can one expect with LabRadar?

In general LabRadar will typically measure the velocity of a 7.62 mm projectile from muzzle up to 100 yards. After extensive testing of a variety of calibers you can expect to obtain velocities at these distances when in the Standard Power Mode. Low Power setting will have about 30% less tracking*.

.177 Pellet - 30 yards;
.177 BB - 30 yards;
22 LR - 60 yards;
223 - 60 yards;
270 - 70 yards;
308 - 80 to 100 yards;
9mm - 130 yards;
40 S&W - 130 yards;
45 ACP - 130 yards;
500 S&W - 130 yards;
12 gauge Slug - 90 yards;
Paint Ball - 50 yards;
Arrows - 50 yards;

* Since every bullet has a different profile your results may vary. In general, the larger the base (excluding the boat tail) the great the distance the projectile can be acquired.

Based on this, Younger, I'd say you are lucky to be reading the .264 at or near 100 yards.

[Klem]

I changed the parameter to 99 yds and got 2 out of 3 velocity readings. I then set in 95 yards and received velocities consistently from then on.
OK, interesting, sounds like this is its max effective range.

The US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have a Standard and a Low power setting. Only the EU is restricted to the low power setting.
That's good to hear.

Battery life is a possible concern. There are power saving features, however I have none set at this time.
Is there an external power socket? Could you plug in an external battery pack? What voltage?

[Younger]

Klem, There is a USB rechargeable battery bank available. 10,000 mAh @ 5 volts.

[Younger]

I can't locate the email they'd sent late last year, but one of the delays they experienced had to do with an regulatory issue with their power output. As a result, they said a modification (power reduction) was required.


Here is some expected performance data according to their website's FAQ, as of today.



Based on this, Younger, I'd say you are lucky to be reading the .264 at or near 100 yards.

NugginFutz, Another shooter had ranged the target at 99 yds from the end of my barrel. It is possible the bullet had passed through the target before a reading could be acquired. That is why I reset the distance to 95 yards, just to be sure. Does air temp and density affect the Doppler? I don't know.

[Savage Shooter]

Thanks for posting this - many of us have had our eye on the unit, but given their fits and starts were reluctant to be early adopters (I have a Pro Chronograph and a Magnetospeed chrono already.) Keep posting and let us know how things are working. Do you have another "regular" chrono you can compare each shot to the Labradar?

[Younger]

Thanks for posting this - many of us have had our eye on the unit, but given their fits and starts were reluctant to be early adopters (I have a Pro Chronograph and a Magnetospeed chrono already.) Keep posting and let us know how things are working. Do you have another "regular" chrono you can compare each shot to the Labradar?

I have an old Shooting Chrony. It was giving me fits on my last outing to the range and I have basically given up on it. Maybe this spring I will try again.

[bwaites]

There are whisperings that power regulation is a software, not a hardware issue, and that with the proper instructions, power can easily be dialed up, allowing readings out to at least 500 yards. However, I have yet to see the instructions. Truthfully, honest consistent readings at 50 yards would allow the vast majority of what we need. If we could get 100 and 500 readings, we could get REALLY good ballistics tables.

[Dave Bob]

I have one and it has a slight problem when shooting with a silencer, not major just make sure its about 6 to 8" beside the barrel to pick up the shot. It picks up non silenced shots without any problems.
Any usb rechargeable battery bank will power it for a long time or just get the one they sell. Get a 1 to 4gb SD card and your good to go. 50 10 shot strings took up almost no space on a 1 gb SD card.

Dave

[wheelguner]

Glad to see they have begun to reach the folks that had them on order. I received e new MagnetoSpeed Sportster Chrono from a customer of mine that I rushed a job for. This is my fourth chronograph and my favorite so far. The issues that I had with all the previous units that used sky screens went away. The ease of set up and not having to go forward of the firing line to set up or adjust is great. Light issues which I had learned to control were also gone. I canceled my order for the LabRadar since my needs were well met by the MagnetoSpeed. I do look forward to reading reports on the LabRadar unit though. Keep them coming.