Caldwell Chronographs

[banjosam911]

What is the opinion on Caldwell Chronographs?

[LR1955]

What is the opinion on Caldwell Chronographs?

BJS:

I think all chronographs are obsolete these days.

The chronographs you are looking at depend heavily on where you set them up in relation to the sun. Best conditions are light overcast with the sun above you. As the light conditions stray to bright or darker, you will have problems. And I don't mean a lot of variance in your readings, I mean with the thing giving you a reading you can mistrust due to one of a hundred light and environmental conditions.

Also, you will shoot the sensors eventually and they cost a bundle to replace.

The Caldwell's are teathered to the cell phone which would be an automatic No Go for me. I have a cheapo CED I use for pistol loads and it uses Bluetooth which is a really good feature. Mine experiences the same problems with lighting conditions though.

Lab Radars are expensive and very difficult to set up. I don't care for Magnetospeeds because you have to attach them to the barrel and they protrude past the muzzle which to me is not a good idea. Someone is selling one in the Grendel Buy / Sell forum.

If you wait a couple of months the Garmin will put Lab Radar's on E Bay for half their price. The Magnetospeeds are convenient but never really took off. All three of these do not depend on sky screens and sensors to detect the shadow of the bullet as it passes the sensors.

I would say that if you are serious about your loads and shooting, to look at the Garmin system that just came out.

LR-55

[just_john]

Garmin never does anything badly, plus 1 ref LR1955.

[Klem]

Banjo,

I agree, optical chronographs have been relegated by innovation. I ended up only using my optical Chrony at night with LED skyscreens, to avoid unreliable readings in sunlight. Unless it is dirt cheap I'd save your money until the Labradars drop dramatically in price.

55 is absolutely right about shooting the chronograph. I shot a few skyscreen legs but eventually my luck ran out and shot the screen. It was such a good shot I've kept it all these years.
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