03-12-2014, 05:56 PM
For that price range, I wouldn't expect much. Economy Optical chronographs are temperamental at best. The headache incurred with them isn't worth the low entry cost, but they are better than nothing.
Oehler has been the gold standard for optical chronographs, but they are substantially more money. The Magnetospeed chronograph uses a different approach to showing velocity, as do some of the newer instruments. I'm personally looking at LabRadar.
When shooting over optical sensor chronographs, you have to have ideal lighting conditions, or create them artificially, and have perfect alignment of the bullet over the optical windows on the base unit. You will get different error codes if the bullet only passes over one sensor, or no sensors, for example, which can be frustrating when doing charge weight specific load development.
Oehler has been the gold standard for optical chronographs, but they are substantially more money. The Magnetospeed chronograph uses a different approach to showing velocity, as do some of the newer instruments. I'm personally looking at LabRadar.
When shooting over optical sensor chronographs, you have to have ideal lighting conditions, or create them artificially, and have perfect alignment of the bullet over the optical windows on the base unit. You will get different error codes if the bullet only passes over one sensor, or no sensors, for example, which can be frustrating when doing charge weight specific load development.