That’s the question, and am seeking recent information.

I have a (two, actually) Oehler 35P chronographs, but they are time-consuming to set up, and finicky to use under some conditions, such as in strong winds. I’m also growing a little suspicious of the accuracy of the unit I use mostly. I could set both up for comparison, but am just thinking of getting the Labradar for convenience, and to compare with the Oehlers.

I have, BTW, read through several older threads, so if your current opinions are there, please just post the link if that is more convenient than restating everything. I am specifically interested in how the unit works with suppressors, and if there is any reason to believe they do better today than what fritz posted about a year ago.

Watched one with interest 2 weeks ago at local range. It was already set up when I arrived.
It was being used with a 24" barrel 7mm Rem mag and a muzzle brake. Winds max 5 mph, temp 55 deg. It appeared to work very well, one reason I was so interested.

Midsouth shooters supply is advertising a sale on them.

A friend I'm getting into reloading just bought one because he found it at $50 off sale. We've used it a couple of times and compared it with a couple of different conventional chronos we've been using.

1. It is just as accurate as the other chronos
2. It doesn't pick up "error" readings due to lighting conditions...if you fire a shot, you get a reading.
3. The software (avg, SD, PF, etc.) is amazing (very fast and easy to read)
4. It is extremely quick to set up. The slowest part of the process is linking the bluetooth to his smart phone.
5. It is a bit more sensitive to cross winds due to it's height...it needs a stable tripod
6. It is very flexible as to the placement of the muzzle.
7. Being able to measure velocity at a selected distance or just seeing the change of over distance was interesting

We didn't use it with any suppressed weapons, but since it is using Doppler Radar to measure the velocity of the projectile...I wouldn't think it would be affected

Thanks for the comments thus far.
I posted a couple of questions, but found the answers and therefore deleted them.

Descriptions of other recent experiences would be welcome.

Good friend has a Labradar, we shoot together weekly or more. Used his Labradar countless times, mostly for pistol and MP5. I have a Magneto V3.

Very high percentage it's used shooting prone with suppressed rifles. He's got the fussing around down, where to have the muzzle.... Has a cheap scope mounted on the top for aiming it. It picks up I would guess 95% or better suppressed, same for bare/braked barrels. For pistol/MP5 have it on a bench. With my Magneto on shooting through the LabRadar, virtually no difference. Don't mess with measuring velocity down range with it, doesn't matter for ballistic programs. I see it as worthless information to get wrapped up over... For my rifles I prefer the Magneto, easier/faster to set up. If anyone else is at the range, stopping traffic to set up the Labradar. Do get a shift in POI with Magneto, OK with that don't spend a lot of rounds tuning a load. Once that load is established, chrono every 500rds or so. Advantages to the Labradar obviously no POI shift and can be used for pistol. Worth the cost over the Magneto?

If you are up my way, probably can arrange for you to mess with his Labradar with a weeks notice.

I agree with "offgrid"....

Unit can be temperamental with suppressed weapons or when their are multiple shooters/shot reports.

Sucks up batteries like a nothing I've ever seen. So prepare to buy an external battery pack and cabling.

There seems to be a multitude of button pushing to get the required info in or out of the unit.

I prefer the Magneto Speed as it is simple to operate and mostly fool proof. Accurate.

I don't see POI shifts with barrels that are M24 or heavy palma contour.

In my opinion, Labradar is not worth the almost double the price of the Magneto Speed.

Andrew

I like mine. What I like, works with rifle, pistol or whatever, easy setup, doesn't change the POI, and provides a wealth of information. The only negatives is the learning curve and sighting system. Those get better with use. I would buy again.

Decided to bite on the best price I’ve seen thus far (Creedmoor Sports). And of course the accessories, including the external battery, added to the price, but I’ve gone the “make do” route too many times.

Thanks for all the replies.

I'd get one if I already didn't have a Magnetospeed.
I still may someday.

The MagnetoSpeed has many good reviews and is reportedly even easier to use than the Labradar, but I wanted something I could use with all my guns and would not affect POI/accuracy.

I hope I haven’t made an expensive mistake, but as Judge Learned Hand observed, “[L]ife is made up of a series of judgements on insufficient data, and if we waited to run down all our doubts, it would flow past us.” And some of us have less life left to flow past us than others.

The Lab Radar is expensive but will do a few things that no other chronograph will do. Not having to attach to the barrel has a set of advantages that you might find compelling.

The MagnetoSpeed ALWAYS works and is the most reliable of any chronograph.

You can buy Sky Screen Chronographs that work just fine for dirt cheap.

I have them all. I use the LabRadar whenever I can but the MagnetoSpeed is handy indoors, with suppressed weapons and other situations where I miss a few shots out of the Labradar.

FWIW I'd probably recommend the MagnetoSpeed Sporter for most beginning shooters as the best balance between performance/price. Serious shooters and ballistitions are eventually going to gravitate towards a LabRadar.........

The reason the Labradar is sometimes problematic with suppressed firearms is that it uses a microphone built into the unit to detect the sound of a gunshot to trigger a chrono reading.

I bought a Labradar and then got super busy with kids and haven't even used it yet, but my understanding is once you figure out where to position the Labradar, you can get it to work pretty consistently with suppressed weapons.

It's an added thing to set up, but there's also a jack on the Labradar for an external trigger microphone - this is advertised for use with air guns and archery equipment, but if it works for them, I don't see why you couldn't use it with a suppressed rifle or pistol.

Depending on how the unit actually processes the sound to trigger a reading, you could also potentially get very reliable triggering by using a contact microphone (used in miking a variety of acoustic musical instruments, especially percussion instruments - it's basically a microphone built into a sticker that is designed to pick up sound from what it's attached to).

After reading many reviews of the Labradar, I also bought a separate trigger that attaches to the rifle and is activated by recoil. It wasn’t too expensive, and it seems like it would be the ideal solution to all the sound activation issues. Hopefully it works as advertised.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
After reading many reviews of the Labradar, I also bought a separate trigger that attaches to the rifle and is activated by recoil. It wasn’t too expensive, and it seems like it would be the ideal solution to all the sound activation issues. Hopefully it works as advertised.

Good plan! I'm going to look into this myself. (Update: Where did you find this? I didn't see a recoil operated trigger on the Labradar site)


Also BUY the EXTERNAL BATTERY! The Labradar eats AA batteries voraciously. In the long run you'll save money by buying the external.......

I may be interested in upgrading chronographs myself so I will be interested to hear your range report on the Labradar unit once you've had a chance to try it out.

I ordered the recoil trigger from JKL Precision. In addition to the trigger itself, they offer an adapter to attach it to a Picatinny rail. In researching the Labradar, I found reference to someone who (claimed to have?) invented the original recoil trigger and which was copied by others. I could not, however, find any information on purchasing it from that individual, and therefore just started searching in general. That turned up JKL.

https://jklprecision.com/product/labradar-trigger/

And, yes, there were many recommendations about the external battery, so I ordered that as well.

quote:

Originally posted by djpaintles:
Serious shooters and ballistitions are eventually going to gravitate towards a LabRadar.........

That's good to know.

When my JBM dope tables no longer get me on target to a mile with 6.5CM, and when they no longer get me on target with 22lr to 250 yards, sounds long LabRadar might be the ticket.

I don't know if serious shooting would work, however. I kinda like matches where squad members are cracking jokes, bantering each other, and ribbing the guy who missed the easy target....

So for now, I'll trudge along with a Magnetspeed.