Questions on Chronos

D

Doc Hoy

New member
I am considering a new Chronograph.

I have a Shooting Chrony F1. It gave me fair service producing bullet speeds about two out of three shots. (One of three returned an error.)

I used it with both my .36 and .44 balls of my revolvers as well as the .177 pellets from a good quality air rifle. Little difference in the performance of the Chrony.

I could never figure out how to know when to use the sky shields. On a given day I would shoot with the shields and shoot without the shields again with little difference in the reliability of the Chrony.

I sent it back to the manufacturer thinking it had a problem but when I got it back the performance was no better.

I am now thinking of a PACT Professional XP for the following reasons:

1.) Price - 210 to 230 depending upon where you go for the PACT as opposed to more than three hundred for an equivalent ProChono or Shooting Chrony. I have not done a lot of shopping around to verify prices on the Prochrono.
2.) Sensors and screens are separate from the unit which makes it a lot cheaper to fix if I happen to shoot it.
3.) Ballistic software is downloaded for free from the website. Shooting Chrony wants 80.00 for theirs and I did not check on ProChrono.

Does anyone have any feelings one way or the other?
Any experience with PACT?
Comparison of the three units?
Are all chronographs finnicky like the F1 I have?
How about similar experience to mine with the unreliable reporting of the F1?
Or perhaps is there a fourth chronograph that I should be thinking about?
__________________
 
How about "none of the above?"

I purchased a CED Millennium 2 last week, and have run rubber bands (in my kitchen no less), .177 pellets, .40S&W, .45ACP and .44mag through it without a single hitch. It's brains are remote from the sensors and the cables are long enough to set the display right on the bench. It has a built in standard USB interface (no custom cable required) and comes with the software necessary to download your shot strings to a computer.

$189 at Graf's with free shipping.
 
I don't want to upset anybody by saying this but the "Chrony" sucks. I've got one and it's never been anything but trouble. A friend of mine had similar problems. Sometimes it works and sometimes not. I bought one called the "ProChrono" and it works right every time.
 
Dogs and Dr. SL

SD,

Yes, you can can read in my original post my frustration with mine. It never did work properly even after being "fixed" by the factory.

Maybe it is distance, or placement of the shot above the optics but the thing can't be so finnicky that it interferes with the shooter.

To Dr. SL.

More good info. I am mighty glad I posted here (at Mykeal's urging). This is more grist for the "Check-out-the-Millenium" mill.
 
It has to do with the light being perfect in order to work. Also it won't work anywhere near power lines. I never read the instructions on my Pro Chrono. I never had to. It just works every time. When I bought my old Chrony it came with cheapo cardboard stands that blew off after any muzzle blast. I bought a lot of replacements trying to keep it working. Then they came out with cheapo plastic ones that did the same thing. I got the Pro Chrono and never looked back. The Chrony is buried somewhere in the back of my junk closet.
 
3 days late :-(

Sure wish I'd found this site three days ago, today was my 2nd trip to the range trying to get my new F1 master to give stable results

A model 1911 firing factory 45 APC loads measured 1743 fps. I tried distances out to 12 feet from the unit

A 45 colt revolver firing cowboy loads measured 1295, when all books say this light load should show 600-700 fps. again I was using distances from 8 to 12 feet, with and without the diffusers.

I went back today and re-did the same tests with just about the same results, except I took a 22 rifle
along as a test weapon. Firing stand velocity 22 long rifle ammo they clocked in at 2150 to 2300 fps. Monday it goes back and I will be ordering a CED M2. Many thanks for having this great forum.:D
 
I have a Pact Chrono/Timer older model and it has given me excellent service over many years.
I also recently purchased a ProChrono digital just for ease of use. Chose it over other compact models because it has a large shooting window and easy to read screen. It has been ultra reliable and speeds are comparable to those measured on the Pact. If you are careful and don't let anyone else use it, then it probably won't end up shot.

The club I belong to has a CED with IR screens for indoor use. Maybe they were unlucky but it is next to useless indoors, works OK outdoors but no better than any of the others above.
 
draggon said:
I have a Pact Chrono/Timer older model and it has given me excellent service over many years.
I also recently purchased a ProChrono digital just for ease of use. Chose it over other compact models because it has a large shooting window and easy to read screen. It has been ultra reliable and speeds are comparable to those measured on the Pact. If you are careful and don't let anyone else use it, then it probably won't end up shot.

The club I belong to has a CED with IR screens for indoor use. Maybe they were unlucky but it is next to useless indoors, works OK outdoors but no better than any of the others above.
Click to expand...

The ProChrono Digital was the 2nd one on my list. It's gotten generally favorable reviews, but I see two downsides with it . . . you CAN shoot it's brains out, and you need to spend another $50 to be able to download your shot strings to a computer. If the former happens, I understand that Competition Electronics does a good job of taking care of you, even to the point of fixing your "error" for free. But the latter issue was a big one for me; I wanted a "plug 'n play" unit that came with what I needed. Adding that $50 to the cost of the ProChrono brought it right into the same price range as the CED, and the (very large) remote display was just tasty icing on the cake.

Oh, and I used the CED M2 today during a snow flurry. Every shot registered :D
 
Ive got the Alpha Master that I use for quick setup at ranges. I bought a 25' telephone extension chord so the tripod is set up 20' from the muzzle. It has always worked well for close to 20 years. I keep it in a camera case with a spare 9v battery. Velcro straps attach the tripod to it for carrying everything in a neat package.
 
How about the ProChrono Digital. Any feed back on that, recieved as a Christmas present and will try out in the next few weeks. Wonder if anyone has one.
 
ragwd said:
How about the ProChrono Digital. Any feed back on that, recieved as a Christmas present and will try out in the next few weeks. Wonder if anyone has one.
Click to expand...

See posts #11 and #12 above . . . the ProChrono Digital is mentioned in both.
 
I have a Chrony Beta model. It works well for me. It rarely shows an error. They have to be used outdoors, unless the indoor lighting kit is used. While being used outdoors, the sensors must be shaded from the sunlight.
 
I'm still using my Pact model 1, nope I haven't shot it yet, but a "friend" did.:rolleyes::eek:

He took out both sky screen sensor boxes with a 180Gr .308 & I was 100% sure it was gonna cost a bundle to get them fixed.:mad:
Wrong! they are very well designed as the actual sensors are at the lowest bottom of the box. The total replacement cost was about $10.00 for the plastic boxes & cast plastic lenses.;)

The sky screens are to diffuse strong, directional light only, you can use them or not, but I always use them as they give me a frame of reference to shoot through & (for me) make aligning when setting up way easier.

A thought on the unreliable readings..........

Were you using either wads, lots of grease, or anything else other than the ball when checking BP velocities?

I ask because the only thing I've ever had effect my readings was the time I tried Cap & Ball with wads (the sensor can't tell a ball from a wad & so gets confused, thinking you fired 2 bullets almost together) or the smoke/burning powder particles does the same thing.

I had trouble with a muzzle device because of the side blast too,but I mainly had problems with some sabot rounds I was messing with.:barf:

Before you give up on the Chronograph, try backing the "START" screen off to 15 feet, this fixed most of the problems I had with multiple "projectiles" at 10 feet even though that is the suggested distance.
 
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