chronograph questions

[mike100]

I'm at a point where I really need to do some velocity measurements an a couple of loads I'm working up.

1) what is the most economical unit that actually works? and
2) does anybody in San Diego or north co region want to loan me one? I just can't see having anymore shooting cabinet clutter.

so anyhow, do the $80 ones work well in bright or low light?

[Fjold]

Yes, the shooting Chrony's will work for the occasional load development stuff. The new skyscreens work really well now.

If you want to sart fiddling with "standard deviation" "mean average deviation" etc. then get one of the Pact, Oehler, etc. models that does all the calculating for you.

[ryang]

I have a big thumbs down for Shooting Chrony. I recently upgraded and took advantage of their trade-in policy to get an Alpha Master.

1. Per their website, I mailed the old chrony and personal check.
2. 1.5 weeks later I called to check on status. The order was on hold for two weeks waiting for the personal check to clear.
3. When I expressed dissapointment they didn't mention that on their website, the rude response was "we can't mention everything". Huh? It's a website.
4. I asked if they could take my credit card info as guarantee for the check to clear and ship now rather than later. They agreed.
5. I also asked if they could ship 2-day. They said their US distributor was out of stock but would have more the next day. If I wanted it shipped that day, customs/shipping from Canada would be very expensive, but if I waited one day they could ship from inside the US. I agreed with their suggestion.
6. They shipped the following day, but did so from Canada. When I called them about that, they claimed I insisted on shipping from Canada.
7. They billed my credit card for the full amount--that's the price of the upgrade plus the shipping from Canada.
8. They also shipped F/C via UPS. That means UPS billed me (as the recipient) for shipping charges. I think whoever made that choice did so knowing I would scream about unauthorized shipping expenses and wanted to avoid dealing with the chargeback.

Net result: billed twice for the product and twice for shipping from Canada which I didn't authorize. I had to dispute the charge with my credit card company in order to get a refund on the product double-billing. Meanwhile the chrony itself gives false reads (adds an extra 1000fps or subtracts 500fps) every 20 shots or so.

Regardless of the product quality, their horrible customer service means they bought themselves a lifetime's worth of bad advertising from me. Go with another product.

[stevepsd]

I've used my ShootingChrony for years. No problems, ever. Well, not exactly true...I shot my ShootingChrony the second time I used it, absolutely destroyed it - a .338 Win Mag will do that - I now remember that the bore must be aligned with the sky screens, not just the scope! When I called ShootingChrony to see about having my unit repaired, they said sent-it-in and we will evaluate it to see if it's worth repairing. A week later I received a replacement, free-of-charge with a note to be a bit more careful in setting it up! This happened about 10 years ago, but I use mine all the time.