Yet Another Labradar Post

[vtmarmot]

I almost pulled the trigger on a Labradar today, but then I found that Brownell's 10 percent off plus free shipping over $250 didn't apply to Labradar or accessories.

Not that it should kill the deal, but I have lingering questions. Principally, this thing is not useful to me if I have to set it on a tripod in front of the bench. I want it on the bench, on it's base, every time. They recommend the muzzle even with the unit unless you're running a brake. That's not going to work with my 26, 28 and 30 inch barrels unless I use a tripod.

My Chrony with LED light bars does everything I need in a chronograph except stay on the bench. If I had confidence that I could put the Labradar on the bench and get consistent results for all my rifles, I'd buy one.

What say you all?

 

[SGS]

Mine works perfectly, on the base, on the bench, every time. The muzzle needs to be FORWARD of the LabRadar. Worth every penny. I looked in the instruction book and the only thing I see about having the muzzle even with the chronograph is for handguns. Not needing to set up and align sky screens is a relief and I never worry about accidentally shooting it. You will never need to mount it on a tripod unless you plan to chronograph shooting offhand.

 

[alinwa]

I'm a tight-ass...... Even though I go through hundreds of batteries/year I hate using them for my toys so I kyped one of my 2A heavy-duty phone chargers and I plug 'er in at the bench. THEREFORE, I have no idea what the ba'ddry life is but the unit.... just..... works

ohhh, and yeahh, it sets on the bench. I set mine opposite my body on the gun.

Or sometimes on the same side.

It don't care

 

[retired]

do not use batts in the unit unless you are rich and like carrying spare batt's
simply buy the batt pack and charge it every now and then.

I'm a tight-ass...... Even though I go through hundreds of batteries/year I hate using them for my toys so I kyped one of my 2A heavy-duty phone chargers and I plug 'er in at the bench. THEREFORE, I have no idea what the ba'ddry life is but the unit.... just..... works

ohhh, and yeahh, it sets on the bench. I set mine opposite my body on the gun.

Or sometimes on the same side.

It don't care

 

[Pat Miles]

I discovered that my Labradar would not pick up shots unless it is placed adjacent to the muzzle of my rifle which has a 28" barrel. Needless to say the muzzle overhangs the bench tops at my local range so I put together this mount that allows the Labradar to overhang the front of the bench by 7". A cantilever design with a Vinsic VSPB202 20,000mAh battery at the rear of the mount to act as a counterweight. Extended, the mount is 26" in length and collapses to 15.5". The mount, Labradar, battery, cables and manual fit into a soft sided satchel which I found at a thrift shop. I now have a "go" bag for my Labradar.

 

[jackie schmidt]

I have one. I used it twice.

I just use my cheap Chrony most of the time.

 

[retired]

i think the big improvement is you can skip the buttons and run an app on your phone...no more reaching around/getting up and moving to turn it on.
nice machine krappy user controls/interface

I have one. I used it twice.

I just use my cheap Chrony most of the time.

 

[GeneT]

i think the big improvement is you can skip the buttons and run an app on your phone...no more reaching around/getting up and moving to turn it on.
nice machine krappy user controls/interface

If I go a few months without using it I seem to need the manual, so it probably is a crap interface, but you can learn it again really quickly. I think the big improvements are not having to fuss with wires, nor move downrange (i.e. can be set up with the range hot), and the big one: I don't have to wait for "chrono weather" which doesn't happen all that often around here.

GsT

 

[alinwa]

If I go a few months without using it I seem to need the manual, so it probably is a crap interface, but you can learn it again really quickly. I think the big improvements are not having to fuss with wires, nor move downrange (i.e. can be set up with the range hot), and the big one: I don't have to wait for "chrono weather" which doesn't happen all that often around here.

GsT

^^ +1 ^^

 

[rardoin]

I have a piece of 5/8 Plywood about 8" wide x 20" long that I put on the bench adjacent to the front rest and have it cantilevered about 6" out from the bench. My LR sits on it adjacent to my 30" barrel's muzzle. A couple of inches fore or aft seems to make no difference in picking up shots. I use the weight of an external USB battery pack (a must IMO with the LR) and another lb or two of anything available as a counter weight on the back end of the board. I also have the folding legs produced by Matt Owens (arkomatt on accurateshooter.com) that are much better by a long shot than the optional LR base.

 

[SGS]

If I go a few months without using it I seem to need the manual, so it probably is a crap interface, but you can learn it again really quickly. I think the big improvements are not having to fuss with wires, nor move downrange (i.e. can be set up with the range hot), and the big one: I don't have to wait for "chrono weather" which doesn't happen all that often around here.

GsT

I confess that I need to look at the manual if a few months go by. The buttons are not exactly intuitive. Mine sits on the bench about in line with the front of my stock so the muzzle is about 8 to 12 inches in front of the device. I don't understand why some folks have difficulty getting theirs to trigger that way. I see in the book that firearms with suppressors or low muzzle blast may need the muzzle closer to the unit.

 

[Centerfire]

Question

I read on the Web that the lab radar not only picks up your shots quite well but others near you on the line.
So if you would double with the adjoining bench who's reading do you get?
If an adjoining bench shoots first and then you shoot do you get two readings?
Centerfire

 

[retired]

never had that issue

others have, but i do not know their spacing,
ours were about 8 ft

I read on the Web that the lab radar not only picks up your shots quite well but others near you on the line.
So if you would double with the adjoining bench who's reading do you get?
If an adjoining bench shoots first and then you shoot do you get two readings?
Centerfire

 

[powderbrake]

I discovered that my Labradar would not pick up shots unless it is placed adjacent to the muzzle of my rifle which has a 28" barrel. Needless to say the muzzle overhangs the bench tops at my local range .

As Pat Miles said, the unit works much better when the muzzle is next to, or just in front of the side of the Labradar. Since the muzzle always sticks off the end of the bench, I mounted mine on a compact Travel tripod which I picked up on Amazon. They are available for about $40 and up.

Also I HIGHLY recommend you get the Labradar app for your smartphone. It is MUCH easier to control the Labradar from your seated position when you start a new series. Also the external battery lets you run all day with no battery worries.

I also have this suggestion for aligning your Labradar to the target. It is two pieces of thinwal brass tubing, approximately 1/4 diameter. They are available at your local hobby store , K&S metals http://www.ksmetals.com/, or on Amazon. They all come in sizes that slip inside of one another. I used two sizes for my alignment tubes. The short , larger diameter piece is glued to the Labradar, and the longer piece has a rubber ring on one end, which makes it easier to look through. I also used some black spray paint inside the tube to reduce the glare. VERY easy to align to the target, particularly when you use a tripod.

 

[adamsgt]

Agree about the non-intuitive user interface. When I was in the software development arena, one rule was to not let the coders determine the user interface. The coders would design an interface that made their coding easier. Seems to me that's what happened here. As far as batteries go, don't leave the AA's installed if you're using an external source as the AAs will still get used and when depleted will not let the system energize even if the external is fully charged. Just run without the AA's installed if you're using an external pack.

For those of you who really like to dig deep into data Jim Ristows' RSI Shooting Laboratory program has added functionality to analyze Labradar data stored on the SD card. You can see a good analysis of your bullets performance and computed ballistic coefficients.

 

[vtmarmot]

Thanks folks. I just now ordered one from Brunos, plus the mounting plate, an SD card and the battery pack. All were in stock.

I did not get the case because I have a heavy cordura briefcase by Eddie Bauer that is just the right size to hold it all.

Not worried about the difficult interface because I'm a coder. LOL.

 

[hayscott]

Double down!

I read on the Web that the lab radar not only picks up your shots quite well but others near you on the line.
So if you would double with the adjoining bench who's reading do you get?
If an adjoining bench shoots first and then you shoot do you get two readings?
Centerfire

Our benches are fairly close and have never picked up another shooters shots, not even when a leftie is shooting next to me! I’ve even used mine next to another shooter with one, not a bit of interference, but if there was you can change the frequency on one of the units.

We have also had at times problems with ohler 35’s not working right when the gun has a tuner, mussel blast is what we suspect due to the tuner. My LabRadar isn’t affected. Only problem I’ve ran into is it won’t work in a tunnel. Too much backscatter I guess!