Athlon Rangecraft Velocity Pro Radar

[jsizemore]

I've had this for 2 weeks so no long term experience. I can say after having used the Chrony Delta, Gamma and Oehler 35P and Labradar this thing is so easy to setup and use. Instructions say to set the unit 4-10" to the side and behind the muzzle for rifles and flush with the muzzle and 10" below it for handguns. I used it from 20" behind the rifle and air rifle and 24" below the Glock 17 and it picked up everything that was shot. Really easy to use controls on the top and scrolling on the side. Since my shooting partner was at the beach he lent his Garmin Xero for comparison. Air rifle data was 867.4 average fps with SD of 10.7 for the Garmin. The Athlon was 867.1 average fps and 11 SD. The Athlon reads first so I'd stay in position on the rifle and glance at it first. Most times it was within a few tenths of FPS with each other and never more than 3 fps. Today's price is $400 for the Athlon and $550 for the Garmin. Athlon has a 1 year warranty and the Garmin 2 years. I think both hold a 6 hour charge. Glad I bought it. Easy to track my reloading changes. While shooting some CCI SV in my Suhl 150 I showed my friend the group on the phone. Nice .31 inch group @960 fps except for 1 shot that got thrown out at 4 o'clock @ 990fps. Showed him a nice round group of .4 inch that was shot with Eley target for all 10 shots. That group cost twice as much for the ammo. I bet somebody is going to make one for even less in the future.

[dverna]

Thanks for the report.

[G W Wade]

Accurate Shooters forum has a good write-up with a few videos says Brownells has 15% discount GW

[jsizemore]

I paid $428 with tax and no shipping. Seller was about 2.5 hours from me. ebay covered any warranty issues. State attorney generals office would take care of fraud along with USPS. Still took 4 whole days to get here. I haven't bought anything from Brownell's in quite a while. My shooting buddy got his from his son for father's day. My buddy only had to pay $382 for the Garmin through the son's sporting goods job. I didn't get anything like that on Father's day. Seems there's a bit of price fixing with plenty of profit.

[Feral American]

My son and I split the cost of a Garmin shortly after they came out. This may or may not have had anything to do with my Magnetospeed slipping on his AR15 and trashing the bayonet with one tiny little bullet groove that on anything else, would have buffed out. As my boys were raised he took responsibility and helped me get a new chrono.

I'm glad we went that route. Despite the Magnetospeed being light years ahead of anything optical, the Garmin is lightyears ahead of that.

The Athlon unit was late to our party and maybe I might woulda gone with it instead. I dunno. I have a few other Athlon optics and for China made, they're solid. I guess we'll see what I do when the Garmin battery craps out and I have to deal with Garmin over that. My SiG rangefinder was replaced with an Athlon simply because SIG wouldn't warranty it due to manufacture date vs sale date. I now consider electro-optics as disposable/replaceable goods and go for the best bang for the least buck..

[elmacgyver0]

You can thank Garmin for making doppler radar chronographs portable and affordable, yes, they cost more right now but they got the competition going.
Caldwell now has one also, got to love competition.

[Feral American]

You can thank Garmin for making doppler radar chronographs portable and affordable, yes, they cost more right now but they got the competition going.
Caldwell now has one also, got to love competition.

The industry had no choice. Once Garmin floated theirs it was sink or swim in the chrono business.

[P Flados]

I have been using the Athlon for several weeks. There was no way to use my old optical (sky screen) chrony at my local indoor range. This thing is a real game changer.

The Athlon is very easy to set up and collect data. The fast response and ability to give believable results for every shot is a big plus.

I had some issues with with getting data from the chrony to my phone, but it is now seems to be ok after I did an App update for my phone and a firmware update for the chrony.

I am also having some issues with it picking up shots from the next lane over. Not really unexpected and not a big deal, but is something to be aware of. It does not pick up shots from the next lane when I get a lane without shooters on both sides and then set it on the side away from lane with a shooter and "point it" slightly away from the lane with the shooter.

I have been watching lots of threads on the Athlon chrony. The Athlon may not be as accurate as the Garmin, but is probably more accurate than most opticals. For my use, I think it is accurate enough.

[recumbent]

I think the Athlon is just as accurate as the Garmin, at least mine is. My friend has the Garmin and we set them both up side by side and there was only 2 or 3 FPS difference between the two.

I shoot in a league on Wed. evening, ARA targets are 50 yards. I use the Athlon when I shoot. If I have a "flyer" I look at the Chrono and if the velocity is less or above the average I know it was the ammo and not me.

I take it to the range every time I go, I also like the Athlon ballistic app.

[papaglenn]

I read a review of the Garmin model. If I can find it I will repost it here. My concern was that the reviewer said that the unit would change velocity ranges around 1700-1800 fps and give inconsistent readings.

That is the velocity range that I use the most. Has anyone seen anything like this?

[recumbent]

I haven't seen or heard of that, but when you connect it to your phone it checks for firmware updates, if the are doing that Athlon will come up with a fix.
My unit has been updated once so far.

[Beerd]

I understand that the Garmin is imported from Taiwan.
I have no idea about the Athlon but suspect maybe China?
..

[jsizemore]

If I got this correct, the Garmin is assembled in Taiwan. Taiwan has many factories for various goods in main land China. We get along good with Taiwan and have a favorable trade agreement with them.

[Feral American]

Optics these days, most of them, and now the wide spectrum of electro-optics, are not made in the traditional way most of us Americans are used to expecting.

Just about everything on the market these days is made in factories over East, by the same people on the same assembly lines, made under trade name contract. You're never referred to the factory where it's made, but rather to the corporate office that obtained the contract, markets the product, and collects your money. That corporate office could be anywhere on the planet and make any claim they want about the origins of what you're buying. It's all a shell game and in part to create brand loyalty so you buy another one later.

In short, it doesn't mean a thing anymore where it's made"....just buy the best bang for the buck and expect to replace it sooner than you had hoped for.

[Manwe]

We did side by side comparisons with the Garmin. The Athlon was very close to the Garmin across the board regardless of rifle or handgun cartridge. I only experienced one time the Athlon missed a shot, and it was because it was too far to one side of the rifle. Moved it closer, and it never missed a shot.

It is easier to manipulate than the Garmin, less buttons to push and the screen is larger, easier to see.

It gets a very good grade here, and I found no issues with it at all. If I did not have the Garmin already I would go with the Athlon for sure. Larger screen and less button pushing is a huge plus.

[lotech]

I just bought a Garmin. I used it a couple of days ago to chronograph about 75 shots. Never missed one and positioning/aiming of the unit is not critical. Once set up there are no buttons to push except to turn on and off. I write down the information I want to save in my paper notebook.

I'm skeptical of anything Caldwell. I'd stay with Athlon or Garmin even if they cost more.

[Havok7416]

I'm torn between the Garmin and the Athlon. The Athlon is the obvious budget choice. But I have heard a limited few complaints about them that give me pause. Good to hear that many are enjoying them.

[1006]

Just a comment on accuracy: I think the optical chronograph design is accurate as long as they are setup with the sky screens and in appropriate lighting conditions. I have used a CED optical for many years with excellent results. At onetime I got lazy and quit setting up the sky screens—I got low velocity readings every now and then without the sky screens.

Recently, a friend and I ran his Garmin and my CED simultaneously with results being +/- 7FPS while shooting a 243.


The Garmin wins every time on Convenience and Data Transfer, but does not seem to offer any accuracy improvements over a properly setup optical chronograph.

The biggest problem with the optical is the data could be inaccurate without being immediately apparent-with the Garmin you either get an accurate reading or no reading.

Yes, I want a Garmin type.