Is a Labradar worth it?

What brand of battery packs are y'all using? I tried using my cell battery charger with my Labradar and it didn't seem to work.

TBuckus said:

One thing I hate about load development is setting up my Chrono at the gun range. We shoot through a barrel to keep the neighbors happy, so the set up is annoying to say the least.
The Labradar will make it easier, but not positive that the barrel we shoot through will be in the way and prohibit use of downrange data.
What other advantages are the downrange data useful for?

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They make an inexpensive trigger device that velcros to the side of your rifle and stops the error messages!

I went to Walmart and bought a Blackweb. (Battery pack) It has been working great.

The only time I get a missed shot is when I forget to arm it or forget to re-aim it when changing distance.

TBuckus said:

well that may settle it If I have to take my suppressor off. I was looking at the Magnetospeed but one of the guys at the range said he had to take his suppressor off in order to run that.
It does sound odd though, since I heard that air gun guys are using the Labradar for their guns.

Thanks everyone for the input.

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I run suppressors on all my rifles and the only gun I can't get the Labradar to pick up is a 300 Blackout running subsonic. Move the muzzle of the suppressor 12" behind and 12" offset from the Labradar and I bet you will be successful. Also make sure the sensitivity to trigger is all the way down. I don't have the mic attachment and this has worked for me

cf1105 said:

What brand of battery packs are y'all using? I tried using my cell battery charger with my Labradar and it didn't seem to work.

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I don't use an external battery but I do use amazon basics rechargeable AA's and they last me a few range sessions. I hate extra cables and widgets when I'm shooting.

I shoot a suppressed air rifle using the external microphone with my Labradar and never have issues with it triggering unless i mess up. I shoot a subsonic Quackenbush Long Action .308, 1in10 with a Donny FL Silencer, Emperor V3 with a 6" extension tube. It is the proverbial rodent F@rt quiet system. Can't understand all the issues folks are having with the Labradar or reporting that other folks are experiencing.... I also shoot a number of powder burners and the Labradar works just fine with the internal microphone..
It sure beats the cost of the optical chronographs i have turned into parts when establishing Drag Counts for bullets, ball and pellets!

Buster Hemlock said:

I've used the downrange data to kind of reverse engineer my muzzle velocity to confirm it was accurate. If you can see the target through the barrel inline with the labradar then it should still track the bullet downrange. Love my Labradar! Even if you can't get downrange data it is easier to set up than a chronograph that goes down range and isn't light sensitive. It beats a magneto speed in my opinion because it's not potentially effecting your zero so you can use it all the time

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I'm indecisive too . If I buy the magnetto speed I'll just mount it for speed info and take if off to to shoot for groups . Whay are your thoughts on that. ?

milo-2 said:

Please explain how I am wasting ammo. I rarely shoot anything at 100 yards. Last night I trued my dopes of a 131gr Ace Blackjack 25 cal bullet to 2000 yards in around 20 shots and had fun doing it.
So honestly, I am lost as to why I need to know my speed at 100 yards

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That's exactly what I'm thinking of doing when I buy mine . It's not the money for me it's the portability and not needing a tripod .0

Depending on your rifle there are some mounts that clamp to your rail on your rifle stock for the magnetospeed so it isn't clamped on your barrel. The magneto speed is smaller and I suppose more portable because of that but I haven't had any issues taking my labradar out with me to shoot. I have a mini tripod for shooting where I have a clear line of sight and grass or brush isn't in the way and a full size tripod I put it on and set up if I need to clear vegetation or I'm shooting from the prone in my truck bed

sea2summit said:

I don't use an external battery but I do use amazon basics rechargeable AA's and they last me a few range sessions. I hate extra cables and widgets when I'm shooting.

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Good to hear. I have a bunch of those batteries. As long as it will make it through one session, I'll be happy

the nice thing about a external batt is it can power other things..like your phone.
I ran my lr on battaries ONE TIME..never again.

TBuckus said:

Good to hear. I have a bunch of those batteries. As long as it will make it through one session, I'll be happy

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Yes

TBell said:

Personally the Magneto speed Works great for me you load up three to four additional shells for your velocity after you find the best load cause up to that point the velocity does not matter. Your going to be watching two things group size and pressures. Once you find the sweet spot you need the velocity for your ballistic cal's. I may just be lucky but working loads up like this then shooting velocities at 100 yards I've been on 18 inch steels at 600 each time I've done this and then Tweaked my velocity to dead center at 600.

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That's what I have seen other folks do, but I like to do a final 20 shot group with chrono data for something more statistically significant. I need groups plus data at the same time.

BHP9 said:

I thought that I would get on the Labradar bandwagon until I saw 3 of them, owned by 1 person, go down. AFAIK, it was never resolved, but I do know that they were sold.

Other that this incident and what I have read multiple times, I have no personal experience with them.

Take this or not.

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It would be interesting to know what happens in these situations. Mine has been easy to use when I forget the app and remember the instructions! It's not as intuitive as I would have liked.

cf1105 said:

What brand of battery packs are y'all using? I tried using my cell battery charger with my Labradar and it didn't seem to work.

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Mine is a 10000mah pack off Amazon with 2.1A output capability. It hasn't dropped a light in three shooting sessions, so it is fine. I think anything over 5000mah would be fine.

beto said:

I'm indecisive too . If I buy the magnetto speed I'll just mount it for speed info and take if off to to shoot for groups . Whay are your thoughts on that. ?

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Sounds like a waste of money and barrel life. Then, don't forget if you use pistol, you will need something else.

In a nutshell, this thing is super expensive, but it gives you several things that lesser models do not.
PRO's:
easy to setup
pretty easy to use
works with pistol, rifle, black powder, etc
allows bc truing/confirmation
accuracy is best available, so I read

CON's:
seems kind of fragile
menus can be confusing
AA battery life short
mount/tripod extra
App seems worthless
super expensive....a basic chrony is like $100, right?