Labradar Review

[Heavyweight]

Hey guys....when I was doing my research on the Labradar doppler chronograph I couldn't find anything on this forum so I thought I'd add my experience here.

FYI I bought the unit about three weeks ago. It's running their 1.1.4 firmware which is the latest available on their website for download. If you have a Labradar and bought it early on, you want to be sure you keep up with the latest software updates. It's my understanding that many issues have been resolved with these upgrades.

I've had my unit out to the range three times now and it has performed flawlessly each time. Initial setup is simple per the included instructions and once that is done you only need to point the unit at your target and turn it on to get going.

I purchased the radar, base plate, case and air rifle trigger. My only complaint so far would be that I couldn't get my suppressed rifles to trigger the unit...even the supersonic stuff. But I knew going in that might be the case. The $40 addition of the air rifle microphone solved the problem. Since then my Labradar has not failed to pick up a shot.

I'm sure you guys know the Labradar will give you velocity readings out to 100 yards. My .30 caliber stuff has no problem being picked up all the way out there. My .260 Remington is a bit different...sometimes it will and sometimes it won't. Most times the readings peter out around 70 yards for me. And my .22 stuff will read out to 25 yards.

I have the first generation Magnetospeed. It has always done a great job on accurate velocity reading but it throws my POI way off on two of my main rifles.....and I couldn't get consistent groups with that POI shift. And I can't use this early version with my suppressors or handguns of course. The Labradar has worked well with all my handguns....even the suppressed .22.

Overall I give the Labradar 5 out of 5 stars. It works exactly as advertised. My one and only complaint is cost. For $559 they should at least throw in the case. Instead you have to purchase everything separately. Consequently I've got about $700 into it. Well, $720 really because I bought a rechargeable battery pack so I wouldn't constantly be feeding 6 AAs into it. A basic 10,000 mAh battery pack will run the radar a solid 8 hours of continuous use...
Maybe more.

Bottom line....expensive, but it's easy to use and it just works. If you guys have any questions just shout.

Stay safe.

Heavyweight

[P2000]

I had no issues with shooting mine 223 suppressed. I had to turn the sensitivity to maximum, and have the end of the suppressor only 2 inches to the left of the unit and roughly 1 inch behind the unit. With 77gr ammo, it tracked out to around 65 yards if I remember right.

Sent from my XT1565 using Tapatalk

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

Really interested in getting one of these. Sounds so much easier and less complex than the shades versions. Is there enough data and software out there that take that data out to 100 yards and help with fitting it into a ballistics program?

Is the battery pack just a USB jack of some kind?

[P2000]

Really interested in getting one of these. Sounds so much easier and less complex than the shades versions. Is there enough data and software out there that take that data out to 100 yards and help with fitting it into a ballistics program?

Is the battery pack just a USB jack of some kind?

The optional battery pack is just a standard USB one, nothing special. I'm just using 6 AA rechargeable batteries. I bring 6 spares with me. This thing eats battery depending on the settings. I get 2-3 hours use out of 6 AA rechargeables.

Regarding a ballistics programs using the data from this, it might be out there but I don't know. If you put an SD card in it you get more data. Without the SD card you only get velocity at a few user-chosen distances, which is what you see on the screen. However if you put an SD card in there you can upload a spreadsheet table for each shot with a velocity data points for each radar pulse until it can't see the bullet any more. For 223 with a boat tail 77gr, I'm getting around 60 data points for each shot.

One nice thing is that it stores data in shot series. So for load development it keeps everything organized for you. You just have to remember what series number corresponds to what you were shooting. Each series can be uploaded and viewed as a spreadsheet where it gives you standard deviation, ES and more.

Another nice thing is that you get velocity at whatever distance you want, so for example my Nosler reloading manual lists velocities at 15 yards from the muzzle, which is no problem with the LabRadar.

One last nice thing is that it sets up very quickly without going down range, and you would really, really have to screw up to shoot it on accident.

Just be prepared, everyone at the range is going to wonder what that thing is.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

Stopped by MileHigh on Friday and picked one up.

Got it out to the range. I just bought the unit and the case.

I started out with a CZ455 and some subsonic ammo. Where I screwed up is that I didn't buy the 'stand'. I have a bunch of tripods, and I thought one of them was the kind without a center post and 'spider' legs. I was wrong about the tripod I brought. So it is like 2.5 feet in the air, and it isn't hearing the pfffft from the subsonic. I try leaning it over to the side as I saw in someone set up- that didn't work. I tried some standard velocity ammo thinking it was louder. That didn't work. Tried moving the unit slightly in front of the muzzle plane- that didn't work.

Ok, wrong tripod. If you are going to prone out, get the base, or engineer something to keep the unit more in line and closer to the unit. My fault.

Not my fault is the aiming notch. Not very helpful. It seems that the aiming of the beam is critical to the max performance, and that notch is less than accurate. They need to engineer that with a peep of something. You can't see the beam, so who knows where it is going.

The menu system is quirky. I eventually got the swing of it, but I think in this day and age things should be easier. The set up menu is pretty easy. The series and arming it are not as straightforward. I ended up turning on&off the unit sometimes when I got stuck it seemed. The manual is pretty good. Words and diagrams to explain stuff. Like I said, I got it eventually. It would be nice if there was a sticker on the unit, or even molded into it as reference.

I eventually put it to the side until I got out my .308 bolt gun. It has a Surefire break on it. No trouble triggering it, even with the non-optimal positioning. I screwed up because I actually lied to you. I got one 22lr to register, but said it had a V0 of 724 fps. (Looking at the shot data I think it was such bad data, that when it calced things out, the results were goofy.) I forgot to clear that out of the series, so the calcs that the unit does for the 308 series in the computer are jacked. I also forgot to change the bullet weight from 40gr from trying the 22lr. Argh.

I ended up with 42 shots. I put the SD card in my computer and there are files that there with the data. Double clicking on them brought them open in Excel. There is a summary one for the whole series, and then for each shot the raw data from that one shot.

So in the summary data set, it gives you V0 and then the other points you picked. I had it set at 10m increments out to V50.

So I cleaned up the 22lr data point and worked it in Excel. My Rem700 ACC 18 inch barrel 308 with FGMM 7.62x51 175 gr ammo averaged V0=2620 and a STD(P)=15.3.

V10=2603
V20=2585
V30=2569
All with STD about 15.3

The Data for V40 and V50 started to have some shots not registering.

I pulled open some of the individual shots and saw why. The unit reports out a bunch of data points. It looks like the unit is trying to do a reading every 0.001 seconds. The first of my data points is at 17.57 meters and it reports out velocity every 0.001 until 0.042021 seconds at 33.39m. From there it is getting readings every 0.002 to 0.011. The data also includes a SNR that goes from 18.06 for 17.57m falling to a 7.1 at 33.39m when the data interval starts to increase.

So it looks like it is getting good data between 17.57m and 32.6m. Probably due to my non-optimal set up.

I did shoot at three different targets, and the one at 500m gave me the best data. Don't know if that is because I could aim it better, or less ground clutter. One of those got good data from 15m out to 50m.

Really interested in getting the unit optimally place to see how that affects the data. Perhaps that will help with the triggering, but I might get the trigger just to be sure.

Menus could be a little easier, the aiming sight could be a bit more refined.

When it works it works great. When it doesn't it gets frustrating. Happy so far. When I get it optimized on the set up. I'll fully be able to appreciate it.




FYI, if you like the older tech, MileHigh are getting ready to put a cool kit together with the magneto (sp?) muzzle 'chronograph' that comes with some cool stuff and a version of the Kestrel. I think it will save you a $100 IIRC over buying things separate.

[P2000]

I hold a cheap ballpoint pen in the notch to aim with, kind of silly but it works well enough. I wish they came with something like a clip on sight. The height of the unit in relation to the muzzle makes a big difference with triggering and tracking. The muzzle should be centered vertically to the unit. And ideally close to the unit even though there are settings for having the muzzle farther away.

Sent from my XT1565 using Tapatalk

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

Works with Nerf bullets in Doppler mode. About 150fps. My son was impressed.

[batman4706]

I use a piece of soda straw glued to the notch with RTV.

[Ryno12]

I just received mine yesterday (9/15/16) & it came with firmware ver 1.1.5. I found the aiming notch & setup menu very easy to use.
I only tested it shooting a suppressed 300BLK with subs. I did have a few errors initially. It triggered but the unit "failed to track". I was using the microphone & had the muzzle approximately 3" in front (downrange) of the unit as instructed in the manual. I decided to set the "velocity range" to handgun because the expected velocity of the 300 subs were more in the middle of the handgun range (vs rifle where it's at the extreme lower end) & it worked every time after that.

I don't have much time on the unit so far but my initial impressions of it are very positive.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

Interesting trip to the range. I got the mic for the 22lr subsonic. I shot at an indoor range, so I couldn't put stuff out front, but I brought a dowel rod, duct taped it to my stock parallel to the barrel and put that at the 8 oclock position, even with the muzzle.

1. It triggered for the 22
2. It also triggered for all the other guns in the range- 100 yard indoor range for rifles.
3. When it triggered for the other guns, it either
-Wouldn't track
-Would give really low velocity numbers 600-800fps. My only guess was that the spall from hitting the rear retaining wall was triggering the unit?
4. I had some 22lr that said 1300fps, when it really was about 1050. I don't know what was going on here.
5. Even with the straw method, I still had some missing shots where it triggered, but didn't see the round. That gets really annoying having to hit the return button. I don't know why, unless it was just being a 22 or if the backstop was acting to screw up the radar.

The data ended up being really dirty between the other guns triggering it and low data or the few high shots I had. Having to hit enter for each unseen shot triggered by another gun was a pain. I did have about 10 minutes to shoot with out anyone else there and got better data.

I think I combined the worst things- indoors near high power guns, with a subsonic 22 with a metallic backstop.

I was trying to get windless zeros and groups with different ammo and the Vel data was second. I eventually just turned it off.

When I press 'delete' it makes you press the down arrow and then enter (checkmark), I'd really rather have it just delete. More pushes, more alignment issues. Plus a handheld remote would be nice so you wouldn't have to break position.

I think most of my gripes are 22, subsonic and indoor range. Shot 7.62 outside, by yourself and it works great.

I have a battery pack that wouldn't power it. The AAs I had in were down to one bar and I wondered if this was messing with the radar power and acquisition. The pack has a power button on it to enable power, but the unit (fully charged and will do an ipad 4 times) would come on for a split second and then it and battery shut down. On the clock for the lane, so I didn't have time to fiddle-fart with it. I suggest trying your battery pack first.

When it works, it's great, when it doesn't- man it makes shooting not fun.