Garmin chronograph issue from shot 1

Be350ka

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 25, 2019
Well yesterday I finally got to try out the new Garmin chronograph. I wanted to see what it was like for a seating depth test that I was running. I had previously been using a Magnetospeed and honestly loved it other than the obvious and expected POI shift when installed. It never missed a beat.

Once I got to the range I set up the chronograph as pictured on the screen before you start a session. Loaded the rifle and let one fly. To my surprise it showed more than 1000 fps lower than what I had expected. I rechecked my setup and tried again. It missed this shot. By this point I’m thinking how did I screw this up. I again triple
Checked my setup in settings, chronograph location etc. then shot the third through fifth shots. All with wildly erroneous readings.

With the price of components being what they are I stopped and called Garmin support. They called me back after electing to be put on a call list. I was walked through the steps that I had previously taken to see if that would fix anything. We also ended the first 5 sho….4 shot session (missed one) and what appeared on the app was exactly what was on the Garmin screen. We did update the firmware as a precaution as well. I then was placed on hold to shoot another 5 shot group. It captured all 5 shots this time however they all were showing very low again (~1000+ fps). But, when I transferred the info to the app is showed more realistic numbers. But they seemed randomly “off” from what was presented on the Garmin itself.

At this point I was done considering I’m now doing testing for Garmin at my expense. And to say I was frustrated is an understatement. The rep told me that a follow up through email would be coming. I got the email and had to provide downloaded files, pictures, ammo data, etc for their review. While I appreciate the help it sure seems like a lot of work to verify that the $600 spent is worthless as it sits.

I’m writing this to start my experience so far and to see if there are any other users experiencing similar issues. At this point I’m not sure that I’d trust this unit for its intended purpose. I was just hoping to be able to park the magnetospeed and eliminate the poi variation while testing.

After sending in all the asked for data yesterday I got an email today from the “Product Support” (product support is listed in their email signatures) saying that I only loaded one of the files through the secure file uploader and that the other files needed to be sent to “Product Support” “as described in [my] last email.” At this point I began to sense a bit of an attitude. Yes I’m an idiot when it comes to computers, file transfers, app this and that, but I did send all the required files to the contact that I was working with since their title says “Product Support”. I also then found the uploader again and submitted the files there. Man it’s becoming a bit of a workout. Oh well, I’m hopeful that this will be sorted soon.

I’ll update when I hear back from CS
 
While I appreciate the help it sure seems like a lot of work to verify that the $600 spent is worthless as it sits.
That seems par for the course with Garmin and warrantee. I had a chest strap heart rate monitor fail within a few days of purchase. When I contacted the vendor I bought from they told me only Garmin could do a warranty and that was direct from Garmin. They made me open it up for pictures of the battery compartment and had to upload them to a link they provided. First go that failed (tech said never received the photos) and had to redo that process. After jumping through the hoops over three days in the end they warranted it but they don’t seem to want to exchange or replace without a by the book verification. My tech apologized multiple times for the procedure but said that he was mandated to follow all the steps to verify before replacement.
 
Last edited:
Where did you buy it from? If you're that frustrated I don't think there's any harm in asking the vendor to exchange and telling them the problem.
This is likely the route that I’ll take. I wanted to make sure that Garmin had the info incase this becomes a trend as more units hit the ranges.
 
Update:

I’ve sent all the required info to Garmin and it’s now been a nearly a week with zero communication. I sent an email yesterday afternoon to see if there might be an update but there hasn’t been a response.

To say that I’m less than impressed with Garmin’s after sale support is an understatement.

Hopefully this is resolved sooner than later.
 
Update:

I’ve sent all the required info to Garmin and it’s now been a nearly a week with zero communication. I sent an email yesterday afternoon to see if there might be an update but there hasn’t been a response.

To say that I’m less than impressed with Garmin’s after sale support is an understatement.

Hopefully this is resolved sooner than later.
Where did you buy it? I’d have started there…
 
I've only taken mine out to the range 3 or 4 times. The only issue I've had is noticing that the recharge rate (time between shots) was a tad shorter than my Caldwell Chronograph. So it missed a couple of shots when I was testing some AR loads. But I keep about 5 seconds between shots I haven't had an issue. Which is 100% fine for load development.

As for Garmin CS, I've had warranty claims on my wife's watch (after the warranty had expired) and on my InReach and had thought the process was easy and I was happy with the process.

Not trying to short your experience. Hope everything works out for you and you get a working unit! I 100% Love my Garmin Chronograph even with the heavy price tag!
 
Hopefully they get it figured out soon. I’ve used the Garmin chrono few times, including earlier today, and it’s awesome. I would be less than impressed though after having your experience.
 
I’ve had great service from Garmin but that’s beside the point. I bought Xero and had an issue. I did the update and that cleared right up. So far it’s been super consistent and reliable.
 
Back
Top