Athlon Rangecraft Chronograph at S&S Archery

[bielenbm]

Don't get me started with the Magneto bayonet and connection errors. Ugh...

Haha I love using the tigger for the Labradar and having a “shot input” every time you rack the bolt

 

[Schmo]

Well, mine came in from S&S this week. Did two range trips with it, for a total of 55 shots, as I was working on load dev. It only missed one shot, and I believe that was due to the positioning of the unit. So far I’m very pleased with it, and from my prior chronos being a MagnetoSpeed and a LabRadar, this such an easy and simple tool.

 

[Madpacific]

I got my Rangecraft a few days ago and just used it the last 2 days. I bought it for both rifles, and making sight tapes for archery. The differences in fps were a little concerning to me, but I’ve always been happy with all my Athlon products so I got it.

I first shot my bow with it yesterday. Where I was shooting I didn’t have a very good place to set up the Rangecraft. It ended up being about 20 inches below my arrow. My speeds were between 293 and 304 with one shot reading 315. My arrows are 480ish grains with a 28 draw pulling 79#. I know I’m not shooting 300… a little concerning.

So today I set it up in my garage next to my old school chrono. I set it up in front of my riser at the distance Athlon recommends. I then shot through my old chrono and over the Athlon at the same time. The Athlon would analyze the shot, but then not give a speed. No problem, maybe some sort of interference or blockage from the old chrono. So I shot through them each by themselves.

My Rangecraft software is version 1.40.64
I have no way of testing my old chrono va anything, but I’m pretty stoked on the results. 4 shot average through the Rangecraft read 278.5. I only shot twice through the old chrono till I was content, 277.8 and 278.4

The one caveat to this, the high fps shots I got, I was at about 5k feet of elevation. When I shot today in my garage I’m right around sea level. Is there any way the thinner air made for a faster arrow? Can’t say I have any clue.

 

[Weldor]

That would be a good question to ask Athlon, if their radar is affected by altitude?

 

[BBob]

Is there any way the thinner air made for a faster arrow? Can’t say I have any clue.

That would be a good question to ask Athlon, if their radar is affected by altitude?

I’ve always found bows shoot slightly high at altitude when sighted in at lower altitudes. Don’t think I’m alone there.

 

[BBob]

Who has been able to update software? I keep seeing random posts of say .62 on up to the .64 version where mine is on the original .61 and continuously says no updates available.

 

[rookieforever33]

Sorry to S+S for posting in their thread but Eurooptic shows these in stock for 399.99 with they pay the tax. I dont plan on spending 400 for one, but will cover 50 of it to someone local to me that wouldn't mind sharing a little range time.

 

[HairyScandinavian]

Who has been able to update software? I keep seeing random posts of say .62 on up to the .64 version where mine is on the original .61 and continuously says no updates available.

Mine went from .61 to .63 when I checked. I'll fire it up and see if a .64 is available this afternoon.

 

[Schmo]

Mine was on .64 when it arrived to me last week

 

[HairyScandinavian]

Mine went from .61 to .63 when I checked. I'll fire it up and see if a .64 is available this afternoon.

I fired mine up and no firmware available. It's currently on .63.1 but updated from .61 last week.

 

[BBob]

I fired mine up and no firmware available. It's currently on .63.1 but updated from .61 last week.

Mine is still on 61.1 and still says no update available.

 

[Schmo]

Was able to get to the range again today. Total of 59 shots, and the chrono ran flawlessly. So far, I am very pleased with it.

 

[S&S Archery (Rob)]

Sorry to S+S for posting in their thread but Eurooptic shows these in stock for 399.99 with they pay the tax. I dont plan on spending 400 for one, but will cover 50 of it to someone local to me that wouldn't mind sharing a little range time.

All good. We've had them in stock for a while now. And Rokslide members do much better than that.

 

[Alpine4x4]

That would be a good question to ask Athlon, if their radar is affected by altitude?

Its not the Chrono thats going to be affected, its going to be the actual speed of the arrow. The air gets thinner the higher you get so theoretically the arrow should shoot faster. Its really dependent on the DA or Density Altitude. It really affects car performance, not sure on arrows and bullets.

 

[Weldor]

I think we are getting to far into it. Just did a quick goggle search and it says Doppler is affected by altitude, what the that means I don't know.

 

[TheCougar]

Its not the Chrono thats going to be affected, its going to be the actual speed of the arrow. The air gets thinner the higher you get so theoretically the arrow should shoot faster. Its really dependent on the DA or Density Altitude. It really affects car performance, not sure on arrows and bullets.

The initial speed of the arrow isn’t what causes them to hit high. It’s the drag - they decelerate slower. So the speed off the riser is the same at sea level as it is at altitude, but the speed down range is higher because of less air density.

 

[TheCougar]

I think we are getting too far into it. Just did a quick goggle search and it says Doppler is affected by altitude, what the that means I don't know.

Man, I don’t think that’s correct. Radar waves travel at the speed of light in a vacuum. Air density slows them down at such an infinitesimal amount that I don’t think you’d be able to measure it in FPS between sea level and 10k MSL.

 

[BBob]

Man, I don’t think that’s correct. Radar waves travel at the speed of light in a vacuum. Air density slows them down at such an infinitesimal amount that I don’t think you’d be able to measure it in FPS between sea level and 10k MSL.

What he is referring to are the difficulties of weather doppler radar and more-so mobile radar systems. The issues are not directly based on what the altitude of the radar is actually sitting at or at least that altitude itself does does not affect it. If you "google" further there are many papers and even youtube about the issues and how they are corrected or accounted for. In short your radar chronograph will likely not be affected by "altitude".

 

[TheCougar]

What he is referring to are the difficulties of weather doppler radar and more-so mobile radar systems. The issues are not directly based on what the altitude of the radar is actually sitting at or at least that altitude itself does does not affect it. If you "google" further there are many papers and even youtube about the issues and how they are corrected or accounted for. In short your radar chronograph will likely not be affected by "altitude".

I think we are violently agreeing. Radars are corrected for atmospheric conditions for 3D solutions, in this case particularly range and speed (not radial speed). At longer distances, these atmospherics can be significant enough to affect the accuracy of a Doppler return. In this case, we are talking less than 50 feet, so there is no affect on a chronograph for our purposes. Stick an S-400 out in front of me at 100Nm, and then it matters.

 

[BBob]

agreeing

We are absolutely agreeing The rest of your post above is what I was referring to.

Oh, I didn't quote the first post to dispute it, just to add further info.