New Athlon Chronograph

[lazydrifter]

Ordered mine from Cameraland in Feb. $314.99 Just got tracking #'s today.

 

[menhaden_man]

How do you know yours (labradar, garmin, magneto, etc) is right?

Edit:
It’s all a guess. How do you know the BC from the manufacturer is right? You get in the ballpark, you shoot at distance, and you change some ~unconfirmed~ input to make your chart match real life. No input trumps reality. If I’m 5” off, change velo to correct, and my chart now accurately reflects real life at 600/750/100/1250 that is my velo. Or change BC to achieve the same. I don’t care if it’s velo or BC, because either way I hit my target downrange, and I know I drop below 1800fps between 700 and 750 (using either velocity number with constant BC or either BC number with constant velocity for my 6.5 PRC example).

Turns out lots of smart people and governments with your tax dollars have spent a couple centuries trying to get it figured out.

The math is solid enough that if someone is lying or something doesn’t work, it’ll be exposed now more than ever before.

I’ve used all three of the ones you mentioned and they’ve been really close. And my slow ass 20” 308 shooting 175s still piles in at 500 yards I’m feeling good that someone did homework at some point.

If the Athlon checks out against other proven chronos and they hold up, Garmin will have to work on their pricing.

 

[Mattyq17]

Placed an order with eurooptic 4/29/25 and got an email with a tracking number today, should be here Monday, PA to CA. Paid $342 w/ shipping just ordering it online.

 

[BigEd36]

I held off ordering because I wanted to wait until some reviews came out. The reviews I've seen have been favorable, so now I'm kinda wishing I hadn't waited to order, as every place has them backordered. I placed my order today with Eurooptic. With my VIP discount (veteran discount) the price was #318.17. With shipping, shipping insurance, taxes and a $3.18 discount for using Echeck to pay, I'm at $353.20 all in. Now the wait begins.

 

[Bfish22]

Placed an order with eurooptic 4/29/25 and got an email with a tracking number today, should be here Monday, PA to CA. Paid $342 w/ shipping just ordering it online.

I ordered one the 29th also, but haven’t received a tracking number. Wonder if they ran out between you and me…

 

[TheCougar]

My Guidefitter order shipped today. Ordered 3/11.

 

[adowney15]

When was your original order date? I’m 3/11 and no updates yet.

I’m ordered mine March 1st.

 

[ICanSeeYourPixels]

Very interested to see some side-by-sides with the Xero. Specially standard dev.

 

[Erict]

Equally interested to see some side-by-sides with Xero when it comes to software, firmware updates, warranty, customer support and warranty issues. I am 100% happy with the Garmin though.

 

[JGRaider]

Equally interested to see some side-by-sides with Xero when it comes to software, firmware updates, warranty, customer support and warranty issues. I am 100% happy with the Garmin though.

All I know for sure is that the warranty is the same......1 yr. Athlon sure abandoned that lifetime deal in this case that's for sure.

 

[Mattyq17]

I ordered one the 29th also, but haven’t received a tracking number. Wonder if they ran out between you and me…

My mistake I ordered on the 25th.

 

[Turkeytider]

They’ve sold a ton of them, mine gets here today. I’ve seen reviews where they run a bit faster velocities, some a bit slower than Garmin , depending on loads. SDs have been VERY close for both brands, however.. How you would accept one as more accurate than the other, I’m not sure how one would do that. To simply accept the Garmin as the “ gold standard “ since it’s been out longer would be nowhere close to valid scientifically, IMO. I certainly didn’t get mine expecting it to read exactly the same velocities as a random Garmin counterpart. What WOULD be concerning would be marked differences in readings between instruments of the same brand.

 

[JGRaider]

They’ve sold a ton of them, mine gets here today. I’ve seen reviews where they run a bit faster velocities, some a bit slower than Garmin , depending on loads. SDs have been VERY close for both brands, however.. How you would accept one as more accurate than the other, I’m not sure how one would do that. To simply accept the Garmin as the “ gold standard “ since it’s been out longer would be nowhere close to valid scientifically, IMO. I certainly didn’t get mine expecting it to read exactly the same velocities as a random Garmin counterpart. What WOULD be concerning would be marked differences in readings between instruments of the same brand.

There have been numerous online tests showing that the Garmin, Magnetospeed, and LabRadar all read within a few feet of each other consistently. Put the Athlon in the mix and we'll see how it compares. I'm sure some youtuber will do that shortly. Right now, the Garmin IS the gold standard. We'll see if that lasts.

 

[Turkeytider]

There have been numerous online tests showing that the Garmin, Magnetospeed, and LabRadar all read within a few feet of each other consistently. Put the Athlon in the mix and we'll see how it compares. I'm sure some youtuber will do that shortly. Right now, the Garmin IS the gold standard. We'll see if that lasts.

Wouldn’t at all be surprised to see this devolve into a “War of the Chronographs “ , with proponents of each deriding the other brands. The level of vitriol will probably vary by internet site, depending upon moderator tolerance. Why should this be any different from the silliness that attends different preferences in rifle brands?

 

[dla]

I used the Athlon yesterday to check some reloads - ran it against the Garmin.

A couple of thoughts:

(1) The Athlon app needs some work to be easier for chronograph work. The Garmin app is darn near perfect.

(2) The Athlon will stop when it it misses a shot and you must manually intervene to continue the session. The Garmin just drops the shot without indication.

(3) The Athlon is much faster shot to shot.

(4) The Garmin remembers whether you were pistol/rifle/etc. and automatically defaults to the previous mode when you start a new session. The Athlon requires you to cycle through the setup when starting another session.

(5) Both will record shots from a much longer distance than indicated by the instructions - no idea how it impacts accuracy. Point is that you can place the chronos 5 feet to the side and they'll work. But I used them on a pretty spacious outdoor range - maybe different results with other shooters near by.

I'll be using the Athlon from now on, so I suppose I'll love it But honestly, the Garmin and Athlon are functionally the same. I can't speak to accuracy beyond a few YT videos - certainly plenty good for my needs.

I like the case Athlon includes.

 

[mlevimadden]

I used the Athlon yesterday to check some reloads - ran it against the Garmin.

A couple of thoughts:

(1) The Athlon app needs some work to be easier for chronograph work. The Garmin app is darn near perfect.

(2) The Athlon will stop when it it misses a shot and you must manually intervene to continue the session. The Garmin just drops the shot without indication.

(3) The Athlon is much faster shot to shot.

(4) The Garmin remembers whether you were pistol/rifle/etc. and automatically defaults to the previous mode when you start a new session. The Athlon requires you to cycle through the setup when starting another session.

(5) Both will record shots from a much longer distance than indicated by the instructions - no idea how it impacts accuracy. Point is that you can place the chronos 5 feet to the side and they'll work. But I used them on a pretty spacious outdoor range - maybe different results with other shooters near by.

I'll be using the Athlon from now on, so I suppose I'll love it But honestly, the Garmin and Athlon are functionally the same. I can't speak to accuracy beyond a few YT videos - certainly plenty good for my needs.

I like the case Athlon includes.

How did the velocity measurements compare between the garmin and athlon?

 

[BBob]

Rangecraft vs OG Labradar archery wise. Within a couple of FPS of each other and both right at the same velocity as all of my previous notes for this bow taken with the Labradar. Nothing burger

I probably won't waste time comparing side by side rifle wise, I'll just look at velocity records and see how they compare.

 

[Schmo]

Found this to be interesting. Not saying it’s a relevant data size, but maybe something along the lines of this could be done further. You’ll need to watch the whole thing to get what I mean, but where it comes in is about 9 minutes in.

 

[Schmo]

Another thing I would ask, because I honestly don’t know. Is there a possibility that running more than 1 radar unit at the same time, trying to ping the same projectile, would cause incorrect readings? It makes sense to me that the signals could conflict with each other, but I’m know nothing about Doppler radar.

 

[dla]

How did the velocity measurements compare between the garmin and athlon?

They were always within 5fps of each other when I was checking RMR 124gr Nuke 9mm loads running close to 1200fps. But funny you should ask, when measuring some 1000fps 124gr cast and some 147gr 900'ish fps fodder the two chronographs differed by ~15fps. I don't know which unit was right (they were garbage loads anyways )