Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Labradar chronograph

Folks ,
I’d like to hear from anyone using the Labradar .
I’ve got an Oelher P35 and I was wondering if this new unit is much better .
So please tell me your personal Pros & Cons with this newer unit .

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.
Soup

I much prefer the golden retriever unit myself. It's very user friendly if you scratch it behind the ears.

Damned critter just keeps trying to retrieve the bullets.

I've had an Oehler 35P for more than twenty-five years, but I bought a Labradar about a year or so ago. Both are excellent units. The Labradar can be set up very quickly and there is no need to go downrange to do it, as on a public range where it may be necessary to call a cease fire. If that's not important to you, you're missing out on nothing by sticking with the Oehler.

Best $ I ever spent on a chronograph. Love it. Set it up on the bench, “aim” it at the target, turn it on....you’re in business.

Very happy with mine. Easy to set up use etc.

Cheers

Eric

I would rather have a golden. Really easy to live with.

I have both but the LabRadar is much easier to set up.

Money well spent in my opinion. I just used mine for the first time today and am loving it. It took 5 shots to figure out how to aim it and then fired 30 more from 5 rifles without a hiccup. Even with the initial setup I was ready to shoot long before I would have if I were setting up my M2. Also, it turned out to be quite windy today and if I even tried to setup the M2 it would have blown over as soon as I turned my back. The Labradar just sits on the bench recording shots one after the other. I used a piece of 3/4" BC for the base with a camera tripod ball head mount and it worked perfect. It is spendy to put together when you include what you really need to do it right but if you are serious about handloading I don't think you will be sorry.

Exactly. Love mine.

They are both good units, but the LabRadar is much easier to work with. I have been very happy with mine.

One thing nobody has answered is whether or not is can you overshoot the beam width when the Labrador is aimed dead center on a target 100 yards away then moving to a target 200 yards away efficiently enough to give a valid reading? The 35P can.

Have owned a M35 since the early 90's and a Labradar for almost two years. I ran them together and calculated the difference in distance from the muzzle a half dozen times and they agreed within single digits all but a few shots out of several hundred rounds.

If I'm headed to the range I almost always plan on using the Labradar because there's no need to step beyond the firing line for setup--and setup is quick once you learn the nuances. I also use it when shooting from prone when I want to chrono a load. And recently it worked in low teens temps when cold weather testing--I was skeptical it was going to work. I did bring it into the cab of the truck with me each time I got in to warm up!

The Labradar records velocities out to 100 yds at four increments of your choosing. By setting the increments very small with the final increment at say, 30 yds from the muzzle, it will catch the bullet fine when aiming out to 300 yds the one time I tried it. If the Labradar doesn't pick up the bullet at every increment it will give an error reading and "possible" velocity reading. When that has happened to me the possible velocity was within the expected velocity of the load I was shooting.

Although when aiming out to something like 600yd distances I'm thinking the bullet may travel outside the beam pretty quickly and the shot might not be recorded..

Any issues with a covered range?

None so far.

Not at the two covered ranges I've tried it.

Good to know, my Master Chrony has been rather optimistic or low as of late. The whole range is not covered of course, but it is for about 20 feet beyond the benches.

I appreciate the all of the information I've received from this post .


Keep it coming !! Before I lay out that much $$$$ I want to be sure it's worth it .


How is the battery life for a day of testing loads ? Does one set last the day ? 3-4 hours .

Soup

Forget about the onboard battery option and pick up a high mA-hour portable/rechargeable battery pack. They are cheap these days and one with a reasonable rating will easily give multiple range sessions of trigger-based doppler usage.

I use this.

I've never used batteries in my Labradar. I bought the $25.00 power pack that Labradar sold, but power packs may all be the same and you can probably buy them for less than what I paid. I usually don't bother to turn off the unit during periods of inactivity at the range and the power pack still had adequate juice for multiple range trips.

Great advice, battery life is the one Achilles' heel of the LabRadar.

Any of you LabRadar owners integrating their Shooting Lab software with it? I've been using it for a few years now with the CED Millennium Chronograph and really enjoy it.

Just fast reading over all the previous comments, which I agree with, several things I like more about the Lab are as follows.

1. High winds. I would keep two 5-lb soft ankle weights in my 35P's carry case, wrapping them around the base of the tripods. The extra weights would help keep the tripods from blowing over in higher winds. With that said, it still had limits, and would blow over if the wind gusted fast enough or from the right angle. Not the Labrador. Whether on the extra table top baee or the Manfroto tripod I use; solid as a rock!

2. Loss of light. My 35P would quit about 30 minutes prior to sunset. Not the Labradar. It just keeps bringing me the speed.

3. I already had a battery pack which kept in my truck for emergency vehicle jump starts. Well, it seems it works great for the Labradar. One day I used the Labradar for 3+ hours and my battery pack only got down to 87%. That was with the "Arm time" set for 600 seconds and the "Screen Saver" set for the longest time, as well.

Love my Lab!

Alan

222Sako ,
Are you referring to the RSI Shooting Lab program ?
I would like to hear of those results also .
This post is yealding a lot of information .
Soup

I’m not tracking. RSI and LabRadar, Inc. are different companies.

I dub thee, Leupold.

From day one I've been happy with the Labradar, you'll be happy with your purchase........

my bad, I had seen the Labradar mentioned on the RSI sight and thought it was the same company. BUT... look at the bottom of this page. They do support The lab Radar with the Shooting Lab 4.8.9.
https://www.shootingsoftware.com/index.htm

No worries. Maybe with the RTZ, I’ll loose the moniker.

Used my new Labradar yesterday for the second time and liked it even more than the first. Fired 80 rounds from 4 rifles using 4 different targets and didn't miss a shot (100 yds). Did not have to reposition the unit at all. Setup took about 3 minutes. No trouble aiming, that looks to be a newbee issue. I wouldn't waste my time with any Rube Goldberg aiming devices. I am using a portable power pack that cost 17$ and have the settings on max so that the unit stays armed and the screen stays on as long as the settings allow. No power issues. The power pack was charged when purchased in December and still has plenty of juice left. Don't waste your time with AAs.
The M2 was a special occasion device for me due to setup time/hassle and I seemed to get different readings on different days (lighting differences no doubt). The LR is an every trip device. The only hassle for me now is is the extra box that needs to be carried to the bench.
Yea, I drank the koolaid and am hooked.

TTT

I have one of those for charging my phone on the job--a 3 amp Makita battery would keep the LR running for 10,000 rounds!......

I have a 10k mAh Anker battery that I use to run the LR and for charging my phone in the backcountry or skiing.