Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Chronograph Choices

Originally I started with a ProTach chrono in 1999. It continues to give good service, although skyscreen replacement seems problematic.

Two years ago, I bought a LabRadar thinking the no skyscreen feature would make range sessions nicer. It is a complete turd and is done nothing but a huge pain in the arse. I have called the company repeatedly, tried numerous settings, bought all their fancy extras, and still the damned thing won't work reliably. I am done. Among other problems with this engineering marvel, the screen on the effing thing is gray with gray letters. Who designs a unit made for outdoor use with this kind of electronic display. It is going on the market ASAP.

Can anyone give some feedback on the Oehler 35P? They are in stock and have a stellar reputation.

I've got an older 35P that I got used from a fellow six or seven years ago. Setup is a PITA, relatively speaking, but in reality it's not that big a deal. It works well and I have full confidence in it. I think you'll be very satisfied as long as the extra setup time doesn't bother you.

I use the competition electronics pro-chrono. simple skyscreen device. Had mine for years.

Oehler’s reputation is well earned. My 12 year old 35P took a dump. 1 hour on the phone while I ran a couple of tests at their behest. Printer and sensors sent back to Oehler and a week after they received it I had it back. Replaced the brain board, tested all sensors for proper function and said it was good to go. Printed test page included. No Charge. Works just like new. Great CS, great product. Not many companies guarantee their electronics 3-5 years let alone 12.

This is my opinion as well.

I use a Competition Electronics Pro Chrono plus. Had it for years and never had a problem, except for the sky screens which went yellow, got fragile and broke. I ended up making new sky screens out of a thin piece of fibreglass and all is good now.

^^^^ This. I've had my 35P for 10-12 yrs. Never missed recording a shot. Loading paper in the printer is a PITA.

I have a pair (2) of the 35P. The used market has dropped with the rise of the Lab Radar so I bought the second 35P at a price I couldn't resist. Bryan Litz uses a pair of Lab Radars so with care there must be good results there.

Nothing inspires more confidence in the results than a 35P. Setup is an issue. Not good if the ground in front of the firing line is rough and not good if the wind is high. On level ground with sandbags or home-cast lead ballast setup goes quickly. I've been known to forget to adjust the dip switches for screen spacing as actually setup. A semi-permanent ten foot rail setup is nice but pretty much needs a pickup to haul.

I've had an issue with my 35P at one of the private clubs I belong to. For some reason something triggers the chronograph and sets off the printer. I'm thinking it might be some type of electronic noise though I haven't chased it down. Sucks when you're about to break a shot and you hear the printer run.

If you want to keep it simple and inexpensive, in my experience with a bunch of different chronographs since 1979 (including the Oehler 35P, Magnetspeed and Labradar) the ProChrono works fine for the average shooter.

Crappy connections in those 1/8" plugs can cause that. I just replaced the connectors on mine. Bought good metal ones.

I've had an Oehler 35 for at least 35, maybe 40 years. It's the 35P without a printer. Had to send it back for a warranty repair early on, but other than shooting a skyscreen or 2 over the years it soldiers on. The screens were $25 back then, but they've gone up to $45 last year. The only thing that's ever been a problem is late afternoon (3 o'clock or later) in the winter the sun is too low & the readings get funky or dont read at all. Battery life is good, but strange things happen when it starts getting low. I always carry a fresh spare or two in the range box. Mine is mounted on 2 cheap camera tripods & does take a few minutes to set up, but hasn't been much of a problem once I got the routine down. It's even quicker if there's another shooter along.

Like the other fellow above, if the stars & moon align & one comes up for sale at the right time, I'll have a 2nd unit for a spare.

Thanks for the feedback, fellas.

In looking at the new 35P setup, Oehler supplies a 4 foot rail with the unit. They also utilize bright orange diffusers which are supposed to work in all weather and daylight conditions. I will probably buy the 35P off their website and Ballistic Explorer program to boot.

I am not a fan of BE but then I haven’t really spent the amount of time with it as I have with Sierra Infinity. As far as setup I use a couple of short cuts.
After setting it up in the garage I wire tied all the cables in order single cable is stop sensor, 2 cables middle sensor, 3 cables for start sensor. I also put a red wire tie at exactly 10 feet to align with muzzle when setting up. On the printer unit I put 3 different colors of tape on the plug holes to correspond to proper colors on the sensors. In the range bag I have a 16 foot piece of string with 1/2 oz. sinker. I loop the string over my forend stop fish it through the sensors which when tight allows me to align the unit to the rest at exactly 10 feet using the red tie on the cables. Also have a string level in the bag. Setup time is ~10 minutes. It’s only as much of a PITA as you make it.
Also made an Excel spreadsheet to enter the numbers since keeping all those slips of paper sorted is not fun.
Enjoy.

I've used a 35P without a printer for years and love it. The three skyscreens are conveniently mounted on their short (4ft?) rail. That rail quickly attaches to a single HD tripod and the entire outfit can easily be setup and aligned in front of the shooting bench - even at a busy public range. The unit works great as long as there is sufficient daylight (it doesn't like the crack of dawn or the last rays at sunset) and as long as the battery is good (I carry a fresh one in my pocket to keep it warm on those range days below freezing).

IME, Oehler's customer service is GREAT!! My unit has been back to them twice for service - once because a chip/board came loose and the first time because I knocked the 'brains' unit off the shooting bench. When it hit the concrete floor of the firing line, one of the female mounts for the input cable jacks broke - clearly my fault. I sent the unit in and asked them to bill me for the repairs. I got the repaired chrono unit back in about 2 weeks with a no charge note. I thought that wasn't right, so I mailed them a check for what I thought the repair was worth plus the return postage. A few days later, I got a letter back with my uncashed check and a note from Dr. Ken himself. He thanked me for using their products and politely refused to take my money. He explained that good shooters like myself were the reason he got in the business so many years ago, and that he couldn't in good conscience take my money for a simple repair. IMO, Oehler is a great company with a classy founder!

Thanks for the heads-up, I change mine out and see how it works. 👍

This is really great info- thank you all for your input!

Received my new Oehler set up and put it together in the garage one evening due to rain. For the life of me, I could not get it to clock .177 pellets out of my air rifle.

A call to Oehler instantly identified the issue- Flourescent lighting is a skyscreen no- no. So, I tried it outside the next day and BINGO-it worked. So far I am pleased with the unit.

I sold that POS LabRadar to some fella in GA. Hopefully he has more luck with it than I did!

I don’t fool with anything other than hunting rifles and a couple defense rifles.
I bought the Magnetospeed Sporter over the winter. It’s kinda nice just walking out the back door and finding out the velocity of my handloads regardless of weather or light.
After it warms up I shoot for groups on my range.
The only drawback I can see is that it won’t work with a rimfire.
7mm