Shooting Chrony F1 Chronograph

I just took my new Chrony F1 to the range and put about 75 rounds through it. It performed flawlessly. The ammo varied from 22 Long Rifle through 45 Long Colt. I'd recommend this to anyone. Buy the way, you can make your own remote pushbutton by using a stereo headphone jack and some wire. Save your money on that one.

I bought an F-1 about a year ago. It has worked on everything I've fired thru it, even shotgun loads. I reccomend it highly.

I have been using my Chrony F1 for over four years now and have found it to be a reliable and trouble free unit.I've had 2 errors with it in the early days of its use because I did'nt use the screens. I have used it in 100 degree heat and 30 degree, bright sun and cloudy and it works wonderfully. As others have mentioned using a 22 rimfire first will let you know if you are properly set up for the day. The tip of using an old headphone jack to access info does indeed work. I feel that this handy little unit is a real asset in determining actual velocities so a person can sight in properly and most importantly have a good idea if the bullets we use should perform at the ranges and velocity levels we most often find ourselves faced with.

Fantastic Product!! I have used mine several times not and it is great. Apparently not dummy proof but pretty close. Great deal

I have had mine for over 3 years. This is a must have for any reloader.

The unit folds down into a nice, compact package, and is easy to set up. The sunshades stay in place if they're set up correctly in the first place, and if the unit is set up 10 feet from the muzzle. I've been able to verify some of the readings, and they're very accurate. An indispensable tool for assessing the performance and troubleshooting ammo problems. I reloaded for 20 years without a chronograph, and now I can't figure how I got along without one.

This product performs wonderfully. It sets up easily and stores compact. The directions are fine and the simplicity of the few components involved presents no problems. Open it up, place rods in their holes, turn it on and shoot. If you need the rod extensions or plastic diffusers you will know after one shot. I have used it to read pistol, rifle and even plastic training bullets. If you are a handloader a simple chronograph like this should be part of your equipment. It allows rapid assessment of your reloading efforts. I do not need, at least at this point, a remote display. I set the unit up on a tripod approximately seven to ten feet away from my bench and can easily read the data on the display. I then manually record it on a pad. Would a printer be nice, certainly. But for the money saved I don't mind the extra time to write down my data manually, which affords me an immediate understanding of how my loads are developing. Great product.

Very nice chronograph. Can't beat the price either. Tested with different types of .22 pistols and rifles as well as 9mm, 40 cal, 7mm Rem Mag, 223 Rem, 50 BMG, 30-06, 30-30, and it worked flawlessly in both bright and cloudy days.

Wish I had purchased one of these a long time ago! Tested it out on a .38 Special, 7-30 Walters, 300 Weatherby Mag, and a 300 Remington Short Action Ultra Mag. Only received one error message out of 45 shots. Cloudy & bright skies. Great product!

Tough to beat it for the price. Great little unit that does the job well. Though I did have some problems with it when light conditions changed, as long as you are mindful of it and don't expect the unit to think for you, it should do fine. Oh, and they can't resist a 45ACP 230 gr FMJ (Winchester factory) very well either. I would suggest that the manufacturer make an armored model for those of us with friends who anticipate muzzle rise a bit too much *sigh* (now you see why I'm shopping for another).

Simple, Accurate, Compact and Inexpensive. I like it a lot!

Unless you want expanded info, this is the way to go. You can read it from your bench, calculate velocity and avg dev easily with calculator. There is a very good gun writer who used this same unit. It has been checked against professional equip. He would buy another one, so would I.

I took my new chrony to the range, had it set up in a couple of minutes, started shooting. It read every shot, and all this without using the instructions. It's a no brainer and works flawlessly

Can't believe I see anything but 5 star ratings for this product. People that are getting errors or bad readings are either shooting when its too dark or shooting too close to the thing (need to shoot at least 10ft away) this is obvious in the complaint on blowing the deflectors off (by the way, ever heard of tape). When you use this thing properly, it works flawless. How many cronies are this compact -NONE- (can put in your gun case and use easily in field) plus if you accidently shoot it, Chrony will give you a deal on a new one.

This is a great product for the money. I use it regularly for my 30-30 and .308 without any problems. If anyone was wondering what to test with this. I have tested 7mm Remington magnum and even a 50 bmg!

For the money - this is hard to beat. Gave me a whole new perspective on my handloads. Kind of touching when some clouds dim the sun a little. But, for the most, part it worked flawlessly. I highly recommend it. I'm buying the printer next. Costs almost as much - but it will add a lot of enjoyment and I won't have to keep writing down the numbers.

I am very pleased with this device so far, especially for the money. It didn't come with a tripod but I can't give it bad ratings because I knew this before purchasing it. I've shot air rifle, bow and centerfire rifle (280 Rem.) and it has worked flawlessly. Simple to use, easy to deploy, and dummy proof.

Such a great price and works awesome. Only thing was it didn't come with any instructions, just product/accessories order pages. I was able to download a manual from the website, but I expect to have that in the box. Overall a great deal.

This is the first Chronograph that I have used and I found it to be easy to set-up and use. My only regret is that I did not purchase one of these years ago.

This is a well made and easy to use product. I have owned one for about five years and as long as I am careful about set-up, I have had very few problems. I would recommend that the metal rods holding the skyscreens be replaced by the user with a weaker alternative since the rods, when hit, transmit shock that can damage the unit (please don’t ask me how I know this). After trying several other options I found that bamboo cooking skewers are a near perfect substitute; the bamboo is stronger and more flexible than wooden dowels and lasts a lot longer. If you hit the bamboo, it shears off with no damage to the unit and a package of 50 skewers costs less than a buck. I would also recommend that the display face be covered with an appropriate protective shield when firing sabot loads, shotshells or anything else that has multiple ejecta; including slow burning magnum rifle powder (again, don’t ask). All in all, this is a great product that I would buy again.

I've used this chronograph for two years with excellent results. Just use a little common sense about the consequences of muzzel blast, alignment, etc and it will perform flawlessly. I set mine out about 12 feet from the muzzle where I can still see the readout. A real eye opener as to what your handloads are doing. Wish I would have had one years ago. I've used it for arrows, .177 air rifles, .223 Rem and .45-70 and a lot in between. It takes only a few minutes to set up on a camera tripod which I strongly recommend.

This chronograph worked great. I set it up, used a bb gun to play around with it and get familiar with how it works. I liked it so much I went and bought another one after putting a round of .454 Casull straight though it.

Just received it last week and took it to the range this weekend. Easy set up and tested it with three rifles (22 lr, 338, 270) on a bright sunny day. Worked perfectly. Manual could be better. Also, get the remote, for ten dollars it adds some nice features (allows you to get hi, lo, avg, std deviat, etc) and you can stay seated. Great value and prompt delivery from Midway - two days.

An excellent unit for the price. Had it up and running in a couple minutes. Had a couple errors, which could have been avoided by reading the directions.

You would have to be an idiot if you couldn't use one of these , always a no problem little unit that does what it's supposed to when you read the instructions and comprehend, then do what your told!!!!!!!

I bought one of these about 10 years ago and used it a lot. It never gave me a bit of trouble. Back then it was a hundred bucks. Now it's eighty bucks. Go figure. I sold mine because I quit target shooting, but now I'm getting back into it and I'm ordering another one. Every shooter should have one at this price.

Very easy to use (if you have the remote). It performed well in cloudy and sunny days. Although would help a lot if waterproof. Using it without the remote it’s a real pain.

I have an older Chrony, but I'd offer a tip. In summer with very bright light, use a manilla folder to shade the sensors. This will prevent a reflection from spoofing the sensors.

Seems to work as advertised. Needs considerable light to be reliable though. Had dark clouds from a thunderstorm pass over and started getting lots of errors. Leave the diffusers off except on the brightest of days. Also got many false readings (6000 fps, COOL!) due to muzzle blast from my Super Redhawk, had to move the thing back about 3 feet to cure it. They need to sell replacement face plates because unburned powder from XMP 5744 (extruded chunks) loads put a bunch of dents in the cheap plastic face plate making it hard to read! But for the money, overall, it is a very good product and I'd buy it again if given the choice.

This chrony is a pretty good deal. After messing with it and reading the manual I found that this chrony (F1 standard) has the ability to display the low, high, range, standard deviation, and average as well as shot #. However, these can only be accessed with a "remote control or chrony printer", $13 and $90 respectively. The remote is just a button that is conneted to the unit by a wire. If you have a spare set of walkman headphones DO NOT BUY THE REMOTE. I was able to simply use a heaphone wire and expose the copper wires and touch them together to access the features. That is all a button can do..... close or open a circuit. Using this wire I can scroll through each feature easily and quickly. Saved $13 + shipping!!!!!!

I used a F1 belonging to a friend of mine. Found it fairly easy to set up and use. Need to make my own remote for it though to make it easier. My only complaint is the same as another reviewer. The faceplate should be made more durable because it takes a beating with the muzzle blast from my 300WSM.

Seems to work well. An occasional error reading, maybe 1 in 100. Sometimes difficult to retrieve information, one may need to scroll through data multiple times as it seems to reset its readings without user input. Remote should be sold with Chrony as it is an absolute necessity. Seems accurate and reliable. Recommend tripod as well. Would probably purchase again.

I had one of these for 12 years and it worked great. This last year I had trouble with it reading “error” a lot and an occasional extreme velocity reading. Still not bad for 12 years. Now I have to get another one because of judgment error, it jumped in front of a bullet.

Generally as advertised, quick to setup, fairly straight forward in use. Bright, low-angle sunlight (as in winter) reduces usable shooting area. Good idea to take along a 22 to start with - sometimes it takes a few shots to find the area of maximum sensitivity. No problems with false readings, or muzzle blast if chronograph is at least 10' from muzzle. Can read display from that distance. Nice and compact, but it is easy to shoot through the screens off-axis, which introduces some error. Instructions (also available on website) poorly written. Tip (posted here) about home-made remote works well. Would give it five stars except for one big error: Instructions w/ unit & on website say that chronograph can be cleared to start a new string w/ the remote. This is incorrect (in practice & per Customer Service). Unit must be switched on/off via switch on front, which makes remote much less useful.

I was torn on how to rate this one. Opened it up, brought to the range but it did not work. LCD type issues. Sent back to Midway. The one thing that I did learn is that Midway has a FIVE STAR return policy. They made right on the shipping and had the exchange product out promptly. The second one came to me and I have brought it out three times so far. It has had great results. Easy to set up and easy to use. It has given me a reading on about 99% of the shots. I am willing to look past the bad one that I got and give this four stars. I figure there must be a few bad ones made every couple thousand. But Midway impressed me with their customer service in the deal and earned some loyalty from me.

Great Chrony. These are a must have item for a reloader. If you do not have one, you are spinning your wheels. Mine have served me well. Actually on my second one. The reason for four stars is, usually out of ten round strings, mine have gotten one misread. Learned that the more light there is the less chance of bad reads. For any chance of an accurate round you need one of these chrony's. Pays for itself in saved components over time.

Good product for the price. Only four-stars because of one complaint -- must be a very bright day for it to work well. Does not work real well on gray, overcast days. My buddies more expensive brand does not have this problem.

I've had mine for ten years now, and it still works. Keep in mind that you still need to acquire some kind of stand for it. Laying it in the dirt in front of your shooting position isn't very satisfactory. Also, it would be nice if they armor plated the thing. I've shot mine twice; but not fatally.

I used this product about 10 or 12 times over the past two years using it less and less because of the limited success I had with it. I used it more for arrow speed than I did for firearms. This unit would only register feet per second about 40% of the time. The other 60% of the time it would just read error. I just purchased a crossbow because of a ruptured bicept and I have to use a cranking aid to cock the thing and thats a pain in butt, and out of six times of cocking my crossbow I could not get this Chrony to read arrow speed once! I threw the thing in the trash can.