Does anyone own an F1 Chrony?

[riverman67]

I took mine out for the first time today and I couldn't get it to read unless I was so close that the readings were obviously incorrect.

I went through the trouble shooting guide and tried everything.
With screens, without screens ,closer, farther away and I even put black sharpie on already black bullets. All I could get is err1.

Is this thing so sensitive to the lighting conditions that you can only use it on a cloudy day?

Any suggestions would be helpful

Thanks in advance

 

[Joe Williams]

I've used mine on perfectly clear to completely cloudy days, with no issues. Never had a problem. Set mine up at 10 feet, always use the sky screens. I use a camera tripod, which gives a nice steady base so it's not vibrating or moving at all.

 

[riverman67]

I've used mine on perfectly clear to completely cloudy days, with no issues. Never had a problem. Set mine up at 10 feet, always use the sky screens. I use a camera tripod, which gives a nice steady base so it's not vibrating or moving at all.

I used a camera tripod as well
I am not sure what else to try. I purchased this several months ago but this is the first chance I have had to use it .
I started at 8ft and went out as far as the cable would allow 12ft or so I guess. When that failed I moved it to about 4 ft . I get a reading at this range but it is certainly not correct ,5800 FPS. this leads me to believe that the unit works.The light conditions or something that I am doing wrong must be the culprit. I will re-read the instructions and try again next time.
This is really frustrating

 

[x10]

A friend of mine had a similar problem and we made a set of "SKY Screens" for him out of a couple metal rods and a cut up plastic Milk jug

the milk jug plastic was opaque enough to allow the phototransisters to function properly

 

[riverman67]

A friend of mine had a similar problem and we made a set of "SKY Screens" for him out of a couple metal rods and a cut up plastic Milk jug

the milk jug plastic was opaque enough to allow the phototransisters to function properly

Did the unit come with sky screens and the ones that you made work better?

Mine has sky screens and I tried them .....nothing

This is pretty much my luck no one ever has the same problem that I do

 

[451_Detonics]

a golf umbrella over the unit helps tremendously.

 

[HICKMAN]

I would suggest getting one of these:

Shooting Chrony Remote Control for F1 and Alpha Chronograph - MidwayUSA

mine seemed to like to switch modes on it's own before I got this.

 

[x10]

Did the unit come with sky screens and the ones that you made work better?

Mine has sky screens and I tried them .....nothing

This is pretty much my luck no one ever has the same problem that I do

his unit didn't come with sky screens, so I'm not much help

we did do a test once where we set his chrony on the bar of my pact chrony and we found that both read within 1-2% of each other

 

[riverman67]

a golf umbrella over the unit helps tremendously.

I would suggest getting one of these:

Shooting Chrony Remote Control for F1 and Alpha Chronograph - MidwayUSA

mine seemed to like to switch modes on it's own before I got this.

I will try both next time out

Thanks

 

[misconfig]

I had a buddy with one, I saw him shoot .44mag and the chrony picked it up, I used to use them all the time for paintball tournaments ( 280 FPS ) so def nothing as fast as a bullet.