Others Athlon Chronograph Lighting

[Hoppalong Doc]

Late last year I purchased an Athlon Rangecraft Chronograph. The features of this chronograph are amazing and it's so easy to use. The features aren't up to those of the Lab chronograph, or even the Garmin, but each of these has features I neither need nor can afford. So . . . back to my Athlon, and the purpose of this entry: lately the screen doesn't seem to be as bright as expected, and yes the battery is fully charged. Is there something else to check? It still works just fine, but the screen isn't as bright (that's the chronograph, not me) as expected. Fortunately, I can read everything on my phone via Bluetooth. This little tool just keeps me on target. Orv.

 

[duchunter007]

A quick Google search found this for you. Also, there is info on YouTube about the brightness.

• Accessing Settings: From the home screen, use the down arrow button to highlight "SETTINGS" and press "OK".
• Adjusting Brightness: Within the settings menu, select the Brightness option to change screen intensity.
• Backlight Control: The device features a backlit screen; if it dims, press the up button to wake it.
• Additional Settings: You can also adjust the backlight timer to save battery.

 

[Roamin Greco 1]

Late last year I purchased an Athlon Rangecraft Chronograph. The features of this chronograph are amazing and it's so easy to use. The features aren't up to those of the Lab chronograph, or even the Garmin, but each of these has features I neither need nor can afford. So . . . back to my Athlon, and the purpose of this entry: lately the screen doesn't seem to be as bright as expected, and yes the battery is fully charged. Is there something else to check? It still works just fine, but the screen isn't as bright (that's the chronograph, not me) as expected. Fortunately, I can read everything on my phone via Bluetooth. This little tool just keeps me on target. Orv.

Keep your eye on the expiration date of the warranty period, and if reasonable efforts don't resolve the issue, return it or exchange it for one without bugs.

 

[Billm]

I wouldn’t assume that it’s defective. I’ve posted a couple of times, that the dim screen is really my only issue with the Garmin. I have the brightness maxed out and I shoot under a covered porch and I have difficulty seeing the screen when it gets darker. Unfortunately it’s an engineering compromise: to keep it small they are limited to what size battery they can use. The processor and the display/backlight are power hungry. More than likely they keep the max brightness low to prolong the battery life. In my case the auto-dimming is an added inconvenience, as I can’t usually reach the screen without moving. On the Garmin, the other space saving compromise is low onboard memory. The memory issue isn’t much of a factor if you don’t shoot every day. Of course it is all stored in the app as well and so not a deal breaker. They’ve thankfully come a long way since sky screens on a tripod. They’re now super convenient.

 

[RobbieGio]

I wouldn’t assume that it’s defective. I’ve posted a couple of times, that the dim screen is really my only issue with the Garmin. I have the brightness maxed out and I shoot under a covered porch and I have difficulty seeing the screen when it gets darker. Unfortunately it’s an engineering compromise: to keep it small they are limited to what size battery they can use. The processor and the display/backlight are power hungry. More than likely they keep the max brightness low to prolong the battery life. In my case the auto-dimming is an added inconvenience, as I can’t usually reach the screen without moving. On the Garmin, the other space saving compromise is low onboard memory. The memory issue isn’t much of a factor if you don’t shoot every day. Of course it is all stored in the app as well and so not a deal breaker. They’ve thankfully come a long way since sky screens on a tripod. They’re now super convenient.

With you the Garmin app being the savior, memory wise, for the unit. Rarely use it (once a month max), but the low onboard memory means deleting sessions each time I do. Have come to accept the brightness as it still does really well, for me. Got it on special with no taxes, so I am good with it.

 

[Billm]

With you the Garmin app being the savior, memory wise, for the unit. Rarely use it (once a month max), but the low onboard memory means deleting sessions each time I do. Have come to accept the brightness as it still does really well, for me. Got it on special with no taxes, so I am good with it.

I was using mine every day and like you constantly deleting sessions, but I know that’s not the normal use case. I bought mine at BassPro and they give 10% military discount. If Garmin came up with a solution that allowed two units to communicate with the app and calculate bc etc., I’d buy another lol.

 

[duchunter007]

I was using mine every day and like you constantly deleting sessions, but I know that’s not the normal use case. I bought mine at BassPro and they give 10% military discount. If Garmin came up with a solution that allowed two units to communicate with the app and calculate bc etc., I’d buy another lol.

Yeah, I believe you can sync two of them together, but I’m not sure if that setup will give you BC numbers.
This was the reason I bought the FX, so I can get good BC numbers!

 

[Hoppalong Doc]

I appreciate each of your input. I guess what my Athlon is doing is normal. The lack of brightness is an inconvenience, but not a deal breaker. It just means that I have to watch my phone and deal with an ap. It's so important to be aware of the health of one's rifle. On springers like mine , I can keep. On top of leaks and power loss. Gotta take care of my toys.Orv.

 

[Billm]

Yeah, I believe you can sync two of them together, but I’m not sure if that setup will give you BC numbers.
This was the reason I bought the FX, so I can get good BC numbers!

It doesn’t sync them. It just flashes the screen in downrange mode, so that you don’t have to walk downrange to check if it picked up.

 

[duchunter007]

It doesn’t sync them. It just flashes the screen in downrange mode, so that you don’t have to walk downrange to check if it picked up.

I use the Garmin all the time, and I use the FX when I am tuning the gun. But overall, I sure like them both!

 

[RobbieGio]

Since BC came up, it seems there are not too many choices for ones that are capable of calculating it. The Labrador seems to have fallen out of favor as it is not mentioned anymore. The quality of the FX has recently come up in discussions. Another is the Oehler System 89, but that setup is just shy of $3k.

Caldwell came out with the Velociradar last year. With the exception of marketing and YouTubers, I have not heard of any real world use cases. Online retailer reviews are…average. Sold out on most sites, Caldwell’s included. And, not cheap; $549.99 at Scheel’s.

To finish off my rambling, looks like to get BC calculations, one has deal with suspect build quality, lack of proven performance, or, worst wallet case scenario, invest in two chronographs and calculate manually. Wishing a manufacturer would up its engagement, take feedback and put out a product that had the features with a good build.

 

[duchunter007]

Since BC came up, it seems there are not too many choices for ones that are capable of calculating it. The Labrador seems to have fallen out of favor as it is not mentioned anymore. The quality of the FX has recently come up in discussions. Another is the Oehler System 89, but that setup is just shy of $3k.

Caldwell came out with the Velociradar last year. With the exception of marketing and YouTubers, I have not heard of any real world use cases. Online retailer reviews are…average. Sold out on most sites, Caldwell’s included. And, not cheap; $549.99 at Scheel’s.

To finish off my rambling, looks like to get BC calculations, one has deal with suspect build quality, lack of proven performance, or, worst wallet case scenario, invest in two chronographs and calculate manually. Wishing a manufacturer would up its engagement, take feedback and put out a product that had the features with a good build.

The way I used to get my second fps was to put a chrono at 90 yards and shoot through the hoops of the radar, then plugged in the numbers. So far I am feeling the FX gives a true calculation.

 

[Hoppalong Doc]

Gaining further experience with my Athlon Rangecraft chronograph, I'm still learning all of it's features. I can now just set it on the bench besides me, turn it on, and I'm good for the day. When shooting various springers, it''s easy to switch between each readout and just shoot. I still have some difficulty getting it to hold the time and date between sessions that are more than a few days apart.Any thoughts for me? Orv.

 

[TN_Yankee]

Is it holding its charge between uses? The longest I've gone without using mine (since I got it a month or so ago) is a couple weeks, but it holds the charge & date/time. It might be a warranty issue.

 

[Hoppalong Doc]

The battery seems to hold until it's charge a little better than advertised. I'm learning that should I let the battery completely discharge, I'll lose some settings, such as last string. This last occurred at near 8 hours at 87 degrees. I also found that leaving the chronograph in the hot car depleted the battery rather quiickly. I suppose that I'll need to use the phone app pretty soon now. All this learning when all i want to do is shoot,

 

[TN_Yankee]

Yeah, heat and batteries don't mix well, especially lithium. I've only used it without the app so far, manually entering the velocities into my spreadsheet. I tried setting up the app on my iPhone a couple weeks ago, but it would never let me sign in - its like the button I had to tap didn't do anything. I guess I should uninstall it and try again. From what I've read of the app, I think my main use will be to use it for exporting the data to a file I can pull right into my computer.

 

[bchannell]

The screen brightness is an issue with both Athlon and Garmin. Seriously, I actually thought about returning my Garmin because it is so hard to see. They have a special screen that is actually brighter/easier to see the more sunlite/lite it is in, so yes, in a covered shed they are hard to see. It's a big hassle to me, and I get aggravated every time I use it. So much so, I gave thought to buying the new Garmin that syncs to the phone, which should have been a feature of the gen 1. Once again, we get technology parsed to us little by little, ... drives me crazy. I've learned to live with it now, rather than spend another $3-400 to get the newest version.

As to the bc, I've done it a few times but it's not important to me, not even useful. I now just sight in, chrony that distance, ie 33 yds, then shoot a different distance, say 60 yds and calculate using the drop from zero. All I care about is hitting distant targets, and shooting it is half the fun and works whereas bc is more difficult and often hard to obtain and still needs varification/correction.

 

[cosmic]

Late last year I purchased an Athlon Rangecraft Chronograph. The features of this chronograph are amazing and it's so easy to use. The features aren't up to those of the Lab chronograph, or even the Garmin, but each of these has features I neither need nor can afford. So . . . back to my Athlon, and the purpose of this entry: lately the screen doesn't seem to be as bright as expected, and yes the battery is fully charged. Is there something else to check? It still works just fine, but the screen isn't as bright (that's the chronograph, not me) as expected. Fortunately, I can read everything on my phone via Bluetooth. This little tool just keeps me on target. Orv.

Make a shield around it from cardboard to shield it from the sun...