The eighth wonder of the world. The Garmin Xero C1 Pro chronograph

[6MT]

So I received my Garmin Xero C1 Pro chronograph a couple of days ago. Normally, I’m the first to jump at new technology. But in this case, I owned a LabRadar since 2017 (and a few MagnetoSpeeds in between). And I was really reluctant to try a new thing until a few reviews were posted and a reasonable sample size consulted. But in the little Garmin’s case, all has been roses. So up went the LabRadar for sale and I was lucky enough to sell it in about a day.

Here’s what all the fuss is about. And here you can see one of the things that has everyone excited about...the physical size!



Hard to believe (for those who have LabRadar experience) just how tiny this is!

So I was excited to try it out today. My choice of cartridges was kind of easy. A few pistol caliber cartridges that I shoot out of lever action rifles. I say my choice was easy because...lets just say, the LabRadar had some anomalies with jacketed pistol caliber cartridges. And I’ll just leave that there.

Placement of the unit is easy. Locate it between 5” and 15” behind the muzzle, and 5” to 15” to the side. Aiming couldn’t be easier either. Just make sure the rear of the unit is facing where you’re shooting. And with all of those shots fired, the little wonder never missed a shot in any caliber! Here’s my set up today…



I shot a total of 200 rounds today. Of which, 180 were chronied. My rifles were all very clean babies and I wanted to foul each of the barrels with a few shots. (It wasn’t very warm today -just 1c.) My total time operating the Garmin was almost three hours. Another plus…the battery life. After three hours and the cold, the battery was only down 15%. Very nice!

I downloaded Garmin’s app, the ShotView app. Once you complete a session, the unit syncs with the app and all of the data is transferred over to the app. There, you can do all sorts of wonderful things. Being new with the unit and app, I only re-named each session.

Here’s my results for each caliber…









For each caliber, there was some statistical correcting going on. Meaning, I would throw out 10 shots that were the worst of the bunch (both the highest and lowest). There are some variances that are either very high or very low in every data set. My sample size was great enough (IMHO), that these shots were discarded and the numbers tightened up slightly. (Kind of like the “plus or minus 5%, 9 times out of 10” rule in statistical analysis.) And for what we’re doing here, more then adequate to gauge an acceptable average, ES, and SD number.

Another cool thing about the Garmin (again, for those who have LabRadar experience) is the fact that it won’t pick up other shooter’s shots. Even if they cross the Garmin’s radio beam down range. Here lies an important difference between the Garmin and the LabRadar. The LabRadar’s radio only transmits when it is triggered acoustically. Meaning it’s off until it’s triggered to turn on. The Garmin turns its radio transmitter on the second you start a new session. It’s always on…no sound based trigger mechanism. Also, the Garmin only “sees” your bullet leaving the muzzle for the first 20 or so metres. After that, the software figures out that is what it is measuring. So anything that crosses the beam width down range beyond that initial distance is ignored. I proved this today for my whole session. I had a fellow to the right of me about 6 to 7 feet away shooting a (loud) braked rifle. He was shooting across my path to the targets he set up to the left of the steel I was shooting at. Every one of his shots passed though the beam width of the Garmin down range. It ignored every one of them. (The LabRadar has some difficulty with these types of scenario's.)

Ok, I’ve bored you enough and I’ll stop now. But here’s my list of the pluses and minuses.

Pluses…
1. Exceptional battery life
2. Extremely small physical size
3. Easy to orient to your muzzle
4. Easy to aim
5. Not bothered by close shooters (even down range)
6. Very accurate and consistent
7. The ShotView app seems to work very well
8. Very easy to operate

Minuses…
1. Price (ouch!)
2. It won’t give down range speeds

So when I leave the range with a big smile on my face, there’s got to be a reason. Today, it was the eighth wonder of the world…the Garmin Xero C1 Pro chronograph.

Small caveat. Without berating other manufacturers, I am trying to be professional here. There are enough posts bashing the other chrony’s out there. While I mentioned some differences, I tried not to do any bashing. I hope you understand.

[Cement Bench]

told ya. told ya. told ya

nice stuff eh

[6MT]

I must agree…it’s a game changer.

[waldedw]

6 of us went to nose hill today, what a beautiful day to shoot +5 and almost no wind, anyway 2 of the guys just received their new Garmin Xero Pro I must admit I am impressed BIGGEST PROBLEM is now I need one so easy and just strings everything together, what can I say.

[Smokinyotes]

I’ve been trying to talk myself out of buying one of these because I really have no complaints with the Labradar except for aligning it.

[fps plus]

Other chronographs will be going the way of Blockbuster.

[elkhunter11]

If I was still doing a lot of load development, I would definitely have one.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by elkhunter11

If I was still doing a lot of load development, I would definitely have one.

I already own a Labradar, so am not planning on buying another chronograph.
However , if I was starting out I might consider one , unless I could buy a used Labradar for about half the cost.
Over the years I have found when talking to many shooters, that load development results seems to be more the focus than actual shooting practice!
Cat

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

I already own a Labradar, so am not planning on buying another chronograph.
However , if I was starting out I might consider one , unless I could buy a used Labradar for about half the cost.
Over the years I have found when talking to many shooters, that load development results seems to be more the focus than actual shooting practice!
Cat

My Magnetospeed does what I need it to do, since I stopped buying and selling rifles every year.lol

While I do see people shooting for practise, you are correct, shooting is usually to develop loads, or to sight in, for many people.

And I have witnessed people shooting over a chronograph, without even setting up a target. One person told me that he doesn't bother shooting groups, because it is a waste of time, he just shoots a ladder, looks for the velocity to level off, and that determines his load. Another person told me that he just shoots strings, and chooses the lowest ES instead of shooting groups.

[waldedw]

I still shoot over my 35 year old chrony, it's slow and for the calculation's you need a pen, paper and adding machine, it's slow but it works. Yesterday at nose hill I had 2 members of our crew offer to sell me their Magnetospeed V3 yup they both bought the new garmins, by spring you'll see these V3's for $250

[catnthehat]

I would have bought a Magnetosoeed when I was looking for a new chronograph, but one shot with my 40/65 Sharps loaded with black powder made me realize it was not what I could use! LOL.
No idea WHY it never occurred to me that thd bayonet would get totally covered with residue
If it wasn't such a hassle to set up the Chronys in fromt of the firing line I would have kept them.
I usually fire only about 5 rounds of each load over the chronograph when working up a load, that will tell me all I need to know.
However I have been told more than once that I am doing things wrong! LOL
Cat

[catnthehat]

That Garmin unit certainly is compact , which is its main selling point ,I think.
I just can't justify one though, wish I could ! LOL

Cat

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

That Garmin unit certainly is compact , which is its main selling point ,I think.
I just can't justify one though, wish I could ! LOL

Cat

I avoided Labradar, because of the 3900fps limitation , and issues with 17 caliber that some people experienced. If the Garmin doesn't have those limitations, that is a big plus for me.

[Dean2]

Thanks for the great review. First I heard about these Garmin units, $800 at Cabela's, and they are sold out. These things are just flying off the shelf. I am still using my Chrony, bought and sold a Labradar as I didn't think the performance it delivered warranted the large size and price. Also, the 4000 FPS limit was a pain in the Butt developing gopher loads.

That said, I may just have to get one of these Garmins to play with. WAY smaller, easy to use, and a 5000 FPS speed limit. What's not to like. Labradar is going to have to step up or dramatically reduce their prices with this in the market.

[catnthehat]

I don't load for anything that runs over 4,000FPS these days , so that is not an issue for me , but it certainly would be a deal breaker if I did!
Cat

[Cement Bench]

available at lots of places

support the smaller ones please

and thanks for the review as it is one of the better ones


this unit does airguns and fast smaller cartridges so it is a winner for sure

[waldedw]

Plunked one in my cart from Prophet River 20 minutes ago, will have it in my hands by 9:05 in the morning, they still have 3 in stock

https://store.prophetriver.com/garmi...-010-02618-10/

[Vigsy]

I am beyond thrilled with mine! be gone labradar be gone!

[Fowl91]

GPS central in Calgary had 20 in stock this morning when I picked mine up. Guy says he sells 4-5 a day.

[Smokinyotes]

Picked up a Garmin xero today. They sure are tiny. Looking forward to trying it out.

[waldedw]

Originally Posted by Smokinyotes

Picked up a Garmin xero today. They sure are tiny. Looking forward to trying it out.

Yup you will love it, did you find it at the show or stop by PR and pick it up

[Smokinyotes]

I bought it at PR. I try to support them and Neerlandia co-op as much as possible. They had a few on the shelf. There were also some available at the show, same price.

[brewster29]

Mine showed up in the mail today. It’s unbelievably compact. My only beef: for the price it would have been nice to have a padded case included. The app loaded easily and I am really looking forward to range time soon.

Well, maybe one more beef: it made my and everyone else’s Magnetospeed obsolete and there’s so many for sale I took a big loss selling it.

[6MT]

There’s some new Doppler radar units. Two new introduced at Shot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGYY...el=F-ClassJohn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn5ayTfOr0s

[32-40win]

Interesting, there were rumours on the Caldwell unit a couple of yrs ago, and nice to see the Labradar unit too. Have to wait a bit now and see what shows up next year and how the reviews go on them. It is said, that Labradar and Garmin worked together on the software on their units. Sure someone will be adding features to one version or another, maybe a couple more new players. All depends on who is willing to do what to get into, or stay, in the market.

[32-40win]

Originally Posted by 6MT

There’s some new Doppler radar units. Two new introduced at Shot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGYY...el=F-ClassJohn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn5ayTfOr0s

And one explainng the Caldwell, a bit better anyway, they used the Chirp system on theirs, I would assume that is possibly a downgrade from what others are using. I would wonder why Garmin and Labradar didn't use it, as it's been around in fishfinders for a long time, and if this will go to 100yds to get velocities, sure the existing Chirp systems will "work" farther out, or down, thru water at least. Has to be a reason. Seeing them advertised in the 450.00 US range, sure they can develop a market at that level, as long as it's reliable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_bcQ7sWnBI

[waldedw]

I upgraded my 35 year old chrony to a garmin a couple weeks ago, by the time I'm ready for another upgrade I'll be 110 years old, I think I'm good now.

[stob]

The Garmin is a tech disruptor product... the real value will be in the 2.0 and 3.0 versions as they work on the minuses put forth buy the end users ... that said I have $50 burning a hole in my pocket for an asNIB or BNIB magnetto speed - PM me ...LOL

[fishnguy]

Originally Posted by stob

The Garmin is a tech disruptor product... the real value will be in the 2.0 and 3.0 versions as they work on the minuses put forth buy the end users ... that said I have $50 burning a hole in my pocket for an asNIB or BNIB magnetto speed - PM me ...LOL

I’ll top that with $55!

[LJalberta]

Got out to use mine this weekend. Fantastic as all have said. Coming from a MS Sporter it’s a night and day difference for ease of use.