alexmg

Hi everybody, this is Alex from AMG Lab, I wanted to take this opportunity and provide an update about AMG Lab's timers for everyone currently waiting on orders to be fulfilled or thinking to place an order. First of all, if anyone had not received a reply to the message they send to us, - I am sincerely sorry about that, I reply each and every message that comes in and probably just accidentally missed yours or it did not reach my inbox, I assure you that I keep an eye on all incoming communication all the time. About the long wait, unfortunately due to covid19 inflicted issues, our entire production schedule was severely disrupted, every day is a new challenge to manage the supply chain, manufacturing processes. Our timers are Proudly Made in USA and unfortunately while pandemic is an on-going issue we will not see the ease in manufacturing challenges but I assure you that we do all possible to keep making timers and already started to close backlog, the majority of delayed orders is already being shipped this week and we are going to close entirety of the backlog in few short weeks.Thank you for your support, understanding and patience. /Alex

Correct, Push mode merely changes the behavior whether timers gives out data in response to external request or sends data out after internal event. In both cases BT needs to connected so indeed, Push mode has no effect how timer is connected.

If you have a stage (whether steel or uspsa) setup for practice in Practiscore, you can bump number of strings per stage to 9 and enable push mode and your times will automatically advance to next string recording in the app each time you push GO on the timer. So you can do few runs on same stage then review in app. The new app from Eugene will also allow you unlimited number of string memory to capture any number of strings automatically, just work with timer and app will do the rest.

Also will depend on few other factors such as RO discipline in terms of how consistently he/she follows the shooter during the course of fire, indoor/outdoor location, etc. But in general for PCC the "silver bullet" sensitivity is #7 for outdoor. Indoor you may need to lower it down a notch, but it will depend on wall/ceiling lining and length of the range. Even at high sensitivity Commander exhibits really good adjacent bay noise rejection.

Many. Just the closest one I have handy from recent Steel Match

Scroll to @1:18 for the Timer part

Some info about Commander in today's Rangestorenet podcast @30.32, also great podcast episode covering recent West Florida Steel Match https://soundcloud.com/user-326997282/new-rangestorenet-offerings-and-west-florida-match-review#t=30:32

RO and scorekeeper will still communicate, with bluetooth capability to pull time remotely it greatly reduces change of incorrect time being entered, first because you reduce chance of fatfingering it and second.... well, picture this situation: shooter done shooting and RO gives "if you finished......." command and monitoring shooter clear gun, etc. Scorekeeper does not have chance to see timer just yet, and somewhere during "unload and show clear" next bay fires loud shot that gets picked up by timer adding extra 4 seconds or so. Then RO glances over the timer, calls time, and it gets typed in and error goes unnoticed. However if you have the ability to pull time remotely, as soon as RO starts clearing the shooter, scorekeeper can already download time, and few seconds later when RO calls time all scorekeeper need to do is just confirm.

Connect to Bluetooth on iPhone is very easy, its done from withing Practiscore, just choose the timer to connect to and done. At our local clubs it has been dropped accidentally and occasionally, no issues.

Also check out AMG Lab Commander, with its bluetooth link to Practiscore it completely eliminates human error that is possible when time entered manually. It seems from the situation you explained that perhaps scorekeeper visually mistaken 0 for 9 or considering that those two buttons are close on the keypad, pressed wrong one by accident. With that timer you just press a button on the tablet and entire string gets downloaded into the system. Practiscore also allows you to roll back up to 10 strings in history to review. And timer itself can display you last 3 strings simultaneously if necessary.

The one that Jerry M uses is smaller Check it out side by side, I have them all Here is the pic with Jeff wearing it

I will probably take it to the range today for fun :), will bring picture, it is huuuge!

I scored one off ebay some time ago, 1984! Still works.

Actually there have been, google "amg lab commander"

You can also take a look into Commander from Amg Lab.

To this point, we had great results running AMG Lab's timer tonight and tested remote start functionality that allows timer to be started remotely from PractiScore app, which allowed all shots to be picked up by the timer while maintaining safe distance between shooter and RO and allowing unobstructed passage from first to second set of targets. So while it is obviously important to get the last shot on the timer, it simply adds to the confidence to see all of them (in this case) or most of them (in some other cases) being picked up. https://youtu.be/e6ElU-7wO2c

A quote from most recent Practiscore Dev Blog post: It also adds Bluetooth link for Competition Electronics ProChrono and AMG Lab Shot timer. Just like Eugene mentioned above, it opens a door into new possibilities in score keeping, getting your entire string from the timer into log then and there. It can be visualized, can be studied later, etc.

I want to add too, that operating a shot timer (regardless of brand or type) in this sport is an art of its own, take one isolated controlled case where you can do above mentioned technique it will work just fine, but in most match setups I have seen any squad you look at has mixed guns, you can have very loud open gun right next to super-quiet PCC, some loads are so quiet I don't even know how they push bullets out of the barrel. And sound pressure spreads somewhat unpredictably at the range, everything matters, how you point a timer, if there any obstructions between microphone and gun and by obstruction I don't just mean large obstacle like a shooter's back or a wall, in my tests, as you hold a rifle even elbow can be a decent obstruction for the sound to travel adn effectively hit microphone, not to the point to completely blocking it but to the point to make it inconsistent, so if timer's sensitivity is not calibrated to particular gun, shooter my turn left and you may miss a shot being picked up. If someone shooting an open gun that projects alot of low frequency noise close to the mic and there is a drum barrel or a wall nearby, it actually may pick same shot twice as it reflects if sensitivity set too much. Remember that video on youtube someone shooting a shotgun and when he is done, he shows clear, and slams slide back and timer picks up a shot adding additional few seconds to his total time. On hybrid or indoor ranges with narrow bays and wall dividers echo is a big enemy, if sensitivity set too high and echo suppression too low you may pickup extra shots which does not sound like a big deal but when fast shooters shoot smoke and hope every 10th of a second matter and you may pickup that extra 10th (or more) on last shot and some timers obscure that from you by only showing one number on display so unless you deliberately scroll through shots and check split time on last shot you wont know that. I also, not too too often, but have seen cases where gun perceived as quiet because it does sound somewhat quiet but it is actually received by microphone as loud, and vise-versa, that is because when timer's microphone gets hit by audio wave everything matters, energy, peaks, length, frequencies, etc. Also as match progresses through the day and ROs get tired less and less attention may be paid to timer settings between shooters so yeah, so yes, we need to pay closer attention to shot timing aspect of this sport but always remember of its challenges and nuances. My 0.02 anyways

That is coming soon

Mine does that too, go button seems to be a tight fit (i.e. gap between the button sides and casing opening too small) so when it springs back sometimes it bites the edge and sticks a bit, happening to other two smaller keys sometimes too. And yes to second, sometimes I have to press it twice as it does not accept first push, I bought mine used off ebay so I am not sure if this problem existed from beginning or just repeated use wore out keys and contacts a bit.

There is a new timer that is not on the market just yet and currently undergoing field tests, but I will be happy to soon report how it performs and its eta to the market once I have that info on my hands. So far what it has to offer is very promising: standard batteries with battery life outlasting other timers, clever shot detection algorithm, multiple pars, largest font to display shot time, adjustable wide range sensitivity, adjustable beep volume, ability to review few recent strings simultaneously, delay/instant/random all fully adjustable, compact, ergonomic, one hand operation with minimal number of buttons and simple intuitive interface, and more.... Just heads up all

My suggestion: set camera looking at you from the side and record video of yourself at slow mo if you can (most today's smartphones or gopros can do slow mo), basically record whole sequence of events that happen, i.e. beep goes off, your hand start moving, grabbing handle, pulling gun out, moving it up, etc, the whole thing few times, then watch and study what you do and where are the delays that you can shorten, for example I think I you may have a delay between timer's beep going off and your hand starting to move, you can probably easily shave off 0.1 - 0.2 seconds there, then possibly also when your hand lands on the grip it may rests there for another 0.1-0.15 seconds before you start moving gun out of the holster, etc. Then for things you want to improve address them individually, for example: if you hesitate too long after beep goes off, find yourself an exercise that improves your reaction time, if you grab a pistol but dont start pulling it out fast enough, isolate that particular motion and work on it and then re-integrate it into whole draw sequence.

To me, there is just so many things to keep an eye on with rechargeable batteries whether NiMH, Li-po, Li-ion, etc, is it too hot, is it too cold, it is overcharged, is it too deeply discharged, is it a correct charger, is charger available at all, etc? Just sayin'.

Wow, so many cool memories surround all this stuff, absolutely love it, I think I got the original than, it says 1983 and it also has lead acid battery inside and it also says Owner Name upon turning on

I'm very excited, recently I've got in my collection a shot timer from 1984, just as featured on the pages of 1985 American Handgunner magazine here on page #28 https://americanhandgunner.com/1985issues/HSO85.pdf I like how it says in right/top corner "new smaller lighter package".