New DD alpha ShotMaxx Timer

[jhernandez]

+1 here too

[XD Niner]

I actually prefer the black background because living in Florida I'm almost always shooting in bright sunlight. I've worn it twice at indoor ranges and had no problem seeing the readout. The accelerator function really comes into its own at an indoor range.

My single continuing complaint is the lack of storing the previous results as many other timers can. I can't believe it is all that difficult to add that capability.

[3djedi]

I would like adjustable loudness. I dryfire at 3am when I get off work. I don't want to wake the house! I put duct tape over the speaker to help with volume....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

[scottlep]

I just bought one today. Went directly to CED to pick it up since I live near by the warehouse. I mostly wanted it for picking up dry fire when doing holster draw for Steel Challenge. I have played with all of the settings and cannot get it to pick up ANY dry fire shots from ANY gun I own....STI open, G34, revo, multiple 1911s. I have tried it on my strong hand wrist, weak hand wrist, upside down so the mic is closer to the hammer, etc, etc. Not one hammer drop after the draw is being picked up. But if i barely tap on the case it picks it up. I have the SM in Airsoft mode, filter at 0.02, mic sensor, etc. I updated the firmware with the latest release. Nothing seems to work. It won't even pick up a very load finger snap directly next to the mic, but if i barely tap the watch/timer it picks that up. Any idea what is going on? I assume others are using it in MIC mode for picking up the hammer drop on the draw?

Thanks!

edit for typo

Edited June 13, 2014 by scottlep

[3djedi]

Mine works ok. It seemed to work better with earlier software. But if my draw to shot in dryfire is less than 1 second it never picks it up.

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Edited June 14, 2014 by 3djedi

[doublealpha]

I just bought one today. Went directly to CED to pick it up since I live near by the warehouse. I mostly wanted it for picking up dry fire when doing holster draw for Steel Challenge. I have played with all of the settings and cannot get it to pick up ANY dry fire shots from ANY gun I own....STI open, G34, revo, multiple 1911s. I have tried it on my strong hand wrist, weak hand wrist, upside down so the mic is closer to the hammer, etc, etc. Not one hammer drop after the draw is being picked up. But if i barely tap on the case it picks it up. I have the SM in Airsoft mode, filter at 0.02, mic sensor, etc. I updated the firmware with the latest release. Nothing seems to work. It won't even pick up a very load finger snap directly next to the mic, but if i barely tap the watch/timer it picks that up. Any idea what is going on? I assume others are using it in MIC mode for picking up the hammer drop on the draw?

Thanks!

edit for typo

Hello everyone,

Just to clarify:

SHOTMAXX was never designed to pick up hammer falls. If it does on some occasions then it is pure luck (or a very heavy hammer). Note that in airsoft mode (sense=airsoft) the timer will not pick up any shots while the buzzer is sounding.

Try and see if the timer picks up shots at >0.60 sec (i.e. - after the beep is over).

Thanks,

Eli.

[scottlep]

Ok. Thanks for the clarification Eli. The timer will sometimes pick up my hammer drops, but it seems like only after 3.00 seconds. Now I know this timer wasn't designed for what I want it to do. When I went to CED, in person, and asked if they had any timers that would pick up dry fire hammer falls they recommended the Shotmaxx. I guess I will be driving back to CED today to return it since I have other timers and don't need one that won't do what I was told it could do by the reseller.

Thanks,

Scott

[alma]

Ok. Thanks for the clarification Eli. The timer will sometimes pick up my hammer drops, but it seems like only after 3.00 seconds. Now I know this timer wasn't designed for what I want it to do. When I went to CED, in person, and asked if they had any timers that would pick up dry fire hammer falls they recommended the Shotmaxx. I guess I will be driving back to CED today to return it since I have other timers and don't need one that won't do what I was told it could do by the reseller.

Thanks,

Scott

I had better results wearing the ShotMaxx on the opposite side of me wrist so it is closer to the gun and then turning it to AirSoft mode. Also, understand that a partime beep will affect its ability to detect the hammer fall off of the mic only.

[scottlep]

I tried it in every position I could think of. On the weak hand, strong hand. It does eventually pick up a shot but not until after 3.00 seconds. Being that I am working on my draw for Steel Challenge and would like to break a 0.9 draw 3.00 won't work. I am just bummed the reseller told me it would work and now DAA is telling me otherwise.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[alma]

I am not sure what to say. Before writing this today I tested a dry fire at .71 some it works for me.

[RichH]

Double Alpha hit a home run with the SHOTMAXX! Had trouble trying to download shot strings into the iPhone SHOTMAXX TRAINER software until I read AdamM's post on 09 April outlining a procedure using a dummy drill.

[dansedgli]

I received my shotmaxx the other day and got to try it out tonight.

The range is partially indoor. Enclosed wooden walls but a semi open roof. Wood every foot or so to stop AD's from the firing line but you still get rained on when it rains.

I couldn't get it to match our club timer. It was recording extra shots every time.

I tried a ton of different combinations of filters and sensitivity settings. I even put masking tape over the microphone and still no good.

I wouldn't say the range echo's any more than the other ranges I shoot at.

Any tips?

I also noticed that I couldn't turn bluetooth off on the shotmaxx. Everytime I set the SEND to off I would do something then scroll past it and it was back to on. I'm assuming this would unneccessarily speed up draining the battery.

After dropping $230 the day before the new version came out I'm not thrilled with my purchase so far.

[alma]

Did you try the accelerometer setting? That is practically made for indoor ranges.

Edited June 19, 2014 by alma

[dansedgli]

Yeah, that seemed to work okay but trying to time another shooter was a disaster.

Spy mode was also off by 1.5 seconds.

Does it need to be worn on the strong hand? I'm sure my draw isnt that slow. All the videos I've watched use it on the weak hand and that is what I tried.

[doublealpha]

I received my shotmaxx the other day and got to try it out tonight.

The range is partially indoor. Enclosed wooden walls but a semi open roof. Wood every foot or so to stop AD's from the firing line but you still get rained on when it rains.

I couldn't get it to match our club timer. It was recording extra shots every time.

I tried a ton of different combinations of filters and sensitivity settings. I even put masking tape over the microphone and still no good.

I wouldn't say the range echo's any more than the other ranges I shoot at.

Any tips?

I also noticed that I couldn't turn bluetooth off on the shotmaxx. Everytime I set the SEND to off I would do something then scroll past it and it was back to on. I'm assuming this would unneccessarily speed up draining the battery.

After dropping $230 the day before the new version came out I'm not thrilled with my purchase so far.

Hi,

I am pretty sure I know what is going:

When you set BT to off, the BT icon flashes. Make sure you DO NOT run the SM before the BT icons stops flashing. Once the BT is off (not flashing) then run it again.

There is a current firmware issue with the BT which causes the timer to increase sensitivity - we are working to fix it ASAP.

Regardless to the above, see the following recommended settings if you are using it to time yourself:

Sensitivity (mic): Min

Filter: 0.09 to 0.12

For further questions, please email me at eli@doublealpha.biz

Thanks,

Eli.

[dansedgli]

Thanks Eli. I'll try again this weekend.

[scottlep]

Has the firmware issue from post #315 been resolved yet? I was wondering if this issue had anything to do with my dry fire issues. I know DAA does not officially support dry fire with the Shotmaxx, but I am wondering if the sensitivity issue has anything to do with my SM not picking up the hammer drops on my unit. There are plenty of people here, YouTube, etc that are using the SM for dry fire that it seems odd that it won't work on mine. First thing I did when I took it out of the box was charge it and update the firmware to v3049. So maybe the people that have it working for dry fire are using an older version of the firmware that doesn't have the bluetooth/sensitivity issues?

Thanks,

Scott

[dansedgli]

I bought mine last week and that is the firmware I'm using. Mine works for dry fire but I need to turn the watch around so the face is on the inside of my wrist. They is using a da shadow.

I tried it at a different range with blue tooth off and it worked fine. With blue tooth on it played up. I should be shooting at the indoor range again tonight so hopefully it works. I can live without blue tooth.

Edited June 23, 2014 by dansedgli

[doublealpha]

Has the firmware issue from post #315 been resolved yet? I was wondering if this issue had anything to do with my dry fire issues. I know DAA does not officially support dry fire with the Shotmaxx, but I am wondering if the sensitivity issue has anything to do with my SM not picking up the hammer drops on my unit. There are plenty of people here, YouTube, etc that are using the SM for dry fire that it seems odd that it won't work on mine. First thing I did when I took it out of the box was charge it and update the firmware to v3049. So maybe the people that have it working for dry fire are using an older version of the firmware that doesn't have the bluetooth/sensitivity issues?

Thanks,

Scott

Hello Scott,

Not yet, we are currently working on it. I believe if everything goes well that by mid next week we will be able to release a new FW.

In the meantime, ensure that BT is off, set your SM to Airsoft and I believe that it should pick up hammer falls as it would normally do in some occasions.

Thanks.

Eli.

[scottlep]

Has the firmware issue from post #315 been resolved yet? I was wondering if this issue had anything to do with my dry fire issues. I know DAA does not officially support dry fire with the Shotmaxx, but I am wondering if the sensitivity issue has anything to do with my SM not picking up the hammer drops on my unit. There are plenty of people here, YouTube, etc that are using the SM for dry fire that it seems odd that it won't work on mine. First thing I did when I took it out of the box was charge it and update the firmware to v3049. So maybe the people that have it working for dry fire are using an older version of the firmware that doesn't have the bluetooth/sensitivity issues?

Thanks,

Scott

Hello Scott,

Not yet, we are currently working on it. I believe if everything goes well that by mid next week we will be able to release a new FW.

In the meantime, ensure that BT is off, set your SM to Airsoft and I believe that it should pick up hammer falls as it would normally do in some occasions.

Thanks.

Eli.

Thanks for the reply Eli. I have already tried the settings you mentioned and any other suggestions I found in this thread with no luck. Is there a way to maybe push the Shotmaxx back to an older firmware to see if it makes any difference? I have read in this thread that the dry fire seemed to work better with older versions of the firmware.

Thanks,

Scott

[doublealpha]

I am sorry Scott but older firmwares have some other issues therefore I cannot possibly release those.

That being said, we have not played with the audio thresholds so it would make no difference anyway.

It is possible though that some of the watches are slightly more sensitive than the others due to the mechanical opening at the microphone area which has some tolerances.

[AdamM]

Hey Scott, older firmware would have no effect on what you are trying to do. The current issue only makes it more sensitive when the Bluetooth is on. I found that some of my guns just didn't make enough noise to pick up all shots, while others did. Do you have any others that you can try?

[scottlep]

I have tried dry fire with every gun I own...STI 2011s, 1911's, Glocks, Ruger 22/45, Beretta 92, revolvers, shotguns, etc and none of them are picked up when dry firing even if I hold the SM just millimeters from the hammers. The odd thing is that when I am trying to get it to pick up dry fire hammer drops it won't, but if I barely softly tap anywhere on the SM unit when testing dry fire it will pick that up. So I am wondering if there is just something wrong with this unit I have?

[alma]

I have tried dry fire with every gun I own...STI 2011s, 1911's, Glocks, Ruger 22/45, Beretta 92, revolvers, shotguns, etc and none of them are picked up when dry firing even if I hold the SM just millimeters from the hammers. The odd thing is that when I am trying to get it to pick up dry fire hammer drops it won't, but if I barely softly tap anywhere on the SM unit when testing dry fire it will pick that up. So I am wondering if there is just something wrong with this unit I have?

Maybe you have it set to accelerometer instead of Mic.

[scottlep]

I am positive it is set to mic. Plus it doesn't do anything when I drop my hand from surrender to grab my gun so that would be a pretty good clue that is isn't in accelerometer mode. I am not trying to slam DAA or ShotMaxx here, but I have already wasted enough time trying to figure this out. After CED told me it would work for dry fire before I bought it, but Eli stated many posts back in this thread that the SM isn't designed/intended for dry fire, I am just going to return it to CED since I already have other timers. Thanks for everyone's input, but I am throwing in the towel at this point.