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Thoughts on Caldwell Ballistic Precision for noob


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Merry Christmas to all. (We can say that again, right?).

Anyway, I need ideas for my Christmas, so I thought the Caldwell Ballistic Precision Chronograph Kit. Low cost and complete. This would be my first chrono, so I don't want to go over board (yet).

Anyone have experience with it? Good? Bad?

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I have the Prochrono from Competition Electronics but have never used the Caldwell version.  I've heard a lot of good about both chronos and think either one would be a great investment for you.  Once I started using a chrono, I wonder how I got along without one and realized that I was really shooting in the dark without one, if you excuse the pun :-).   Many indoor ranges won't allow chronos for a variety of reasons so if that is the only type of range you have available, check with them before you make an investment you can't use.

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  • 5 months later...

Rustybayonet - Did you end up getting the Caldwell Ballistic Precision Chrono?  If so, do you like it?  Does it work well?  I'm looking at their Premium kit and I was wondering how their chrono performs if you actually got it.

 

Thanks!

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I can chime on on this one, too. :)

If you have a tripod and will be using the chrono outdoors during the day, there is probably very little reason to spend the extra $35 or so on the premium kit.

I have a nice tripod, so I bought the basic Caldwell Ballistic Chrono and made my own LED light screens.

To make the LED screens, I soldered some wires onto some strips of white LED strips that I had that could be cut into sections with lengths that are a multiple of 3" . The screens are soldered together in series and another pair of wires from one of the screens is terminated with a RC battery plug. I power the screens with a very small 3S LiPO battery. Since I had all of the parts from my RC airplane hobby, the cost was zero. Oh, I suspended the LED strips in clear tubing from Lowes or Home Depot cut to the distance between the sky screen supports plus 1" on each side. I used my soldering iron to melt a small hole in the tubing to attach the tubing to the sky screen supports.

The app is definitely needed for more than a couple of shots since the chrono itself only shows the last shot. The app let's you build presets, will automagically obtain time/date/temp/barometer from online, let's you save strings, take photos of your groups and measure the group size.

The group measurement is the least accurate feature, but is still ok.

I have only used the Shooting Chrony and the Caldwell chronograph, but can say that the Shooting Chrony is much more difficult to set up and use and the model I used did not have an interface or printer to record the shots, so it was pen & paper.

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

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R1, I have the Caldwell. Not the premium kit. I shoot outside in Florida so I highly doubt I'll ever need a light kit. Also didn't need the tripod. It's the first Chrono I've owned and I like it a lot. Very easy to setup and the app is really useful. 

 

I've borrowed a Pro Chrono before and I like the Caldwell much more. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks guys. I appreciate the info!  I'm a photographer so I have a tripod. I just wasn't sure about the LED lights. I also don't mind running the wire back to my iPad. To me paying an additional $60 just for wireless seems insane. That's why I was looking at other options. 

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On 5/14/2017 at 8:29 AM, N3WWN said:

Photo:6645dec9a8b5db48321547378f55648a.jpg

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk
 

 

Very cool!  But you had the parts on hand. Question is, would those be under the $35 additional cost of the kit if I had to buy them all to build it?

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42 minutes ago, R1_Demon said:

 

Very cool!  But you had the parts on hand. Question is, would those be under the $35 additional cost of the kit if I had to buy them all to build it?

 

The LiPO charger is the most expensive part, but isn't used during the actual operation of the LED light screen.  If you don't have a LiPO charger, you can probably use one or two 9v batteries in parallel (or a 6v lantern battery) since the LED strips are rated for 2S-3S LiPO batteries.  A 2S battery is 7.4v (nominal) and a 3S battery is 11.1v (nominal).

 

So, assuming you're going to use regular batteries, here's the parts list:

 

$2.29

LED LIGHT STRIP - WHITE (1 METER/3.3 FEET)

http://www.valuehobby.com/led-light-strip-white.html

 

$1.99

FLEXIBLE 16AWG SILICON WIRE (1 METER)

http://www.valuehobby.com/16awg-silicon-wire.html

 

$4.93

1/2 in. x 5/8 in. O.D. x 10 ft. Clear PVC Tubing

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Sioux-Chief-1-2-in-x-5-8-in-O-D-x-10-ft-Clear-PVC-Tubing-900-01203C00101/300420010

 

It's about $10 in parts if you didn't have them laying around, though shipping will increase that price a bit.

 

You could diminish the shipping if you know someone else (or more) who wants an LED light screen that an split it with you. :D

 

 

Finally, here's the LiPO battery and connectors for the wire, in case you're interested:

 

$8.50

GFORCE 30C 800MAH 3S 11.1V LIPO (T-CONNECTOR)

http://www.valuehobby.com/power-systems/batteries/3s-lipo/gforce-30c-800mah-3s.html

 

$1.39

5PCS T-CONNECTOR MALE (COMPATIBLE WITH DEANS CONNECTOR)

http://www.valuehobby.com/t-connector-male-5pcs.html

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Cool. Thank you. That still isn't that bad really. I know most have said they thought the tripod was flimsy anyway, so if I don't really need the lighting anyway I'd be all set with the base one and could always build your setup later. If I found out I needed it. 

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  • 1 month later...

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