Shot Timers

[davidb72]

Our USPSA club is going to be purchasing timers soon. (We have been borrowing the IDPA club's timers.)

What does everyone prefer these days? I have used them all and gravitate towards the Pocket Pro II but like the warranty on the PACT Club Shot Timer 3 for club use.

We're going to need 6 of them so this is a significant cost for us.

Any opinions?

[louu]

I have to recommend the pocket pro 2. Really simple to use, big screen, big numbers, loud beep, .10-199.90 par time. We love ours and the people at Competition Electronics are top notch. 

[Lee Cabana]

I like the Pocket Pro 2 for the reasons above - unit fits my hand and the big start button can't be mistaken for anything else.

[CHA-LEE]

The older first version of the Pocket Pro is what our club has used for many years. The primary advantage I see with the older Pocket Pro is that the LCD screen is way more water resistant than the newer Pocket Pro II. The older Pocket Pro has a clear plastic window that is built into the case which protects the LCD screen very well. The newer Pocket Pro II exposes the LCD screen directly to the elements. I have had to replace the LCD screen on my personal Pocket Pro II twice due to water damage while practicing in wet range conditions. Neither of these timers are what I would consider water proof, but the older Pocket Pro is more resistant to wet range conditions than the newer one.

 

For personal use in live and dry fire training I prefer the Pocket Pro II because of the ease of setting Par Times and reviewing shots quickly. But neither of these ease of use features are really required for a work horse club match timer. Less complexity in a work horse timer is actually a good thing when you have random RO's using it week after week.

 

As a side note, I recently had to repair one of our clubs Pocket Pro timers. The Beeper speaker stopped working so I called up Competition Electronics and ordered a new speaker and soldered it in myself. Grand total repair cost was $7 shipped with rock star customer service from Competition Electronics. When I had the timer apart to replace the speaker the main board had a manufacture year stamp of 2000 on it. Its crazy to me that a shot timer like this is still getting the job done and needing its first repair 17 years later!!! I am sure its got many more years of service in it as well.

[Prov1x]

5 hours ago, louu said:

I have to recommend the pocket pro 2. Really simple to use, big screen, big numbers, loud beep, .10-199.90 par time. We love ours and the people at Competition Electronics are top notch. 

We have been using Pocket Pro 2 for the past year. However one of them suddenly died and the screen went blank, it will beep and come on but will not record shots and display them. Contacted the company with zero response.

 

I just bought 6 CED 7000 Timers to use at our Sectional so we'll see how that goes. The guys at DAA/CED were very helpful and responsive to communication when I had a few questions concerning the timers. 

[CHA-LEE]

1 minute ago, Prov1x said:

We have been using Pocket Pro 2 for the past year. However one of them suddenly died and the screen went blank, it will beep and come on but will not record shots and display them. Contacted the company with zero response.

 

I just bought 6 CED 7000 Timers to use at our Sectional so we'll see how that goes. The guys at DAA/CED were very helpful and responsive to communication when I had a few questions concerning the timers. 

 

How did you contact Competition Electronics? Did you call them? Every time I have called them they provide stellar support.

 

The Pocket Pro II has a couple of annoying faults. If you drop it there is a good chance that the tangs that engage the battery terminals will get bent inward and you will have intermittent connectivity to the battery. Try bending the tangs outward a little bit so they engage the battery terminals with more force.

 

The second issue I have seen is that there is a firmware bug that will cause the same failure mode that you described if the timer loses power suddenly, like being dropped and the tangs disengage from the battery terminals. There is a factory reset process that you can perform by removing the battery, then press and hold the start/beep button in, then install the battery. Keep holding the start/beep button until "INIT N/V MEMORY" is displayed on the screen. After that test the shot timer out and it will probably work. I have only had to do this only 3 - 4 times over the years on my timer and club match timers when they get wrapped around the axle.

[CHA-LEE]

The primary issue you will face with the CED 7000 timers is keeping them charged. There is enough crap to deal with in match management without needing to babysit shot timer charging as well. Its way less of a headache to manage shot timers that use replaceable 9V batteries.

[Prov1x]

1 hour ago, CHA-LEE said:

The primary issue you will face with the CED 7000 timers is keeping them charged. There is enough crap to deal with in match management without needing to babysit shot timer charging as well. Its way less of a headache to manage shot timers that use replaceable 9V batteries.

I've had to bend the bars on the charging area a few times and that wasn't the issue this time. I didn't know about the reset trick, will try it and see if that works. I emailed them through their support area, which they should respond to. But I may try calling next week.

 

Edited July 14, 2017 by Prov1x

[davidb72]

Good info - thanks everyone.
 

[Prov1x]

On 7/14/2017 at 5:13 PM, CHA-LEE said:

 

How did you contact Competition Electronics? Did you call them? Every time I have called them they provide stellar support.

 

The Pocket Pro II has a couple of annoying faults. If you drop it there is a good chance that the tangs that engage the battery terminals will get bent inward and you will have intermittent connectivity to the battery. Try bending the tangs outward a little bit so they engage the battery terminals with more force.

 

The second issue I have seen is that there is a firmware bug that will cause the same failure mode that you described if the timer loses power suddenly, like being dropped and the tangs disengage from the battery terminals. There is a factory reset process that you can perform by removing the battery, then press and hold the start/beep button in, then install the battery. Keep holding the start/beep button until "INIT N/V MEMORY" is displayed on the screen. After that test the shot timer out and it will probably work. I have only had to do this only 3 - 4 times over the years on my timer and club match timers when they get wrapped around the axle.

Did the reset trick and it seemed to work but I haven't had a chance to take it out and test it shooting wise. Will do that this weekend but that's a good tip to know, thanks!

[BillChunn]

We have used the Speed Timer 3000 (the yellow ones) for years.  We found that they are sensitive enough to pick up the shots from PCC division.  Rugged, small profile, integrated clip on the back and a very clear display.  Most of them are the non-RF design but we do have one that interfaces to the "big" display board.  They use replaceable 9V transistor batteries.

 

BC 

Edited February 15, 2018 by BillChunn