DIYguy Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 Broke down and popped the money to upgrade to the Labradar for a variety of reasons. All the PR sounded good but not sure about the reality. Been to the range three times and have wasted about seventy rounds that this thing did not read. Had one good day it read twenty rounds of suppressed fire two other trips to the range and not one single read. Tried taking the suppressor off and moving the unit around to find the happy place and seems every shot it would shut off and go dead instead of reading the shot. If the thing read a shot at all it typically was an acquisition error. I know about alignment so this should not be an issue. 100 yard range, wide open. Bipod and sandbags to align rifle with target and would confirm face of unit was perpendicular to barrel and in alignment with target. Added rod to the V-notch to give a longer sight line and an extra line with the barrel.. Pretty dead-on alignment.. Built a plywood base I can set the metal base plate on to extend the unit further than the shooting benches at the club to get it far enough out with the added length of the suppressor. When I did get the unit to read the suppressor I had it set up two inches away from the barrel and tip of suppressor two inches behind the unit. Exact line with center of unit. Just came back from trying the same setup and didn't read a single shot. WTF??? Sensitivity one, rifle mode, trigger activation (not Doppler) 223 Match ammo, 18" barrel with suppressor. Wasting ammo and precocious range time. Any help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milanuk Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 I'm pretty sure that they aren't really intended to trigger with a suppressed rifle as they come from the factory. There is a microphone attachment for air rifles that a lot of people use that supposedly helps. IIRC, I used mine with the trigger set to Doppler mode and it worked fine. That said... I've had a lot of issues with the acoustic trigger on mine. Like it's basically *never* worked, outside parking it right next to an extremely aggressively braked gun. I've always had to use Doppler mode for it to work right at all... as it turned out, part of that was that my normal firing position setup doesn't really let me park the unit out by the muzzle. In Doppler mode, it works (worked) fine back by the receiver of the gun, with the added bonus that I could actually reach the controls during the string without having to get up out of position or reach up with a stick to push the buttons (I've had the unit way longer than the BT phone app has been around). But even when I did have the chance to use it 'properly', with room to position the unit out by the muzzle it still didn't work in Acoustic mode ( (next to, behind, forward, didn't matter). I've used other people's units with no issue, and have other people try mine. The common factor was that mine doesn't play nice in Acoustic mode. I contacted their CS a couple times, wanting to send it back in to get checked out. Basically the discussion started and finished with the beginning assumption that I didn't know WTF I was doing, and to call them from the range (can't, poor cell service up there). I let it slide because Doppler mode *was* working and letting me use the unit the way I wanted to. Unfortunately, recently even that went to pot and started screwing up and giving me the 'acquisition error' warnings after it triggered... on no shot fired! Contacted their CS guy again... went thru the same dog-n-pony show, finally had to call him and specifically tell him I wanted to send it back in, and he emailed me an RMA form. Sent it off Saturday... so we'll see how it goes. Maybe he's right, and I don't know WTF I'm doing... but after 2+ years using it, I have my doubts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DWFAN Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 Couple of observations/suggestions: 1. The only time mine has shut off when I fired a shot was when I had it plugged into the low amp side of my battery pack, or when the batteries were low. The unit would arm, but when it tried to measure velocity it would shut off. It needs the high amp output on my battery pack. 2. Mine was picky with a suppressed 300blk, but eventually got it to work by placing the unit next to the suppressor (couple inches), and in front of the muzzle a few inches. Seems fairly reliable there but it sounds like you tried that. Does it read shots with the suppressor off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DIYguy Posted October 22, 2018 Author Share Posted October 22, 2018 I did get a response from Richard at Labradar this morning. I expect it is a stock response as it was nicely formatted, stating issues that were covered in detail in my e-mail to the company. Same ending, call from range. Range is open to the public this time of years so I tend to go after 4:00 when closed and less crowds to deal with. Not sure about LRs hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DIYguy Posted October 22, 2018 Author Share Posted October 22, 2018 DWFAN, interesting observation about the unit shutting down for low bat. Brand new Duracells and the unit stopped arming after couple hours for low bat. That could be a point with the suppressor off. Using SilencerCo ASR brake for suppressor mount. After the issue with draining batteries I added the portable USB pack but haven't tried unsuppressed with the battery pack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milanuk Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 The internal batteries have caused some issues... if they get low - and they do, surprisingly quickly - you'll still get the low battery problems even with the external power pack plugged in. But if you *remove* the internal batteries entirely, and just use the external power pack, that little issue goes away... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milanuk Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 https://forum.snipershide.com/threads/labradar-with-suppressor.6902439/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DIYguy Posted October 22, 2018 Author Share Posted October 22, 2018 milanuk, good info. Good discussion at Snipershide also. I need to pay attention to which output I used on my battery pack. I had batteries loaded and connected the battery pack but didn't pay attention to which USB port was connected. Yesterday I couldn't get a reading at any position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milanuk Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 Another good read... https://www.usrifleteam.com/blog/rays-new-labradar One bit of particular interest (to me, at least): Quote Before I sat down to write this article I had a conversation with them about the sensitivity issue. I was concerned that it might be a physical problem with my unit. But it turns out that sensitivity is controlled by the firmware and they are tweaking things and sending out updates as needed. The issue of sensitivity is a challenging problem for their engineers. They are trying to balance many possible situations. Not sure if I'd ever updated the firmware on my unit, so maybe that is/was part of the issue I have been fighting. But like I said, their guy pretty much leads with "you aren't setting it up correctly", which is a bit irritating Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DIYguy Posted October 22, 2018 Author Share Posted October 22, 2018 My unit is three weeks old, ordered from Cabela's and drop shipped from Labradar. When the unit boots up checked the firmware version and show latest version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rwm983 Posted October 23, 2018 Share Posted October 23, 2018 For suppressors put the radar about 6 inches in front of the muzzle and about 6 inches to the side. It never misses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DIYguy Posted October 28, 2018 Author Share Posted October 28, 2018 Just got back from another frustrating trip to the range. Set everything up, started with the six and six, nothing. Tried moving it closer to the side, tried further forward, tried further back. Wasn't even shooting at paper, just putting rounds into the bank to try and get a reading. After about 25 rounds got a few reading at 4" over, 7" back. Took a tape measure to confirm. Used a metal rod taped to the top of the unit as a guide rod for alignment. In the same spot it started to records some shots it stopped recording again. I did keep getting acquisition error over and over from shooters a couple benches away but when I shot suppressed...nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
021411 Posted November 10, 2018 Share Posted November 10, 2018 Piggy backing on this post. I can't get my LabRadar to pick up my suppressed 6.5CM bolt gun with a TBAC Ultra 7. Frustrating to say the least. I just ordered an airgun mic for it to see if that'll help. Trust me, I tried every position and it did not pick up anything. Not even once.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agent 214 Posted November 28, 2018 Share Posted November 28, 2018 Thanks for posting this! I was looking to purchase one of these units as I do a lot of suppressed shooting and always tweaking subsonic loads. So as I'm reading this, would the consensus be that I should continue to use my traditional Chrono and NOT get the LR at all? TIA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevrofreak Posted November 28, 2018 Share Posted November 28, 2018 Mine is getting delivered tomorrow, and I shoot nearly entirely suppressed. This should be interesting.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevrofreak Posted December 9, 2018 Share Posted December 9, 2018 On 11/27/2018 at 8:00 PM, chevrofreak said: Mine is getting delivered tomorrow, and I shoot nearly entirely suppressed. This should be interesting.... Two different range outings with hundreds of rounds fired, and only one round of suppressed rifle fire didn't get picked up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DIYguy Posted December 9, 2018 Author Share Posted December 9, 2018 What were your conditions? Were you the only shooter so no other shots to interfere? How far back and how far over? #1 sensitivity or? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevrofreak Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 37 degrees, no wind, there were other shooters, I was back and left about 6" and sensitivity 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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