This sweet little chronograph fits in the palm of your hand so you can take it anywhere. It's a great item for referees to instantly end arguments about whether somebody's gun is hot right on the field. Comes with instructions and a hardy plastic carrying case with foam interior for protection. It measures speeds from 150 to 450 f.p.s., and runs on a 3-volt lithium battery that provides around 30 hours of operating time. Size: 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" x 1 3/16".
Product Availability
The PMI Hand-Held Chronograph is newer, so it should be commonly available, both new and used.
Places to Buy
No Stores
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I picked up one of these chronographs for $80 at a local store about 18 months ago to help with testing guns on my own and for checking velocities when playing outlaw.
The chronograph does it's job. It needs to be held against the barrel within 2" of the muzzle. It comes with a velco strap that can supposedly be used to hold the chronograph in the correct position next to the barrel, but I found that this didn't work as the strap tended to slide out of position if the chronograph wasn't being held.
If you hold this in your hand next to the barrel, you need to be careful how it is held or you will end up with your fingers covering the sensor on the back. This makes it a bit hard to use since you need to essentially hold the chronograph by a small tab on the bottom or have a friend hold it while you chrono.
The display has two digits, which makes it a little annoying since the velocities it is used for are all three digits. The result is that if you take a shot that's 275, the display will flash between showing " 2" and "75".
The chronograph only has one button, which serves as both an on button and a way to reset it between shots. There is no manual way to turn the chronograph off, but it has an auto-off timer.
The chronograph is advertised to read velocities between 200 and 399 fps. In practice, I saw it working with velocities as low as 185. I never tried seeing how high up it would go, but the highest I personally saw was 367, which was the first shot on a friends custom build bolt-action gun.
The chronograph runs of a small circular battery, about 8mm diameter and 5mm tall that is stored inside the chronograph. This is not designed to be replaced by the end user, as the chronograph has to be completely disassembled to access it, and then the battery has to be pried out with a tool. The battery is marked:
+
CR-1/3N
3V
This is not designed to be users serviced at all. The outer body (plastic and overmolded rubber) is held together with 6 self-tapping screws, and then there are an additional 4 self-tapping screws that go into the plastic to hold the two circuit boards together.
The really disappointing thing was the durability. I used this to test fire a gun four times (taking about a dozen shots each time) and at four outlaw games to chronograph people. In all it's checked about 200-300 shots, and then it died. Normally when you press the reset button, it switches from displaying the velocity of the last show to displaying "--" (two dashes). Currently my chronograph resets to "00" when you push the button, and then starts flashing between " 0" and "00". After such relatively light use, I was disappointed to have a failure. I've taken it appart and reassembled it and the problem went away.
Conclusion:
If you play outlaw paintball or do a lot of gun work, this should be in your gear bag. It's not the best chronograph out there, but it does get the job done.
Chrono's at the fields that cost a lot more money:)
Marker Setup:
MR1 with a j&j ceramic
BSA 30mm RD
20oz CO2
Halo TSA Frontman
VS3 With VS2 Trigger
88ci/4500 PMI HPA
Strengths:
Small, easy to use, comes with a case, auto off
Weaknesses:
Why no 3 digit lcd?
Sometimes You get no readings.
Review:
This is a pretty good little chrono to set your marker up before you go to the field and also to use at your home fields. I got mine for about $65 on amazon.com.
It takes a little getting used to but once you have figured out how to work it, it's fine. It's operation is pretty simple. One button controls everything. Press the button and it turns on and displays the last reading that was taken. Press the button again and it is ready to chrono. It comes with a little velcro strap so that you can hang it on the barrel. Place it on the marker and shoot a ball. The hundreds number will flash first with the tens number flashing second. Then they alternate back and forth. For the next shot, the button must be pushed again.
Conclusion:
The chrono is good for a group of friends that play together at a private field. It would also be good for refs in large scenario games where the chrono might be miles from where the checking needs to be done. You need to chrono your marker often and if you play privately, you can pick this one up on the cheap. I'll give it an 8.
Rating:
8 out of 10
Last edited on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 at 5:49 pm PST
tippmann custom pro, stingray, Avenger, Triton, Brute, Raptor many many more..
Strengths:
Portable, small
Weaknesses:
Can be tricky, gave me 0 a few times..
Review:
This chrono worked well once I figured it out, which was pretty simple. sometimes it wouldnt read the paintball so I woudl need to retest it but for most part it worked very well. buy it off ebay at a decent price dont pay over 100 for it. I paid 150 only cuz i needed it and dint have time to wait on shipping...
Conclusion:
I was happy with this item but not the price I paid for it. (150) great buy on ebay foir 60$ for woodsball to ensure safe play.
2006 EVIL PIMP KIT 7.0 GHETTO BOARD
SMART PARTS Q-LOCK
EVIL STICKY GRIPS
HALO B W/ RIP DRIVE
SHOCKTECH HOT ROD KIT
68/4500 PSI PURE ENERGY TANK
DYE RHINO TANK COVER
Strengths:
Small
Accuracy is good
One button opperation
Easy to clean
Easy storage
Weaknesses:
None really just the price
Review:
The radarchron is great I use all the time when playing with friends in the back yard and at there houses, its accuracy is very good only like +-2 so thats not very bad very compact easy to store in gear bag or pockets, easy one button touch, easy to clean good battery life, just if it was cheaper it would be even better
Conclusion:
Buy this if you and your friends want to play safe, great for refs and players
The accuracy of this review is disputed. Please see discussion on the comments page.
Period of Product Use:
Only tested
Paintball Experience:
3 years
Similar Products Used:
regular chronos
Marker Setup:
Angel force fly
halo b
lucky 15 barrel kit
Empire fuel
Strengths:
Small and compact.
Weaknesses:
None I dont think but I onoy used it once.
Review:
This is a great thing for woods ball.When you and your friends are going out into the backyard make sure that ret ard didn't just crank his gun up all the way because that is never fun.Also a great product for field referees, someone is shooting hot and you want to check him just wip it out of your pocket after the game and make sure he is shooting 280.
But what some people don't get is how to work the chrono,for one it has to be facing the wall, the chrono measure the distance from you to the wall, then sees how fast the paintball hit the wall, and do this at close distance a a couple feet.
Conclusion:
This is a good thing and if above applies to you id definitely get this.
Ion
Stiffi
Blue Dye Back
Blue Hybrid grips
Blue NDZ roller compiste trigger
Pink Ion body kit
Blue Halo w/ rip drive
Virtue Board membrane
Strengths:
Handheld
abel for a lanyard
(discreptions in review)
Weaknesses:
(In review)
Review:
This chronograph is good and is probally one of the best out there.
-strengths-
Handheld- This chronograph is handheld and is very easy to check with out have to lug the giant ones onto the feild.
Abilty for lanyard- This isn't the best quality however because it does have a lanyard it is a lot easier for the ref to have instead of something giant to lug around.
-Weaknesses-
because it is hand held it does not always get the right fps (feet per second)
Ion Pro
-CP Reg
-NDZ On/Off
-NDZ Roller Trigger (Red)
Empire Fuel Tank 45/4500
Vlocity Hopper
Strengths:
Hand-Held
Small
Accurate
User Friendly
Weaknesses:
None that I have found
Review:
I used the chornograph before I went paintballing one day before I went to the field and it work fine. I chornod my gun to 275 fps and then I went to my local field chorno and the chornograph read 275fps, this works like a charm and if you want to chorno your gun before you go to your local field and it will save you some time when you go to your local field.
Conclusion:
This is a good chornograph, you should get one, it works really well.
Ion
Blue Body kit
Blue Ion Q lock
Stiffi barrel
Halo B w/ Rip drive Blue (had an Empire reloader not the reloader B)
Blue CP reg
Strengths:
It is light hand held and small.
Weaknesses:
Nothing but sometimes it is inaccurate.
Review:
This is a very good cronograph but it is sometimes not that accurate like I was barely shooting 200 and it clock me at 350. It is good not sure about the price but it is easeto carry light bright yellow so hard to loose or misplace. You don't need this if you already get your gun cronographed at the feild or if you don't want to hassel with it at the feilds.
Icon T PDS, Reloader B, 72/3k, rest is classified ; )
Strengths:
Accurate. Hand-held.
Weaknesses:
Twi digit read out for a 3 digit result.
Review:
As a ref, i've been using this for about a month now. Its light weight, mostly accurate, and easy to use. My only complaint is the 2 digit readout for a 3 digit fps. Just didnt make much sense to me. The cost wasent too steep. At manufacturers cost, my field can get them for pretty cheap.
Conclusion:
Low-expense accurate hand-held chrony good for on-the-field use.
The accuracy of this review is disputed. Please see discussion on the comments page.
Period of Product Use:
Less than a month
0 of 3 people found this review helpful.
Paintball Experience:
More than 5 years
Similar Products Used:
Big Red
Strengths:
Cheapest chronograph available
Weaknesses:
Probably the worst chronograph available
Review:
I picked up this chono from NPS instead of buying the big red for over $200. It was a horrible choice, the first time I tried it out, it wouldn't pick up any of the shots. I had to keep adjusting and keep resetting it until finally it picked up the shots but the chronograph would frequently not be able to read shots. I thought it was the battery so I changed it, still have the same problems.
Conclusion:
I would just use the field chrono or put more money down and get a big red.
