Garmin Xero Review

Low temps play a lot more havoc with gunpowder than people think, or appreciate. Few are stable when you're dealing with very low temps. When it's cold out and I'm going to the range after work, I bring the ammo into work so it's not sitting in the car freezing.
 
For over 20 years I used a Chrony, first an Alpha then a Beta, which was a big step up. I used the hell out of them during that time, and they did all I needed as I was doing some serious heavy duty ammunition evaluation. Were the Garmin around then, I certainly would have bought one, but my days of needing a chronograph are now in the past. I would still love to have a Garmin, even though my Chrony Beta will still do anything I might need in the future.
 
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I picked one up recently and it is every bit as good as the hype.. coming from a 20 year old CED, this thing is stupid. The Garmin fits in a pocket, takes 10 seconds to set up and does exactly the same thing as my CED... I think my CED was 50-75% the cost of this Garmin when I bought it... 20 years ago..
 
A properly taken care of rechargeable battery should last at least 10 years and I have a few
that are going on 20 and working fine like my shaver, camera, and bat-drill.
If it fails before 10 years I would send it back to Garmin and demand they fix it.
Apple recently relented on their expensive "you can't fix it" policy after enough stink was raised over the years.
Let's hope Garmin is listening as well.
 
S&W ucla said:
If I read the specs correctly, the internal rechargable battery is not replaceable. Is this correct? I would hate to spend that much and a battery failure turns it into junk.
Click to expand...

Garmin prefers that we return the unit for a battery replacement if necessary. However, on another forum it was shown how easily the unit comes apart and that the battery is readily replaceable by the user.
 
cmj8591 said:
As Gartenmeister said, the manual says 20 yards is the minimum distance. I tried mine in my basement air pistol range, which is about 25 feet, and it seemed to be picking up everything. Once the weather gets a little better here, I plan to experiment some more. I'm also going to bring it to my indoor range soon and try it out. I will post my experiences here as I go. With the LabRadar I do like the fact that moving the data around for PC use is easier and it was something that I considered before I decided to get the Garmin. In the end, the size of the Xero won out. I still can not believe how small it is. I read on another forum that LabRadar is coming out with a small unit also. Maybe we are on the brink of a chronograph war.
Click to expand...

That appears to be true. https://smith-wessonforum.com/reloading/716184-labradar-lx-garmin-c1-competition.html#post141919230
 
My Garmin Xero C1 was delivered this morning. I ordered it from Midway since the price seems to be fixed at $599.99 everywhere and Midway had free shipping. The photos I've seen can't begin to give the proper perspective as to how small this Garmin unit is. I originally started with a Ohler M33 chronograph then moved up to a CED. Both the previous units were so big & cumbersome to set up and use, that I wouldn't use them unless I was doing some serious load development. I then broke down and bought a Chrony Alpha Master for something relatively small and quick to set up but the operating instructions weren't exactly clear or intuitive. This Garmin unit is just unbelievable. I couldn't wait to try it out at the range, so after topping off the battery's charge I set the Xero up on a small table and tested out the "other projectiles" session and took a few shots down my hallway with my AIRSOFT squirrel harassment rifle. I was stunned when the Xero picked up 4 of my 5 shots. (I'm not sure why it missed my 5th shot, but I was distracted, as I was having to chase down every "bullet" after firing, due to my kitten grabbing them and taking off with them.) Surprisingly, I got an average of 126 fps out of the little AIRSOFT "rifle". No wonder the squirrels aren't amused when I get lucky enough to tag one of them off my bird feeder.
 
mckenney99 said:
My Garmin Xero C1 was delivered this morning. I ordered it from Midway since the price seems to be fixed at $599.99 everywhere and Midway had free shipping. The photos I've seen can't begin to give the proper perspective as to how small this Garmin unit is. I originally started with a Ohler M33 chronograph then moved up to a CED. Both the previous units were so big & cumbersome to set up and use, that I wouldn't use them unless I was doing some serious load development. I then broke down and bought a Chrony Alpha Master for something relatively small and quick to set up but the operating instructions weren't exactly clear or intuitive. This Garmin unit is just unbelievable. I couldn't wait to try it out at the range, so after topping off the battery's charge I set the Xero up on a small table and tested out the "other projectiles" session and took a few shots down my hallway with my AIRSOFT squirrel harassment rifle. I was stunned when the Xero picked up 4 of my 5 shots. (I'm not sure why it missed my 5th shot, but I was distracted, as I was having to chase down every "bullet" after firing, due to my kitten grabbing them and taking off with them.) Surprisingly, I got an average of 126 fps out of the little AIRSOFT "rifle". No wonder the squirrels aren't amused when I get lucky enough to tag one of them off my bird feeder.
Click to expand...

How fast was the cat going?
 
Another Garmin convert here, although it does have a couple shortcomings. The unit does not record ambient temperature or barometric conditions and it doesn't have the ability to capture a photo of your groups, both of which were always very helpful to me. Neither of those are deal breakers though and I'm extremely happy with how easy and accurate it has been.
 
theothermikeg said:
Another Garmin convert here, although it does have a couple shortcomings. The unit does not record ambient temperature or barometric conditions and it doesn't have the ability to capture a photo of your groups, both of which were always very helpful to me. Neither of those are deal breakers though and I'm extremely happy with how easy and accurate it has been.
Click to expand...

Does any chronograph record temperature or barometric conditions? If so, I've been asleep! I use a Kestrel Drop for that purpose. It's cheaper than the fancy Kestrels, but requires a phone app to read the data. Compromises. . . . Good thing is that it computes density altitude in addition to reporting pressure, temperature, humidity etc.
 
My Competition Electronics chrono recorded temperature and the phone app would allow you to access the camera to attach group photos. Other than those little perks it was mostly a p o s.
 
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