Unless the PACT has changed, it operates as two different parts that have to be able to send an IR signal back and forth. I had one and it was a pain.
First, you had to go through a long calibration procedure and then you had to be sure that they were kept in one place. Sometimes, for no reason I could tell, they would lose communication and I would be moving one unit around until communication resumed.
The ChargeMaster joins the two electronically into one single unit.
It does not need to be calibrated.
However, the first charge dispensed is often an overcharge as it hasn't learned yet how soon it needs to drop down to trickle speed.
I set it for, say, 3.0gn when I want to dispense 4.0gn or so. When it is done, the charge is probably 3.7gn. I then input the charge I want and it completes the dispensing. If it stops at 3.9gn and won't resume dispensing, I hit the "trickle" button once and that does it.
The biggest error I ever get is 0.2gn and the largest normal error is 0.1gn. In both cases, I simply touch the powder in the pan with a finger and remove a few kernels. One touch is almost always good for the 0.1gn error. Remember, a 5.0gn charge is somewhere around 4.95gn to 5.04gn, so the "error" is almost always a VERY small error--right with any other ±0.1gn balance.
Its speed, unadjusted, keeps up with my 1050s, so I have never needed to program it.
If you were loading large rifle cases, though, the time would be somewhat longer.
However, when I have loaded rifle cases, the time has not been more than about 10 seconds from start to finish dispensing. It also has an auto-dispense feature, so as soon as you put the empty pan back on the balance and the weight has returned to zero, the dispensing starts automatically.
Finally, as mentioned above, if you do need to increase the speed for a given load, you can program the unit to improve the time (this will hurt the time for much lighter or heavier loads, but you can optimize it for your pet load).
If electronics bother you, then you need to get a hand trickler as no other electronic dispenser is going to be any more reliable.
Electronics tend to die within the first month and the 1 year warranty is sufficient--though there will always be some electronics that die after a year or more.
I had an old Pact unit and the ChargeMaster is far superior and worth the additional cost.
PS: There is always the occasional lemon for any product and the 'net gives people a much wider area to tell their tales. Also, I wonder some times how many are simply people who feel that beams are more reliable and want to help others to buy what they consider the best.
