Radar Love
I have to admit, when I heard about the new Garmin Xero C1 Pro chronograph, I got a little excited. Apparently I was not the only one fired up to try it, because it took me a couple of months of hunting and waiting to get my hands on one. They are selling out as soon as soon as they come in stock at most retailers. But I had been in the market for a chronograph anyway, so the timing of the release of the Garmin was pretty fortuitous.
Xero C1 Pro hype video from Garmin
The Garmin Xero C1 Pro uses Doppler radar to track and measure projectile speed, but in a much more compact and user-friendly package than competing chronographs. So much so that I was a tad skeptical about how something not much bigger than a GoPro camera could really perform as Garmin claimed. But a quick scan of some early reviews indicated that it did, in fact, perform as advertised, so I got a backorder in at a large online retailer as soon as possible. I kept looking online while waiting, and eventually found a small gun supply house in Montana that had some in stock. So I ordered one from them and canceled the backorder from the big retailer. (NOTE: I bought the Garmin at MSRP with my own money. I’m not getting any freebies to say nice things about it.)
The Garmin Xero C1 Pro chronograph compared in size to a GoPro Hero 5 Black camera.
It showed up this week, and I couldn’t wait to get it out for some testing. But it was going to be a few days before I could get to the range, so I headed out to the yard to try it with my bow. Garmin recommends that when using the Xero C1 to chronograph archery equipment, to set it up so that you are shooting 5-15” over the top of the device. I had intended to use my Primos Trigger Sticks to mount the Garmin for archery, but the threading did not match. (There is an adapter available from Primos, but I don’t have one yet.) Instead, I broke out my spotting scope tripod, and mounted the Garmin on that. After adjusting the tripod to put the unit in the proper position, I started sending arrows downrange. The Xero C1 Pro worked exactly as advertised, picking up all ten of my arrows. I even switched out field tips from my usual 125 grain points to lighter 100 grain tips, and the Garmin easily picked up the slight difference in arrow velocity.
Setting the unit up for archery.
Eventually, my schedule and the weather broke long enough to take the Garmin out to my gun club so I could try it out with some firearms. For this session, I packed up my Ruger M77 African in .375 Ruger, my Ruger American in 6.5mm Creedmoor, and two 1911 pistols, one in .45ACP and one in 9mm. I even tossed in my old Glenfield Model 60 rifle in .22LR for good measure.
I could go on and write a bunch of detail about the shots and the muzzle velocities I got, but I think the real story here is that I don’t need to. The bottom line is that it just worked. All the time. Ridiculously simple to set up and use, the Garmin Xero C1 Pro clocked everything I shot, pistol or rifle, from .22LR up to .375 Ruger.
While the phrase “game changer” might be a bit overused, I don’t think it’s that much of a stretch to apply it to this chronograph. Sure, with an MSRP of $599, you can get cheaper units than the Garmin. Conventional light-based chronos cost much less, and the other big name in the Doppler chronograph market has suddenly dropped their prices (lots of deals in the used market right now). The big player in electromagnetic chronographs comes in lower than the Garmin as well. But when it comes to versatility, ease of setup and use, form factor, and portability…the Xero C1 Pro leaves the others in the dust.
For me, this could be a case of radar love.
In an Apache 1800 case from Harbor Freight, with custom foam insert from rangepanda.com
