Contributors to this thread:
One can acquire a good chronograph for less than $100. That is pennies compared to what most of us spend on Archery and hunting gear. Why does every single one of us not have one? Although I don't have a speed bow and don't really care, I got a chrono within a few months of getting into archery. They are a great tool and great fun. So, why does anyone that has a top of the line bow and cares about speed not have one? Get a chrono, you won't regret it! Give up on the Foghorn Leghorn theories of predicting your set up's speed, if you really care. So, a poll, do you have a chrono, yes or no?
No. Knowing the speed exactly vs guessing changes nothing. Not worth it to me. It would change nothing I do
Yes, I like to fiddle with my compounds , longbows , recurves , muzzelloaders and rifles to get the best performance I can out of all of them.
Not necessary but definitely a tool in the arsenal! Mine came in handy last year when testing different weights of Stickbows for an upcoming moose hunt. One with less draw weight but modern limb designs vs another with slightly older limbs and higher weight vs my brothers bow and seeing real world performance. In some ways it was an eye opener.
Much more useful when reloading for high power rifles
I don’t have one but my buddy and I share one.
Yes with rifles it’s hard to believe I once worked up loads with no idea as to what was working “up to”. Obviously accuracy was always paramount, but velocity is huge in the equation
I have one and use it regularly. Building site tapes, testing arrows/fletch set up against each other, super tuning, etc. Not for everyone but I’m a bit ocd when it comes to archery
I’d rather borrow one...Will, wanna share? Haha
Iv e had one for years. Handy and fun, but not needed at all. NOW a bow press.... everyone should have. And the ability to work on your own equipment.
Glad I got one years ago--for arrows, pellets, and bullets. It's interesting to see how different products perform.
I have one but rarely use it. It's nice to know your set-up. I also do a lot of my own work, and it's a tool just like a press and fletching tools.
I’d like one don’t have one. Hasn’t been high enough on priority list for spending. Speed is one of the last determinants when I am building an arrow setup so it’s not something that I’d check and go “ah dang only 275fps I guess it’s back to the drawing board.” My setups generally just end up at a certain FPS. My local archery shop has one I can use for free so a couple times a year I’ll drive a few arrows through it and see what they run.
If my local bow shop did not have one and was not so gracious of its use for customers, I would definitely own one. A great tool for doing arrow performance evaluation. I think it is next to scales that I constantly use weighing archery stuff, bullets, letters to mail, etc.
"Speed is one of the last determinants when I am building an arrow setup so it’s not something that I’d check and go “ah dang only 275fps I guess it’s back to the drawing board.”"
Exactly! But for someone who does that, I like to point out that I don't have any problem with 240fps. And my 5', 100# wife does just fine with 200fps.
Never owned a chrono, never will, and haven't shot thru one in at least 10 years.
Ebay you can get a used one pretty cheap. If you print sight tapes they are almost a necessity. Handy tool if you fiddle with your bow(s) much.
At one point several years ago I was fairly obsessive about it, almost talked myself into getting two so you could check them against each other......then (some of that next level) thinking about it..... if one was off, which one would it be? I would need three....
After a deep breath I decided to get a grip..... my OCD goes only so fa........
I want one, I'm not close to a proshop so thats not option, fun tool to have, I also need a drawboard
I've got a doppler radar chrono that attaches to the stabalizer. Pretty handy, and I never had to worry about my customers hitting the chrono when shooting through it.
It's a must have really, just so you can determine your setups KE and what to do to maximize it. Also for making sight tapes.
As an engineer and long-time bowhunter I find a chronograph....unnecessary even though I own one. Let me explain it further...if you know your draw length and have a draw board to set up the bow to that length, you lock down one part of the bow performance. You set the poundage to what you are comfortable with (measured on the draw-board/scale again) and fix the second piece of the bows performance. Put on your usual string loop, peep and silencers locks down another piece. Select the arrows you are going to shoot out of it and go shoot to tune and set your sight pins.
The multitude of sight tapes ranked by arrow velocity that came with my slider didn’t come close to matching my actual trajectory. I ended up using a tape that was 10 or 15 FPS faster than the chrono read...why? It was more accurate to just shoot in the 20 yd and 60 yd pins and select a tape based on trajectory data for my arrow.
I just don’t find much use in chronographing as I’m not chasing the fastest arrow. Knowing KE or Momentum won’t change anything for me either. A well placed good flying arrow with a good broadhead will kill anything I hunt in North America from my 60-65# bows at 29” draw length.
That said, chronographs are a neat tool, and one that has led to a lot of new bows (faster right?) being sold.
Since everyone is explaining why, guess I will too.
Because I can and not to know what the KE is as it doesn't mean jack and neither does momentum either really because we're talking about two objects with extremely different masses. What matters most is the arrow flight, angle of impact, and sharpness of the broadhead.
Chronograph for a stickbow, M.Pauls? Couldn't you just have someone walk beside the arrow in flight with a stop watch? Just kidding....just kidding! ;-D
I don't have a chronograph, but the stabilizer mounted ones seem pretty cool.... might have to look into getting one.
I'm going the other direction.....not trying to be competitive at 3D....my focus is hunting and speed doesn't factor into that.
I haven't used my chrono in years.
It would be nice to know the speed of my bows, but I can get the speed I want from the online speed calculators. ;^D
No. My bow is a 2007 model and I could care less wether it’s shooting 260 FPS or 280.
I am on my second one. I really like this Caldwell versus the pro chronograph I had. Since I am a gear geek I like playing with my chronograph to give me an idea of how well my bow is performing. In the past I used it for building sight tapes but I believe creating a tape with 2 marks is much more accurate.
I guess I also shoot a 5 pin not a slider so I don't build sight tapes. When I had a 5 pin slider I just used a blank tape, and stepped it off and dialed in the tape like I would a pin. Not hard. Not necessary. Fun sure.
I guess coupled with the fact that any modern compound has ridiculous amounts of energy if you shoot any proper arrow setup for the game you are hunting it's fine. Knowing that my recurve can kill big game makes anything out of my compound feel like overkill.
I do not care about speed at all. I got my first compound in 1974. I have bowhunted every year since. Since 1974 I chrono'd a bow exactly once. In 1982. It was a blazing fast for its day 187fps. I know the bow I shoot now, is faster than that. And my deer are just as dead.
I've got one, had it for years. And I love shooting my stickbows through it to find and compare speed. It's all part of tuning to me. I've also got Hooter Shooter to... Part of the things I didn't sell when I closed the pro shop up.
carcus, they are a fun tool..... like I said, if you fiddle with your bow much. My sight tapes have been dead on when I had all the info dialed in along with speed. That includes not just the bow and arrow setup but measurements to knock, peep, etc at full draw, etc. The prograrm needs all the correct info. Or maybe I'm just lucky..... =D
But they are unnecessary IMO to tuning and such. However the draw board you mentioned IMO is far more critical.... a necessary tool for folks who tune their own bows. Right up there with a press.
EF if you ever use the truck hood, lay a blanket down first. My 99 Ford F-350 has peeled paint from letting a guy shoot off the hood. I use the bottom of a styrofoam coffee cup to check zero not a bucket though. ;)
I use a sandbag on the hood of a truck, but use a range finder and a target to sight in my rifle. I sight in 2" or 2.5" high at 100 yards. I do not reload, so I just believe what is on the box of factory ammo for speed. I don't care at all and never use the chrono for the rifles. I have used the chrono with the muzzle loader and pellet gun though.
Guy started a thread polling about if you have a chronograph yes or no. Guys state their answers and maybe some reasoning for why they do or don't have/need one. I didn't see any bad attitudes at all. I keep checking back to see what guys use chronographs for. Found the thread to be enjoyable.
TD, What program do you use to print sight tapes? It sounds way more sophisticated than just having some pre-printed with a velocity listed for it. Does your program take into account fletch type and size, helical fletch, arrow diameter, etc? Thanks!
Yes... I use mine to check the bow performance. Mostly I use mine to build sight tapes. I will change arrows often depending on the game I am hunting or goof off shooting or 3-d. I have printed out sight tapes to 260 yards for playing archery golf. If the information is accurate that you put into the program, the sight tapes are right on the money. You need a chrono for that. In answer to Kurts question to TD, I use T.A.P. (The Archery Program).
I use the Pinwheel Software On Target. You enter everything from your bow make and model, draw weight, draw length, to the arrow shaft make and model, spine, fletching brand and model, how many, peep, string silencers and type. Sight make and model. Total arrow weight, style of broadhead 2,3 or 4 blade fixed, nock/insert make and model..... everything. As well as a kind of tricky measurement of peep height over shaft/nock point at full draw (if that makes sense?) and some others I'd have to go back and look at. It's pretty comprehensive. I haven't updated it for a couple years, but for my equipment I'm still current. Once you have it all entered and the file saved you can go in and make changes pretty easy and save them as well without re-entering all the common info.
But as they say in the 'puter world...... GIGO...... It has a FPS estimator if you don't have a chrono with just the info you feed it. That has always been real close to actual FPS, but i like to verify and tweak it to exactly what I've gotten off my chrono. My tapes have been as accurate as I can hold them to anyway.
In some eyes I'm not really a long range shooter. In others..... I'm unethically long.... sure love the one pin slider though....
In my eyes...... well, my eyes are no doubt getting older..... =D
PECO: Sight tapes are for your movable sights, like Black Gold Ascents, Hog Father etc... Computer generated with OT2 or TAP are much more precise than the junk tapes that come with the sights. But you must have an accurate speed rating to plug into the system.
TD and bow dude, I will look into the advanced sight tape building programs you guys use. They sound excellent! Thanks! Kurt
