Overview

Costs

Item: Garmin Xero C1 Pro Chronograph
Price: $599.99 USD
Vendor: https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/garmin-xero-c1-pro-chronograph

*Prices listed are as of purchase time. Prices subject to change at vendor discretion.
**Vendor(s) identified are only listed to show where I sourced the item(s) from.

Intent

I needed a chronograph to provide accurate muzzle velocity data for various pistols and rifles, to provide meaningful data for reviews. The leader in this game was MagnetoSpeed, until the Garmin came out. So, I took the plunge and am here to tell you about my experiences with it so far.

My Perspective

The Xero comes securely packaged in a box with a basic instruction manual, a plastic tripod, and a USC A to USB C charging cable. The box is reusable, to an extent, but I certainly wouldn’t trust it to keep things safe while floating around in a range bag for an extended period of time. And if it got wet, I wouldn’t trust it to not melt. More on my solution to that problem, later.

After quickly perusing the manual, I powered it on and and downloaded the Android app. I specify Android because I have no experience with with app on iPhones. Initially, the app offered me to create an account to enable Cloud Storage, having the data synch with the cloud in case I ever needed to change phones. I skipped this initially, to ensure I could, but did later go back and create an account.

Connecting the app to the Garmin was easy as well. In the settings on the Garmin there is an option for connecting a device, and in the app, a similar option to get the two to link together. The Garmin immediately recognized that there were firmware updates available and my phone downloaded them to push to the Garmin. The Garmin asked if I wanted to update, and I said yes. While it was going through the update process, I took the time to look the device over.

Along the top of the device, are four buttons. From left to right: “OK” to select an option, back/Along the top of the device, are four buttons. From left to right: “OK” to select an option, back / “PWR” to go back a menu screen or turn on/off the device with a long press, and up and down to scroll through the menus. The side facing me had a display, while the left side has a rubber tab protecting the USB C port. The back and right sides are smooth while the bottom has a screw hole where the tripod mounts to.

While the tripod is plastic, it feels pretty sturdy and the legs fold out for a wide, stable stance or fold in for compact transportation. With the legs deployed, I feel confident in it not falling over, even in the strongest wind conditions. Well, strongest conditions that one would shoot in anyway.

Once the Garmin was finished with its updates, I powered it off and went to the range. I excitedly pulled it out, set it up, powered it up, and grabbed my phone, ready to watch it sync my recorded sessions. But, the app on my phone could not find the Garmin. I force closed the app and opened it again. Nothing. I power cycled the Garmin. Still nothing. Finally, I went in to the settings on both my phone and the Garmin and them to add a new device. They finally found each other and I was ready to start my session.

When you start a session on the Garmin, it asks you to select pistol or rifle rounds. This is partly because it needs to know how fast to monitor, but also because it categorizes your sessions so you can filter results and more easily find specific sessions later. I selected rifle and it asked me to choose between two muzzle velocities. I guess this is where it really matters how fast it needs to monitor. It then asked if I wanted to enter the cartridge’s grain weight. I selected yes and used the up/down/ok buttons to enter 40 grains. From there, a screen came up telling me where to place the Garmin in regards to the muzzle of the rifle. Following those instructions, I took my first shot.

Within a second of my shot, the screen on the Garmin updated, telling me the muzzle velocity and the shot count. I took another shot and it updated again. Ok, very repeatable. I took my time with the next 8 shots, 10 shots in total, and they all recorded. the muzzle velocity. I ended that session and watched my phone as it immediately updated with the session results. Of not, the synch between Garmin and phone app only happens when the session ends. It is not real-time updates.

With the slow and steady test successfully completed, I decided to then push the limits of how fast it could record shots. I started with a double tap as quick as I could. One shot was recorded and the velocity was very different from what was recorded in my prior session. I then slowed it down to two shots in one second. Still, only recorded one shot. After a bit of testing, I found I could reliably get it to record shots as long as they were spaced about two seconds apart. In a real world scenario of testing muzzle velocity, this is more than acceptable.

I ended up testing about 120 rounds of ammo that day, 100 rounds of 22lr through a couple rifles, and 20 rounds of rounds of 5.56 through my AR. All shots recorded accurately, when I was patient and and waiting my two seconds.

When I got home, I did end up turning the Garmin on again and seeing if it would connect to my phone right away. It did not. I had to again go in to the settings and tell the devices to pair. Hopefully an update will fix this soon.

Other Comments

Now that initial testing was out of the way, I went home and tried to figure out I was going to do for long term storage of the Garmin. With it being on the more expensive side of accessories, I wanted it to have a strong case that was waterproof and could take a beating. Pick-and-pull foam was at the top of my list, but what box was I going to use.

I ended up coming across the Evergreen 56 Waterproof Dry Box on Amazon. It includes the foam and fits perfect. Sure, the included “key” is cheap and was immediately discarded, but my requirements did not include the ability to lock. As you can see below, it fits the Garmin, with tripod attached, and the charging cable, all in one compact, strong container. Perfect.

Conclusion

Despite the connection issues, I am very impressed with the Garmin Xero C1. Once it is running, it just worked. No futzing with mounting options or playing with alignment rods. Just turn it on (hope it connects), set it down, and let it run. Over several days of playing with it at home, testing the connection to my phone, the issue still persisted but I had a repeatable method to get it to connect. A new update did come out for the Garmin, but it did not resolve the issue. Hopefully it will soon.

Update: Sometime around July, I noticed that my Garmin and phone were connecting by themselves. Several updates had come out but I am not sure which one did the trick.