Shooting Chrony

[beerbelly]

I just had a bad experience with the folks at Shooting Chrony . I sent my Chrony in for repair, they had given me a price on the repair. Once they got it they said it would cost more to fix that to just trade it in on a new one. I feel it was no more than a ply to get more money out of me and told them so.
  I all so told them , I would let everyone know how I had been treated by them and to be ware of doing business with them. The woman answered by saying they would post a picture of my Chrony on the forums showing that it was rusted like it was left in the rain and I was lying . Well that Chrony had never been wet form any reason.
 I ordered a new one from Midway yesterday and they have already shipped it. You can bet it is NOT a chrony. I would never do business with them again.
                                   Beerbelly

[John R.]

I've never had anything but good luck with my Shooting Chrony, and it's 7 years old. (I had my 1st one for 8 years til a 55 gr. FMJ out of an AR got ahold of it.)

[bajabill]

I dont know what it looked like, or what was wrong with it, but for the cost of a new F1 model, I am not surprised at all that it is less money to replace than to repair.

[buck460XVR]

Most inexpensive electronics are considered disposable........in other words, it generally costs more to have it repaired by a  local union technician that it does to assemble a new one using cheap foreign labor. I feel the lady on the phone was being honest and upfront with you......they coulda just fixed it and charged you twice the price of a new one. I'm just surprised they offered to take your old rusty broken one in trade for a new one.

[beerbelly]

The dam thing was not rusty! That was her BS. It had never been in the rain or wet any other way. Like I said I have a new one on the way but it is not a Chrony and I will never do business with them again.
                          Beerbelly

[Siskiyou]

There are two Chrony’s in the family.  My wife gave me one a few years back and a brother has one.  Brother was screwing around and hit one of the wire rods with a 45acp.  His error.

A friend shot his with a 45-70 and reached a deal with Chrony that made him happy.  This was the shooter’s problem, blind in one and could not see out of the other.

I do not have field experience with other brands, nor have had to deal with their customer service.  At this point I am a satisfied customer.

But I appreciate Beerbelly sharing his experience with us.  After reading his experience I will consider using my digital camera to document the condition of an item I was returning to a vendor.  Mine is down in the garage and I will not be trotting down there to check, but does the unit have a serial number.  People make mistakes and two or three setting on a workbench can become mixed up. Verification of a serial number lets the party on the other end know that you have documented your tracks.

Using my unit as a standard I am surprised a unit would rust.  But there are other environmental locations that enhance rusting.  Storage in a garage in which vehicle drag in snow that contains road salt could have a negative effect. 

Years ago I was working on a rifle in the garage when I suddenly received an out of state work assignment.  I stashed the rifle in locked cabinet, and hit the road for two months.  Those two months set records for the amount of rainfall.  I know that every night when my wife parked her car in the garage that pools of water would accumulate on the floor.

When I returned home the lightly oiled rifle had rust on it. 

[LaOtto222]

My Beta master was doing fine until I put a bullet down it's gullet. I immediately ordered another, still using it and it works fine. For the price, it is a throw away if damaged or does not work.

[quickdtoo]

There are two Chrony’s in the family.  My wife gave me one a few years back and a brother has one.  Brother was screwing around and hit one of the wire rods with a 45acp.  His error.

Replace the steel rods with wood dowels and that may not happen again. 

Tim

[Graybeard]

I bought one when they first came out with them. It never worked from the day I got it. I finally got a phone number (not so easy back then) and spoke to them several times about it. Eventually they worked it out so I got a full refund on my purchase.

I've not messed with one since and have no plans to ever own another. I have an Oehler with three screens which they sent me for a review and then sold to me at half price after the review. I figure I got a pretty good bargain on the best chrono out there.

[Siskiyou]

I have 48" of wooden dowel on the work bench.  I need to cut it to length.  I still have my original metal rods.  I have marked a stop mark on each of my original roads with red duct tape.  Keeps me focus, and from shooting to low.

The Chrony is handy but my use has slowed down because I now have some long established loads, and having fired them across the Chrony I see little need to do it again.  In turn it still has a future here.  I have never fired the 30-30, or the British 303 across it.  Might do that some day.

Graybeard:  I am jealous.

[Glanceblamm]

I thought that the lady was being honest with you but that her remark (or counter threat) (perhaps she felt threatened by you?) were totally uncalled for.
It probably is much cheaper to replace the entire unit than say to have a technition trouble shoot the parallel & series circuitry of a diode bridge. This might be a good exercise for an engineering class and they probably do trouble shoot to better the product but it would be much more expensive to repair on an individual bases verse replacing the brain with a newly manufactured unit.

[Siskiyou]

I have to agree with others regarding replacement over repair.  The labor cost of trouble shooting a chrony or other low price electronics exceeds the value.