MadBull Chronograph Ver.2 review

[rus] [ukr]
As an airsoft mechanic I have to fix, tweak and tune lots of airsoft guns, so I waited for the arrival of this chronograph very eagerly.

Certainly it would be wrong to compare the MadBull Chronograph Ver.2 with simple and cheap chronographs; they're belonging to completely different classes.
However MadBull's chronograph have lots of advantages vs. its real competitors. From the first look you can clearly see that designers and engineers had analyzed and considered all disadvantages, imperfections and lacking but useful functions of the other chronographs.
But first things first. Let's take a look at the package and then move on to the functions and features.

The package includes:

• Chronograph


• External Barrel Adapter for aiming straight


• USB Power adapter


• Manual

Power
Most of the chronographs powered from the batteries (mostly the AAA type), or from built-in rechargeable custom batteries. Both of those variants aren't ideal. The last one especially, because sooner or later the built-in battery will lose its capacity and will require replacement. Besides it needs to be charged by the power supply adapter (which could be a big problem in field conditions). The MadBull's engineers went the 3-rd way: they made the chronograph that can be powered from 2x AAA batteries or rechargeable batteries of the same type. They also can be recharged from USB cable which doesn't require any disassemble - the mini-USB port is on the side panel (recharging process doesn't exceed 8 hours).

There's also an auto-shutdown function to save battery life - if nothing is happening during 2 minutes, chronograph will automatically shut himself down. When there's low battery charge left the screen will start to blink.

Screen
The other good thing is the idea to use a simple 4 digit LED display with good brightness, which allows easy viewing of readings indoors and outdoors even in a very sunny day.

*because of the small exposition the camera couldn't "catch" whole figure. And the photos below can't illustrate exact brightness of the screen.

Most of the competitors are using the LCD screens with more space for information and readings but in the sunny outdoor conditions it's often hard to see the data on them. Some of them have the backlight LCDs but that illumination isn't help much and dims with time.

Functions and features
Chronograph has a large size diameter tube (20mm) which even allows measuring the velocity of paintballs.
It has only 2 buttons: Power on/off and Mode switching button.

The modes are switching circle-wise:

• Muzzle velocity in FPS (feet per second)


• Muzzle velocity in MPS (meters per second)


• Rate of fire in RPS (rounds per second)


• Rate of fire in RPM (rounds per minute)


• Muzzle energy (Joules) with 0.2 BB


• Muzzle energy (Joules) with 0.21 BB


• Muzzle energy (Joules) with 0.22 BB


• Muzzle energy (Joules) with 0.23 BB


• Muzzle energy (Joules) with 0.24 BB


• Muzzle energy (Joules) with 0.25 BB


• Muzzle energy (Joules) with 0.26 BB


• Muzzle energy (Joules) with 0.27 BB


• Muzzle energy (Joules) with 0.28 BB


• Muzzle energy (Joules) with 0.29 BB


• Muzzle energy (Joules) with 0.3 BB


• Muzzle energy (Joules) with 0.31 BB


• Muzzle energy (Joules) with 0.32 BB


• Muzzle energy (Joules) with 0.33 BB


• Muzzle energy (Joules) with 0.43 BB


• Muzzle energy (Joules) with 0.89 BB

It's hard to overestimate the usefulness of this feature for game masters, because with it they don't have to load 0.2 BBs into player's magazine each time they want to check the velocity. They will only have to remember the energy limits for each class:

• assault rifles: 135 m/s - 443 fps - 1,82 J


• machineguns: 165 m/s - 541 fps - 2,72 J


• sniper rifles: 255 m/s - 836 fps - 6,5 J

I'll pass the problem of the player's honesty in telling which BBs he is using and turning the hop-up down

The other good feature is the tripod thread on the bottom side, which helps a lot on the shooting range and during the velocity check of all players before the big game.

The MadBull's chronograph also performed incredibly well in worst (for chronographs) conditions: sunny day with lots of snow around (because of the big amounts of outer IR luminance from everywhere). No nerve-racking failures of the photo elements which are quite frequent in cheap chronographs were spotted.




The outside temperature was: -12°С. The only thing that was resetting the measurements was the direct camera flash.

The chronograph has a very compact (handheld) size: 12,5 x 5,5 x 5 cm. Unlike most of the other chronographs with similar number of features.
The body made from 6061-T6 aircraft aluminium and has mate-black anodizing.

Internals

The photo elements are well hidden, so it's almost impossible to damage them (especially with the barrel adapter on).

The screen is protected with a transparent red plastic.

The operation is very simple:

• Start the chronograph by pushing the "Power on/off" button. The first mode - "FPS" should flash on the screen, then "0,0" appears


• The "Mode" button cycles through the functions


• After you chose the mode you can immediately shoot (no other actions needed, it will display each last shot)


• Shut down by pressing the "Power on/off" button (or it will automatically shut down after 2 minutes)

The ROF measurement process is pretty much the same. In this mode the MadBull chronograph also performed very accurate, the readings were exactly the same as from the sound measurement method. It can measure 10000 shots max and calculate the average value. If the duration between each shot is more than 0.75sec, it will stop the measuring and start calculation.
Most of the competitors can measure RPS only.

The only thing I can add is that maybe it would be better if this chronograph was equipped with green LED screen or perhaps with the LED screen that has colour changing feature. But that might affect its brightness and life time.

In any case I can honestly say that the MadBull Chronograph Ver.2 is truly an outstanding tool for any airsoft mechanic. And it certainly has an advantage over its competitors.