Labradar App Update for their Doppler Radar Chronograph in 2022

[@jlppayette4992]

Another thing I have found with the new app is you can change the name of the series and add notes to a series. Helpful to keep track of your data. Great video!

[@FClassJohn]

Great tip! I totally forgot to mention that. I'll pin this comment and do a follow up video on that because a lot of people will want to use that feature.

[@VictrixGladioV]

Labradar app support promised to have the Series Notes included in the csv data files on the unit and upon export , in the future version

[@jean-paulvoets4638]

It still does no connect with Samsung Android phones.Bluetooth symbol comes up and disappears after a few second.I had several e-mails with Labradar technicians and i had to change Bluetooth setting on my phone what is really complicated ( i had to go in developer ets ect.....) and what i did not because other devices would be disconnected.And you have to reconnect your other devices like car etc....I am no IT'r so i wouldn't take the risk. I can not understand that they are not able to make a really 100% functional app and what is really surprising a really old and i mean really old tablet works flawless. Unbelievable. Like someone mentioned i believe they work with a app developer who is not in the market for the shooting game. I call my Labradar a Labrador ( dog) because i always start to make growl noises when i start using it .

[@steffen707-]

It's not just you, that functionality is goofy. How expensive was the labradar? Too much for that clunky software, but no competition, so they can get by being lazy and sloppy.

[@wilfdarr]

When's the last time you saw a Leupold? They were the only game in town for so long that they got complacent, and all the sudden a half dozen competitors popped up and took their market share. If the technology is there, it needs to be in your product or you're just begging for trouble. If Leopold had come out with an entry level scope (just one!) and a competition offering, there wouldn't have been room for the others to get a foothold.

[@BlackDotPatrick]

You said "goofy". Seems very goofy. I'm not even going to try the app. I just use the Labradar.

[@lexee50]

I'm still having connectivity issues with my android phone.

[@amym828]

No updated App for Android. I don't know why everyone who's talking about the new app won't say it's for iPhone and iPad only so far.

[@mjirvin010]

As an EE that loathes programming and am mediocre at best writing embedded software code, this blows my mind. Don't get me wrong, ANY update is an improvement, but for such an expensive piece of gear to fall so short on the SW side of things is mind boggling. What's the going rate to hire a "professional" app developer these days? A couple, three thousand? I don't know the whole story and I'm sure LabRadar has their reasons, but yeesh. Put an add in the local paper and pay an eighteen year old to fix these amateur bugs. Engineering isn't reinventing the wheel, it's googling and copy pasting. Heck, call the chip company and have their field engineer do it. ...Just so many solutions for a simple problem that could be the demise of your product once another doppler gets on the scene. ...Hey, there's an idea, maybe I should keep this to myself. Yeah, five stars LabRadar....keep doing what you're doing.

[@wilfdarr]

Yup. A smart company listens to the complaints, because if one person is saying it, 4 more are thinking it.

[@gotmythumbs]

You never want to have the people writing the code design the user interface because they will design an interface that's easy to code. I believe that's what happened here.

[@mjirvin010]

Agreed. I did some more digging after the fact on the parent company (their name is escaping me right now), but they're heavy into the more industrial/military application side of things. I.e. I think it's safe to assume the "LabRadar Division" isn't the top priority at the quarterly meetings.

[@wilfdarr]

@@mjirvin010 That makes sense: there's a lot of products in shooting, sailing, cars, etc, that are the product of a couple employees love of the sport rather than than the company's dedication to the sport, often its a miracle they even see the light of day! A project like this should be sold to a company that actually wants it so succeed.

[@garrytalley8009]

Often so-called upgrades turn out just the opposite. Lots of old DOS reloading programs were and are better than the new Windows programs they have today. You are dreaming that getting a geek to come in and fix something fixes it.

[@GunWodan]

OMG they actually put out firmware updates for the device! I didn‘t notice … funny enough their changelog begins with version 1.2.6 somewhere in late 2021 Nice way to cover the gap from the 1.2.5 update from 2018 ….

[@brettinnj]

Do you need cell service for it to work? There isn't any cell service at my range. I can never get the app to work (old app). It works great at my house where there is service, but I have yet to get it to work at the range. I called tech support and the guy me to call him from the range and he would walk me through it. Well, that's impossible to call him if there isn't service. DUH.

[@FClassJohn]

No you don’t need cell service. Only Bluetooth to connect to the unit.

[@deaniverson4671]

The company needs to read the reviews and suggestions and update accordingly, then they would sell more units. Too much money for what you get.

[@FClassJohn]

I agree. All it’s gonna take is one solid competitor and they’re going to realize how much people have been compromising with theirs.

[@wilfdarr]

Ya, I still feel the bayonet is better, for now at least, especially if you have a way to mount it off your ARC rail.

[@brandonsjsj]

@@wilfdarr the thing that sucks about the mag is impact shift and i like shoot and getting velocity while shooting too.

[@wilfdarr]

@@brandonsjsj Honestly, I think much too much weight is put on velocity: the only thing that matters is groups. If you change the bullet or the powder, then you've changed the internal ballistics and the velocity won't match the harmonics any more: both my Honda civic and my mom's pickup truck both hit 100kph in a quarter mile, but their acceleration profiles and thus the time spent on that quarter mile are very very different. Similarly, internal ballistics will be different and thus the harmonics no longer match. Just believe you're target: everything else is just data points.

[@anthonyfoster303]

This company is on it’s to being out of business. Sad they had such a great product and too lazy to fix all the problems. The first company to build a system that is user friendly and has an app that gets regular updates will be the end to Labradar. I bought mine when it first launched and hardly ever use it because of all the problems and user interface. Their app developers should be fired immediately!

[@FullSendPrecision]

Nice. I gave up after being frustrated with the bluetooth essentially not working at all. I wasn't going to do this upgrade... Seems like this made it at least workable.

[@dinoc.5537]

Ugh. I think I will hold onto the last version cause this seems even more clunky.

[@johnt34aus]

Thanks for the heads up. Couldn't figure out how to arm but once I arm on the unit the arm/disarm label appears. Not perfect but heaps better than the last one. Maybe too late as there are heaps of better products appearing

[@ramsaycountry1177]

I have a love hate relationship with my labradar, I want to love it, but a lot of the time I hate it! Lol

[@scottspagnolo-hye4628]

Looks like only iOS got updated..argh

[@airborne350g]

What happens to me is the labradar will disconnect when it is armed. In order to reconnect I have to manually disarm the labradar from the radar and then reconnect in the app. I too want a button to arm on the series screen. Also want to be able to back to an previous series and add more shots. For example I shoot 3 shots then move to next series while in a ladder test but then decide to go back and shoot two more on a select series to see if my SD/ES changed within the string.

[@patfarrell6069]

I still can't connect with my Note 20 but..I can connect with by TAB 6 tablet

[@fotispapadopoulos6933]

Can not get my android to connect to save my life! Connects to the wife's I phone though.

[@paulhill9888]

Thanks john very good just done mine great information mate 👍

[@JohnDoe-hu9ve]

Everytime I use my Labradar I find it to be the quintessential example of: “a good idea poorly executed”. The app is awful but the good news is it rarely works so you don’t have to endure it much and just find yourself fumbling through the buttons on the device directly.

[@gotmythumbs]

I was just looking at John's review of Shotmarker and that user interface is so far ahead of this one that it's really pathetic. But them Adam Mcdonald is near genius.

[@georgelza]

have you looked at the new Bullet Seeker Mach4 - new Doplar device, hehehe they do seem to have the same , if not worse problem, lack of app, only know of the Android version atm.

[@gotmythumbs]

I was an early adopter of the Labradar and their dysfunctional app. "Not intuitive" seems to be the hallmark of both. Depressing the ARM button to go three different paths is ludicrous. Decent product but horrible user interface. At one point I tried to set up both by phone or a tablet and ended up unable to connect with either.

[@davecollins6113]

I have enough issues with computers, that I don't need more things to frustrate me about them. I'll get by with my Magnetospeed and Oehler units. Considering it took Lab Radar what?, two yrs?, to even release the unit from when they first announced it, I'm not surprised by them taking ages to fix their software. Considering how many they've sold, you would think they'd quit treating it as a side gig, which is what it really is to them.

[@JosephDAndrea0121]

John 100 percent renamed it too xXxLabRadar69420xXx

[@PreparingForSHTF]

This was an excellent review of the Labradar App Update. I need to download my update and get my new firmware. Thanks.

[@Guitarjourney4life]

I just purchased labradar two days ago, gonna check all this out, still haven’t used it yet.but your video will help me I’m sure. Thanks John

[@AdamLeePhoto]

The naming issue suggests the name isn't written to the device. It's only once connected the app knows that device ID has been named XYZ.

[@davidkirkman1135]

I agree with everything you said. I feel the app needs tons of improvements.

[@Chevy2U]

The dates are all screwed-up on each series after the upgrade, getting February time stamps.

[@joecerami7914]

So far this seems like a great concept but they have a long way to go before it’s a quality, well functioning product. They released this as a beta version without referring to it as so.

[@FClass]

Totally agree on the arm comments, maybe their programmer isn't a shooter !! I found a few other bugs, like being able to change bullet weight from the App, it has screens to do it, but they are always greyed out. Thanks for the tip on firmware update, I'll have to do that and see if it sorts the bugs out.

[@brianmerritt8102]

I completely agree with your assessment. One issue I found is when syncing a series with my phone for reviewing when not connected to the lab radar. When you connect it only automatically syncs the last series and removes any previously “saved” series. Seems like a pain in the ass to have to connect to the lab radar to review a series I shot in the past. Based on the change logs this appears to be intentional. I emailed their support and the response I got was “we’ll keep that in mind for a future update”

[@mdnelson1234]

ok you convinced me not to buy one

[@patfarrell6069]

Thanks John, I haven't been able to get my phone to connect at all. I'll update the app and LabRadar

[@sveinsoermo9883]

100% agree and I am a programmer!

[@patfarrell6069]

still can't get it to connect to my note 20 or Tab 6 devices. frustrating

[@angelscomputers]

Is hard to believe when you see companies that only want to gain money without invest and pay for anything. Hard to believe that such an expensive system and STILL with a crappy app. Let us holding for years to come up with that piece of cr@p app. Mine is unreliable as hell, no matter if is pistol or my 6mm creed always miss shots. Pay a damn developer and get a real app Labradar!!!! My caldwell was more reliable. Thanks for the video you convinced me to DONT UPGRADE

[@FClassJohn]

Yeah I agree and I appreciate that you didn't shoot the messenger. 😂

[@VictrixGladioV]

Pleased to say that the new version of the app works on Android.

[@scottbash7117]

There's no update for Android right? Just iPhone?

[@CorwinBos]

Thanks for the info John. Can you arm the device with the button on the chrono itself still and watch the velocities come in on your phone? Im hoping they take some feedback, fix the annoying not being to arm on the screen without using last shot, and then update the iOS version and release an Android version update. I do run a Pixel 3, and have some disconnect issues, but can generally get it working with a restart.

[@FClassJohn]

Yes you can still arm from the unit from what I've tested. Not sure on the rest, they don't seem to want to update at any rapid pace so I don't know.

[@MattCA88]

Have you tried the new 2.5.4 update yet?

[@FClassJohn]

No I'm sorry but I no longer have or use a Labradar. I'm using the AndiScan now.

[@patrickcolahan7499]

I need to try this upgrade. I have never been able to connect my phone to my LR. Maybe this will help. Thanks for sharing John.

[@FClassJohn]

Happy to help and I hope you see an improvement. Make sure you upgrade the unit too.

[@sureshottactical5403]

Why do you say projectile weight doesn’t matter?

[@FClassJohn]

Because it doesn’t really have an effect on tracking the actual velocity. It only really helps when you’re trying to analyze an actual bullets BC for instance.

[@craigdenison3854]

How do you delete old series that you need anymore? I have over 300 that I would like to delete.

[@FClassJohn]

I found that if you hold down on a series (while commented) it'll pop up buttons on the left side so you can select a bunch of them and then delete.

[@louisbuatt5445]

Agree with your comment about not being able to arm except via the “Last Shot” tab. Because I could not arm via the Series page is why watching videos to figure out how to arm it more easily. Hope they fix this asap. Do like many other features too.

[@FClassJohn]

Sadly the app is still just not a great. I'm going to do a update video on it because for everything they fixed I'm now finding frustrating things that are broken that weren't evident when I did the last video. Just sucks they can't get a competant developer on board.

[@louisbuatt5445]

Look forward to your follow up video. Hope they can course correct asap!!!

[@thefinancier12]

That's only for the shitty iphone...

[@Alpha_Wolf.]

Same issues you aren’t the only one.

[@jdrollason]

This comment is a month after this video originally posted. Have you updated to the newest Labradar firmware to see how it interacts with the new phone app?

[@FClassJohn]

I've updated all of it and as many of us expected, it fixed some things but made other things more irritating. I was actually going to do a follow up video because it's such a mixed bag. Overall I think it's still better than the old app and I haven't had nearly as many issues disconnecting like before. Lots of room to improve still but sadly they leave a lot of room for a good competitor to come in and do better which I hope someone does.

[@jdrollason]

@@FClassJohn agreed.

[@ctech01]

Finally,👍👍👍👍👍👀😎

[@LonelyRavenProductio]

Do they even have a working Android version yet?

[@FClassJohn]

Not that I'm aware of. Sorry

[@308bar]

I found a solution to the Android connection issue. To get it to connect once the firmware is updated. Try reseting your Network settings on your phone or device. I remembered this trick and it helps to get my phone to connect up with the LBR again. Just a head up you will lose all your WIFI passwords and bluetooth pairings on your device but I found this to be a necessary step for my android devices my Motorola running android 8 and 2021 Samsung S20 FE running the latest Andriod software. Good luck to all. Unfortunately it's still the old UI for Android it looks like.

[@ianh5187]

Is it fair to assume we must also update our firmware on the actual Labradar?

[@VictrixGladioV]

immediatly after updating the firmware to the latest version 1.2.7 , I was only ONCE able to establish a connection with full control. However, thereafter, I was not able to re-establish the bluetooth connection. The app shows the same "communication error" after "search” as before.

[@ianh5187]

@@VictrixGladioV thanks for that. F-Class John did you have any issues?

[@VictrixGladioV]

@@ianh5187 yes, I have been many times in contact with the company regarding the failing Bluetooth connection with my Android phone.

[@FClassJohn]

I updated both the unit firmware and the app and haven't had any crashing issues. My only frustrations are what I talked about with the arming, deleting shots that don't show up until you re-connect and occasional disconnect still (but 99% of the time I can reconnect from the app so that's good.

[@Longshothawk]

For those who could not connect at all, has this fixed that?

[@FClassJohn]

I honestly couldn’t tell you since I was able to connect most of the time with the old app. But I’m guessing it can’t hurt to try right?

[@308bar]

@@FClassJohn this hasn't fixed anything for Android if anything it has made it worst. I was able to connect with 1.2.2 now updated I'm unable to connect at all. I'm using Motorola with Android 8.0 and a new Samsung Galaxy S20 FE running the latest Android. So Android users beware.

[@308bar]

I found a solution to the Android connection issue. To get it to connect once the firmware is updated. Try reseting your Network settings. I remembered this trick and it helps to get my phone to connect up with the LBR again. Just a head up you will lose all your WIFI passwords and bluetooth pairings but I found this to be a necessary step for my androied devices. Good luck to all.

[@1clnsdime1]

It's sad Caldwell has the best app lol

[@FClassJohn]

I really wish they had put out the Velociradar like planned. I'd love to see some competition.

[@1clnsdime1]

@@FClassJohn I agree. They are close but it seems they need a push to fix the issues. Why rush with no competition.

[@Longshothawk]

My android doesn't have this update......

[@stevewilson5743]

Thank God. I don't want anything to do with that mess. If I would have known what a pos their app was I never would have bought the Labradar. We're going to have to stay on them and let them know they need to do better...

[@FClassJohn]

@@stevewilson5743 I don’t disagree with you. They did fix some stuff and I do like a few of the new features but then they do weird stuff like the arming button that makes no sense whatsoever. I’m pretty sure they got their programmer off Fivvr.

[@stevewilson5743]

@@FClassJohn I'm not sure how to feel about the whole thing. I contacted then not to long ago about needing a way to write notes, firearm, loads, etc, And shortly afterwards you can take notes. So, did they jump right on it and found a fix or was this something they had in the works. Didn't really help me because I run android but something happened. Good on them, I guess. I'd just rather maybe wait a little longer and get something worth having than get what IOS got.

[@VictrixGladioV]

immediatly after updating the firmware to the latest version 1.2.7 , I was only ONCE able to establish a connection with full control. However, thereafter, I was not able to re-establish the bluetooth connection. The app shows the same "communication error" after "search” as before.

[@VictrixGladioV]

Update from Labradar: "The Android version of the new app is pending review from the Android Play Store and should be available soon."