Recently received the new RCBS AmmoMaster chronograph and am very pleased with it. I picked mine up on a sale for 99$ and tax (while my wife did for my x-mas gift). I believe they regularly go for around 120 or 130 depending. I have been reloading now for about 3 years and found it frustrating to not actually know my velocities and like you wanted a simply to operate but quality chrono. About a month ago I took my chrono to the range and within fifteen minutes had it put together and operational and was pleased to finally see velocities for my reloads. It's my first experience with a chrono so I don't have a fair comparison review, but again I am happy with it.

Wow, I've always wanted a chronograph bu t always assumed they would cost much more than that. For just over a hundred I will for sure be checking them out and may just be the push to get me reloading again.

In looking into the Shooting Chrony F1 a little more, I see where it has no memory capability, so you need to record each shot results each time.  The F1 can be bought right now for $87 landed to your door.  A good deal.  I am thinking about the Shooting Chrony Alpha which is the same as the F1, except it does have memory, which enables you to record a string of shots.  Other than that, they are pretty simple.  These can be bought for about $105 landed to your door.  Still a good deal.

I will go on-line and see what I can find out about the RCBS Ammomaster that was mentioned. There are usually some good sites to get reviews on all these things, so will see what the word is.

I would opt to get the one with the memory as it just does not seem practical to have to get up and check after every shot. Especially for just 20 dollars more. At a public range you might only get to check one shot every ten minutes.

I have the F1 chrony and it works great, I shoot my arrows and bullets through it. It runs off a 9volt battery and has a good size display and simple to set up.

Well, I ordered and just received my new chronograph.  I bought the Chrony Alpha.  Now have to wait to get out and try it.

I didn't notice this in time. Does the one you bought have a balistics calculator in it? I am only familuar with the Pact mk IV timer. It does have the cronograph function and the balistics calculator. Cost's a bit over $300 if I remember right. The advantage to it is that after you ger your velocities, you can set it to give trajectory out to 1000yds anyway and in 25 yd increments. Shooting with mine to 500yds I found it unbleveably accurate! It also reads out the average of the groups you shoot and gives you the sight in destences with a known distence or for max point blank range, come with a printer. The whole thing goes to the range with me and everything is adjusted in one trip.

It is the only one I have ever owned so I have nothing else to compare it to. Been using it about 20 yrs now.

BTW, when my cronograph plots the trajectory for me it gives me remaining velocity at every point I ask for. From there figuring energy at each distence is a breeze. Vel x Vel devide by 7000 x 64.32 x bullet wt in grs equals energy. 7000 is the number of grains in a pound and 64.32 is the specific weight of gravity. I did not figure that on my own; I read about it!