TargetTalk

Hi guys,

I am a smallbore shooter from Australia. My club is looking at purchasing some electronic targets and the Megalink ones currently appear to be the best deal in terms of price.

I have tried out the single user PC version but I was wondering if anyone has any experience with the networked version (ie multiple targets linked to a central computer) in terms of reliability, maintenance, useability etc. Any other lessons from hindsight would be greatly appreciated.

There are currently no Australian users of the networked system that I can find so hoping that throwing the net a little wider will be more successful.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

James

They are excellent in use.

Sparks will be along shortly - they have a few networked set-ups in Ireland...

Jwd000 wrote:Hi guys,

I am a smallbore shooter from Australia. My club is looking at purchasing some electronic targets and the Megalink ones currently appear to be the best deal in terms of price.

I have tried out the single user PC version but I was wondering if anyone has any experience with the networked version (ie multiple targets linked to a central computer) in terms of reliability, maintenance, useability etc. Any other lessons from hindsight would be greatly appreciated.

There are currently no Australian users of the networked system that I can find so hoping that throwing the net a little wider will be more successful.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

James

I have been helping run the Megalink systems at the OTC ever since they first got and they are a very simple system to run. I would prefer this system over a Sius Ascor, which not only cost more, but the software and maintenance fees can break you unless you belong to an organization with big dollars. I wish the electronic systems where more affordable and the only clubs that I now that have the systems are college or university clubs in the US.

The US OTC in Colorado Springs has them for both Air and Smallbore

Most of the NCAA shooting programs use them (for air & smallbore)

The CMP has two ranges, one at Camp Perry and another in Anniston that >>each<< have 80 point 3-position megalink ranges.
(The targets move on computer controlled frames for each position)
Software is easy to use and is capable of delivering realtime scoring to the web for any of the firing points.

If there was a "most popular" here in the US, I'd have to give it to megalink. Position controller/displays are very easy for the shooters to use as well.
Also as Quest1 mentioned ... maintenance & consumables are much less expensive than Sius-Ascor

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience of the common challenges, etc that come with maintaining this kind of setup (eg parts breakages, replacement of rubber, electrical issues etc) as this would be something we would need to build into the normal schedule for range maintenance. Quest1 appears to have maintenance experience but I have no email for him/her.

We also have an outdoor range so if anyone has some good ideas about how to protect the targets from weather and vandalism that would be great. Our ideal solution would be some kind of permanent shed with doors on the front and back but if anyone has thought of other ways, let me know.

Thanks again.

James

From my limited experience, changing the paper (in the smaller 10m frames) and the rubber in the 50m frames is not at all difficult. The OTC sometimes cuts their costs on the 50m frames by taking used rubber (mostly shot down the middle), cutting it in half lengthwise and using the half wide rubber that still covers the 50m rifle black. I think that the rubber on the large frames is the only "major" recurring expense .... same but to a lesser degree with the paper on the smaller frames.
One of the nice things you can do is change from the control console how much the paper/rubber advances after each shot ... set to very small for practice and "normal" for matches.

Megalink runs on an RS-485 serial communications network and thus you need to protect the cables at the target end ... cut at the right place with a bullet (yes, I've seen it happen) and the whole system goes down ... easy to fix though ... just strip & twist the wires back together. OTC has the cable hidden behind some conduit and that suffices ... they do not have the cable in conduit as their system is meant to roll in and out of the way.

Long term maintenance I don't know about as I'm only there during matches.

Worth mentioning that there are NO running costs with Meyton.

Jwd wrote:Thanks for the feedback guys.

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience of the common challenges, etc that come with maintaining this kind of setup (eg parts breakages, replacement of rubber, electrical issues etc) as this would be something we would need to build into the normal schedule for range maintenance. Quest1 appears to have maintenance experience but I have no email for him/her.

We also have an outdoor range so if anyone has some good ideas about how to protect the targets from weather and vandalism that would be great. Our ideal solution would be some kind of permanent shed with doors on the front and back but if anyone has thought of other ways, let me know.

Thanks again.

James

My email is randy88745@gmail.com. I am mostly a little lazy in logging on to targettalk.

Anonymous wrote:Worth mentioning that there are NO running costs with Meyton.

Suis also have a new range based on a laser/light curtain.

Don't know if Megalink are developing/have developed a light-based system.
Provided they're reliable, then obviously the lower running costs (just electricity), are a major factor once you get over the initial capital cost (provided the capital cost isn't ludicrously higher than for acoustic units, which in the early days it probably will be).

Hemmers wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worth mentioning that there are NO running costs with Meyton.

Suis also have a new range based on a laser/light curtain.

Don't know if Megalink are developing/have developed a light-based system.
Provided they're reliable, then obviously the lower running costs (just electricity), are a major factor once you get over the initial capital cost (provided the capital cost isn't ludicrously higher than for acoustic units, which in the early days it probably will be).

I have heard about the laser systems and I understand they are more accurate, but I have also heard the cost of the system is a great deal higher. I have read the data from one of the other companies making electronic targets and if I understand the description correctly they are using LED lights instead of lasers, which should provide the same accuracy without the huge increase in cost.

I'm really only familiar with the Megalinks.

On the Laser/LED systems, is there still paper for protests? If not how are protested shots handled/verified?

IS wrote:They are excellent in use.
Sparks will be along shortly - they have a few networked set-ups in Ireland...

I will? Oh, so I am :-)

Yes, we just put in two of them in WTSC and we find them excellent. The price is a bit of a kick in the current economic climate, but if we could, we'd get in fourteen more. But we'd still keep at least one firing point with paper targets because some of the training targets (eg. horizontal lines, blank targets, and so on) can't really be done on electronic targets of any kind. But they're fabulous for running matches.

We do want to rig up our RIKA in conjunction with one for training. More on that later perhaps.

jhmartin wrote:I'm really only familiar with the Megalinks.

On the Laser/LED systems, is there still paper for protests?

It's an optional extra on the Sius Laserscore system.

David Levene wrote:

jhmartin wrote:I'm really only familiar with the Megalinks.

On the Laser/LED systems, is there still paper for protests?

It's an optional extra on the Sius Laserscore system.

The Meyton system uses a paper background target.

Sius Laserscore is now available in the US through ShotResponse. Visit our website at www.shotrepsonse.com for more information and send us an email if you would like more information.