I got a Chrony for Christmas

[DC]

A Chrony F1 to be exact. Does anyone have experience with these? I know it's a cheapie so I'm expecting less than stellar performance. I tried my favorite bow which is 35# and with a 435 gr arrow got consistent 140 fps range. I changed to a 285 gr and got 159 a couple of times. I changed to a 43# bow and got 155 with the heavy arrows and 179 once with the light. As the light started to fade I started getting weird numbers like 520 fps once and 53 fps a lot. Does low light cause  strange numbers rather than ERR messages? I found the most consistent results came at about 10-12' from the chrony, just far enough so I couldn't read the display

[lebhuntfish]

Yeah you have to have daylight for the chrono to work properly. Direct sun is the best. I've tried to use artificial light but with mixed results. It's better to shoot on a pretty day anyways! Patrick

[DC]

In the winter around here you shoot on cloudy rainy days or you don't shoot at all.

[Del the cat]

Yeah, it's easy to get odd results especially at close range where the arrow is flexing. You can get a situation where the point of the arrow breaks the first beam, but misses the second (due to flexing) the tail end of the shaft then breaks the second beam and you get 50fps. Or it happens round the other way and you get 500fps.
I had a lot of trouble making up a decent indoor lighting setup. Can't use fluorescent lights because of the flicker.
The draw length and loose make a huge difference too.
Del
(I got a new ball of string for Christmas  )

[DC]

How far away do you stand?