Surefire Shot Timer Review

To many people, the name Surefire is synonymous with bright, high quality flash lights.  Surefire makes flashlights that are used by the military, Law Enforcement and sportsmen all across the world.  I own several Surefire flashlights, including a weapon mounted light.  Here is my review of the Surefire M962 weapon light.  

While looking for shooting apps one day on my iPhone, I noticed one from Surefire titled "Shot timer."  I've shot a few IDPA matches and while I don't compete regularly, I really enjoy the fast paced shooting.  I have considered purchasing an actual shot time in the past, but I never really wanted to spend the money on something that I wouldn't use a whole lot.  When I found the Surefire shot timer app I figured it couldn't hurt to try the free download.

I have had the app on my phone for quite a while now, but just started using it more recently.  Most of the time when I am shooting I focus on the shooting and don't focus on the time.  Recently my brother and I were at the range and decided to try out the shot timer.  We were shooting a 9mm AR-15 pistol and a Springfield TRP and decided to do some basic movement between targets.  

The range that we are at is an outdoor range in the mountains of Colorado.  There is a highway a couple hundred yards away and there were a couple other people shooting that day.  We found that we had to be careful to point the microphone towards the shot and adjust the sensitivity to get it to pick up the correct shots.  With the sensitivity too low, it would miss our shots.  If we adjusted the sensitivity too high, it would start to pick up the hard consonants of our speech.  

Once we had the sensitivity adjusted and the microphone pointed the right way, we were pretty successful in getting all of our shots to register.  This added some fun to the shooting. My brother had never shot while using a timer and enjoyed the small amount of added stress when we compared time and accuracy.

Screen capture showing eight shots counted.

So what are the pros and cons of the app?  Let's take a look at some of my observations below:

PRO:   For me the biggest pro is that the app was free to download.  If you already own an iPhone this is is the cheapest way I know of to have a shot timer.  Another big advantage is portability.  If you are like me, you always have your phone with you, so you don't have to worry about bringing an extra piece of equipment to the range.  I really like the random start option.  This adds a little bit of unpredictability to the buzzer, preventing shooters from "jumping the gun."  Another advantage is the ability to e-mail results to yourself.  If you are trying to track your performance this gives you a great option for storing times without having to write them down.

CON:  The biggest con for me was the difficulty in adjusting the sensitivity to pick up all of our shots, but no background noise.  It took quite a bit of adjustment and we would still notice the occasional dropped shot, or almost as annoying was seeing more shots counted that what we fired.  Another disadvantage of many apps is that they drain your battery much faster than normal.  You may want to make sure you have a charger available if you plan on using this app for an extended amount of time.  At this time the app does not appear to be available for Android users, but there are some other timer options available that I haven't tried out.

Settings screen with start delay and random settings.

SUMMARY:  Despite the frustrations with the sensitivity, this app is hard to beat as a free download.  If you are a serious competitive shooter, you may want to spend the money on an actual shot timer.  If you are a casual shooter or are just starting to work on improving your shooting speed, this is a great place to start.  For the price (Free), it is hard to beat.  I would definitely say that it is worth having on your phone in case you decide to time your shots at the last minute.  

What are your thoughts on this app or other shot timer options?  Let us know in the comment section below.