By Rehan Nana

Every now and again, a new product comes along that completely changes the landscape of the outdoor industry.

Nearly seven years ago, I was sent a Garmin Alpha GPS tracking and training unit to test and evaluate. Within minutes of using it, I was utterly dumbstruck. It was such revolutionary technology for dog trainers that I remember thinking it was going to transform how we train, communicate and hunt with our dogs.

And it did.

Today, the Garmin Alpha is the ubiquitous GPS tracking and training dog collar in the market, and it has revolutionized how upland, hound and other dog enthusiasts relate to the outdoors.

Now, Garmin has done it again by launching the Xero S1 Trapshooting Trainer. It’s the first near real-time, live-fire device that provides immediate feedback and detailed analytics for every shot you take on the trap range or when practicing upland scenarios. Using radar technology and computer vision, Xero S1 gives shooting enthusiasts never-before-seen insight into shot dynamics, accuracy and performance.

In short, Garmin has figured out how to “see” and record what happens to your shot once it leaves the end of your barrel and intersects with the clay target — and then provide almost-immediate detailed analytical information (per round and overtime) for hits and misses.

What this means is simple but extraordinary. The days of standing at the trap range saying, “I think I was a little behind that shot …” are over. Now, using the Xero S1, you can say within seconds of your shot, “I was 12 inches below and to the right of that at 35 yards. I was shooting a little slow with a reaction time of .74 seconds, which could be why I missed.”

As an avid upland hunter and casual trapshooter, I am astounded at the precision and information provided by the Xero S1 Trapshooting Trainer. In the time that I’ve used it, I’ve found Xero S1 functions that have helped me learn about my own shooting, and, more importantly, the things that I now know I can improve on in my shooting performance to give me an advantage on the range and in the field.

‘Reaction Time’

The Xero S1, designed to sit on a tripod near you at the range, automatically detects your shot once you pull the trigger and within a few seconds displays your shooting reaction time.

I always try to get on targets as quickly as I can for both upland and trap. In upland hunting, this helps minimize loss through more pellets on target and closes the distance for a dog to make a find, which is critical. For trap, a faster shot means a tighter pattern, so it is less likely for a clay to slip through.

In my first round on a recent shoot, the cumulative reaction time was displayed after each shot, and I saw a surprising pattern develop. I found that my accuracy was a bell curve with drop off taking place when shooting too fast (under .40 seconds) or waiting too long (more than .70 seconds). Right there in front of me on the Xero S1 was a way to quantify the timing sweet spot for my shooting. If I stayed within that range, I would be a more accurate shooter.

I’ve focused on this ever since, and my hit percentage has gone up.

‘Break Factor’

If two people consistently finish with the same score in a clay-shooting round (say 24 or 25 targets hit), who can say they are the better shot?

Enter Xero S1’s “Break Factor” functionality to break the tie.

After “Reaction Time,” hit or miss information is displayed, and because the trainer precisely sees your shot pattern and clay target, it assigns a point value for the quality of your break: zero for a miss, one for a chip, three for a clean break, and four for a perfect smash.

So while two shooters may be perfect or near perfect on their targets hit, Shooter No. 1 may have a break factor of 80, while Shooter No. 2’s break factor is 63. Shooter No. 1 is the better shot.

Aside from the fun, competitive side of it, working to improve your break factor means you’re working to put more pellets on target and increasing your accuracy performance over time.

For both trap and upland, I try to get the maximum number of pellets on target. Xero S1’s “Break Factor” helps me quantify if I am achieving this goal — and if I’m not, it helps me work toward improving.

Introducing the Xero app

To improve we must learn what we are doing wrong. Historically, this has meant cases of shells, countless rounds and … best guesses. Thankfully, Garmin’s new, and free, Xero app improves on this.

After adding the app to their mobile device and pairing it with their Xero S1 Trapshooting Trainer, users can utilize comprehensive analytics and data to gain insight into improving their proficiency. This is information that either previously wasn’t available or took lengthy data collection. Some of the information includes total rounds, total shots, hit percentage per round, hit percentage per station, shot speed, clay speed, reaction time, accuracy performance at…