During the 2024 SHOT Show, MDT debuted the Crush It Stage Timer and had samples on display at their booth on the show floor.
The Crush It is essentially a stopwatch or countdown timer with visual and audible alerts that can be mounted to a rifle similarly to the SEND iT level. I was extremely excited by this product and I knew I would be ordering one when they were released.
I’m sure many wonder why I would be excited by something so simple as a timer. I have been wanting an effective rifle mounted timer ever since the mid-2000s when I shot High Power (Service) Rifle. While a timer is not super-critical for NRA / CMP High Power (Across the Course), it does make for a great tool to moderate your pace, particularly in the rapid fire stages (60 seconds for 200 yard rapid fire sitting, 70 seconds for 300 yard rapid fire prone).
I never found anything that was remotely close to perfect for rifle mounting. There were a few low production one-offs and some DIY hacks of repurposed kitchen timers.
In the above video, you can see one such example of what I believe is a DIY setup repurposing a basic lab or kitchen timer.
From then until the start of 2024, I have not seen any timer that was ideal for shooting competitions and rifle mountable.
Enter MDT at SHOT Show 2024 with the Crush It Stage Timer as mentioned earlier. Then, on July 4th, MDT finally announced the public release of the Crush It Stage Timer and I immediately placed the order when I received and saw the email notification. The following week it arrived to my delight.
The MDT Crush It Stage Timer has a bright and legible LCD display.
In the above photos, you can see that there is a minute and seconds display, along with a bar meter to give another visual cue on how much time is left. Furthermore, you can see that the display can be rotated so it can be read in either the horizontal or vertical positions.
Additionally, to make it more readable, you can switch to an alternative display where it removes the meter and only displays minutes:seconds on the LCD.
Note that the display can be rotated so it can be displayed in all four orientations.
Out of the box, the MDT Crush It Stage Timer is setup for a 2 minute stage in Basic Mode. Basic Mode gives you your set time for whatever you want it to countdown from, with an option for a 50% alert (a notification when half the time is left), along with the option of three different audible tone types, and three different volumes (low/medium/high).
Beyond that, there is a Custom Mode which I believe many people will elect to use. Custom Mode gives you the ability to create up to five (5) alerts during the countdown. For example, for NRL Hunter 4 minute stages, you could set up an alert at the 2 minute mark, an alert when there is 1 minute left, an alert with 30 seconds left, an alert with 20 seconds left, and another at the 10 second mark.
There are other custom configurations along with the ability to choose the audible tone for the alert point, the number of beeps for the alert point, as well as the length of the beep, and volume of the beep. Furthermore, each individual alert point can have different tones, number of beeps, length of beeps, and volume of tone, independent from one another.
The MDT Crush It Stage Timer has the menu system outlined in the provided manual and is definitely something to keep as a reference.
The MDT Crush It Stage Timer is similar in design to the SEND iT level. It uses the same mounting interfaces and comes with a 90 degree mount for clamping to a picatinny rail.
This configuration expects most people to try mounting it on their scope rail underneath the scope body and between the rings, and it included mount requires a minimum of 0.3″ between scope and picatinny rail.
However, many people likely use one-piece mounts which restricts or prohibits use of this, depending on where the scope mount is placed on the rail and the length of the rail.
The provided mount for the Crush It Stage Timer uses a thumb screw with wings by default, similarly to the SEND iT level. This can be problematic depending on the mounting situation. For example, if is mounted to the rear of the scope rail, there is the potential for interference with the bolt handle on a bolt action rifle.
The above photos show an edge case situation, where the Crush It Stage Timer is mounted very far aft on the rail and the thumb screw is clocked in such a way that the wing is in a direction towards the operating area of the bolt handle.
This can be addressed by either moving the Crush It to another location, or replacing the wing screw with an alternative screw provided by MDT in the box which is just a typical rounded head hex drive screw which gives it a lower profile without having the ‘huge’ wing screw in the way. The only drawback is that it will not be a tool-less mount for quick (un)mounting.
As indicated earlier, the Crush It Stage Timer is a similar form factor as the SEND iT level. It also shares the same keyed mounting interface as the SEND iT.
Thus, any mounting adapters for a SEND iT can also be used with the Crush It and creates more mounting opportunities depending on the user’s needs on a given platform.
For example, with a Spuhr mount, there is a 90 degree Spuhr mount available that allows a SEND iT or Crush It to be mounted to the side of a Spuhr ISMS.
In the case of a Spuhr ISMS, this gives a few more mounting points on a rifle for a Crush It timer.
Of course, you can use picatinny rail sections on top of scope mounts / rings, but unless it is placed on the rear ring, the 90 degree mount prevents the Crush It display from being visible and readable.
MDT also has an MLOK adapter for the SEND iT and Crush It units with mounts the devices in a 90 degree orientation. This can provide other usable mounting options depending on the platform.
The one item that I find odd is that MDT does not sell the horizontal picatinny mount as a standalone accessory. It appears the only way to get this mount is by buying a Send iT level.
MDT should include the horizontal picatinny mount along with the Crush It to give users both horizontal and 90 degree mounting options, or at the very least, make the horizontal mount available for purchase.
The MDT Crush It Stage Timer is powered by a CR1/3N battery and MDT advertises the battery to last for 200 two-minute stages on average. Of course, true battery life will vary based on temperature (colder temps decrease battery life).
MDT indicates the Crush It is weather resistant and it appears there is a seal for the panel that you remove in order to access the battery.
There is no Ingress Protection (IP) rating for this unit, but I will say that it is likely just enough to handle rain and not full submersion. According to the MDT manual:
The MDT CRUSH IT TIMER is weatherproof for most conditions. The sound port features a dust resistant cover but is not waterproof. We strongly suggest mounting the Timer with the sound port downwards when used in wet conditions. Water may enter the speakers port and will significantly impede the sound. If water enters the speaker’s port- power the timer down, remove the battery cover and battery, and store the timer vertically with the speaker port pointing downwards, and let it sit for 12-24 hours in a warm area to allow the water to fully drain and dry.
The speaker port referenced in the citation is on the small side of the Crush It unit that is nearest to the LCD (opposite side of the mount interface). So if the unit is mounted vertically (90 degree mount) with knob up and LCD down, the speaker will be facing down.
One other feature to note is that the MDT Crush It Stage Timer supports a pressure switch by way of a 2.5mm connection.
Pressure switches with a 2.5mm jack are typically used for flashlights and I did order one from Amazon to try out. However, it seems to be inconsistent in activating the timer. In my testing, 1 out of 5 times the pressure switch will not start the timer.
I did end up making my own pressure switch based on advice from a regular competitor at the NRL22 matches I run. He acquired pressure buttons from Amazon and the appropriate 2.5mm (mono) male connectors, wired them together, and found it to work reliably. I did the same and the switch activates the MDT Crush It stage timer 100% of the time.
Recommendation: Do not buy a pressure switch off Amazon. Make your own.
With all these features discussed, the real feedback comes after using the MDT Crush It Stage Timer in live-fire, either in practice at the range or actual match stages.
I have used it in three NRL22 match director stage run-throughs / match preparation range sessions and three actual NRL22 matches and I found it to be invaluable to track my own time, specifically when I had a malfunction or a non-DQ procedural error (e.g., went to the wrong firing position and needed to move back). Knowing my available time and having it right in my field of view allows me to adjust my shooting cadence appropriately.
I will say that having the timer in my face does cause me to look at it more often and sometimes I become more robotic in my actual firing cadence and I sometimes I deviate from the stage sequence. Thus, I do need to make sure I don’t hyper-focus on the timer. I do chalk this up to the fact that I am still in that ‘testing’ phase of ownership.
While the MDT Crush It Stage Timer attracted a lot of attention for what it offers, it has one highly polarizing quality and that is the price: $249.95 USD.
There were a lot of comments on social media platforms calling out the price and making statements about how it is just a few dollars of parts and should not cost this much.
This type of response does irk me because it is a very misguided point of view. Let’s hypothetically assume the MDT Crush It Timer contains $10 in parts and that it costs $10 to manufacturer each unit for a total of $20 in production cost. But the MDT Crush It Stage Timer just didn’t magically appear out of thin air when someone pulls out $20.
There was time spent in research in development. Some amount of people took the time to figure out what exactly people would want in a timer. Then some amount of people took the time to actually write the software and design the interface. If you understand the software development lifecycle, there was development, unit testing, bug fixes, more unit testing, UI validation, and more. Not to mention this is essentially an embedded system where you can’t easily update the software on the unit after it ships.
I’ll concede that this isn’t a super-complex piece of software, but it certainly wasn’t a trivial task. There were definitely hours put into the product development.
Even after you factor in the hours spent in R&D, you have to factor in all the hours and money spent in creating the production and manufacturing pipeline. On top of that, there are the post-sales support in terms of customer support, warranty claims, etc.
All this said, it’s not just the cost of parts.
There have been comments on social media that you should just get a cheap timer.
The MDT Crush It Stage Timer is hands down the timer that addresses the needs for competitive rifle shooters, not just with the design but with the implementation. The onboard software can be configured to give a competitor the valuable information of time remaining in a clear and identifiable manner (visual and audible cues).
Earlier this year, I did use a timer made under the name Sper Scientific that is sold on Amazon for NRL Hunter matches. The Sper Scientific timer has been a common sight at NRL Hunter marches because it is a countdown timer with audible alerts at each minute, then at 30 seconds, 20 seconds, and then followed by a full 10 second countdown at the end, similar to the MDT Crush It. Until the MDT Crush It, this Amazon-sourced timer was the only countdown timer that fit the bill for NRL Hunter stage self-timing.
However, the Sper Scientific timer does not naturally mount to anything, is not rugged with regards to the plastic case and buttons, and is not weatherproof. It was prone to accidental button presses and takes effort to make sure it properly resets. For ~$30, this timer is a low-cost way to track time but lacks what I have desired out of a shooting timer for decades: low profile, gun mountable, weatherproof, and rugged.
Now I can stop using the Sper Scientific timer and switch to the MDT Crush It Stage Timer for both NRL22 and NRL Hunter matches.
Would I recommend the MDT Crush It Stage Timer?
Yes, this is going to be a God-send for a competitive rifle shooter where the discipline has timed stages. The MDT Crush It Stage Timer packs what I feel are the necessary features in a self-timer for a shooting competition in a rugged and versatile form-factor.
Even though I recommend this for the dedicated competition shooter, there is one feature I would want out of this. While the Crush It custom mode can be configured for specific types of formats, there is not a way to save a custom mode into a profile. It would be great if you could save multiple custom profiles for different types of formats and switch between them when you are at the applicable match.
Some desire a combined MDT SEND iT and Crush It in a single unit. This would be great assuming MDT could keep the size and weight down close to the original SEND iT size.
If you shoot matches with timed stages and want to be more aware of your time, I feel the MDT Crush It is a game changing product for what it provides in features and presentation, and I personally recommend it. Of course, if you do not have the need for this type of tool, then you can pass on the Crush It.
For those that can’t get past the price, there is still the Sper Scientific timer off of Amazon. Not to mention, there will likely be other manufacturers trying to follow MDT’s lead and make a competing product at a lower price point.
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