Jerome104

Interested in buying a used aim solo dl from fellow rennlister. Let me know

ShakeNBake

go with vbox and thank me later

orthojoe

????

ShakeNBake

Vbox is a better learning tool. I can write a thesis on why if you want.

Spyerx

How about the quick 3 bullet points why

orthojoe

Which vbox product are you referring to? How is what vbox does different than what the Solo DL does?
Both are GPS based at 10Hz (depending on model), both can datalog (depends on what model), both have accelerometers, both have data analysis software, both have predictive lap timers.

+1

My friend has a vbox. He never uses it. Ever. He can't figure it out. I have an AiM solo DL. I use it every time, make use of all of the features, and I love it. I'm sure I could figure out how my friend's vbox works, but the AiM unit works so well for me I'm curious why you thinks it's inferior to vbox. Perhaps I'll learn something new?

modoz61

I have had my VBox since 2009, cameras a novelty that eventually wears off, although checking head position for cornering is very useful but the ease with which I could integrate the CAN bus data gave a whole new view on analysis and to that end the analysis tools I have always found to be quite intuitive.

The only complaint I have seems to be if you park in a garage (no GPS signal) the system triggers and records for a couple of seconds giving a large number of useless files on the memory card but overall not a major issue

ShakeNBake

OK - I've had a SoloDL and Smartycam gp on my car for over a year. The hardware is very nicely crafted and designed. The operation in the car is pretty bullet proof in terms of turning on when needed, and acting like a lap/predictive lap timer. When I saw a friends vbox in action, I sold the Aim the next day and bought a vbox lite with 4 channel CAN integration (upgradable to 8 channels) and remote display. The price is/was very similar to an AIM SoloDL with a Smartycam GP camera.

The issue is the quality, usability, speed, and functionality of their software.

Aim:
- It is very clunky to download your data, and get up and running with data analysis while at the track. You kinda gotta grab a coffee and get snug. I say this in relative terms .

- It is not possible to see laps side by side in video without punching your computer. You have to manually play both videos side by side and jog each independently to be in sync - and then they are not really in sync with position, they are in sync with time - so it's very difficult to compare what you are doing at the exact same spot on the track. To be crystal clear - I am talk just about video, not about data histograms. This is just trying to watch two laps side by side in video....

- It is not possible to see laps and data at the same time. Yes the data is overlayed as the video is recorded, but there is a lot of very useful info in a data vs. position plot that you cannot see with the Aim because it can't sync the video with data plots.

Vbox:
- Everything is stored in the same file, so it's very easy to download. And not only that, when you load up the analysis software, it automagically pulls up the best lap, shows video and data plots within milliseconds. And no clicks, except to pick which file to load. The next thing you do is start jogging through the data, and adding another lap is one click a way, not 10. Adding another session is loading a file and automatic to pull up best lap of the second session...no clicks required. I can't begin to tell you how much more productive I am at the track in between jumping in students cars and my own.

- The killer feature is the video and data integration. Vbox can pull up 8 laps side by side with video for each, synced to the data - and ALIGNED WITH TRACK POSITION. So this means that you can set everything to play back with position on track, and this means you can directly compare two laps inch by inch on the track, including video, and including data overlays on the video, which like the AIM, are overlayed when the video is recorded. The user has to do NOTHING except pick the laps and sessions for this to happen. When you slide the cursor/job through the data plots, the video moves with it...and very quickly, there is zero lag, even with 8 laps going at once.

Let me put this in context for you. I was at the Andy Lally event that Dave and Mike put on (fantastic event BTW). My buddy had Lally and another pro-shoe friend of his drive his car back to back - same tires, conditions, setup, etc. He was able to pull up, side by side, his best lap of the day, Lally's and Steve's. And we could step through the video, data overlay on video, and data histograms foot by foot of the track to learn how each person was performing relative to one another. It was amazing. I was sold. I have NEVER been that informed in my experience with the G2X, Traqmate, Harry's, and Aim.

Here is another way to put this in context. You know when you are experimenting with something, learning two totally different approaches - say high/low line at TWS going into 1. How do you remember what you were doing in the data? Video helps see position on track because the GPS data drifts and is not really that accurate in showing exact position on track.

- Another feature the Vbox has that I have not figured out yet is in-car segment time comparisons. This means you can divide the track up into segments and get feedback on how each segment compares to a reference lap while driving the car - which is more useful than predictive lap timing, especially in traffic.

While AIM says they are working on video and data sync, software and analysis are not their forte (relative to vbox). Racelogic makes very high end data recording hardware and analysis software - the stuff that engineering firms use. They have far far far more experience and ingenuity doing this, and it shows - and their software is robust and easy to use. I will say though that it's more difficult for someone like Peter to setup the vbox remotely and have it work for the customer right out of the box, so I can see a lot of guys who are not nerdy getting lost getting vbox up and running. With Aim, Peter is able to get is configured such the end user does not have to touch a thing.

So let me end with this. The Vbox for me is superior, by an order of magnitude. But, it is not an idiot proof system, which I have learned the hard way a few times. It is much more powerful, but with power comes more responsibility. The Aim is more of an appliance - best way I can think of explaining it. You install the Aim, it does what you ask it without fail....and a lot of people like that about it.


Here is the Aim software...I have to say it's a bitch to use, and reminds me of G2X - only i think I liked my G2X better. I'm a software guy and yes, you can teach anything to a monkey, but the Aim software was designed by amateurs in interactive design.


Here is Vbox (forgive the bad overlay...my gears are not working and I forgot to remove the COTA track map)

orthojoe

Very interesting. This has my eyes wandering towards vbox now. Thanks for the writeup. I'll be the first to admit that the aim software is a pain in the ***.

ShakeNBake

If you want, I can try to upload a session at tws to a file share and you can play around with the software. It's about a gig. Software is free to download I think.

daveo4porsche

I have an AIM Smarty Cam, EVO4, and AIM ML Dash unit - make you an awesome deal on all three and various cables and such - used it in my GT3 for years - works well.

PM me.

orthojoe

Thanks for the offer! If you use the CAN connectors, will vbox know how to decode the information and get you all of the usual info like rpm, tps, brake position, oil temps/pressure, etc?

ShakeNBake

Yes, the lite unit is 4 channels, upgradable to 8 channels. I use Throttle, Brake, RPM, steering angle. I calculate - though still getting it working - the gear. you can put a math forumula on top of any input if you want to normalize/convert it to something different.

The other, well maybe a benefit and maybe not, is that it calculates acceleration via GPS, not with accelerometers. I have found no issue - but what this means is that there is no mounting consideration to worry about.

The SmartyCam uses it's own internal accelerometers, even though the SoloDL has them - and you need to calibrate it.