177mph

I realize this is a very basic tool and doesnt come close to the proper data systems that some drivers are using. I have been using it on and off the last few years in DE.

Is anyone using it successfully and do you have any tips??

Or is it a waste of money?

Thx

Matt Romanowski

I have no personal experience, but lots of people use it. Most have the best success if you add an external GPS.

Any data is better than no data!

DPCGT3

I have used Harry's and even upgraded to Petrolhead Edition. But it is limited and video is poor quality. Matt and I are talking about going with the full AIM DL and SmartyCam system as I want more info and feedback.

ProCoach

The major issue is dropped laps, missed laps and poor video. If it works, it is better than nothing, but almost everyone I talk to that has used it ends up purchasing a Solo DL/SmartyCam HD combo, like DPCGT3 is considering.

TXE36

New to me track car came with an old Traqmate and I've got to say, it just freaking works. AIM Solo has a good reputation as well.

I bought Harry's Lap Timer, and it never really worked reliably. Bite the bullet and spend the money on decent data if you are serious about this hobby. The AIM Solo is $400 or less and used Traqmates can be had for a bit more. Its less than a set of tires, but you don't really need data until you have the basics down anyway.

Once you get to the advanced level, data becomes much more important as the butt dyno here isn't even an educated guess. I suppose at the intermediate level and below, Harry's could help, but my argument in that case is the distraction from fooling with it will take away from you education of basics such as line, vision, and smoothness.

You don't need data to tell you your line "perfect", you are using all of the track, your vision is where it should be, and you are smooth as butta. You do need data to progress from there and get faster. At that point, Harry's Lap Timer is just a toy.

My $0.02. ETA: Yes, I think HLT is a waste of money.

-Mike

Asquared

External GPS has eliminated the dropped / missed lap issue for me, but yes, video is poor.

GVA-SFO

Well, Harrys seems to work fine, but, here I also use an external gps.
btw, I use a dual type 160. this device give 10 points per second and this is quite good, as some people even use it in the aviation ! (speed)
One should realise that gps from phones are designed to use very low power (to not drain phone battery) thus the acquisition speed is low, ..and simply not compatible with the task of tracking a car accurately on a track simply because of speed.

CRex

Like others said, many here "graduated" from HLT at some point in the past.

Getting used to data/video is a process. Jumping right into AIM/Motec/Cosworth/whatever can be daunting for the beginning not to mention costly.

HLT really is a great package for the data beginner. For $14 (or whatever it costs) one can't go wrong. The only caveat is if you already have your eyes on an AIM system--in which case you should dive right in as you want to start collecting your performance data in a future-proof format as early as possible.

Difool

One nice thing is that HLT is under constant development. In the last year it's stability has improved quite a bit. You really do need a good gps to get enough data points in a lap. The video quality is largely dependent on the phone you are using HLT with. It now has video stabilization as well, which is nice. The trick for me is not to grab my iPhone and walk away from the car, out of Bluetooth range. That forces me to go through a bit of a dance to resynch the OBD and GPS connections correctly. So for $300 all in you get a pretty reasonable setup, and the ability to look at quite a bit of data in pretty intuitive interfaces, all right on the phone. I'll probably graduate myself in the next year, but I've been impressed with what it can do and how fast it's evolving.

bml376

My experience with HLT was that it worked "okay" at best for me before upgrading to an iPhone 6 Plus. Post upgrade to the iPhone 6 Plus all I had were problems, mainly the app crashes randomly and also the app/phone seemed to always try to auto-adjust focus which resulted in videos that could give you motion sickness. The auto-focus issue was slightly remedied by locking the auto focus lens, but that resulted in a less than clear picture in certain cases. I finally gave up and moved to an AiM Solo DL + Smarty Cam (rev 2) and it has been fantastic! Like everyone says, it just works, the last thing I want when on track is to be distracted by video equipment.

ir_fuel

As with everything in life: you get what you pay for.