When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I used it at COTA this weekend and I agree with much of what Larry said. I didn't get as much out of it as I had hoped and the verbal instructions were fairly generalized. I DO think this is a v1.0 device and that it can/will get better. There's just too much potential in it. So I'm not ready to throw it into the bin of missed opportunities yet and I'm actually still very excited to see where it goes.
Some random thoughts, mostly rehashes of what's been said but now backed up by my experience.
I certainly wish that I'd stuck one of my many cards into the device before the weekend because as far as I can tell there's no way to get the video off the internal card (as Peter said earlier but I conveniently ignored).
This is not a replacement for an AIM, VBOX, etc. There is no data component other than the derived GPS data, although that GPS data seems to be high quality there are still some odd sampling errors that I've noticed here and there.
The ability to review laps between sessions or at the lunch break is a great tool. That in itself might be enough to sell this device for some people.
The teaching component is probably great for a driver in their first year or two of track driving. There is probably diminishing return on it as you gain more experience at a track. (might be obvious, but should be said)
The "optimum braking point" comparison screenshots is a really cool feature: it shows you a screenshot from your best braking point (optimum) vs your average, so you can see the visual references and use those next time out. It's a great feature that's easily understood at all levels of driving. They kind of bury the lede with this feature as two tiny images in the Braking tab of the Opportunities feature.
The opportunities are based on averages so if you're in a lot of traffic (and having to take non-optimal lines in many corners) lap after lap then it's going to be a little confused by that. It shows my average line going into T1 as coming over to the left early, which is the result of taking lots of passes to the inside going in to T1, so of course my optimal apex looks very different from my average and it shows that as an "opportunity." I don't really know how to solve that without lots and lots of laps to make the average...well...more average.
It would be nice to be able to "Add all opportunities to Race Coach" instead of having to manually enable them.
The "Position" opportunity tab has only shown up once for me but it's the one that I get the most value from. I'm probably strange that way.
Right now it only uses data on the device. I could certainly see a future where it can also include laps and racing lines from other drivers in similar cars (although they'd have to collect more info about the cars than they do currently to make that useful). They are going to have thousands of laps to derive useful instruction from, they should leverage that data.
The main glaring issue right now is that they MUST offer a way to get their data-overlayed video off the device. I want to take that video and save it/post it to youtube so my track buddies get to laugh me.
(note: I work as a software developer—mobile and web—so I'm keenly aware of the software/hardware limitations and where they could take this. I'm excited by the potential and I bought it with that in mind)
Last edited by conceptDawg; 09-28-2020 at 02:40 PM.
I used it at COTA this weekend and I agree with much of what Larry said. I didn't get as much out of it as I had hoped and the verbal instructions were fairly generalized. I DO think this is a v1.0 device and that it can/will get better. There's just too much potential in it. So I'm not ready to throw it into the bin of missed opportunities yet and I'm actually still very excited to see where it goes.
Some random thoughts, mostly rehashes of what's been said but now backed up by my experience.
I certainly wish that I'd stuck one of my many cards into the device before the weekend because as far as I can tell there's no way to get the video off the internal card (as Peter said earlier but I conveniently ignored).
This is not a replacement for an AIM, VBOX, etc. There is no data component other than the derived GPS data, although that GPS data seems to be high quality there are still some odd sampling errors that I've noticed here and there.
The ability to review laps between sessions or at the lunch break is a great tool. That in itself might be enough to sell this device for some people.
The teaching component is probably great for a driver in their first year or two of track driving. There is probably diminishing return on it as you gain more experience at a track. (might be obvious, but should be said)
The "optimum braking point" comparison screenshots is a really cool feature: it shows you a screenshot from your best braking point (optimum) vs your average, so you can see the visual references and use those next time out. It's a great feature that's easily understood at all levels of driving. They kind of bury the lede with this feature as two tiny images in the Braking tab of the Opportunities feature.
The opportunities are based on averages so if you're in a lot of traffic (and having to take non-optimal lines in many corners) lap after lap then it's going to be a little confused by that. It shows my average line going into T1 as coming over to the left early, which is the result of taking lots of passes to the inside going in to T1, so of course my optimal apex looks very different from my average and it shows that as an "opportunity." I don't really know how to solve that without lots and lots of laps to make the average...well...more average.
It would be nice to be able to "Add all opportunities to Race Coach" instead of having to manually enable them.
The "Position" opportunity tab has only shown up once for me but it's the one that I get the most value from. I'm probably strange that way.
Right now it only uses data on the device. I could certainly see a future where it can also include laps and racing lines from other drivers in similar cars (although they'd have to collect more info about the cars than they do currently to make that useful). They are going to have thousands of laps to derive useful instruction from, they should leverage that data.
The main glaring issue right now is that they MUST offer a way to get their data-overlayed video off the device. I want to take that video and save it/post it to youtube so my track buddies get to laugh me.
(note:I work as a software developer—mobile and web—so I'm keenly aware of the software/hardware limitations and where they could take this. I'm excited by the potential and I bought it with that in mind)
+1 on all of the above... I'm looking forward to the future of this device as they develop it and hopefully find a way to take positive (and negative) user feedback into the design improvements and developments...
p.s I *thought* that regardless of the location of the sd card (internal or external) the mp4 was readable from either if removed and inserted into an appropriate adapter on a PC/Mac - some RLers @ Sonoma did this with the internal card last Friday???
p.s I *thought* that regardless of the location of the sd card (internal or external) the mp4 was readable from either if removed and inserted into an appropriate adapter on a PC/Mac - some RLers @ Sonoma did this with the internal card last Friday???
Ah. I'll have to dig a little to see where it comes up. I only have a Mac here right now and it doesn't come up in the finder while plugged in and it's not available via Image Capture as a device. I'll have to dig more now that I know others have done it. I must confess that I haven't really given it much effort so far.
I used the device this weekend and found it to be very helpful. It will be my go to device on a track weekend in front of my AIM . Very easy to assimilate information quickly after a session. If you can use it to pinpoint one or two sectors that you can improve on over the course of a day what more can you expect. I was a little surprised in that 2 of the corners that I always thought I could be better at It did not give me any coaching opportunity's at all and some of my faster times during some sectors was when I broke earlier 'slow in /fast out' was clear to see. The opportunities' for mid level drivers is tremendous. and if you are at the pointy end it can be a great tune up tool. The only problem I had was the volume through the ear buds I was using was not high enough.
I did set a personnel best by half a second, Chasing a GT4 Clubsport bay have contributed to that.
Ah. I'll have to dig a little to see where it comes up. I only have a Mac here right now and it doesn't come up in the finder while plugged in and it's not available via Image Capture as a device. I'll have to dig more now that I know others have done it. I must confess that I haven't really given it much effort so far.
I'll have a peek at my card...
Last edited by Larry Cable; 09-28-2020 at 04:20 PM.
Transcend > Android > data > com.garmin.racingcoach > files > RaceData > (username) > (car) > (track) > (datestamped folder) > (session)
Each session folder has a video file and an optimum lap video file.
The video DOES NOT have the overlayed speed or map info that you see on the device screen when watching video. While already known, and I know why it doesn't, it's still disappointing and makes another argument for an "export" feature from the device that can export the data with overlays, even if it takes a while.
As for video quality: 1080p. It's probably about the same as the vbox video I've seen. Definitely not as good quality or stabilization as a GoPro that is set up correctly.
Seeing the optimal lap videos in each session folder leads me to another point for any Garmin folks that might happen to be reading this after getting a Google alert....
The optimal lap idea would be better carried out over multiple sessions. Maybe a day or even a weekend. I know that's not how you ALWAYS want to do it because of weather, temps, or whatever, but most weekends I can probably use any of my sectors over the weekend (or at least the day) to build an optimal lap. Just food for thought.
BTW: On a Mac you can use Android File Transfer or Commander One to view the files.
Transcend > Android > data > com.garmin.racingcoach > files > RaceData > (username) > (car) > (track) > (datestamped folder) > (session)
Each session folder has a video file and an optimum lap video file.
The video DOES NOT have the overlayed speed or map info that you see on the device screen when watching video. While already known, and I know why it doesn't, it's still disappointing and makes another argument for an "export" feature from the device that can export the data with overlays, even if it takes a while.
As for video quality: 1080p. It's probably about the same as the vbox video I've seen. Definitely not as good quality or stabilization as a GoPro that is set up correctly.
Seeing the optimal lap videos in each session folder leads me to another point for any Garmin folks that might happen to be reading this after getting a Google alert....
The optimal lap idea would be better carried out over multiple sessions. Maybe a day or even a weekend. I know that's not how you ALWAYS want to do it because of weather, temps, or whatever, but most weekends I can probably use any of my sectors over the weekend (or at least the day) to build an optimal lap. Just food for thought.
BTW: On a Mac you can use Android File Transfer or Commander One to view the files.
There is a .FIT data file at
Internal Storage > Android > data > com.garmin.racingcoach > files > Activities > (file)
...but it isn't all of the data from the weekend, just a single session. I haven't found any more data files in other places...yet, but I assume they are somewhere.
Here's a peek at the data density from the .FIT file...
timestamp, position, enhanced altitude, enhanced speed, distance
It doesn't look like it's registering altitude because every entry has the same value: 400m
There is a .FIT data file at
Internal Storage > Android > data > com.garmin.racingcoach > files > Activities > (file)
...but it isn't all of the data from the weekend, just a single session. I haven't found any more data files in other places...yet, but I assume they are somewhere.
Here's a peek at the data density from the .FIT file...
timestamp, position, enhanced altitude, enhanced speed, distance
It doesn't look like it's registering altitude because every entry has the same value: 400m
VERY interesting - good catch ... which session was it - the last/current one?
BTW if you synch your Catalyst with Garmin Connect (cloud) it does upload all individual sessions, but the data synch'ed appears to be more of a "summary" (or at least that it what is presented)
It really needs the ability to capture video and telemetry for post analysis - not only that but also the ability to reload previous track data into the unit in order to refine/compare a previous visit to the
same track with the next time...
Based on speeds it looks like it's probably the morning warmup of the first day but the timestamp doesn't agree with that analysis....so maybe I'm just going half the speed I think I am when I'm on track.
Based on speeds it looks like it's probably the morning warmup of the first day but the timestamp doesn't agree with that analysis....so maybe I'm just going half the speed I think I am when I'm on track.
I understand the desire by some to have rendered data on the video available real time. That is not likely to happen simply due to the horsepower required to make it happen.
I sell only three devices that do that. AiM SmartyCam HD (needs a connected logger or GPS antenna), MoTeC V2 (needs a connected logger) and the VBOX Lite (standard definition, two camera picture in picture, includes everything) and the VBOX HD2 (1080p PiP, includes everything).
Most likely, the Garmin device will be able to export raw item stamped video (already does that now) and some data file which a yet to appear app will render after the fact on a laptop or online.
But I think it will be next year. It will not require new hardware, so those of you on the fence can feel safe.
__________________ -Peter Krause www.peterkrause.net www.gofasternow.com
"Combining the Art and Science of Driving Fast!"
Specializing in Professional, Private Driver Performance Evaluation and Optimization
Consultation Available Remotely and at VIRginia International Raceway
There is a .FIT data file at
Internal Storage > Android > data > com.garmin.racingcoach > files > Activities > (file)
...but it isn't all of the data from the weekend, just a single session. I haven't found any more data files in other places...yet, but I assume they are somewhere.
Here's a peek at the data density from the .FIT file...
timestamp, position, enhanced altitude, enhanced speed, distance
It doesn't look like it's registering altitude because every entry has the same value: 400m
interesting, I do not have any files in that folder or any .fit files in internal memory or on SD card storage according to Windows (show hidden files selected).
09-28-2020, 02:38 PM
