txbdan

Hey all, got my Catalyst today. I'm tinkering a bit since I won't be able to try it on track for a bit. I was under the impression that the device pretty much only operates within the current session and thus the predictive lap timer could do compare with best of session. However in the settings I see that I can set it to session best, today's best, personal best, or optimal. That's great if that means what I think it does. How does it know my personal best?

ProCoach

Personal Best is best time for that track under the same driver profile.

lnirenberg

I apologize if somewhere in this long thread this has been covered. I have been trying to download the data & videos on my laptop with no success. I have a newer Mac air with 2 usb-C inputs and I have a mini usb to C cable. The manual says that once I connect the 2 I should the Garmin as a drive and be able to grab files. The Garmin connect app opens up and sees my unit but the drive itself is not showing up anywhere. Anyone know how to deal with this?

ProCoach

No usable data can be removed from the Catalyst device, there is not an analysis program or app to display it. This is not that kind of logger.

You CAN remove videos, though. I find it far easier to pull the microSD card and insert it into a card reader, then connect it to the Mac.

For each track there will be folders for each date and run. In those folders you can find raw video of the session with good sound, an optimal lap with no sound and, if you render one, a video with the instrument overlay, including speed, g's, lap time, delta, track map and other information. You render those videos on the device itself. You can render the optimal, the fastest lap or any or all of the laps of a session.

max pl

I had the same issue and its because we both use a Mac. I forget if its because the Catalyst uses a non Mac supported file system or if its a different reason.

Your best option is to just remove the card from the Catalyst and insert into your Mac. Its honestly a very fast and simple method.

lnirenberg

I’m headed out to get a card reader. At my age I’m down to weekly laps at the track I belong to so I’m only looking for the video, speed and timer as I can extrapolate what my feet are doing from that. Thank you both for the info.

ALE

For the Garmin Catalyst pro-jocks, is there a way to have the Catalyst put a date stamp on the saved lap? Would show up as part of the data overlay.
Thank you.

ProCoach

Not yet, unless you do it after the weekend in RaceRender, then not available on the device. When you look up the saved lap, it's listed on the list of saved videos by time and date, I think.

DoxCroc

Actually, there is now a Catalyst app for iOS 14.0 and later that I stumbled across. Find it in the App Store. I use it on my iPad for the bigger screen than iPhone. Seems like it debuted 2 months ago with version 2.00 and has had a couple of bug fix upgrades. In looking at recent posts I can't find a mention, therefore this heads up. It displays data that has been uploaded to your Garmin Connect account by the "sync" button on the main unit. There is way more accurate data there than you are led to believe by the "bouncing ball" G-force meter in the saved video renderings. This includes graphs linked to track position of Speed, Linear Acceleration, and Lateral Acceleration that can be read to 0.1 mph and 0.01 g accuracy. Any 2 laps can be overlaid on top of each other including average and optimal laps.

I was happy to find this and I think that many have been requesting this function.

Mike M

sf_c63

Trying to figure out if the Garmin Catalyst would be useful in my use case...

I currently use TrackAddict and am a big fan of the data - sector times, corner speeds, theoretical lap...I'm at a point where I am not improving on my PR time, but have increased my consistency where I'm within a second or two of my PR lap after lap, session after session. I'm super familiar with the tracks I run, but I know I've gotten super comfortable with my braking points, speed carried in turns, etc. I think I just need to be "faster all around" but it isn't obvious to me how or where.

Can the Catalyst give me suggestions on how to improve - considering I'm consistently running laps within a second of my PR? Is the data going to help me realize where my inefficiencies are, in a way TrackAddict can't do? I know Catalyst can stitch together a theoretical vide lap, other than that I don't quite see what more it offers.

ProCoach

Yes, the App is really cool, gives you measures graphs and summary statistics. What I was referring to was the idea of downloading to a PC or Mac and doing the analysis “the old fashioned way.” The App is, as you say, really nice.

dgrobs

Yes, app is a game changer for data dopes like me.

ProCoach

So, yes, the Catalyst will help you in many ways TrackAddict doesn’t or can’t do.

TrackAddict, like AiM, VBOX, MoTeC, Cosworth, are basically all “loggers, or recorders of information about what happened, not what to DO with it.

If your eclectic is a second off still, and I applaud your improvement in consistency, you’re still just going out and thinking you’re doing something different, but not.

This usually means you are DOING THE SAME THING, over and over again, and expecting a different result. You’re either stuck, running out of ideas, or driving to a particular comfort level, and stuck there…

The most valuable feedback you can get is real-time, on the track while you can make a difference. The Garmin offers real-time audio feedback. The Garmin offers under Advanced Race Coaching in the settings for the audio, a LOT of information. Where and how much whatever moment of flowing brilliance you are showing in a PIECE of a lap, even a corner or single corner complex, is helping, hurting or just staying the same, no matter what you THINK is happening.

If you PUSH the corner entry in search of speed and overcook it, it will remember and tell you to back you’re braking up 50 or 100 feet. Obviously, it’s compiled a model of what you’re doing and gauging your optimal performance off that. If you ace a section, it says “best yet,” telling you THAT is how it should FEEL through that section.

The next benefit after the real time audio reinforcement (or not, when it says “keep pushing,” it means you’re underperforming) is the detailed post session analysis.

It prioritizes the three greatest opportunities for improvement based on the variance between what you do on average and those moments of flowing brilliance. It builds sectors based on YOUR performance and grades them in order of importance of the next thing you can do to make the biggest improvement.

Also, it shows differences (with video) between your average brake point for a corner and your best actual (optimal) brake point. It tells you that you were faster when you braked harder later, or softer earlier, or apexed later, or turned in earlier.

Armed with these tools, you have a MUCH clearer vision of what to do next. Unlike any other tool or app that is out there.

Does it help everyone? No, mostly because users don’t know it can do all this and don’t know where to look. All I know is that it’s the first pro-active device, beyond a logger, that requires no computer, no app and helps with very specific, prioritized advice.

I no longer sell any hardware or equipment, gone back to coaching full time, which is how I started using all these tools to objectively measure driver performance. It’s not my opinion, it is just what happened.

I have made a hell of a good living for twenty-plus years doing what this device does (with a lot more explanation, a lot more foundation building and more specific drills to gain those fundamental skills). I look at data all day, nearly every day, and together with my client, fashion a very detailed, highly targeted plan for the next session. I’ve helped a lot of drivers through plateaus, tens of thousands over the last forty years, but this thing is the best thing since sliced bread for $1K.

And it’s only going to get better. When a Petit LeMans class winner finds four-tenths when they’re already on the pole, a Sebring regular who is in the 2.0X lap time range finds six-tenths and Ross Bentley finds nine-tenths after pounding around a new track for a day and a half IN LESS THAN TEN MINUTES with this tool, it’s clear it works,

Good luck!

ProCoach

You are not alone. As a matter of fact, you’re the norm. In that area, anyway!

dgrobs

Thanks….. I think.