911racer

Hi,

I am still in the market for a GPS data logging system. I am now looking at the RLC Racing Chase Commander.

Pluses for me are a remote antenna, predictive lap timing (love the idea of this. Used to do this with the old Hot Lap timer with the Performance Monitor), pre sync'ed video using the Chase Cam PVR (and video in the analysis screen) and cool looking track maps.

Minuses for me are 5Hz GPS (no idea how much this matters), No RPM input, The cool track maps do not include most of the tracks I go to (heck not even Mid-Ohio, Watkins Glen, or VIR ???)

They have a thing that you can send in more tracks and even cut the price of the 10Hz GPS antenna for doing it, but the 10Hz antenna is an extra $600 ($300 if you send them new track maps)


Please, let me have some feedback on this one.

BTW, I have had a G2X and DL1 in the past, so I know a bit about the GPS dataloggers. I liked the G2X, but the software was a bit clumsey and the video was tough to sync with the data.

Thanks

Ed

Circuit Motorsports

They are west coast based so much of their track mapping has been done out there.

The dashes look very good, no problem seeing them in odd lighting situations which is a plus. Touchscreen more of a gimmick than anything IMO.

The software is on the better end of the spectrum for ease of use. The track mapping is very cool but I've seen too much drift in all the data I've looked at for me to believe it's going to be consistently accurate. As you mention they are happy to build the maps if you can get them the data they need.

The customer service that I've dealt with has always been very good. Overall I think they are very good systems. I find that some of their selling points are a bit more gimmick than useful but the meat and potatoes of the systems/software is good stuff.

911racer

Joe,

Is the drift from natural effects, or because most of the systems come with the 5Hz GPS. What are your thoughts on this vs the 10 Hz.

If they need the data from a 10 Hz setup to do the detailed mapping I would be happy to borrow one of their test units and give them data from Mid-Ohio, Beaverun, Nelsons, and Watkins by July and send the test unit back.

Thanks

Ed

Circuit Motorsports

I don't see the 5hz being an issue. I see the drift as the nature of GPS. Being not 100% precise I've seen a 'change' in the S/F line at tracks when I've done nothing to reset the S/F line day to day.

The test unit might be a great way to see what you think. As I said I think it's a good system with some of the better software in terms of ease out there.

911racer

Thanks for the input Joe.

I will probably talk to them this week and see what I might be able to work out.

Thanks

Ed

911racer

So,

here is what I know so far. They will give me a detailed track map even with the 5Hz system with a one day turnaround.

It does not record an RPM signal, but with an optional data cord yet to be released it would (along with other data inputs)

It embeds the data directly on the video, or it can be extracted spearatly. You can use the embeded video to perform analysis, but you can not do an overlay to post a video to youtube or the like without using a separate software like Trackvision or Dashware (which, the best I know would also not use the embeded data, it would have to be overlayed separately.

I like the display that comes with it and I feel that the predictive lap timing is important for going faster at the track. I like the exact track maps, but as Joe said, even the example that they provide shows GPS drift (car is shown off track in the data (two wheels anyway) but the video shows still being on track)

The Chasecam DM-10 (which has no display) comes with a copy of Dashware which you can use to either analize the data, or crate an overlay, but it does not have any kind of display, so no predictive lap timing or any of the other features.

Really, now that I am thinking about it, the predictive lap timing is the only real thing I am going to pick up with the RLC Chase Cam vs the DM-10. It is about $500 more expensive. Is predictive lap timing really worth $500 to me.

Need to think on that one a bit.

Any comments.

Anyone know if the Trackvision software will pick up the embeded data directly without having to re-overlay the data onto the video and sync it ?

Thanks

Ed

Skip Wolfe

Ed - PM APKhaos (Tony Kelly) on Rennlist. He is the founder of Trackvision and can answer questions about it.