Lap Timers, What do you use and why?

[Jester_]

18 hours ago, RonStopable said:

I have the AIM solo like Dan's cause well..........I wanted to be like Dan.  I like the AIM because it is very easy to set up and download data (more or less turn it on and go.  If the track is not in the database walk over to track edge hit learn new track, hit the add button name and your done).  Software for data review is easy to use and has a playback feature with tables so you can see your speed at certain points in a lap.  Ryan's GPS timer was great as long as you are willing to spend a lot of time getting it set up.  Took Ryan about a month to get his up and running.  But once he figured it out it worked well.  All in all he had about $225 in the set up with the phone etc.  The phone is a must have.  The first week he had it he spent his time between sessions downloading the data to his phone so he could see his lap times.  For what Dan is asking for the AIM is a really good deal.  I previously had the XT but if your planning on running with N2 they can be pretty lax about setting up a beacon and even when they did none of our timers ever picked it up.  Hence the reason we all went to GPS based. 

The AIM is the way to go for ease of use and getting basic data like Ron said. 

The gpx pro I have can be used as a dash as it has a tach and logs all the bike parameters as well, and can do suspension travel, brake pressure etc... but it's a pita to setup a new track and starting points.  

 

The aim can plug into the ecu of the bike and log some things but it's kidna limited. 

[i-Zapp]

I have used 4 different systems on mine and my son's bikes:

1. XT Racing - great to use if all you care about is lap time; downside is it requires a beacon (usually about 10% time there isn't one for whatever reason)

2. handlebar button - theoretically a good solution, but practically speaking it's a pita and I just can't get in the mindset to remember to hit the button each and every lap

3. GPX Pro - around 500 bucks, very sophisticated GPS based system. and has the ability to bring in other data like engine speed and throttle position. Times are easy to get, but it's rather clumsy to do lap analysis since it requires download to a laptop.

4. Harry's Laptimer - http://www.gps-laptimer.de/products $30 or so, I use an old iPhone (no cellular plan) velcroed to my tank, and it gives me lap time, speed, g's, etc. and comparing laps is a breeze. I love this thing. The phone itself can provide about a 1 hz update, so the positioning isn't crazy accurate. However it interpolates to get tenth of a second resolution, and for us mere mortals that's plenty good. If you want better, buy a Bluetooth GPS unit (like a Dual XGPS) to generate 5hz updates.  This is my typical choice.

data below is some old data on a 250 at nelsons...

[TimTheAzn]

1 minute ago, i-Zapp said:

I have used 4 different systems on mine and my son's bikes:

1. XT Racing - great to use if all you care about is lap time; downside is it requires a beacon (usually about 10% time there isn't one for whatever reason)

2. handlebar button - theoretically a good solution, but practically speaking it's a pita and I just can't get in the mindset to remember to hit the button each and every lap

3. GPX Pro - around 500 bucks, very sophisticated GPS based system. and has the ability to bring in other data like engine speed and throttle position. Times are easy to get, but it's rather clumsy to do lap analysis since it requires download to a laptop.

4. Harry's Laptimer - http://www.gps-laptimer.de/products $30 or so, I use an old iPhone (no cellular plan) velcroed to my tank, and it gives me lap time, speed, g's, etc. and comparing laps is a breeze. I love this thing. The phone itself can provide about a 1 hz update, so the positioning isn't crazy accurate. However it interpolates to get tenth of a second resolution, and for us mere mortals that's plenty good. If you want better, buy a Bluetooth GPS unit (like a Dual XGPS) to generate 5hz updates.  This is my typical choice.

data below is some old data on a 250 at nelsons...

Yea thats the setup I was thinking about, with that App. Someone in here said Ryan had a hell of a time setting that up though. Was setup as easy as getting my GPS receiver, connecting via BT to a phone, and making sure that phone had the app and track downloaded?

[redkow97]

I never got Harry's lap timer to work for me. 

Mess using an iPhone 4 with an external GPS unit. 

I would not call it "easy."  You need to be at an existing track, or input your own test track in your neighborhood to really play with it. 

[TimTheAzn]

32 minutes ago, redkow97 said:

I never got Harry's lap timer to work for me. 

Mess using an iPhone 4 with an external GPS unit. 

I would not call it "easy."  You need to be at an existing track, or input your own test track in your neighborhood to really play with it. 

Oh you never got that lap timer to work? Man, when I was doing research it seemed like a solid option. Maybe I'll just go with the SOLO non-DL that Dan is selling.

[Jester_]

32 minutes ago, TimTheAzn said:

Oh you never got that lap timer to work? Man, when I was doing research it seemed like a solid option. Maybe I'll just go with the SOLO non-DL that Dan is selling.

Il be honest, its quite an investment for a timer. 

But its worth it when you arent messing around trying to create a new track, trying to get a few pieces of hardware working from ebay or if nobody has a beacon out for the XT. 

Plus the solo also has some of my laps in it for you. 

[blue03636]

36 minutes ago, TimTheAzn said:

Oh you never got that lap timer to work? Man, when I was doing research it seemed like a solid option. Maybe I'll just go with the SOLO non-DL that Dan is selling.

If you don't I probably will.

[TimTheAzn]

4 minutes ago, Jester_ said:

Plus the solo also has some of my laps in it for you. 

Greatttt, ever see a cat chase a laser pointer? Yea that'll be me all 2017 

[Jester_]

Just now, TimTheAzn said:

Greatttt, ever see a cat chase a laser pointer? Yea that'll be me all 2017 

The only laps worth anything are probably summit point anyways. 

[TimTheAzn]

3 minutes ago, blue03636 said:

If you don't I probably will.

Or you could follow me around all season and I can just tell you the times when we get back into pit 

[i-Zapp]

2 hours ago, redkow97 said:

I never got Harry's lap timer to work for me. 

Mess using an iPhone 4 with an external GPS unit. 

I would not call it "easy."  You need to be at an existing track, or input your own test track in your neighborhood to really play with it. 

i'm not techy and getting it to work (at least the most recent versions) was no problem at all for me. I connect the phone to my home network whenever visiting a new track to download the "waypoints", and that's all there is to it. if nelson's is downloadable, pretty much everything is. lol.

just because one guy had trouble with it, I wouldn't blow it off as no-good. if it DOESNT work, so what if you wasted 20 bucks (the cheap version).

just saying.

[TimTheAzn]

2 minutes ago, i-Zapp said:

i'm not techy and getting it to work (at least the most recent versions) was no problem at all for me. I connect the phone to my home network whenever visiting a new track to download the "waypoints", and that's all there is to it. if nelson's is downloadable, pretty much everything is. lol.

just because one guy had trouble with it, I wouldn't blow it off as no-good. if it DOESNT work, so what if you wasted 20 bucks (the cheap version).

just saying.

I researched all the track maps that app has and it has all of the tracks i'd be riding in the near future. I still need to invest on the GPS receiver as well. So I'd be looking at $180-$200 total investment. $75 more gets me the Solo from Dan.

I'll have to ponder, I do have a little time before the next track day.

[i-Zapp]

1 hour ago, TimTheAzn said:

I researched all the track maps that app has and it has all of the tracks i'd be riding in the near future. I still need to invest on the GPS receiver as well. So I'd be looking at $180-$200 total investment. $75 more gets me the Solo from Dan.

I'll have to ponder, I do have a little time before the next track day.

<100$ for a Dual XGPS 150 + 30$ for software. unless you're pulling in extra channels of bike data, it's absolutely adequate. Plus, you can update your Facebook status while riding. ;>]

[redkow97]

6 hours ago, TimTheAzn said:

I researched all the track maps that app has and it has all of the tracks i'd be riding in the near future. I still need to invest on the GPS receiver as well. So I'd be looking at $180-$200 total investment. $75 more gets me the Solo from Dan.

I'll have to ponder, I do have a little time before the next track day.

Jb has a GPS receiver he would part with for cheap. 

 

UltiMate is the brand. Has the old iPhone plug interface, but I'm sure a converter is $8 on eBay. 

 

[TimTheAzn]

So far, not looking good for my old iphone I was gonna use.

Thats good news for @Jester_ though.

[bacolmm]

I had really good luck with my Qstarz BT-Q1000. It was reliable, provided a lot of data and it only cost $200. The downside is that you have to hook it up to a laptop to see the data. Then I wanted to try to make cool videos like Ryan Hill. I had an old iPhone, so I purchased the XGPS160 and Harry Lap Timer App. It worked, but I didn’t like it as much as Ryan’s set up and then I remembered that my wife had an old Android phone. So I bought the Race Chrono app that Ryan was using and I love the set up. It makes syncing lap-time data with your GoPro pretty easy. The best feature is the predictive-lap-time display. During a lap I can take a quick look and see how my current lap compares to my best lap of the session. It’s nice to know when you have a good lap going so you can continue to push. It’s also great that this data transfers to the video so you can look back at the lap and see where you made-up / lost time. Having said all of that, I believe the AIM Solo has all the same capability and I’m sure would be a cleaner solution. 

For reference, the predictive-lap-time data is the green / red number in the upper right hand corner of the video. 

http://youtu.be/Hz5VljlB41A

[TimTheAzn]

Hmmmmmmmm..........

Assuming Race Chrono doesnt have an apple app?

[bacolmm]

2 minutes ago, TimTheAzn said:

Hmmmmmmmm..........

Assuming Race Chrono doesnt have an apple app?

You are correct, and the fact that you can take the memory card out of your GoPro and put it into the Android phone makes it much easier to get the video synced.

[TimTheAzn]

Just now, bacolmm said:

You are correct, and the fact that you can take the memory card out of your GoPro and put it into the Android phone makes it much easier to get the video synced.

I haven't gotten to the level where I want to make those sweet ass videos yet. I just want to be able to see my times so I have benchmarks for improvement. I'll have to look into this as well. I'd have to find an android no one wants.

[Jester_]

The aim has predictive times as well, it can be displayed as you go around the track.

 

And you can over lay the gps data on a video. 

[F4iguy]

3 hours ago, bacolmm said:

 

For reference, the predictive-lap-time data is the green / red number in the upper right hand corner of the video. 

http://youtu.be/Hz5VljlB41A

 

Nice lap.

[Trackbikez]

4 hours ago, bacolmm said:

http://youtu.be/Hz5VljlB41A

 

52 minutes ago, F4iguy said:

Nice lap.

That is a good lap!  But now I'm wondering what kind of times Mark was turning given how fast he flew by coming out of T1.

I'd like to get a GPS timer, but the Sony AS100V camera I use has a built in GPS.  It's not super accurate (appears to be around 1Hz), nor can you review the times while you're out there, but if you want a video and laptimer all in one package for $150 (when I bought it anyway), it's not bad for a sanity check.

Example: https://youtu.be/4VwPUwWRLWQ

You can see the map trace is a bit all over the place (which also affects the accuracy of the MPH), and I usually set the start/finish right before madness since all the GPS signals seem to converge in that spot for the best accuracy I can muster from the data.

Edited January 5, 2017 by Trackbikez

[TimTheAzn]

Everyone is showing their lines around places I'll be next year. Thanks!!!

[Jester_]

You will want to ignore most of the stuff from RA. That was 2 years ago and I have learned much since then. 

[what]

So a smartphone with no cell/data plan can still use its GPS functionality for lap timer apps then? 

 

Hmmmm