Harry's Lap Timer?

M

Mina

Well-known member
Site Supporter
In preparation for my next track day, I was taking apart my AIM beacon to change the batteries last night and found this:

14715456073_9dd68a72a7.jpg


I started doing some 'research' last night and came across a few GPS-based lap timers but they're all in the $400+ range.
Started doing some reading on the forum and found quite a few people recommended Harry's Lap Timer for iPhone/iPod. I don't mind spending ~$100 on a cheap 4th gen iPod and $20 on the app, seems like a decent price.

Now, my questions are:

1. How accurate can I expect this app to be?
2. Is it user-friendly or mostly recommended for tech geeks?
3. How does one "set up" tracks/start+finish lines, etc.?
4. How do you view your lap-times trackside? Is a laptop needed or can I just find out my times directly on the app?
5. Aside from a 4th gen+ iPod, do I need anything else to make this work?

I apologize in advance if these question seem silly, but I just want to make sure I know what I'm getting myself into.

Any further info is appreciated, thanks as always!
 
You do know you will need an external GPS for an iPod right? Assuming the iPod/iPhone/Android has an internal GPS, I can answer your first question as I recently tried a similar timing app (Racechrono). The internal GPSes on phones are not accurate at all. They have a refresh rate of 1Hz only. In other words, it takes data points once a second. So for e.g., the back straight at Shannonville, the internal GPS will not capture your hard braking at all. You will just see two data points, ~170km/h and then ~110km/h so it has missed the hard braking and the roll on. Also the location coordinates are a bit off when using the internal GPS. It's better to get an external GPS like the Garmin GLO or Qstarz that has a refresh rate of 5-10Hz.
 
Last edited:
Worked fine with an Iphone 4 that doesn't have a phone plan, didn't need to set anything up.fFound the track i was at and it started recording laps. You can view lap times instantly, or download them into your lap top for more detail(i'm too lazy).

ZX600, and Jamie are pretty knowledgeable about this app.
 
Mina said:
I don't mind spending ~$100 on a cheap 4th gen iPod and $20 on the app, seems like a decent price.
Click to expand...
As has been mentioned, a 4th gen iPod (that's what I use) has no internal GPS so you'll need to purchase an external GPS sensor. I highly recommend the ultra high precision 5hz Emprum UltiMate, can be had for $89 with coupon code you get when you purchase Harry's Lap Timer (called HLT for short).

http://www.emprum.com/ultimate-gps-ipad-ipod-iphone.php

You can pick up a pretty good iPhone 4S for a bit over $100 i.e. http://www.kijiji.ca/v-cell-phone/m...ck-iphone-4s-16gb-locked-to-rogers/1005622363 (there's some 8gb ones going for around the $100 mark). The 4S can do 1080p, the 4 and earlier ones can't, so at a minimum get the 4S.

If you pick up a crap Android phone on Kijiji they usually have great GPS chips in them, especially when mounting with a clear view of the sky (on steering stem, rear seat area, etc.). You can also pickup great cheap wireless/bluetooth GPS receivers for them!!

Mina said:
1. How accurate can I expect this app to be?
Click to expand...
If ALL you want it for is just PURE lap times it's INSANELY accurate, even with a phones built in 1hz GPS chip. If you want it to show lean angles, acceleration and braking force, your exact best lines through corners (overlayed on google earth image of track) then you need a high accuracy external sensor, i.e. http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Dual-XGPS160-SkyPro-Bluetooth-GPS-XGPS150A-/161083868303

Mina said:
2. Is it user-friendly or mostly recommended for tech geeks?
Click to expand...
Super easy to use, he has some youtube videos to get you started too.

Mina said:
3. How does one "set up" tracks/start+finish lines, etc.?
Click to expand...
It has a list of tracks right in the app. Just download all the ontario tracks then as soon as you step foot at the track it automatically loads up the correct track, start/finish lines and all the sectors too. Works sweet.

Mina said:
4. How do you view your lap-times trackside? Is a laptop needed or can I just find out my times directly on the app?
Click to expand...
You can view your laps right in the app. I've never used a laptop to view them. Once you pull off the track you just slide the timer screen to the side and click "lap list" at the bottom and it'll show you all your laps, broken down by session. You can see which laps had the best sector times, and which lap is your best of the session, best of the day, and best all time. If you recorded video on the phone at the same time you were timing the lap it can do an instant overlay so you can see which lines were for your fastest sectors/laps.

Mina said:
Aside from a 4th gen+ iPod, do I need anything else to make this work?
Click to expand...
As I said above, you need a $89 GPS sensor to work with iPod 4th gen. Any iPhone will have a real GPS chip built in (not even close to as good as the $89 sensor) and most android phones have a real GPS chip too (twice as good as the iphone chip).

You have a gopro? Which model and how many? If you plan on doing live telemetry overlays to your videos for when you upload them to youtube be aware that an iPod 4th gen can only handle 720p video (as well as there are probably limitations like that on lower end iPhones, etc.).

Example of the overlay, using Adobe Primiere to overlay data to the 1080p recorded video because the iPod 4th gen can't take 1080p:

[video=youtube;-V7vceXReuA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V7vceXReuA[/video]
 
Last edited:
N3WMAN said:
The overlay resolution limit is only applicable if recording video with the actual phone?
Click to expand...
Nope :( To overlay the video you have to dump your GoPro video to the phone/ipod. If the phone/ipod doesn't support 1080p it'll just spit out a "not compatible video" error. To get around this I made a fake 720p blue screen video and dumped that to the ipod, then I just overlay that and dump it in adobe primere and use ultrakey for the blue screen and it'll do the overlay perfect over top of my 1080p gopro videos. It stretches the overlay to make it 1080p so the elements are larger than they are normally, and slightly blurry/low resolution compared to what they normally would be. Make it a bit of a pain in the butt to get it perfectly in sync but it's the only way I could figure out to do 1080p without getting an iPhone 4s. My friend just gave my his iPhone 4s that his 3yr old managed to lock with a password he doesn't know. He said I could have the phone for free if I can get him all of his pictures and contacts back. I'm going to run it against Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker Professional 2.30.2690 overnight tonight and it says using my Radeon R9 290x graphics card GPU it'll take under 7 hours to brute force the password. If it works I'll be so happy, can still use my external GPS sensor (no lightning connector on 4s) plus can finally do 1080p video on it!! I wonder if the 5s can do 4k??
 
A lot of great info here, thanks for the input. In all honesty, I couldn't care less about lean angle, braking force, etc. I just want to know my lap times to track my progress.

I might just buy another AIM beacon for $50 and call it a day.
 
Mina said:
A lot of great info here, thanks for the input. In all honesty, I couldn't care less about lean angle, braking force, etc. I just want to know my lap times to track my progress.

I might just buy another AIM beacon for $50 and call it a day.
Click to expand...
$30 phone: http://www.kijiji.ca/v-cell-phone/m...ocera-rise-locked-to-public-mobile/1004245278

Has hardware GPS chip with nice accuracy, Android 4.0 (minimum for Harry's Lap Timer), would work sweet for just lap times (i.e. not recording video on the phone at the same time). Might even work to overlay gopro footage after, not sure.

You could even install the free RaceChrono lap timer to keep costs down: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.racechrono.app&hl=en

Here's some free lap timer apps for that phone: http://appcrawlr.com/android-apps/best-apps-lap-timer (I have a friend using the Diablo Super Biker app and he swears by it).

Go with GPS, plz don't get another beacon :(
 
I have the Harry's lap timer on my iPhone 5s but have yet to use it.
The reason I bought it was because others have told me it works really well.
 
Well, I went the cheap way and picked up a new beacon from a member here for $50 so it will do for now.
This will be my first time using a lap timer so forgive the silly questions...

Does it matter where the IR receiver is located on the bike?
Will the receiver have a hard time picking up the signal if it's tucked in the fairing?
Does it have to be levelled with the beacon?
 
Mina said:
Does it matter where the IR receiver is located on the bike?
Will the receiver have a hard time picking up the signal if it's tucked in the fairing?
Does it have to be levelled with the beacon?
Click to expand...
Has to be facing the beacon with direct line of sight. It doesnt have to be bang on level.

Some guys put them on the tail. I mounted mine on the fairing below the clipon.

Similar to this, minus all the tape.
photo2-1.jpg
 
That will work. I have the same unit and have it mounted in the same spot. Haven't had any problems.
 
has anyone tried one of these guys to aid in accuracy of the gps?

http://www.amazon.com/BT-Q818XT-Qst...UTF8&qid=1407077686&sr=8-1&keywords=BT-Q818XT

i saw one of these but a more expensive version posted here a while back, i found yesterday my gps lap timer app worked great in the morning while the sky was clear and once the sky turned grey it wouldnt show my times, said it didnt have enough gps data or something. so im debating grabbing one of these guys and using my phone still
 
johnscruiser said:
$30 phone: http://www.kijiji.ca/v-cell-phone/m...ocera-rise-locked-to-public-mobile/1004245278

Has hardware GPS chip with nice accuracy, Android 4.0 (minimum for Harry's Lap Timer), would work sweet for just lap times (i.e. not recording video on the phone at the same time). Might even work to overlay gopro footage after, not sure.

You could even install the free RaceChrono lap timer to keep costs down: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.racechrono.app&hl=en

Here's some free lap timer apps for that phone: http://appcrawlr.com/android-apps/best-apps-lap-timer (I have a friend using the Diablo Super Biker app and he swears by it).

Go with GPS, plz don't get another beacon :(
Click to expand...

i use the diablo app and love it, the only thing issues ive had are on days that are severely overcast. other than that it works great and lives in my pocket while at the track
 
ended up ordering that stand alone gps unit. hard to beat the price of them when you consider how much money a lap timer costs. also i downloaded that race chrono app, looks like a really nice app and its got tmp in its list of tracks.
 
uchi said:
has anyone tried one of these guys to aid in accuracy of the gps?

http://www.amazon.com/BT-Q818XT-Qst...UTF8&qid=1407077686&sr=8-1&keywords=BT-Q818XT

i saw one of these but a more expensive version posted here a while back, i found yesterday my gps lap timer app worked great in the morning while the sky was clear and once the sky turned grey it wouldnt show my times, said it didnt have enough gps data or something. so im debating grabbing one of these guys and using my phone still
Click to expand...
Works good on Android, not on iOS. Some people have reported that you have to bump it down to 5hz for it to be stable with some happs. Harry's Lap Timer can suck it up at full 10hz and makes it nice and smooth.

You going to be at TMP on the 14th? We can test lap timer accuracy ;)
 
ive got an android device so im safe there. that was one of the things i read about it, no apple support at all.

wont be there the 14th, im leaving the 15th for a few days so ill be at work, same with the 28th, im gone to mosport the 29th so i wont chance a crash. i will however be back at tmp in sept so ill test it out then.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom