7/27/2023 0 Comments Racerender review![]() ![]() I’m a pretty advanced driver, and I had a hard time watching the thing. But the only time it’s really safe to look at it is when you’re on a straight. The idea is that you can check your Apex Score at any time. Apart from looking totally amazing, it’s completely useless. You can adjust the colors and brightness. So novices will be interested in maximizing their Apex Score while racers will be trying to minimize it. They’re driving more efficiently, which pays off the longer the race goes. If two drivers have the same lap time, the one with the lower Apex Score is the one doing less work. It makes no fucking sense.įor racers who are driving close to the limit, the Apex Score is not something you’re trying to optimize. Whole sectors of the track will differ in Apex Score from one lap to the next. But the Apex Score will be all over the place. If you’ve been driving consistently, you’ll see consistent sensor values. Turn on all the sensors so you can see their raw outputs. Just load up a couple of laps and overlay them. You can observe these bugs really easily. Unfortunately, that magic is full of bugs. Under the hood, the APEX Pro is doing some machine learning magic. What exactly is Apex Score? Some combination of speed, G-forces, and yaw I suspect. A quick check of the LEDs tell you your current Apex Score. The idea is that it’s like live coaching. After a couple laps it can tell you where you’re driving under the limit. ![]() The brain of the device learns both you and the track while you drive it. The sine qua non of the APEX Pro is its Apex Score. I prefer dedicated devices to phone apps, but I’ve also had good experiences with phones. That’s a lot cheaper than an APEX Pro or AiM Solo and the quality will be acceptable. If you decide to use your phone, you’ll need a very secure mount and a high resolution GPS antenna. But why fork over $400+ when you get the same functionality out of a $10 smartphone app? Because smartphones have lower quality sensors. As a data logger, there’s not much difference between the two devices. The biggest difference is the display, which I’ll get to later. But once you figure in a secure mount for the Solo, it’s not much different. ![]() At $450, the APEX Pro is $50 more than an AiM Solo. Other similar products include the AiM Solo and several phone-based apps like Harry’s Lap Timer, CMS Pro, Track Addict, and Track Attack. It has high resolution GPS and a bunch of accelerometers. Data LoggerĪs a data logger, it works well. Although APEX Pro doesn’t come with its own desktop software, it imports into the Track Attack desktop app really easily, and Track Attack is pretty good. The better way to review APEX Pro data is with a desktop app where you have a large monitor and a mouse. I say inconvenient because looking at squiggly lines on a phone is tedious. ![]() It lets you export data, see who’s using the device at the moment, and let’s the team examine your laps from the inconvenience of their phones. It has a huge track library but you can also define your own track. That’s how you tell it what track you’re on. The physical design is really appealing and I wouldn’t change a thing. The internal battery lasts a couple hours, but you can also plug it in if you’re running endurance races, for example. There is a separate base that attaches to the car with an adhesive and the APEX Pro magnetically locks in place very securely. It feels great in the hand and looks better in the car. It’s a block of metal the size of a pack of gum with one button, one USB port, and 12 LEDs. That’s an APEX Pro, and it’s one of the most interesting driving devices in recent history. If you saw the video in the post last week, there was a curious device with blue and red LEDs on the dash. TL DR: Buggy software and difficult to use but with a simple change could replace RumbleStrip as the best delta timer. ![]()
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