Racebox Mini S Review: Track data recording for racers
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- Опубликовано: 22 июл 2024
- Racebox brings their data recording expertise to a first of its kind small, self-contained package. Without the need for wires, phones, or any other gadgets on your bike, it is a compelling argument for hot lap data gathering and interpretation. Does it live up to its promise? I tried it at a recent track day at @ridgemp Ridge Motorsports Park during the @ApriliaOfficial Racer Day and here's my review of the hardware, app, website, and video overlay capability. For a 15% discount use code ULTERIOR15 at www.racebox.pro. Read more at ulteriormoto.com/blogs/racebo...
0:00 Introduction
1:07 What's in the box
3:33 Mounting to a motorcycle
4:13 App-based data overview
12:55 Website-based data overview
19:15 Exporting data to Race Render
22:45 Conclusion
Great review! Thanks so much for all the details!
Glad it was helpful! You can find more info on this and other topics at ulteriormoto.com. Please subscribe if you haven’t already.
Good review. I had to laugh when you opened your phone's "Motorcycle" apps folder, for a second I thought I was looking at my phone, pretty much the same apps in my folder.
Haha! There are so many good apps for various different purposes. I wish I could combine some of them. Glad you liked the review.
so cool! wish I had the patience to go through all that for myself!
Skip any and all attempts to export to video and it’s a breeze.
Super informative. Thank you for going way more in depth on using this than anything else I've seen on RUclips. My racebox mini S just came in. What did you select to activate timing(and data collection) and leave your phone behind? I haven't had the opportunity to take mine out yet.
Be sure to select “Stand Alone Recording” otherwise you need your phone if you select “Drag” or “Lap”. I lost a few sessions of data before I understood this myself.
Great review - thanks for the HQ content. One more thing - do you need some sort of paid application feautres ? Usually such expenses are hidden until the last moment when you are about to start using your new product. Is it like - buy once, use all the features or there are some sort of subscription paid monthly?
That’s a good question. Fortunately, no subscriptions are required. Pay once for the product and you’re set.
Just ordered mine. Cant wait to try it out on the upcoming trackday. Any tips for the placement on 3rd gen? Tail - behind the seat? Tank? :)
I wish I had a good suggestion for you, but that seat takes up the entire tail, doesn’t it? Maybe if you have some sort of camera mount you could take advantage of the 1/4” thread. Try contacting Racebox support. They have been very responsive to me.
@@ulteriormoto Hey - I placed it on the unused part of the passanger seat. The 3M works fine with that material. Already did a trackday with it today - working great.
Has the data for the video overlay been fixed or addressed at all? I have a racebox and plan on using it this weekend at summit main for practice and races. Would love to do a video overlay for my other YT
Not that I know of
Hello, just found your video. I am not a trackday rider but I was wondering whether you can use it just to record 0 to 60 mph measurements? Would that work as well? Also, about the software: I am currently using Telemetry Overlay. Maybe you can give it a try, pretty versatile.
You can definitely use it for acceleration runs. Just put it into “drag” mode and you’re ready to go. Thanks for the tip, I will look into it. If you decide to purchase the product you can save 15% with the code ULTERIOR15 at checkout.
@@ulteriormoto Thanks, but I'll be getting it as well for a review :) It actually looks fairly big on the video. I hope it's smaller in real-life :)
It’s 3 inches square.
Great review! Thank you. After watching your video I purchased one. Waiting for it to stop raining in AZ to try it out. One question and one comment. I regularly use an 8 mile section of almost deserted twisty desert highway to improve my riding on an Aprilia Tuono V4. It is an out and back circuit that I generally ride three times. Question: Will the RB recognize the starting point as a start/finish line when I return to repeat the circuit? I will probably try it on standalone record the first attempt and see what happens but I thought you may have played with the RB enough to know how it will handle that situation. Comment: Are you sure that your line would be the same with more speed and the same lean angle? Maybe your speed increased toward the end of the corner because you were opening up your turn while maintaining the same lean angle? I don't know, just a thought. Again, thanks for the video.
I haven’t used it outside of the track, so I can’t speak with any authority about your scenario. My review of the dragy timer will premiere tomorrow, so check that out too. You might like it. They push the off-track capabilities pretty hard on their website, but again I only tested it at the track.
As for the lean angle and speed, I figure if I can do it once I can do it twice.
So can it record acceleration, quarter mile times etc..?? I don't care about the track data but I would love to get a good way of measuring bike performance.
Yes, it can do all that. You don’t have to be on a track. The same is true for dragy which I also reviewed. That product is a bit more user friendly.
@@ulteriormoto Thanks for the tip. I'm gonna check that review!
Can this act as an external GPS on a phone, so that I can connect my iphone to this as well as the car stereo for more accurate turn by turn announcements?
Not at all. This is strictly for documenting your runs.
Can i ask you. Is it necessary to be connected always with the phone to recording??? Thanks.
Hello, apparently no, not with the Mini S. It now features internal storage.
Correct 👍🏻
so if i understood correctly, that thing will automaticly start without phone and record?
You need your phone to start and stop recording, but you do it from the paddock, you don’t need constant connection.
@@ulteriormoto how does it know which track I'm at ?
The app on your phone has the location of tracks nearby. You simply need to select the configuration (if there is more than one for your track) then tell it to record “stand alone” before you head out to your session.
how did you manually sync the video and track data?
I queued up the video to the start/finish line as well as the data.
There's a sync wizard built into RaceRender. You tell it what event you're syncing to (e.g. first time you cross start-finish) and scroll through the video until you find that event. Punch the button and hey presto, it's done.
RaceRender has a very steep learning curve but once you get used to it, you'll find it to be very powerful. The key is to build a template for yourself and save it so all you need to do in the future is change the input files and re-sync.
Here's mine. In-lap and out-lap labels, a REALLY cool accel/decel track map (which is very labor intensive to implement so you'd better be highly dedicated or have no social life), session summary, info labels so I can identify which session it was.... took a long time to build but now I'm done.
ruclips.net/video/uG5q3e6zfJg/видео.htmlsi=BgBBmi2W92k4xUAq
@@andrewdouglas4211 thanks for your info and reply. I checked out the video on ur link nice work.. I love the way you have the out lap and the dates etc..maybe you should do a video on how to do this.. only thing that video needs is the peek speed indicator I love that feature
I'm so glad I watched your video because one of the main things I wanted this for is to get accurate lean angle data but from the looks of it, my Insta360 X3 gives me better information than the Racebox does! Do you or anyone have a recommendation for something that can record accurate gyro data? Preferably that doesn't break the bank.
Better information? How so?
@@ulteriormoto In terms of lean angle, the X3's accelerometer seems to give fairly accurate data, especially if I smooth it a bit. The only issue is any GPS/gyro data it records only updates once per second. So the stream needs a ton of interpolation to look smooth in a telemetry overlay.
The Racebox measures at a much greater frequency and it is highly accurate data. My only issue with it was that it didn’t properly sync with the video for whatever reason. When used with the Racebox app, the lean angle data is very helpful and intuitive. I went so far as to verify their data in a spreadsheet and there were no issues with it whatsoever.
@@ulteriormoto that's great news, I decided to buy a mini S anyways for the accurate GPS/lap timer alone. So if the gyro and lean angle are good that's just a bonus!
Hi. How is it collect lean angle data?
Racebox uses a built-in accelerometer and gyroscope to collect data.
@@ulteriormoto thankyou.and is it accurate?
To my knowledge, quite accurate. Operating at 25Hz, it samples data every 0.04 seconds. I have used multiple systems simultaneously and their data are very similar.
If you want to save 15% on it, use code ULTERIOR15.
It seems like RaceRender thinks G forces are equivalent to lean angle even though it's not. You can be leaned 25 degrees to the right, but if you're coming out of a corner and beginning to stand the bike up, there will be positive g forces to the left. It seems like RaceRender is interpreting that to mean that you're now leaning to the left.
Maybe that’s what is happening here. It would explain why I could never get them to synchronize. Rumor is they might have their own video overlay in the future.
That's really unfortunate the lean angle doesn't work well with race render. I was about to click buy, until I saw that.
That’s the Achilles heal of Racebox in my opinion. Check out my review of dragy. Their proprietary overlay is excellent. Their only issue is the requirement for constant connection to a phone. I just use an old one.
Has anyone used one of these in an indoor motocross track? If yes, did it work?
They rely on a direct connection to satellites, so under any kind of roof they won’t work at all.
can use the Racebox Mini S without my phone on my bike?
Yes. Standalone recording is the difference between the regular Racebox Mini and the Mini S. I just sent mine off as part of the upgrade program (which ended August 31 2023). As I understand it you fire up the app, start recording and go ride. Your phone stays in the paddock. When you get back you go to the app again and stop recording. The result is one session's worth of data. The unit holds 2 hours of data at 25 Hz and you can clear the memory after downloading. You can also drop to 10 Hz to store more, but the tradeoff is precision.
I'd been using my Racebox Mini with RaceChrono Pro running on a cheap Android phone tucked into my leathers. This worked well but was a bit of a hassle and I'd rather not have that thing next to my chest.
@@andrewdouglas4211 nice. It's a much cheaper option for my s1000rr 2020 than the official gps laptimer.
Yes. You have the option of recording either with the phone on you or leaving it in the paddock, but it's the ability to ride without a phone on me that made me look into it. Be sure to tap "stand alone recording" when you head out. Though the "track session" and "drag" options aren't specifically labeled as such, they do require constant connection. It took me a couple of sessions to get that figured out.
That's cool they gave their customers that upgrade option. Good move on your part to upgrade I think. The potential danger of glass and aluminum in my leathers is what made me wait until now.
@@ulteriormoto Can you set your own start/finish line aswell?
I dont want to have a phone on me when i am racing.
Lean angle will not work on a motorcycle with currently available integrated sensors. The g force effectively is downward towards the bottom of bike through corners, rather than towards the ground, skewing all the data.
Racebox calculates lean angles and g forces entirely through algorithms based on GPS data. Bike sensors play no role. Lateral g forces are irrelevant for cornering data on a motorcycle for the reasons you mention which is why you select one or the other. G forces fore and aft (braking and acceleration) are still applicable.
@@ulteriormoto I never said anything about bike sensors lol
The Racebox Mini has an accelerometer/gyroscope in an integrated chip (similar to what's in your phone), the chip can't collect accurate data for the reason I mentioned. Any data extrapolated from GPS data alone is unlikely to be very accurate, though.
You are correct about it having an accelerometer and gyroscope.