i've been looking around for lap timers and it seems like Hot Lap (Longacre) and AIM are the brands to get??

 

No. Hotlap is ancient technology; they stopped developing it long ago. For a beacon-based system, get an Ultralap.

Comparing Hotlap to the Ultralap:

It's smaller, lighter, more durable, made of billet aluminum.

It records every lap and identifies the time of day, ambient temperature, session number and track name.

It can do split times with multiple transmitters, and is compatible with AIM transmitters.

It records 2000 laps, and you can download all the data (by wireless IR connection or USB cable) to a computer to save/analyze them.

You never have to think about turning it on or off, and it has much longer battery life than the hotlap.

Its display is much better. At the end of a session, it displays your best lap time, worst lap time, and average lap time, automatically.

It costs about the same as the Hotlap. $175 for the receiver. $225 for both receiver and transmitter. $250 gets you all that, plus the computer software and interface stuff.

I got mine here (no affiliation, but I got great service):

http://www.plavanracing.com/ultralapindex.htm

Oh, and unlike Hotlap, you can extend the range of the Ultralap transmitter by using a $10 motorcycle battery. No upgrade necessary, and you can keep recharging the battery.

It uses the same beacon type as AIM units, so there's almost always a beacon already in place, at least where I drive.

 

is this the most recent model of the ultra lap?


can't really find any site that clarifies whether the one with the up and down thumb is the new one or old one

 

I have the AIM Mychron Light TG and it works great! Helped me knock off 3 seconds off my best time the first time I used it.

 

I was looking at the the mycrhon by aim.

did you have to set up the beacon every event?
or did it work with the other beacons that were set up by the track coordinators?

i'm wondering if it works with the signals that ultra lap / hot lap sends out.

 

Not as accurate, but you might want to consider a GPS lap timer/data logger like MaxQData. Might not work great with karts though (per your avatar).

If you're worried about tenths of seconds, then probably not the best. But if you want basic data logging and don't want to deal with beacons, it may be a good choice.

 

I'm not sure if it works with the Ultralap beacon but I've noticed that a lot of guys already have the AIM beacon and 1 is all you need out there. I usually just ask during the morning drivers meeting to see who's gonna put one out there and we just decide on one....

 

AIM and Ultralap can read each other's beacons. And you can set up multiple beacons to get segment times.

Hotlap can only read hotlap's beacon.

 

thanks guys

 

i have ultralap, pretty good.