Data acquisition products

[ninjabones]

Big question is how you plan to use it.  Vast majority of guys I've seen basically use them as expensive lap timers.  Traqmate is definitely the easiest to use.  However, the display sucks.  Racepak has some very nice products(G2x and Iq3), midrange in price between traqmate and the more high-end systems like Aim and Motec.  G2x is the cheaper version and a very nice product (with shift lights and bright, visible LED display for tach, predictive lap times, etc).  IQ3 uses the same software package, but is a full logger dash.  The Racepak software is definitely not as intuitive; however, there are a bunch of guys in the club with this system, so you'd have some help learning how to use it (me, yonks, bob t, chris karras, steve mcmorn).  If you really want to get sophisticated (more complicated math channels, shock potentiometers, multiple sensors, etc), I'd go with AIM (talk to darren mingis). 

Most useful thing for me however has been having the ability to overlay data with faster drivers/cars, having shift lights, and being able to see predictive lap-times during qualifying.  Yonks and I made a boatload of progress this year, which I attribute mostly to comparing data between run sessions and then targetting areas on the track for improvement on the next session.   Unfortunately, you can't really overlay racepak data with traqmate data... so I'd go with whatever system allows you the best access to good data.