Wow, what fun! I take a short trip, and all of this happens while I'm
net-impaired!!
There's a lot of interesting stuff flying around here, and I'm not going
to attempt to try to respond to everything. But for starters let me
give a sort of overall view of what I've read, and my own opinions about
the thread in general.
It's a good thing that there are a variety of systems out there at a
variety of prices, and with a variety of ways to handle the price vs.
feature challenge. The way companies answer these concerns is based
mostly upon the markets they wish to pursue.
Consider the G-Tech Pro. Is this a great product? YES IT IS! It's not
my cup of tea, to be sure, but at $139, they hit a market that's
hitherto non-existent. They've literally invented a new segment, and
answered the needs (at least the rudimentary needs) of a multitude of
street enthusiasts because their price makes them accessible to
multitudes of street racers.
The Pi system is, IMHO, the BEST data acquisition system out there. But
it's price limits it's market appeal. The Pi system has track maps (I
think they are stored, not drawn, which wouldn't work well in
autocross), and has all of the channels that the Edelbrock has and more.
I have a friend who uses a Pi system to consult with NASCAR teams to
measure air pressure on the body in a dozen different places around the
car. It's great, great stuff! This friend tells me it's easy to put
$20K into a full blown professional Pi system; I'm certain it can also
be done for a lot less. Perhaps someone with firsthand knowledge of
getting one of these systems up and running can give us an actual price.
I suspect it's $3k-5k for a pretty basic system.
At $395, GEEZ and the G-Cube bundle is in a market all by itself in
terms of price and features. We believe we offer a balance of features
and price that will make us accessible to a much larger audience than
some of the others. I have to think a Pi system is better, at least in
several ways. Even with that said, we do some things that the Pi system
doesn't. It might be able to be kluged to make it do it, I dunno.
Edelbrock is not aiming their product at autocrossers, or even road
racers. They are aiming at the very serious drag racer. Their system
prices start at $995, and work on up to multi-thousands. Is this a
"better" product than GEEZ? For their selected market, my opinion would
be yes! But for autocrossers, my opinion would be no. In the ways
that most autocrossers will use it, we're betting on our approach.
Philosophically, GEEZ focuses on the driver. We have developed a
different way of viewing performance. It's not the be-all end-all way
to look at performance, (at least we hope not!). But it has helped a
lot of drivers to improve very very quickly. And it continues to be
useful for even expert drivers. This is very unusual. A lot of methods
of teaching and learning about performance driving are applicable only
to beginners, or only to advanced drivers. Our methods seem to be
getting great results with a variety of driver levels, and that's
important to us.
Finally, I'd like to address one inaccuracy in Dennis' post here...
Dennis' assertion that Edelbrock is about the same price is, well, maybe
undocumented would be a good way to put it. Edelbrock shows their
product at $995, for the entry level version, on their website. Our
Racer's Bundle is a complete system at $395. That's a lot of
difference.
Even with the Palm, as Dennis likes to make the comparison, expect to
spend about $555 for the full GEEZ, G-Cube, and Palm III package. My
calculate shows that as just over half of the retail price shown for the
entry level system on Edelbrock's web page. If I've misread their web
page, I'm certain that Dennis can correct me, and repost the web page
address so we can all see for ourselves.
It's okay with me that Dennis prefers the Edelbrock. Different strokes,
and all that. We are pretty sure that our approach to this market will
prove to be more popular among our target market. But we certainly wish
the Edelbrock folks good luck with their product.
I would also like to point out that Dennis is not a customer, and has
never called or e-mailed for help in using the system. He did e-mail
and ask about whether or not I would give him the source code to our
mapping algorythms. I declined.
--Byron
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