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Alfano vs. Mychron

Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2021 11:45 am
by evannadeau
Hello everyone. I'm hoping to get some feedback from members who have tried both and can provide their thoughts? Maybe Mr. Kadler can jump in here and tell us more about his experience after most of a season using the Alfano 6.

After my research, I'm currently leaning towards the Alfano for a few reasons.
1. Completely customizable home screen, putting any gauges you want on there.
2. Very large battery, giving real-world 35 - 38 hours of run time. Yes, it is internal only, but I could replace it myself if it failed.
3. The software (I won't get into licencing), allows you to sync up any action cam footage. Don't have to use their special camera.
4. If I were to get into shifter, after a little calibration, it can detect what gear you are in.
5. Phone/Tablet apps for quick data sync over Bluetooth, and simple analysis right there on phone/tablet.


Can anyone else provide some additional real-world experience?


Thanks,

Evan.

Re: Alfano vs. Mychron

Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2021 12:31 pm
by Jackmazury
Evan,

Note I have not used the alfano myself, but being around the track have made a few observations.

Firstly ill say the biggest issue with the alfano which doesn't apppear to have been considered is that the market share it holds locally, and in most of north america is quite small. This in turn means there are very few people to compare data with as it will not work across platforms. If you want to compare with fellow class members this is the biggest advantage of the mycron currently. I have seen 2-3 alfano 6's in the club compared to probably well over 100 mychron 5's.

Now to your specific questions,
1. The alfano interface looks nice I will admit, but you dont spend much time looking at it aside from a short glance at temperatures or lap time while driving
3. i'm not sure if your after specific data categories, but the newer gorpros have some form of data built in I believe or can have it overlayed. (see mark newsons youtube channel)
4. The mychron has a single speed mode as well as a gearbox mode as well and can detect gears, so both devices are comparable here
5. The data on the apple devices looks nice. I haven't used it but it seems intuitive. Both devices do have wireless connectivity now as well.

Re: Alfano vs. Mychron

Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2021 2:12 pm
by newson48
Jack's observations are valid. The sheer quantity of Mychrons in the club means there is a lot of knowledge, support and experience with them as well as drivers that you can compare data with. That alone is pretty much enough info for the decision.
We have a 120V charger that plugs directly into the Mychron 5 at the track, so we never need to remove the battery for charging. Joey has these and they are worth every penny.
Any device can be used to sync up with video footage. People use readily available software to do it. You don't need a special camera.
On Mark's videos https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ5LB7 ... anQ/videos there is a telemetry overlay. This is 100% Gopro stuff. Nothing to do with the Mychron 5 or any 3rd party software.
If you have a Gopro with GPS built-in, then you have this feature available already. (Hero 5, 6, 7, 8 etc.) as far as I know. We use Hero 7 in the newer videos and it has good image stabilization and sound quality.

Blake

Re: Alfano vs. Mychron

Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2021 3:41 pm
by evannadeau
Hi guys. Thanks for the feedback.

For the action camera usage, what I'm referring to is syncing it with your Mychron/Alfano telemetry in the analysis software. And then when you scrub along on the telemetry timeline, even comparing multiple laps, you will see the video in sync with that. The race studio software will currently only do this with the Smartycam footage. The TrackAttac/Off Camber Data software will do it with any footage as far as I am aware. Or for sure will at least do it with GoPro footage.

And as for getting a shared telemetry file, the TrackAttack software can import telemetry from MANY different systems, so no problem there either. AIM, Bosch, MoTech, etc. Even a couple sims, just like Race Studio. And the TrackAttack web system works similar to VRS, where you can create teams and upload your files, and numerous people can share telemetry. And use it as online storage for your telemetry. Very cool stuff, might be useful for many club members, including those that use Mychron's. I'm certainly going to play with the software for a while here before the season starts, looking over my iRacing sessions. So far, it seems very fast, and not overly complicated but gives loads of info.

Thanks again for the feedback. Keep it coming.

Re: Alfano vs. Mychron

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2021 4:06 pm
by kolsen
How does this compare to TrackAttac

https://racerender.com/RR3/Features.html

??/

Re: Alfano vs. Mychron

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2021 4:24 pm
by evannadeau
Keith, the trackattack is for data analysis, like AIM's race studio. From what I see of RaceRender, it's for producing videos with overlays.

Re: Alfano vs. Mychron

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2021 6:46 pm
by kolsen
Ahhh...ok...was confused as I saw something in your post about cameras and syncing things up....ignore me and go back to your regularly scheduled programming...