I'm looking to put an RCP2 in my Pro3 race car (BMW e30) and have been toying with different tablet options. Likely should be a 7 or 8 inch. May mount in place of the stock cluster (i.e., recessed in the dash) or on a bracket attached to the steering column.
Daylight may be a factor though it is generally shady in the cockpit. Don't want to mess around with slow/flakey hardware.
Suggestions?
Jeff
Best tablet for dash
Moderators: JeffC, rdoherty, stieg, brentp
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smallspeed
- Posts: 43
- Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2015 1:08 pm
- Location: Leicester, UK
i've used a fire hd 6" tablet in my e36 - works pretty well and isn't too big (plus it was cheap). I have a non standard dash anyway, but wanted to be able to use some of the other features like predictive lap time, etc., and do analysis on the fly when at the track...
one thing I have found is its hard to get many cases for it - initially I was going to mount a hard case somewhere and then just clip the tablet in/out when I needed it but there's literally not many slim hard cases (the type you might fit on a phone) available, so I gave up on that idea..
one other thing I found a bit frustrating (which I should have thought about first) is the lack of GPS - this is probably specific to me, but I drive my race car on the road occasionally (I have no trailer/tow car of my own currently so rely on borrowing other peoples) and so it would have been nice to use the tablet for GPS duties.. its not exactly a major issue, but if your car is a road/track car then it might be something worth considering - the larger (7" / 8") versions do have gps built in
overall, I mostly just use it to look at data now, but when learning tracks the ability to clip this in place and refer to it on the fly is very useful! its also a useful thing to have for other things like weather, checking go-pro aim, etc., etc
one thing I have found is its hard to get many cases for it - initially I was going to mount a hard case somewhere and then just clip the tablet in/out when I needed it but there's literally not many slim hard cases (the type you might fit on a phone) available, so I gave up on that idea..
one other thing I found a bit frustrating (which I should have thought about first) is the lack of GPS - this is probably specific to me, but I drive my race car on the road occasionally (I have no trailer/tow car of my own currently so rely on borrowing other peoples) and so it would have been nice to use the tablet for GPS duties.. its not exactly a major issue, but if your car is a road/track car then it might be something worth considering - the larger (7" / 8") versions do have gps built in
overall, I mostly just use it to look at data now, but when learning tracks the ability to clip this in place and refer to it on the fly is very useful! its also a useful thing to have for other things like weather, checking go-pro aim, etc., etc
We have a recommended list of tablets here: https://www.autosportlabs.net/RaceCaptu ... quirements
Nvidia Shield tablet is amazing for the price, there are a few other good tablets out there. Do not skimp and get a no-name cheap tablet, they often have flakey Bluetooth and can be painfully slow.
Nvidia Shield tablet is amazing for the price, there are a few other good tablets out there. Do not skimp and get a no-name cheap tablet, they often have flakey Bluetooth and can be painfully slow.
Ryan Doherty
Autosports Labs
Autosports Labs
Why no windows tablets listed/recommended?rdoherty wrote:We have a recommended list of tablets here: https://www.autosportlabs.net/RaceCaptu ... quirements
Nvidia Shield tablet is amazing for the price, there are a few other good tablets out there. Do not skimp and get a no-name cheap tablet, they often have flakey Bluetooth and can be painfully slow.
I'm using a HP Stream 7 to run VCDS, it runs quite well. And it was super cheap, about $80. Can't find any name brand Android tablets for under $100.....
The Stream 7 works quite well interfacing to the RCPro. Just have to use the USB cable, the bluetooth isn't reliable, but I gather that has to do with the App for Windows and not the tablet. So much better having a tablet to update start and finish locations onsite at an autocross, and way more convenient running VCDS on a tablet when sitting in the driver's seat, laptops just get in the way with the steering wheel.
We don't have any recommendations for them simply because we haven't tested any extensively.
Bluetooth can be very unreliable on crappy tablets, which is why we have a recommended list of tablets. The Kindle Fire and Nvidia Shield both are high quality and have good bluetooth. The off brand or super cheap tablets we've seen tend to have very unreliable bluetooth.
Bluetooth can be very unreliable on crappy tablets, which is why we have a recommended list of tablets. The Kindle Fire and Nvidia Shield both are high quality and have good bluetooth. The off brand or super cheap tablets we've seen tend to have very unreliable bluetooth.
Ryan Doherty
Autosports Labs
Autosports Labs