My obsession with data acquisition systems started during my first undergrad internship about 20 years ago, and has remained a faithful, though expensive, companion ever since. While my go-to kit for recon-related tasks is the ScenePro CI 200 SVTS, it’s not within everyone’s budget and I don’t always need all that fire power.

VBOX launches a new system, the HD Lite

If you’ve been reading since the beginning, you know I’m a fan of the VBOX Sport. It’s small, self-contained, rugged, and relatively inexpensive ($485). However, it’s pure GPS; no video, no accelerometer.

VBOX recently released the HD Lite, which is basically the VBOX Sport with an attached 1080p HD camera. In addition, it’s got a CAN bus input so you can simultaneously log GPS, video, and 8 CAN bus channels. Further, you can get all that data for $985, including the related software. That’s some serious bang for the buck. It’ll be a great tool for performance testing, research, drive-through videos, etc.

Granted, much of the above can be achieved with the GoPro HERO11 and its predecessors (remember, they removed GPS for the HERO12), but if you’d prefer a scientific-grade tool, the VBOX is a solid choice.

 
 

A few downsides to the HD Lite that I’d love to see them address:

  1. It requires external power from a cigarette lighter, or the like. For automotive and truck testing, that’s no problem. But for small vehicles, which this tool is otherwise well-suited, the need for external power complicates things dramatically.

  2. There’s no internal accelerometer. It’s often nice to have accelerometer data alongside GPS data…if GoPro can (or could) do it, VBOX can do it too.

  3. 10 Hz is cool, but 25 Hz (which is what the newest VBOX Sport touts?) would be cooler.

What’s your favorite data-junky tool? If you have one, hit reply and let me know.

Have a great weekend!

Lou Peck
​Lightpoint | Axiom​

P.S. Heads-up...shoe!