[Rjliptak19]

I'm new to the forum still and just sold my current X5 and will be buying a 1LE soon. There are a couple listed in the for sale section that I'm looking at and very seriously considering. One has the PDR the other doesn't. The car will be 90% DD and will only track it a few times a year, probably less than 5.

I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on how much you use the PDR on non-track days. I'm sure it's fun to hit it a few times when you first get the car to see how quickly you can go 0-60 or 0-100 (only on approved roads of course)but I'm not sure if it's something I'm going to regret not getting in 6 months even if I have everything else on the car, including the color I want.

If this should go somewhere else, let me know. I searched PDR and all I found were videos and the install threads. So it does seem like it may be an option, albeit an expensive and time-consuming one if I did decide later I had to have it.

[artey34]

Love mine and I daily mine 75% of the time. I use it as a dash cam for DD use. When I go on spirited drives I swap it to sport setting. When tracking, I use track so I can review my laps and have some data down. I don't want the hassle of having a GoPro or anything like that so to me, its a necessity. I don't regret getting it at all!

[z28pat]

I daily drive mine and it’s a great dash cam

[Boost Creep]

Mine will never see a track, but I love the PDR.
Use it as a dash cam, use it to record rips down my favorite road, use it to record cool cars I catch up to in traffic, use it to record morons doing what morons do.

I intentionally chose a car with the PDR. Might be more common in future cars, but it's a rare option right now in a select few cars, might as well get it if you can.

[carguy55]

As a camera its not very good. It only has 720p @30fps camera that sucks in anything but bright sunshine. My old Gopro 4 is 10x better. Since mine is a track car the best thing for me is the data it can provide.

[Blueclyde]

It really depends. It’s nice to have it integrated and simple but if you’re ordering new, it’s expensive for what you get. A newer GoPro with GPS can do most of the same with better quality and a lot less money. I bought my 1LE used. It doesn’t have one. I’ll be getting a GoPro 7 for upcoming track days.

[Rjliptak19]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate all the input. Either way, with or without the PDR I can't wait to get in it and drive it everyday.

[NickyRacerBoy]

Hell yeah PDR all the way!

[cdrptrks]

I recommend getting PDR if possible but agree that the quality, resolution, and detail is worse than a dedicated dashcam or gopro. I find it helpful for analyzing between runs at track days with the track overlay by using a MicroSD card with adapter so I can put it in my phone for better pause/seek functionality than you get on the car's built in playback interface.

Also if using PDR as a dashcam for road trips it just randomly stops recording without warning after several hours (EDIT: 1 hour 39 minutes) once the recording reaches a certain file size.

[Boost Creep]

It's about an hour and a half, I forget the exact file size.

[eimarshall]

I don't use it beyond track/autoX. But is really nice to be able to immediately review my run/lap and see where I'm going slower or braking where I shouldn't. I guess you can use it as a dash cam but it doesn't automatically start.

[Infamus]

I wish mine had it, my grand sport has it and I love it...

[JeromeS13]

If you're going to track it at all AND you care about getting faster and learning, get it.

[JLz06]

Its one of the coolest options on any car. For that alone its worth it. I'm glad I got it.