I have been thing about buying the sportsman racepak system for my 10:90 index car. I was talking about it the other day with a buddy and he suggested that I buy a grid instead. What do you guys think.

The grid basically only data logs rpm, rpm switch activation, shift light and timing curves, you can log D/S speed but you will need the ARC (IIRC) module to do so.
RacePak will monitor just about anything your budget can handle and the grid is also compatible. I have the grid, it's great! just saving the pennies for the racepak.

Thank you for the reply. Maybe I should buy the grid first. Get it sorted the save my money for the Racepac.

Racepak FTW!!

ARC module is illegal fro NHRA competition. Just sayin. Do you really need the grid would be the first question I would ask. When you say 10.90 index stuff I assume you mean S/ST. If you are running on a stop I cannot see where the grid is going to be a really useful piece. Don't get me wrong awesome piece and I used them but for T-stop index racing I cannot see it being very beneficial over a simple 7AL3 deal. Where as the Racepak can be in invaluable tool for index racing. You can learn a lot about what you car is doing quickly with a racepak in S/ST, way more than the grid is gonna help IMO. The racepak will also interface with the grid. IMO start with a racepak

Once you have a RacePak or any data system its hard to go without. I love the one in my black Duster so much I bought another one for my blue heads-up project. It will have a RacePak, Grid, Progressive, and MSD7AL3.

Where can I read up on logging with the grid?

Google is your Friend.

Just a sample

http://www.dragzine.com/tech-stories/tech-deep-dive-getting-to-know-msds-power-grid-features/

Thank you for your input! I have been contemplating upgrading my ignition as I am currently running a 6AL. However, I have heard some real horror stories with some of the digital stuff and was not going to change something that was working.

I think there is a Sportsman Racepak in my future. What sensors do you consider to be critical.

Comes with tach and driveshaft and will record volts and a 12V event. Meaning it will record a switch on or off basically. Go with your typical pressure and temp sensors. Oil and trans., fuel pressure to start. You can add a vac. sensor and O2's. The temp sensors are about $40-$50 cheaper than the pressure sensors. My pressure sensors have been spot on with my gauges. I don't have the O2's yet but have installed them on some dragsters I worked on. Got everything from Figspeed. You can run the Grid with a 7 series, not sure about a 6.

Vacuum is useful to keep up with the engines health for sure. The aforementioned oil pressure as well as fuel pressure and water temp are always good additions as well. One thing that gets overlooked in many car and especially a throttle stop set up is a trans pressure and temp sensor. When you get late in the rounds and temps go up you may find a correlation between that rise in temp and changing of reaction times. It will also give you an early indication of any issues there. However IMO the simple pieces that come wit the unit will prove invaluable by themselves. The driveshaft RPM, Engine RPM and Accel G will tell you a lot about how well the car is working and what its doing on the stop. The rest is just good info to have. The sky is the limit really. A sportsman is expandable and you can ad channels to it as you go. O2's are always good as are shock sensors. Lots of nice stuff to have for sure. We run pretty much everything on the heads up car for sure. Info is always good.