Obd Scanners & Trip Computers

[pgp001]

I am a new (three weeks) owner of a 2004 petrol XT3, and have been reading many of the previous posts on this forum regarding fault codes.

Touching wood whilst typing this, I have not had any problems so far.

I have sort of decided to buy myself a code scanner and had settled on the Launch Creader V, but then after looking on google I found that you can get an OBD powered trip meter which gives all sorts of other useful information as well as fault codes.

The ones I am tempted by in order of price are.

ULTRA-GAUGE

http://ultra-gauge.com/ZC/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=1&zenid=dsq94te6mjsguog9up57ve77t1

KIWI MPG

http://www.plxdevices.co.uk/product/eco/kiwimpg.php

SCANGAUGE 2

http://www.scangauge.com/products/

Before I waste any money, does anyone have any useful comments on any of these units.

One thing I am not sure about the ULTRA-GAUGE is if it will be set to work in US gallons or Imperial gallons.

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks

Phil

[Hoovie]

Hi,

Can't comment about the differences or recommend one over the other, but I have the ScanGauge II and it works well.

Re the first that only works in Gallons, not Metric and your question about US v Imperial ....

The Scangauge can be set to Litres OR Gallons - but the Gallons is US, and NOT Imperial. However, on that unit, the way to use Imperial Gallons is to after the seconds fillup, make the calibration correction so it is 'fooled' into using Imperial instead of US. After that point, it is then effectively set to Imperial (all that is better described in the manual for the Scanguage)

So I would think that maybe a similar calibration could be carried out on the first device you linked to?

Having said all the above, after trying the Gallons setting, I switched it (the Scangauge) to Litres as

1) a lot easy when filling up and

2) gives greater level of accuracy and display as the unit is smaller so therefore more precise.

If I personally were looking for a new device now, then I am not sure I would get either 3 of these however, as one feature I would want to have would be some kind of recording ability of the various parameters they can display - all these tend to be instantaneous readouts only (plus economy over a day, trip etc for Scangauge, which is handy) but it would be nice to have a kind of engine map record to transfer to a PC.

[pgp001]

Hi Hoovie

Thanks for the comments, I did wonder if maybe all these units are based on using US gallons. In which case like you say it would not matter which I choose.

I suppose what I am really wanting is something that will give me a more accurate readout of average mpg between each fill up.

The one built into the car radio is a joke, on my first tank full it told me I had done 30.8 mpg average, but when I worked it out at the next fill up I had only done 25.08 mpg in real life.

I have since been trying a bit harder to get better mpg on the next tank, and so far the radio is telling me that I am getting an average of 38.2, so based on that I am hoping the next fill up will show a result of about 30 or 31 mpg (or am I dreaming !)

I agree it would be nice to have a data recorder type of unit, but for what I need I cannot justify the spend, hence my reason for asking about number one on my list which does seem to offer a lot bang for your buck.

Phil

[Hoovie]

Hi Hoovie

Thanks for the comments, I did wonder if maybe all these units are based on using US gallons. In which case like you say it would not matter which I choose.

I suppose what I am really wanting is something that will give me a more accurate readout of average mpg between each fill up.

The one built into the car radio is a joke, on my first tank full it told me I had done 30.8 mpg average, but when I worked it out at the next fill up I had only done 25.08 mpg in real life.

I have since been trying a bit harder to get better mpg on the next tank, and so far the radio is telling me that I am getting an average of 38.2, so based on that I am hoping the next fill up will show a result of about 30 or 31 mpg (or am I dreaming !)

I agree it would be nice to have a data recorder type of unit, but for what I need I cannot justify the spend, hence my reason for asking about number one on my list which does seem to offer a lot bang for your buck.

Phil

yup - the built in one really is a joke :censor:

One of the reasons I got a unit apart from geekness is the tank range. The light would come on very early and the fuel gauge is very pessimistic, so do you ignore it and run the risk of running out or fill up when it warns you? (I used to have to fill up twice a day when I drove to the office and back!!) - with the Scangauge, I would use the "Miles to Empty" (or 'MmT' on the display) gauge to work to and ignore the fuel gauge! Way better!!

You get to see interesting things with these devices, such as a speed reading that matches exactly a GPS Reading - if the car can 'tell' the reader the exact right speed, why the hell can't the speedo be right??

I would have hoped maybe some new device had come along with a recorder at a decent price by now, but still waiting I guess

My signature has the average MPG of my 2005 RAV4 and looks like you are getting similar results to mine. Going over 60mph really hurts the MPG I found, but the RAV is comfortable at way more then that

[pgp001]

Hoovie

I have found my speedo reads about 10% high when compared to a sat-nav as well.

Anyway I have just seen this on eBay, it looks like it has "some" data recording ability but otherwise a blatant copy of a Scangauge and at the same price too.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320653896879&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

It might be worth considering though.

Phil