ScanGauge II for $106.24 in Amazon goldbox for 4 more hours

drewgibs said:   Why are these so expensive? Seems like simple and cheap technology...not saying this isn't a good deal if that's the going rate but for that much I would expect it to pair via Bluetooth to my phone

You can get a bluetooth OBDII scanner for $10-$15 on eBay and plenty of free apps for iphone, android and PC.

i still have it and using since 2006 gas price hike.
after that this guage helped me drive slow and
MPG bumps to 10% more than nanufacture suggesting.
also helps many times to clear code service engine soon.

good for people looking for an all-in-one tool who do things like tow stuff, to keep track of the engine and such, or hyper-milers looking to use the cars computer to eek out another MPG.

one thing you have to remember about these kinds of things is that the software is the most important part. any reader can read the car's computer for generic stuff (ie. the bluetooth OBDII), but it takes software to take the generic information (MAP pressure, A/F ratios, etc.) along with manufacturer-specific information (transmission temp, all data from hybrids) and output useful information (ie. instantaneous and long term MPG, graphs and gauges).

vehicle manufactures charge licensing fees to whomever would like to be able to access their proprietary or manufacturer-specific codes, so the free android apps that are available, guess how much data from the car's computer they can access? not much, but enough for some basic graphs. only the OBDII codes, which are slowly becoming insufficient as cars become heavily computerized.

Now that we've established what seperates the $10,000 snap-on SOLUS from the loaner code reader at the auto parts store, it looks as this unit only takes generic OBDII stuff, reads it from the cars computer, and outputs it for you. so it doesn't look like its a lot more useful than a generic bluetooth reader and an app that can create graphs using OBDII info. can the free apps floating around do as good of a job as this unit? i dunno, i dont use them.

this is what i use for the wifey's mazda 3 to keep it running, a generic cable with this software:

http://www.scantool.net/scanxl-pro.html

for generic OBDII stuff and this add-on pack for mazdas:

http://www.scantool.net/scanxl-mazda-enhanced-diagnostics-add-on...

for propietary codes (including ABS, airbag, tire pressure monitoring, etc)

ctdubbin said:   good for people looking for an all-in-one tool who do things like tow stuff, to keep track of the engine and such, or hyper-milers looking to use the cars computer to eek out another MPG.

one thing you have to remember about these kinds of things is that the software is the most important part. any reader can read the car's computer for generic stuff (ie. the bluetooth OBDII), but it takes software to take the generic information (MAP pressure, A/F ratios, etc.) along with manufacturer-specific information (transmission temp, all data from hybrids) and output useful information (ie. instantaneous and long term MPG, graphs and gauges).

vehicle manufactures charge licensing fees to whomever would like to be able to access their proprietary or manufacturer-specific codes, so the free android apps that are available, guess how much data from the car's computer they can access? not much, but enough for some basic graphs. only the OBDII codes, which are slowly becoming insufficient as cars become heavily computerized.

Now that we've established what seperates the $10,000 snap-on SOLUS from the loaner code reader at the auto parts store, it looks as this unit only takes generic OBDII stuff, reads it from the cars computer, and outputs it for you. so it doesn't look like its a lot more useful than a generic bluetooth reader and an app that can create graphs using OBDII info. can the free apps floating around do as good of a job as this unit? i dunno, i dont use them.

this is what i use for the wifey's mazda 3 to keep it running, a generic cable with this software:

http://www.scantool.net/scanxl-pro.html

for generic OBDII stuff and this add-on pack for mazdas:

http://www.scantool.net/scanxl-mazda-enhanced-diagnostics-add-on...

for propietary codes (including ABS, airbag, tire pressure monitoring, etc)

Do you know if any of these devices have an option that lets you to change the vin# in the computer box? I replaced the computer in my mazda6 with a junk yard part, and I noticed that the vin# is wrong now.

wam1 said:   Do you know if any of these devices have an option that lets you to change the vin# in the computer box? I replaced the computer in my mazda6 with a junk yard part, and I noticed that the vin# is wrong now.

None of the cheap ones will be able to do that. You need to take it to a mechanic or a dealer for that.