Customer Reviews

ScanGauge II Ultra Compact 3-in-1 Automotive Computer with Customizable Real-Time Fuel Economy Digital Gauges

5 star:		(240)
4 star:		(67)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

This little box is very useful. In my case it already paid for itself. I was able to clear some service codes (misfire of a cylinder). In the past I paid $69 for the mechanic to just look up and clear the code.
I really like the fact that ScanGauge displays all kinds of engine data in real time. Other devices such as the CarChip save it and then need to be connected to a computer in order to access the data.
In my opinion, the ScanGauge is worth every cent.

The installation of the SG2 is simple: attach the OBD2 connector to the DLC port and attach the RJ-45 jack to the SG2 unit. Routing the cable is really up to the operator. I chose to do it in a crude manner because I don't plan to make it a permanent addition to the car. I zip tied the cable to my HVAC vents and anchored it to the empty traction control hole behind the glove box.

I used 1 of the provided velcro kits to affix the SG2 to the top of my steering column so that it is right below the instrument panel. It actually blocks my view of the shift indicator array, although I can still see it clearly if I lean forward.

The update rate set at FAST is still rather slow and that is to be expected with the outdated OBD-II network. The "fastest" aftermarket scan tool that I have seen is SCT's Live Link for Ford / GM / Chryslers. If you want anything faster, you are going to have to borrow an OEM's scan tool system.

The X-Gauge interface is a bit cumbersome since you are restricted to using 2 buttons to enter alphanumeric characters while if you pause for anything more than 10-15 seconds, the SG2 shuts down. According to Linear Logic, they are working on an updated SG2 with datalogging features so hopefully they incorporate a PC interface to speed up programming and setup times.

I have it set to monitor instantaneous MPG, RPM, Vehicle Speed, and a gauge that I frequently switch depending on my mood. I am monitoring the torque converter slip ratio. Whenever it reads below 1.00, it means the torque converter is "slipping". Above 1.00 means the output side of the converter is spinning faster than the input side and theoretically it could just mean engine braking with some torque converter slip. You can program custom X-Gauges to monitor gross engine horsepower or torque input at the transmission.

I had previously used a Garmin Forerunner 101 to check my GPS vehicle speed and compared it to my speedometer readout (2000 Ford Crown Vic with mechanical speedometer). It revealed that my GPS speed was about 2-3 mph slower than the speedometer indicated speed. The SG2's vehicle speed readout (from the Vehicle Speed Sensor PID in the OBD-2 system) is approximately 2-3 mph slower than the speedometer reading and I am assuming this is the same readout as my GPS (I didn't get a chance to verify this yet).

Some of the gauges I like to monitor are Coolant Temperature, Intake Air Temperature, Transmission Fluid Temperature (XGauge), Torque Converter Slip Ratio (XGauge), Gross Horsepower (XGauge), RPM, Vehicle Speed, and MPG.

I still haven't been able to figure out how to work the trip computer properly to display averaged fuel economy. The instantaneous MPG is more important to me because I want to see if anything is not working right on long cruises. I have often wondered if the torque converter was locking properly when I use cruise control or when cruising on the highway.

The data collection stability is impressive. I never ran into many problems with Car Code or SCT's Live Link, but SG2 is just more convenient and compact. The backlight colors are interesting as they allow you to choose 4 different values of each RGB component (or 64 possible combinations). I have it set to R=3, B=0, G=0 so that it resembles Pontiac's interior lighting (I drive a Ford).

My only real complaint is that there's not a better way of attaching the SG2 to the car. A suction cup mount for the windshield would come in handy since I could mount it near my line of sight without relying on adhesive-backed velcro. The interface is quite intuitive but I would have liked a way to program the X-gauge more easily, like via a PC interface.

Bottom line: The SG2 is a great deal if you are interested in data readouts for your car. There are cheaper ways of pulling DTC codes, so the only real usefulness of SG2 is the "realtime" PID monitoring and the trip computer for cars that do not have such devices. If you know someone who is a bona fide gearhead and drives a car made in 1996 or newer, they may appreciate the SG2 as a gift.

UPDATE:
While the ScanGauge II provided a useful feature for cars without trip computers or onboard monitoring for various PIDs, I have noticed that it began to malfunction more frequently. The gauge readouts began to "flicker" between PIDs. For example, monitoring IGNition, the IGN began to switch rapidly between HPR. Just recently, the entire ScanGauge II shutdown while I was driving. It would refuse to reconnect with the OBD2 network. When it did find a connection, a lot of the text was garbled and it lost all of my trip data except for the total mileage. My car normally maxes out on 300 miles per tank of gasoline, so I was bewildered when the SG2 said I drove over 4000 miles. Other SG2 readers have reported similar quirks, albeit not as serious as the self shutdown and data corruption that I experienced.

Many newer cars already have features built-into the car. The Pontiac G8, and Nissan GT-R are two examples of cars that have very developed "trip computers" while many other modern vehicles like the Pontiac G6, have trip computers that can monitor most of the fuel-related data.

I've had the scanGuage II for about 3 weeks at the time of this review. I had bought the unit because I was interested in finding out about how my car, a 2002 Toyota Solara was holding up and what the car computer might tell me.

First the cons:
1. The cord is too long. The total run from the ODB II port to where the unit is
mounted is about a 15 inches, top. It would have been nice to have sockets
on both the plug and the SG II. Include a long and short cord, or just have it
so that cat5e network cable could be used.
Why? Because storing the excess cable somewhere is a problem, I ended up
storing in inside the panel protecting the steering column, and may have
created a short in one vehicle lighting circuits.

2. The velcro is too weak to hold the unit in place. I ended up using Radio Shack
LockTite fasteners (the clear ones) instead.
3. The manual leaves a lot to be desired, especially the pictures which are so low
contrast and dark they are useless. I had to go online and download the
manual as a PDF file.

Pros: The ScanGuage works as advertised. To me this is the Holy Grail of
advertising. It barely is worth repeating the items for sale that deliver what
they promise.

1. The display is large and very legible, even at night (or especially at night).
2. The diagnostics (both realtime and stored) are comprehensive
3. The codes are easy to read.

The biggest pro for me is being able to monitor my actual Miles Per Gallon
*mileage* I've changed my driving style from constant foot on the gas
pedal to gas-and-coast. A tank of gas lasts SO much longer now, because I
now know how much a lead foot costs. In fact for any given trip I can tell
how much it costs not only in dollars and cents, but also by engine load and
how far (or further) I got just coasting along.

The unit is (in my black & gray interior) inconspicuous, and the slightly
cheap look to the unit works to it's advantage: no one takes it seriously as
"a thing worth stealing."

If I had any indication that someone would understand what it does, I'd be
recommending it left and right. As it stands, it is something of a specialty
item, except you soon wonder how you ever got along without it.

I have had the Scan Gauge II in my Toyota Yaris for about 3 months now, and have tested it's functionality in a wide range of city and freeway driving. Since the car is only a year old, I haven't needed to scan any trouble codes yet, so I am using the SGII primarily as a fuel economy computer.
SGII connects directly to the OBD-2 diagnostic port that is present on most vehicles sold in the US since 1996. The manufacturer, Linear Logic, publishs a list on the company website showing specifically which makes and models of cars and light trucks that the unit will and will not work in.

Features: The SGII reads the data stream from the car's engine control computer, and uses this data to calculate and display, in real time, the engine's fuel consumption, RPM, coolant temperature, throttle loading, and Trip/Tank statistics like how many miles you can go on remaining fuel, and how much $$$ worth of gas has been burned on the current trip. The unit offers something like 40 different functions and guage displays - go to the company website for a complete list.

What I like about the product: Adds fuel economy displays, plus some other guages like Water Temp and RPM, that weren't available even as options on my Toyota Yaris. The fuel economy computer feature is something that you usually see only on up-scale cars costing over $30,000 - ScanGuage II adds this functionality to almost any OBD-II complient car for only $159. The Yaris fuel guage isn't very accurate, whereas the SG-II tells me to 1/10 of a gallon how much gas I have left. At each fill-up, you can re-calibrate the SGII with the exact amount of gas pumped. This is nice because fuel density changes with the seasons as average daily temperature rise and falls, which results in changes of up to 10% in how many gallons it takes to effect a fill-up.

The SGII is pretty compact, so most owners will be able to find some place on or under the dash to mount it. At night, the display screen is backlit well enough. At night, with the backlight on, the contrast between the display background and the numbers isn't as great as I'd like, but the screen is readable enough. The backlighting is provided by a multi-color LED, and the user can select between about 16 different colors.
The display update/refresh rate is once per second (fast mode), or once per two seconds (regular mode), so the unit's RPM display may not update quickly enough for use as a real-time tachometer in a manual transmission car. However, you could certainly use it to calibrate an analog tach
Ease of use: The SGII is self-powered from the OBD-II connector, and needs no batteries. It only uses a single ethernet-type cable to connect it to the OBD-II port. One 6' cable comes with the unit, and additional cables can be purchased for $20 if you want to use your SGII in more than one car.
The SGII can be used in multiple cars, but moving the unit to a different car probably erases the "current" and "prior day" trip data.
Usefulness: This gadget is really helpful on long trips to let you know when you need to make a gas stop. In mountainous terrain, most cars use a lot more gas than when cruising on the "flats", and SGII immediately updates the tank-remaining-mileage if terrain or driving conditions change substantially. The device is sensitive enough to show even small differences in fuel economy like the difference between air conditioning on or off, headlights on or off, and tailgate up/down. The most obvious difference in fuel economy comes with changes in speed, and SGII shows in hard numbers that 75mph cruising will hurt fuel economy as much as 30% compared to keeping it under 60.
The other primary use for SGII is to scan your car's OBD-II engine control computer and display the actual trouble code when your "check engine" warning light comes on. Assuming you have a listing of the trouble codes for your car, this feature could tell you the difference between minor glitches for which repair can be delayed a few days, and major failures that need to be fixed right away. Once a fault has been repaired, SGII can be used to tell the car's OBD-II computer to reset the trouble code. I haven't used this feature myself yet, but the owner's manual describes the function well enough.

Conclusion: For $159, this is a pretty cool gadget to have in your car, especially as the price or gas is now well above $3.00 (diesel approaching $4.00/gallon in some parts of the US!). And yes, SGII works in most Diesel vehicles made after 1996 (see the list on Linear Logic's website). Highly recommended as a really useful automobile accessory that offers a LOT of "bang-for-the-buck".

UPDATE: September 2010. Have used this gadget for almost three years in my Yaris and in my Dodge diesel truck, and still functioning perfectly, despite being cooked in the hot summer sun on the dashboard several times.

One issue I have noticed when using it in the Dodge: If I run through a tank of fuel while towing a heavy trailer, then another tank of fuel while the truck is unloaded (not towing or hauling anything), the calibration changes substantially. I usually use something like "45%" for unloaded, and "25%" when towing. However, even these numbers are only rough starting points. In general, over level ground at 55mph, I expect to get 20mpg unloaded, and 14mpg towing a 7800# RV trailer. But the Scan Guage is rarely consistant, even when I am careful to set the calibration to the same numbers I calculated the last time I towed the trailer. I guess other factors like average grade, temperature, and elevation must be affecting the fuel consumption/tank return ratio of the truck's fuel injection system, and this is resulting in inconsistent reporting of fuel economy from the ScanGuage. A typical inconsistency: I drove 300 miles at 45 mph, unloaded, and the scan guage reported 35 mpg (completely unrealistic for a 3/4 ton truck, of course). Actual fuel economy was 24. So I re-calibrated, and on the next tank of fuel, the ScanGuage reported only 10 mpg when I was really getting 16 (I was towing the trailer again on this tank). This is ONLY an issue with my diesel truck, when I install the gadget in my gasoline car, it is very consistant from one tank of fuel to another, and I rarely have to change the calibration after the two fill-ups. I still like the ScanGuage and recommend it, just be aware that apparently the way it interprets fuel consumption data from the ECM in a diesel engine vehicle isn't as stable or consistant as you would get in a gasoline vehicle.

Being a geek, I bought the ScanGauge II so that I could see more information in real time about my car. The ScanGauge should appeal to anyone who watched Night Rider and was envious of all the cool displays inside Kit. The good news is that this little device does give you so much more cool information about your car as you drive. Rather than guess why your car had bad mileage, you can tell immediately it was because you had the throttle down too much or your average speed was 85 mph. The real value of this gadget is that it gives you hard data to point to when your car acts a little funny.

The first thing you'll have to figure out is where to mount it. I drive a RAV4, and I've found the best place is under the center console. It stays out of the way and gives your passengers something cool to look at while you're driving. I would not recommend putting it in your line of site, like a HUD in an F-16. The numbers will distract you and then you'll have bigger problems than bad gas mileage. Finding a good place to mount is critical. That leads me to my first complaint: the ScanGauge is just heavy enough that Velcro won't hold it for long periods of time. After my car has been in the hot sun, the ScanGauge simply falls. It is a habit now for me to stick the ScanGauge back up every time I get in the car. I've contemplated using superglue to make sure it stays, but I don't want to damage the interior.

The realtime data is very handy, but I wish the screen updated a little faster. There are multiple settings (slow, normal, and fast), but fast isn't quite fast enough. The numbers always lag behind about half a second, making it impossible to drive your car to the data. The trip data is much more interesting and useful. Once I calibrated my speed and fuel mileage, I was surprised to see how accurate it was. Every time I fill up gas, I know how much I have to put in. It is usually accurate within a half gallon. Knowing my fuel mileage has been great for my lead foot too. When I see my mileage lower than normal, I know I have to start taking it easy. There are four trips computed by the ScanGauge: Current, Tank, Today, and Yesterday. These are hardcoded, and you can't change them, so if you go on a long trip, you can't keep one average for the whole thing.

Overall, I would recommend the ScanGauge to any geek who wants to know everything about the car.

After reading several other reviews on the web for this product, I decided to place an order for one. I just received the unit this week and immediately hooked it up. You should set your engine size, fuel type (gas/diesel/hybrid), units of measure, and your fuel tank size - rounded down to the nearest whole number to allow for the best accuracy in the scangauge. It's a simple installation. Just plug it into your vehicle's OBDII port and choose a suitable mounting location that doesn't interfere with your other gauges or present a safety hazard. (velcro strips are included for no muss/no fuss installation, but you could devise a more permanent mount)

Depending upon the parameters that your vehicle reports, here are some of the things this device can show you:

4 sets of trip data is stored - Current Trip, Today's Trip, Previous Day, and Current Tank. In addition, fuel economy, fuel used, maximum coolant temperature, distance, maximum rpm, drive time, maximum speed, average speed, distance to empty, time to empty, and amount of fuel to empty.

The digital gauges are for fuel economy, fuel rate, digital speedometer, tachometer, manifold pressure, battery voltage, coolant temperature, intake air temperature, engine load, ignition timing, throttle position, and open/closed loop. You can display any choice of 4 of these digital gauges on the gauge screen at one time and it's easy to cycle through them. Not all vehicles will report every one of the above parameters through the OBDII interface. If the data is not available for the chosen gauge, then there will be no display.

The final thing that this gauge is useful for is to read and reset trouble codes and your "check engine" or "service engine soon" lamp. It captures the conditions present and stores them in flash memory if a trouble code is thrown so that you can review what state the various gauges were in when the trouble code triggered.

Again, I just received this item this week, but did quite a bit of research on it before purchasing. I am very impressed by the amount of information the ScanGauge makes available. Utilizing the data, I believe I'll be able to improve my gas mileage, as I will have instant feedback on my inputs as a driver. It's fun to use too. One other thing I forgot to mention is that you can program the back-light to 63 different colors. It comes with 7 standard colors already programmed.

I've used my ScanGauge to monitor the fuel economy on three different vehicles. My experience has been that it was very accurate, right out of the box with no calibration required on my 2001 Ford Taurus, 3.0 liter engine.

It gave me very low mpg readings on my 2007 Dodge Dakota truck with a 4.7 liter engine. When the ScanGauge was reporting 17 mpg, the factory installed trip computer, which I know is accurate, was reporting 21 mpg. When I reprogrammed the ScanGauge for a 4.1 liter engine rather than the 4.7 liter engine, the two readings matched.

On the other end of the spectrum, when I plugged the ScanGauge into my wife's 2002 Honda Civic with a 1.7 liter engine, the mpg readings were unrealistically high - over 50 mpg on a 68 mile trip! The true number, which we know from experience, should have been closer to 44 mpg (Yes, the Civic really does get that kind of mileage!).

My feeling is that for very large and very small engines, the ScanGauge has to be calibrated over the course of several tanks of gas. You simply compare the number of gallons needed to fill the tank, versus the number of gallons used per the ScanGauge, and then adjust the engine size and/or "adjustment" factor in the ScanGauge. These adjustments are easy to make, so it's no big deal.

Otherwise, it's super easy to install and set up, and it provides all sorts of information in real time - practically anything that the on-board computer can see gets reported through ScanGauge.

Just plug it in and data starts coming out. Not flashy, but extremely useful. Can be used to replace expensive gauges as well as perform diagnostic work. Your frends will want to borrow it to check out their own vehicles. Variable color backlighting is very cool. One word of caution. Do not reset the error codes and then bring the car in for service if you think you have a real fault. The dealer will not be able to diagnose your car if you have reset everything. Also, telling the repair place what the error code was will not help. For example, MINI and BMW have an entirely separate set of error codes (not the government mandated P codes) that are only read using their proprietary diagnostic equipment. I use the ScanGauge as a supplemental gauge set since many modern cars with gauges do not display information in a straightforward way. The water temp may be "filtered" so that the gauge reads normal unless there is a wild excursion. Real temp variations are suppressed to avoid service calls.

I have owned my ScanGauge II for almost a year now and overall it has functioned pretty much as advertised. I say "almost" because it had an initial problem with communicating with any vehicle I tried to scan. I sent an email to the company and received a reply within hours asking for an address they should ship the replacement to. They apparently had a bad batch and were very responsive in correcting the problem. The replacement has worked well, until recently. It has developed a problem with the average MPG and at times the display will indicate "9999". I have also found that it will not communicate with another vehicle I own. As bad as these problems are, they are not the big problem I have run into. The support for these devices has apparently gone away. I have been attempting to contact the company for 3 weeks now and have received no response whatsoever. It is really disappointing to see a company that has a reasonably good product feel that it does not need to provide customer service. A year ago I would have recommended this device to anyone that asked. Today I would recommend that you stay clear of ANY product from Linear-Logic.

I purchased the ScanGauge II for my Mazda Miata because I missed certain gage functions from other cars. I programed the intake temperature as a proxy for outside temperature; voltage; instantaneous MPG and I haven't yet programmed average MPG. The programing for average MPG is explained, but the manual leaves a lot to be desired. Everything is explained, but the manual could be better organized. If the manual were better I'd rate the ScanGauge II a 5 star. Installation is very easy as all that is required is to find the OBDII connector and plug it in. There are two calibrations, for engine size and tank capacity and a calibration after your first fillup. Simple once you struggle through that manual. Once everything is in place the ScanGaugeII works as promised. Setting the display background color was very easy and its a good match for the Miata's red illumination. Again, a better organized manual and this would have been five stars.