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I am looking hear from folks with after market “smart” gauges.

The main use will be to see real time fuel consumption and to try to drive as economically as possible. Checking the engine codes would be useful too.

So far I have found these brands - Scangauge II , Ultra gauge , PLX – KIWI wifi and wired Devices and Banks IQ gauge.
Simple set up and and clear viewing is important


Any feed back on these would be much appreciated. Simple set up and and clear viewing would be appreciated

Hi Stew

The Scangauge is the one endorsed by CleanMPG, and can be bought for a member discount of $134.95 plus shipping. The details that set the Scangauge apart from the rest is it's Xgauge capability. The user can program their own gauges into the Scangauge that others cannot access. You can also daisy chain 2 together to view 8 gauges in real time. It has code reading/clearing capability. Calibration is pretty simple. It also logs data for a trip, day, previous day, and tank, and seems to be the cat's meow for the hybrid folks here.

There is an entire forum devoted to the Scangauge here (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=86).

The other gauge you'll find mentioned by members here is the Ultra-gauge. The big win of this device is the price - $60 plus shipping after their $9 rebate. It determines the gauges it can read from your car, up to the 50 or so it has been programmed with. It displays up to 6 gauges on each of 3 different screens (so 18 within a few buttons pressed). It logs current, trip, and average (which continues until manually reset). Proper calibration is a little more involved. It also has code reading/clearing capability.

There is a thread on the Ultra-gauge here (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34321).

I own both, and I prefer the UG for the vehicle I have now because my car seems to use an obscure OBDII protocol KWP2000, which seemed to disagree with my SG every once in a while and completely reset it. I don't seem to be having that problem with the UG.
I also like that the UG comes with a windshield suction mount or velcro... the SG leaves you with velcro, unless you get creative.

That's all I can think of right now. Hope this helps! Oh, and Welcome to CleanMPG! ;)

Welcome Stew,

Brandon has summarized the SG and UG pretty well. I own both. The UG wins for both simple setup and clear viewing. Plug it in, and it recognizes your OBDII communications protocol and available gauges within a minute. You can have it displaying 18 gauges within minutes. Displays are modern, sharp, and bright.

The SG has a small suite of standard gauges, but anything beyond those requires tedious hexadecimal programming and trial and error guesswork as to which communications protocol your car uses. Each xgauge must be programmed individually, named, and tested - a process that can take hours. When you're done, the SG only displays four gauges. You have to cycle through all possibilities to switch from LOD to HPR or IGN.

If I needed a new gauge for myself or a gift, or one to recommend to a new hypermiler, I'd get the UG, unless the car involved is a hybrid - in that case, get the SG.

Hi SentraSE-R:

An SG-II takes hours and does not recognize the protocol? The SG-II not only does all of this automatically, it is also a setup in a minute and drive. If you want more X-Gauges, that is where the work begins and the UG cannot even attempt it because it lacks it let alone be calibrated.

There is one reason you see the high FE drivers here at CleanMPG driving exclusively w/ SG-II's. It is because they offer the most features, accuracy and customization period.

This is not a question of Dodge vs. Chevy but what works the best for our needs… If you are in a competition or simply taking on your daily grind, the best tool for the job is the ScanGauge.

Wayne

clear viewing is important

this is the only thing i can really comment on. For me I live in AZ and the sg display does awful with sun glare. i can not even see the screen on my drive home. but as for the functions i am happy with it.

It does have a backlit display. I have both a first generation and second generation ScanGauge (one in each of my vehicles) and I use them extensively in the dark. You may have the backlight turned off or perhaps the particular color LED selected has burned out. Try adjusting the brightness and color parameters in the menu system. (The first generation only had an orange backlight but the new one has a few choices.)

It does have a backlit display. I have both a first generation and second generation ScanGauge (one in each of my vehicles) and I use them extensively in the dark. You may have the backlight turned off or perhaps the particular color LED selected has burned out. Try adjusting the brightness and color parameters in the menu system. (The first generation only had an orange backlight but the new one has a few choices.) sorry you are right and have adjusted my comments in both threads to reflect this. but it still does awful with sun glare. that is my only complaint with the unit.

thinking of finding a place that can sell me a anti glare screen for it.

Hi SentraSE-R:

An SG-II takes hours and does not recognize the protocol? The SG-II not only does all of this automatically, it is also a setup in a minute and drive. If you want more X-Gauges, that is where the work begins and the UG cannot even attempt it because it lacks it let alone be calibrated.

We're saying the same thing. Within a small suite of standard gauges, SG and UG work the same. Beyond those, the SG offers more (albeit, limited) features, but only with considerable effort.

The Sg has a small suite of standard gauges, but anything beyond those requires tedious hexadecimal programming and trial and error guesswork as to which communications protocol your car uses. Each xgauge must be programmed individually, named, and tested - a process that can take hours. When you're done, the Sg only displays four gauges. You have to cycle through all possibilities to switch from LOD to HPR or IGN.

There is one reason you see the high FE drivers here at CleanMPG driving exclusively w/ SG-II's. It is because they offer the most features, accuracy and customization period.

This is not a question of Dodge vs. Chevy but what works the best for our needs… If you are in a competition or simply taking on your daily grind, the best tool for the job is the ScanGauge.

Wayne

The high FE drivers at CleanMPG use SG-IIs because it was the only plug and play game in town until the UG hit the market a year ago to give us a much less expensive choice.

Wayne, you have a direct financial interest in promoting the SG. I don't. I own both SG-II and UG, and find no practical advantage for the SG-II in features, accuracy, or customization for any of my family's vehicles. I don't own a hybrid, nor do I need to monitor esoteric specialties like transmission temperature.

Specifically, what features does the SG offer that the UG doesn't, to justify its ~$100 price premium for the average hypermiler?

sorry you are right and have adjusted my comments in both threads to reflect this. but it still does awful with sun glare. that is my only complaint with the unit.

thinking of finding a place that can sell me a anti glare screen for it.

I can second this comment.
I have the original Scangauge which is virtually worthless in bright sunlight.
Recently purchased the New one which is supposed to be "better" in this respect but I had to mount it down low on the console where it is in the shade in order to see it during the day.
I have the brightness on "high" and have tried all of the colors with no improvement.

My Ultragauge is on it's suction cup mount, lives on the left side of my dashboard, and I have absolutely no problems seeing the gauges in any conditions.
I also like the "plug & play" concept of the Ultragauge and hope they will eventually develop a version that can moniter some of the functions of my FEH.
At that time, I will readily sell my new SGII to any of the die hard supporters.
While I realize Linear Logic has put a lot of design effort into the device functionality , I also feel that they should come up with a more up to date display platform that can be seen in high ambient light and is more user friendly.

I have no trouble at all seeing the display on my old-model Scangauge. I have it mounted front-and-center on top of the dash. I'm puzzled by these reports of poor visibility.

Hi Darrell:

SoC for one and easy and continuous calibration for another. And a financial interest in them? You mean like AutoZone selling them for $170, don’t you?

Wayne

Not mentioned here is another unit. Garmin nuv1 gps with the ecoRoute attachment.
It looks very good.


I personally have the SGII. And it's very good.

The Garmin is good but not great. One time mine routed me off the highway to a stop sign, then right back on again. I guess it's programmed to go for lower speeds but it doesn't consider stops.

I use a $5 app on my phone and a $50 bluetooth OBD scanner. My wife is looking at getting something less hopelessly inefficient soon, and I'll probably be getting an UltraGauge for it.