Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 146
 ScanGauge 2 Works As Advertised November 3, 2007
Gregory G. (Queens, New York United States)
26 out of 27 found this review helpful
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.
 ECONOMICAL MULTI-FUNCTION FUEL ECONOMY COMPUTER AND CODE SCANNER November 18, 2007
L. G. CHARLOT (California, USA)
25 out of 25 found this review helpful
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"
A word on calibration May 2, 2008
Thomas OBrien (Reedsburg, Wi USA)
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
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.
 Scangauge II September 23, 2007
P. Gilley
14 out of 28 found this review helpful
Scangauge II is a very versatile tool for monitoring a vehicle. I only have 2 complaints about the Scangauge II. The adhesive on the velcro attachment material is very poor quality. I had to find other adhesive material to hold the gauge in place. Also I feel that the display numbers and words should be more detailed. It is very hard to see the information in bright sunlight.
Worth its weight in gold September 4, 2007
Charles V. Stancampiano (Rochester, NY)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
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.
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