[oldtamiyaphile]

The Prius' 5 month oil (~3000miles) tested a '5' so getting close-ish to a change, I'll re-test in 2-3 months. This car does all of our short trips so oil degrading shouldn't be a surprise.

Next I checked my daily driver Renault, about 4000 miles and 5 months on it's oil and it came back a '1'. This was a bit of a surprise since the engine operates in 100% city traffic with lots of EOC (but it does a minimum of 10 miles each way daily so it gets up to temp properly), it's a bit irrelevant as I have to change the oil every 12 months in order to maintain the warranty. It does confirm that my EOC is confusing the on board 'miles to oil change' display and that there's nothing actually wrong with the oil.

Also the problem with getting the sensor clean has gone away, I was able to get the sensor clean with nothing more than some tissues, didn't need the Kerosene at all today.

So over all, I'm very happy with this unit and would definitely recommend. It's cheaper in the long run and much more convenient than lab testing (you could quite easily monitor your oil on a monthly or even weekly basis - which you can't really do with lab tests). It won't give you those fancy report with percentages etc but I don't feel the majority of people really need that kind of detailed info.

It's certainly better than guessing.

Already I've learned that it seems changing oil at 12months is a myth. It seems that because all my trips in the Fiat are 50miles+, the low annual mileage doesn't mean the oil is in need of replacement. I might leave the oil for another year and send it off to a lab for verification then.