Bluetooth UltraGauge?

[California98Civic]

The company that makes the UltraGauge has a Bluetooth OBD2 dongle that they say can connect to any phone or tablet. I am skeptical of the longterm viability of the dongles because bluetooth protocols could change and make the dongle communicate poorly with a new mobile device, no? My 2011 UltraGauge hardwired OBD2 gauge still works, showing only quite minor screen wear on a lower left corner.

Has anyone here purchased UltraGauge Blue? If you have, how well has it worked for you?

At nearly $80, it costs MUCH more than Torque Pro at five bucks. DashCommand seems to have been abandoned by the developer.

[redpoint5]

Bluetooth protocols are backwards compatible.

I see no reason to run anything but Torque now. The only disadvantage of the dongles is the constant power draw after turning off the car. It would still take several weeks to run a battery flat though, and I've had other hardwired gauges fail to enter sleep mode and kill my battery.

[vskid3]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I see no reason to run anything but Torque now.

Torque is great, but there are apps for specific models that are better for everyday use, in my opinion. Hybrid Assistant is great for Toyota hybrids and MyGreenVolt for Chevy Volts. I'm sure you can set up much of the same gauges in Torque, but there are some features that are unique. Hybrid Assistant's HV battery capacity test is pretty neat, I used it to confirm that my battery rebuild got me pretty close to stock capacity.


For readers, the OBDLink LX and MX are the only ones I would spend more than $20 on. Hybrid Assistant and MyGreenVolt both recommend them for maximum speed and functionality. A decent cheap one would probably be fine for older cars that don't have as much going on, the trick is finding a decent one that hasn't changed since it received good reviews.