Scan Gauge II or UltraGauge?
 

I am looking to buy one of these today for my Fit. I need advice and opinions for those that own/have owned either of these and which is more accurate or the better buy.

Thanks guys!

I've only ever used the Scangauge. It has programmability features, but for a standard (non-hybrid) car that feature doesn't add much. I hear the Ultragauge is decent too and has the ability to show 6 gauges instead of 4.

My answer is yes. Get one or the other. I don't think it matters so much which one. Having the numbers in front of you matters very much.
http://mcguckin.us/files/car/mileage_log_scangauge.png

I own both. The UG wins hands down for value, ergonomics, ease of visibility, and everything else, for the vast majority of users. The only people who can get an advantage with the SG are those who want a specific function that's not supported by the UG, like transmission fluid temperature or HV hybrid battery pack voltage, and only if the SG can be programmed to display it, and the user is willing to program it into an xgauge. There is no accuracy difference between the two.

The UG is a far better value for the average user. You can display 18 gauges with the UG with two button pushes (or none, if you want to let them cycle automatically). It can take you 20 button pushes to display 5 gauges with the SG, and well over 100 button pushes to display 8 gauges with the SG.

The UG will recognize all the available gauges for your Fit and be operating in less than a minute. The SG will require hours of tedious programming to be fully functional using its maximum capability.

The UG display is much more modern. The SG costs $140-$160. The UG costs $60. I would buy the UG for myself and recommend it for most users. I only keep my SG because I expect to buy a Prius some day. Otherwise, I'd sell it, buy an UG, and keep the change.

awesome info guys! Based on Sentra's comparison, UG is definitely a better buy!

"hours of tedious programming" ???

When I swap my scangauge between cars, I do this.
home-more-fillup-done
home-setup-engine-set size
maybe click a few times to change some of the 4 gauges showing
drive

The UG obviously wins on price and display, though.

I read somewhere that the SG can show dollars per mile by entering how much the fuel cost was. Im in the pre-buying boat. I havent decided on which one to get. The UG is looking pretty good. Mostly because of the lower cost and modern look. It actually looks like it should cost more.

I own a SG2, which has a detachable cable that makes it possible to swap between cars -- though I don't think that this is easy to do. Each vehicle has to have it fuel capacity calibrated, and the speed has to calibrated as well, in order to get a reasonably accurate FE number.

But, I think you can buy 2 Ultragauges for a bit less than 1 SG2? And, two of the numbers on the display are larger size, which makes them very easy to compare the instant and the average FE. A friend bought the UG, and I think I would own it if it was available a few years ago.

I swapped it yesterday into the Odyssey for the day.

Unplug
plug
set engine size
speed calibration is the same on both, but in any case it's only a couple clicks
quick fillup procedure
set fuel calibration if needed. I don't.
drive

Then I did the same this morning back into my Civic. The hardest / longest part of the process is stringing the cable so you don't trip on it. Once you know the calibration it's quick and easy. I use 1.8 engine size vs my actual 1.6 to get my 12.5% offset. It takes fewer clicks that way. The Ody is dead on at its actual 3.5 engine.

Fuel capacity is irrelevant. It only affects the Miles to Empty gauge. I have a fuel gauge in the dash so I just ignore that.

You took my remarks out of context, Andrew.

He drives a Fit. It doesn't need the special programming for that vehicle. For this application that's a non-issue.

I'm not saying the SG is better than the UG. Just give it a black eye it doesn't deserve.

Word up guys! I went ahead and ordered the UG. I will let you know my thoughts when I get it setup!

Excellent! Having a gauge, any gauge, is the big thing. It'll help you tune the "nut behind the wheel".

Ultragauge is looking for beta testers in the US and canada for metric testing. Go ahead and order them for testing so we europeans can start order them as well ;).

UG only does MPG , not Liters and KM.
Dunno what NZ uses ?

After beta testing is done it will support km and liters if I have understood correctly at the end of June

quote from ultragauge pages:

Just bought an Ultra Gauge a few weeks ago. Have only driven about 150 miles so far. From what I can tell so far, it is going to help me get better mileage. Two of the things I'm going to have fun with are "Engine Load" and "% Throttle".

Ive had my UltraGauge for a little over a week now. 1 issues. They sent mine with no mounting clip to hold the UG to the windshield mount. But the customer support was very fast and helpful ad sent one out immediately. I do enjoy the instant MPG feature. It helps but if I could id would add a feature in the UltraGauge that allows different refresh times. Its close to 1 second and Id like to get an average of every 4-5 seconds. That way it would still be accurate but I wouldnt have to look at it so much.

You owe it to yourself to use the Trip MPG gauge. (not sure what the UG calls it) If you keep that "big picture" in mind and keep the number going up you'll see good results.

Just ordered my first ultra guage off ebay for $39. So excited!! thanks for the suggestions everybody.

Now I'm seriously considering making an Ultra Gauge one of my next purchases. Thanks for the opinions on both. Before I thought Scan Gauge was all that existed the way I hear people talking about it. I would be fine with something more basic and cheaper, even if it breaks in a year. Then I'll just buy another one :)

just got my ultragauge today, did a test drive. But def looking forward to seeing how it does.

So everyone is still happy with their UG over the SG over time? It still very accurate? I think next week I'm going to order one.

My Ultra Gauge came in today and I'm looking forward to playing with it. I expect it to be as accurate as anything that displays numbers fed to it by the car's ECU.

..."raw" numbers should be exactly the same, regardless of device. It's the "derived" and internally-calculated numbers and values where differences are most likely to pop-up, ie: *how* those algorithms were designed and implemented.

Point taken. What I was aiming at was the "over time" part of the question. My real point was that those derived numbers will either be accurate for a particular vehicle or they won't be, and once you're satisfied with its accuracy that shouldn't change.

I have my UG in my xB and my SG in my wife's Elantra. The UG is still very accurate, & I prefer it over the SG.

I got the gauges the way I want them and I'm thrilled with it. The DTE and average mpg are off because I didn't reset the trip when I filled up. I'm curious to see how the fuel level works out, and I still need to enable the DFCO on it. I'd like to mount it properly, but this is such a solid "good enough" that I think it's going to last a while.

I have had my UG for a few months now. I can tell you this thing is very sturdy. The alarms you can set are very cool, like for oil change intervals for example. I love the display and ease of use. It is a very intuitive design interface. Glad I started this thread!

I've had my Ultra Gauge for a little less than a week now and I love it! Still learning details like how to calibrate fuel and what gauges to list on the first page but it's helped me learn where I'm wasting fuel. Now I'm adjusting to avoid those driving situations. Great tool!

Looks like it was delayed to mid-August.
I'll shoot them an email to ask when it'll be available.


Bummer, got an auto-reply :

Thank you for your interest in becoming a beta test customer for the English/Metric version of UltraGauge.
UltraGauge EM, as it is called, will be released shortly and as such the beta program has come to an end.

Slightly OT - I would be interested in adjustment %s people are experiencing, if that is what the UG uses - basically how much of an adjustment did you have to use to make it match the actual fuel used ?

I'll be posting mine as soon as I fill up next.

My mileage adjustment was .098 or thereabouts. Fuel is going to take a while because I've been resetting things and am only halfway through this tank.

Do either of these units read engine codes (OBD II)?

TIA

They both read and clear trouble codes.

I've found they use similar algorithms for calculating mpgs. I use the same 13.5% calibration on both SG and UG for my wife's Elantra. 13.5% is about right for my xB, too, although I'm using 21% now with my UG, since I'd rather be pleasantly surprised than disappointed when I fill up.

Thanks, Darrell. I need to get one to keep track of what is going on with my Accord and it will be nice to be able to check codes if one pops up. The consensus seems to favor the UG so I guess I will look into one soon.

Cheers

Both units are good. The UltraGauge has the edge due to its user-friendly interface and better display screen.

Fixed.

That too !

Thanks everybody.

I have seen the Scangauge purchase link on the home page, but I have not found one for the ultragauge or just plain missed it. Is there one or where is the best place to buy an ultragauge?

Cheers