SG2 II Ultra Compact 3-in-1 Automotive Computer with Customizable Real-Time Fuel Economy Digital Gauges , Black , 5 Inch

The device itself does not make any changes to your vehicle to improve fuel mileage. What it WILL do is show you how much fuel you are using based on your current driving habits. If you are willing to make changes to the way you drive based on the feedback this device provides, you might just experience some impressive increases in fuel economy.Some vehicle models come from the factory with trip/mileage computers and for those vehicles this gauge MIGHT be redundant UNLESS you might also be interested in some of the other parameters this gauge might measure. One parameter in particular might be transmission temperature for those who tow and have automatic transmissions. Before you order, it would be a good idea to contact the Scangauge folks in Mesa, Az to see if this device will function with your modelvehicle for parameters in which you are interested.I run this device on 2 different vehicles: 1) 1999 F250 Superduty with the 7.3l Powerstroke and 2) a 2004 Subaru Forester 2.5x with a 5sp manual transmission. To switch vehicles, engine displacement, size of the fuel tank and type of fuel have to be changed. Easy enough. The unit can give you bit of a headache setting it up, but after you've done it a few times, it really is a piece of cake. The tougher part can be setting up the XGauge, which allowsyou to program the device to read certain parameters that your OBDII computer might be monitoring. It is important to note that not all vehicles will have sensors installed that will provide the data to the Scanguage. Also, the commands provided just might not work on all vehicles. However, there should be few problems measuring parameters associated with fuel economy.Most of our driving could be considered a rural 35 mile commute to town. The Subaru gets that duty. Prior to using the Scangauge, we were getting a solid 27-28 mpg on our Subaru. We were really kind of pleased with that. After hooking the SG up and inputting some necessary information for our engine size, etc., it pretty much sustained what we already knew by calculating fuel consumption the old-fashioned way.But then we started using the feedback from the Scangauge to adjust how much throttle we were applying under certain conditions. This is where it gets good. The feedback is instantaneous, so you don't have to wait til the next fillup to see how well you did. I had always believed that better fuel mileage could be obtained by shifting to a lower gear and not using as much throttle to go up a hill. The Scanguage showed me that was not always true and that itwas sometimes best to stay in the taller gear as long as you don't lug the engine.I also decided that if there was no traffic bearing down on me, I would take A LOT longer to accelerate to reach highway speeds. The same went for slowing down. With no traffic behind me, I could take A LOT longer to DECELERATE making full use of engine compression to slow the vehicle down. Not only did our fuel economy improve to 31-32 mpg (14.3% better!), but I'm also still on the ORIGINAL brake pads...coming up on 135,000 miles!I've done a LOT of driving in my time, much of it on the autobahns of Germany for 10 years and I know brakes. I still have 25% of the original brake pad material available which could conceivably put me at 168,000 miles before I do my first brake job on this car! Not only are the pads not wearing, but the discs look pretty good, too!On the Powerstroke, results were even better. I was seeing an average of 13 mpg and that improved 23% to 16 mpg average for a local 12 mile round trips. On trips to the mountains I can get 18 mpg. Also, the Scangauge keeps me informed on my transmission fluid temperature when towing our 5th wheel trailer. I had also hoped that the Scangauge would provide information on torque at the torque converter (CTQ), Torque Converter Line Pressure (LPC), and Torque ConverterSpeed Ratio (SLP), but my truck does not have sensors for those parameters. I also learned with the gallons per hour (GPH) feature that this truck would burn .6+ GPH sitting at a stop light with the transmission in D. By shifting into N, consumption dropped to .43 GPH, a 31% savings. The display can be set to show 4 parameters at once.In summary, after you drive with this device for a while, you are likely to change the way you drive. These changes can become so well ingrained that you might find that you will maintain your fuel economy, even after you remove the device and put it in another vehicle.This device does a few other things as well, so look the literature over and remember to contact the company to see if it will work for your intended application if you intend to use for more than just monitoring fuel econmomy.The Scangauge II isn't for everybody. Folks who are not technically inclined might find it a bit laborious to set up and may not really be interested in the information it provides. Also, if you are already an experienced "hypermiler", you might have already honed your driving skills to the point where you might not see much improvement in fuel economy. You might even already own one of these!It is easy to fault this device for a somewhat laboriously techie setup, etc. But, as you use it, you begin to appreciate the thought that went into it. There is only so much you can put into a small package and still make this thing useful and fit in the cockpit of your car. But really, once it is setup,you really don't have to fool with it anymore. Changing vehicles is simple. It has already paid for itself in the first 3 months. It gets 5 stars from me.

you can monitor your trans and coolant temps to catch problems before they even occur, you can set custom data parameters and it can even read codes!

My 2014 Ram was messing up and it picked up on it before the trucks computer did vary happy

it has been such a godsend of a diagnostic tool, i dont even use the scan tool function, i use the gauge function and ive been able to figure out how i can imrpove my driving to not beat my car so hard when it starts up, be shown the tall tell signs of issues, and figure out how my car operates electronically, the only downside i can see is you gotta cable manage the wire or you might take the wire with your right foot when you get into an american car. i got the SG2 instead of the 3 for the size and its amazing for that, kinda gets in the way of my vision of what gear im in if i use manual gear selection in my 2010 Subaru Forester 2.5x with the 4 speed 4EAT, but other then that i have my voltage, transmission fluid temps, coolant temps, and throttle plate angle shown. would recommend to any mechanically inclined friend

I'm by no means a power-user of this device, as there's quite a bit more it can do than what I utilize it for (measuring performance runs, entering in parameters to display more specific, proprietary data across the communication line for a variety of vehicles).I'm basically just using this to fill in the blanks that are left by my car's lackluster dashboard. No voltage readout, no coolant temp readout, and of course no boost readout. The hardest part about setting this thing up right out of the box was being careful to not cut my finger off opening the frustration-full blister pack with a very "As Seen On TV" vibe about it. It's easy to mistake this for a gimmicky doo-dad, which seems like a mismatch with its somewhat techy nature and mode of operations for the more advanced features; this product is trying to be for everyone and expects a level of aptitude and attention inconsistent with how the bright and wanky brightly printed cardboard make it appear. Just an observation, not really a complaint.It's OLD. I bought one of these over 11 years ago for my previous car but it got lost in the shuffle of life. I think an old friend ended up with it. At the time it was a rather desirable tool that people frequently wanted to use for one purpose or another. Here we are over a decade later and there's still no ScanGauge III, just the exact same black plastic 5-buttoned box with a crumby little screen that boasts the largest pixels ever made, and two RJ-45 jacks. Why not refresh it? Because the damn thing works. You're paying for the firmware and what I infer to be the quality of the components inside, and not for a "HD" 100% sRGB color gamut display. It's a bland little box, which is probably good since it'll be sitting in your car in plain view.So why buy this? I already have some CHEAP knock-off bluetooth OBD II adapter that works with Torque, which I long ago paid for from the Google Play store and that arguably does EVERYTHING this does, and more, without the need to enter in x-codes manually for parameters not available out of the gate. Robustness. With this, I don't need to have my phone tied up serving as a gauge. I don't need to worry about bluetooth not connecting right away or waiting for anything to initialize. I get a nice simple matte display to look at vs a busy glossy display that's not in an ideal position. Sometimes it's nice to have dedicated devices for some tasks, vs trying to use one device to do everything all at once, all the time.To be clear, I paid for this thing. Twice. Combined $300. I've never contacted the company who made this thing for support or any other reason and am certainly not shilling it, at least not with any kind of benefit to myself in exchange. I just really like a well-executed, reliable product that does exactly what it's supposed to do. It's about as simple as they could possibly make it. Which leads me to...It's maybe too simple. The physical device is a limitation to some functionality, to a degree, until you understand its language. I'd love a display with MORE pixels, capable of displaying more lines of text, or maybe even graphics, though I'd like to see it kept monochrome. Maybe invert it so the pixels emit the color specified vs the backlight with black text. Perhaps a jog wheel on the edge to scroll through stuff. Pretty annoying that I have to press the button over and over to get back to the one setting I'd like to look at most of the time, if I decide to change it for a moment. Why not have the option to REMOVE parameters I'll never look at, at the very least, to save time when getting back to what I want to view. My cluster actually has a useful trip computer, so all of those are redundant.Thing is, this could quickly turn from a robust, simple tool into a gadgety doo-dad in no time if people like me were allowed to chime in with product ideas, which would also send the price through the roof, so I understand the limitations and constraints; it feels a bit like paying over $120 for a graphing calculator, though, even though you know in the back of your head it cost them like $8 to make the damn thing.Would I buy it AGAIN if they introduced a device with very similar functionality and reliability, that's easier to operate, in a form-factor that's from this century? Great question. Make one and we'll find out.

I was hesitant on buying this because some users with Subaru said that it messed up their Starlink. I messaged Scan Gauge support and they said it depends on the firm ware and if it does mess with Starlink, I can ship it to them to have the latest firmware installed. I gave it a shot and it works perfectly. I am now able to read diagnostic codes and most importantly read live CVT temperature. I have a 2024 Forester Wilderness

Bought this to monitor transmission temperatures while towing with my Tacoma but it does so much more. Really handy, I'm impressed. Setup is easy and all the more specialized codes are available online and fairly easy to enter into the device. Well worth the money for peace of mind.