"Nick drives Stick (not Stig)" (NickR)
02/23/2014 at 15:36 • Filed to: FuelShark, Fuel Management
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"Nick drives Stick (not Stig)" (NickR)
02/23/2014 at 15:36 • Filed to: FuelShark, Fuel Management | 0
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So I randomly ended up on a website promoting a product called Automatic (FB ad, So I guess maybe not so randomly).
The product promises quite a lot, and if it can deliver it's probably what FuelShark should have been and then some...
Maybe you should request a PR sample, Jason? Although I don't think that the Beetle is supported!
Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
> Nick drives Stick (not Stig)
02/23/2014 at 15:41 |
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Seems to basically teach economical driving, rip off for $100 when there are articles all over the internet with the same basic info
Tekamul
> Nick drives Stick (not Stig)
02/23/2014 at 15:42 |
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Or you could just drive around with your mom in the passenger seat. She'll give you equally as effective feedback.
911e46z06
> Nick drives Stick (not Stig)
02/23/2014 at 15:48 |
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So I get beeped at every time I accelerate quickly, exceed the speed limit, or brake hard? And it will tell me things like my mpg, how far I've traveled, and other stuff I can see on my dash, on my phone? And it only costs me $99.99? Sign me up!
No. Seriously. It's ridiculous. The OBD scanner is pretty cool though. If they sold just that for like 10 bucks, I'd buy it.
lonestranger
> Nick drives Stick (not Stig)
02/23/2014 at 16:00 |
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I don't see how it could be thought of a s "fake", it's an app with a dongle that plugs into the OBD-II port and communicates with it via Bluetooth. Seems neato, if a bit overpriced. $50-$65 sounds reasonable.
I also can't fathom why it only works in the U.S., and only with gasoline-fuelled vehicles.
Korea Miéville
> 911e46z06
02/23/2014 at 16:04 |
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They do sell cheap OBD II scanners on Amazon — mine was about $25, plus $10 or so for a phone app like Dash Command. A little clunky to use, but you get a lot of cool info (mpg, acceleration, engine codes, etc.)
IDROVEAPICKUPTRUCK
> Nick drives Stick (not Stig)
02/23/2014 at 16:23 |
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From looking at the website it's just a slick interface analyzing data from the OBD2 port. Doesn't look like a scam to me.
The Dummy Gummy
> Korea Miéville
02/23/2014 at 16:27 |
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Does it give you real time MPGs? I was thinking about getting this. I saw that you have to buy extra in app purchases. I'm worried I will have to extra after the $10 app purchaser for a Subaru configuration.
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Korea Miéville
> The Dummy Gummy
02/23/2014 at 16:46 |
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It does give you real time and average MPGs...I can't speak to the in-app purchase issue as I haven't needed to so far. Automatic is probably a much more polished product, but I'm having a lot of fun with Dash Command, even though admittedly I don't know what half the gauges are!
davedave1111
> lonestranger
02/23/2014 at 16:48 |
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Not sure about the gasoline-powered part, but I'd guess the US-only bit is to do with map licensing, rather than because you lot are more gullible.
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The Dummy Gummy
> Korea Miéville
02/23/2014 at 17:20 |
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Nice I'm going to have to pull the trigger on this. Which OBD2 do you have? I was thinking of getting the ELM327 Wifi. Seems like that would work with this app and the iPhone.
promoted by the color red
> Nick drives Stick (not Stig)
02/23/2014 at 17:21 |
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Yeah, it's basically $100 for something that tells you how to drive economically, but if it can output charts I wonder if it could be repurposed to provide telemetry for trackdays or Auto-X.
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Korea Miéville
> The Dummy Gummy
02/23/2014 at 17:43 |
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I ended up getting this ELM327 WiFi scanner , although admittedly I just picked the cheapest ELM327 model I saw that stated iOS compatibility! For the price I definitely feel it's worth giving it a shot. I must warn you though that getting it to connect can be a pain in the ass (see the Amazon reviews on almost all of these things). I didn't actually read the documentation very well so I had some connection problems at first, but once I set it up the way they instructed, it went well.
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
Dash Command also is a pretty seriously geeky app, so a relative car novice like me had to do a lot of Googling to set it up properly — inputting all the right info for my specific car (curb weight, fuel capacity etc.) that it needs for accurate measurements. There are other apps out there that do the same thing (if I had an Android phone I probably would have gone with Torque for $4.95), but for iOS, Dash Command seems to be the most full-featured app that is also most frequently updated.
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The Dummy Gummy
> Korea Miéville
02/23/2014 at 17:53 |
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This is exactly what I was thinking. You've done everything down to the T that I was thinking. I guess I know what I'm ordering tonight.
I noticed the reviews. I also read that that if you toggle out of the app you have to re-establish the connection, but that was a review from a year or two ago. They could have updated it since then.
Great info. Thanks. I'm looking forward to getting it.
hethoughtofcars
> Nick drives Stick (not Stig)
02/23/2014 at 19:29 |
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Progressive will give you one of these for free, basically. I borrowed and was driving my brother-in-law's Toyota and kept having "the car" beep at me. It wasn't until later that he told me it was that Progressive monitor thing and that I had probably driven his premiums up :P
jpunk
> Tekamul
02/24/2014 at 14:46 |
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I've got a setup like this using a $25 OBD2 Bluetooth adapter and the Torque app on my android phone (it's not available for iOS) ... Automatic has more driving aid features while you're driving, but I can graph fuel consumption vs speed and review after the drive. These things are 100% legit but the iOS setup looks much more pricy than DIY obviously.
I can also read and clear error messages when the check engine light comes on.