- Includes simple installation instructions; it only takes an average of 5 minutes.
- Offers accurate fuel consumption data that can actually help you improve MPG.
- Reads Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTC), allowing you to view more than 4,000 trouble codes and reset the check engine light.
I bought this for use with my overpriced Garmin nüvi 3490LMT and it seems to be working well. I've noticed no problems with it, and the EcoRoute application seems to be working just fine. Kind of cool how it tells you how many $ worth of gas you burned on your trip whenever you shut the car off. Hopefully this thing will eventually pay for itself in gas savings, assuming I listen to it's "advice".
The little instrument dashboard screen on the GPS is kind of cool, and you can change the gauges around to display different instrumentation so you're not just looking at a replica of your instrument cluster.
People who are complaining that it updates too slowly should know that this is the fault of OBD-II and NOT the garmin hardware. The standard OBD-II protocols have data rates of 1.2kbps to 41.6kbps and most cars except for some Ford or GM cars, and some cars made after 2008, will only do 10.4kbps (that's 0.0104Mbps or 1/100th of a megabit). Ford or GM cars might do 41.6kbps, and cars no older than 2008 (when the CAN bus OBD-II standard became mandated) may do 256kbps to 500kbps. According to Garmin FAQ, the device implements all of these protocols but it's hard to say which ones actually work on which cars. On most cars I'd expect it to end up using 10.4kbps which is slower than the dialup modem I had 20 years ago. In any case, the Garmin seems to be doing pretty well given that it's limited by OBD-II which was never exactly intended for high-speed Internet connections. The other thing to keep in mind is that the more parameters the thing is "streaming", the more delay there is since more parameters = more data = more of the amazing 10.4kbps bandwidth used up.
The ecoRoute device is also not intended to allow you to reprogram the fuel map for performance tuning your car or something. It's not a general OBD-II tool or a vendor-specific register coding tool. Don't expect it to replace a "real" scanner/coder/whatever. I'm just surprised that it will actually look up engine trouble codes and let you reset them.
Installation and setup are very easy and I ran into no problems except for the fact that the little adhesive strips that it shipped with aren't sticky enough to stick to *anything*, not even smooth plastic. (I did clean off the area I was trying to adhere the thing to before hand.) I doubt they'd even stick to polished plastic. Pretty sad since they keep going on about how you're going to die if it doesn't stay attached to something away from the pedals (where it can't end up under the brake pedal etc). This is a pain for me because there's absolutely nothing under my dashboard that I can use the zip ties to tie it to. Given all their overly cautious safety warnings though, you'd think they'd ship the thing with some serious adhesive. Anyway, use the zip ties to tie it to something if you possibly can. Those are very unlikely to break. If those won't work, use Velcro Industrial Strength (though you can buy a smaller amount than that roll.)
Also make sure that it's actually possible to unplug the thing without completely removing it as a mechanic (or emissions inspector) is going to need to plug his rig into the connector at some point. They and you will be annoyed if they have to cut zip ties or rip off adhesive to completely remove the thing just to service the vehicle, and they might not reattach it fully.
My only other complaint is that the app on the GPS doesn't give you access to all of the data that the Android app does, even though it should be able to, and there's no iPhone app. (My guess is that the lack of an iPhone app is mostly Apple's fault since doing anything with Bluetooth on an iOS device is "iPhone hardware accessory development" which requires all kinds of extra contracts and stuff to get access to the needed API and documentation. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple also wants some sort of royalty for every "Made for iPhone" device sold. Very annoying.) Anyway, fixing anything missing from the GPS app is just a matter of a software update anyway, so maybe they'll eventually fix that.
Overall I'm satisfied with this for what it costs. It's not supposed to be a general diagnostic scan tool or something that can reprogram your seat adjustments using some protocol that only your car manufacturer knows and won't document for any other company. If you need to reprogram your fuel map or troubleshoot some sort of engine problem, you should get something else. But for what it's supposed to do, it seems to work just fine and though it's not super cheap, it's not ungodly expensive either.
UPDATE: I did have one problem when I unplugged the ecoRoute to reattach it more securely. After plugging it back in it wouldn't connect to the GPS, even after a reset. After I shut off bluetooth on my phone though, it started working. (The phone was paired to the handsfree junk on the GPS.) Not sure what's up with this but if you have problems then shut bluetooth off on your phone and anything else as it might cause some sort of interference during pairing.
Also, see my "customer photos" for how I attached it.
UPDATE2: On my recent 700+ mile road trip I encountered a mechanical problem and the diagnostic capabilities of this thing, meager as they are, allowed me to talk to a mechanic on the phone to determine that I could drive it in for repair instead of having to call a tow truck. I was amazed that the seemingly silly gadget I had bought was proving to be so useful for dealing with a mechanical problem. The thing probably paid for itself in that one incident by keeping me from having to pay for towing. Just being able to know what's up with your engine so easily is very likely to save you much more than this thing costs.
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This is a good product, but I hope someone from Garmin reads these reviews, because there are minor (mostly software) changes that would stifle most of the complaints. Here are what the users are saying: (1) The product is very useful for reading OBD-II codes; (2) The MPG functionality suffers from too many screens to get where you want(This could be changed with updated software); (3) It should store vehicle profiles to enable swapping between vehicles (Again, the software could be updated); (4) MPG inconsistently displayed (software fix possible); (4) Some report pairing issues with Cellphones, but pairing with Garmin GPS units does not appear to be an issue. I agree with all of these conclusions.
I want to add a few comments regarding the physical size of the unit. It is a little larger than what it appears to be in the main photo. You should look at the user-submitted photos on Amazon. My car's owners' manual didn't say where the OBD-II port was (06 Chrysler minivan). It was next to the emergency brake. If you don't know where the OBD-II port is, ask on Google "Where is the OBD-II port on {your car year and make/model}", and chances are someone would have mentioned it online. In the alternative go to a car wonk forum like Edmunds Town Hall, and post your question on the message board. Do this before you buy the Ecoroute-HD to make sure you won't have a mounting issue. It is ridiculously easy to set up and get going, at least with a compatible Garmin GPS unit.
Comparative analysis: The Ecoroute HD is just a bit pricier than the Scangauge 2. The Scangauge product has a comparatively tiny display and uses (gasp) a wire to connect to the computer. In fact, all of the comparably priced OBD-II readers that I saw used a wire. There is an Android application called Torque Pro that sells for about five bucks and can be used with a variety of generic (Chinese-made) OBD-II bluetooth transmitters. As far as I can tell, these transmitters sell from $10 to $200. Do you really want to leave your Android phone stuck to your dash? There is a higher end product, Edge Products 83830 CTS Insight Monitor, Edge Products 83830 CTS Insight Monitor that costs as much as the Ecoroute HD and a Garmin GPS unit put together. Given the excellent quality of the Garmin displays, the Ecoroute HD is reasonably priced even when compared to cheaper options, and it compares even better to the high end units.
In addition to making it available separately, I think Garmin should offer this unit packaged with a GPS at a bundled price. That would take the guesswork out of figuring out whether your GPS is compatible with Ecoroute HD.
The bottom line is that if you like gadgets, if you are a hypermiler, or if you have a car that is prone to breakdowns, you'll probably like the Ecoroute HD. With some software changes, the product might find a broader audience.
Read Best Reviews of Garmin ecoRoute HD Vehicle Diagnostics Communicator HD Here
Just bought a "new" (to me) car and wanted a way to check the diagnostic error codes (if there were any) as well as the general health of the engine. So far while I wish the EcoRoute HD were cheaper, it fits the bill nicely.
Installation
------------
Even thought the EcoRoute HD came with a seemingly thick manual (that I haven't read), the installation literally couldn't be easier.
1) Find your car's OBD-II port
2) Plug in the device
3) Start your car
4) Go to EcoRoute on your GPS and follow the instructions. Takes about a minute.
The Good
--------
The EcoRoute HD provides good feedback on what your engine is doing. There are many, many different (about 10) on-screen gauges to look at, some useful like the Tachometer, some not so much, like the Throttle position gauge.
The ability to read and reset the diagnostics errors could be EXTREMELY useful if you're someone who likes fixing your own car. Especially since all cars are now computerized.
Installation was a no-brainer.
The Bad
-------
1) Where to put it?
On my car (a Mercury Grand Marquis), the OBD-II port is on the right of the steering wheel, between the wheel and the center console. Unfortunately there isn't a single flat space (within the 6" reach of the cord) with which to use the provided two-sided tape to secure the EcoRoute HD itself out of the way. I had to essentially shove it behind the dash, sitting on top of the center "transmission hump". If you have a front wheel drive car, or one that doesn't have such a place to sit the device, it might get tricky keeping it out of the way.
What I don't know is whether or not shoving it behind the dash actually affects the readouts that are shown on the GPS.
2) The gauges can't be set to come up automatically.
I love my 5" display, Garmin GPS (1490LMT?) but honestly, when driving back and forth to work every day, I don't actually pay a lot of attention to the map display. I already know where I'm going and how to get there. What I would like -and again, I admittedly haven't read the 50+ page manual -is a way to set the default on my GPS to automatically display the gauges instead of having to start up the GPS, tap on "Tools", then "EcoRoute", then "gauges" every time I start the car.
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Unfortunately this product failed to meet any of my needs. The truth is that there are much better products on the market for monitoring engine information. The Garmin Ecoroute HD fell way short and here's why.
Connecting to the vehicle was easy enough and getting connectivity to my Garmin 1490 was fine. Took 2 trys but it worked fine. The devices communicated with each other just fine and I noticed no interruptions. Seemed pretty good so far until I got to the gauges that I could display. Unfortunately I only got 5: Speed, RPM, Coolant Temp, Voltage, and Engine %. That's it. I promptly updated the software in hopes of at least getting a few more. Unfortunately that did absolutely nothing. I even updated the HD specific items. That was really disappointing to me because I so wanted it to work!
I decided to mess around with it for a day just to see if I wanted to really keep it even though it wasn't giving me any new real information that I wanted. I thought that the fuel mileage application could be interesting and I decided to play with it a bit. At first when I set up my vehicle profile in the system I entered approximately what my 2013 F350 6.7 gets for mileage on the highway and in the city. I drove for a bit and the data and fuel usage seemed to be fairly realistic. I then reset my vehicle profile stating that I get 100 mpg on the highway and 100 mpg in the city. Unfortunately instead of calculating my actual fuel usage via the OBDII port and the PCM information on the vehicle it used a GPS algorithm which calculates the fuel used over a distance by dividing the distance traveled by the mpg I stated that the vehicle gets. THIS IS NOT REAL TIME INFO and you don't even need the ecoroute HD for this. I think that the 1490 will do this without it. Furthermore the ecochallenge seems like a joke. If my score goes up when I'm accelerating moderately and down when I'm accelerating lightly I can't seem how this is realistic. It is simply physics at that point.
I contacted Garmin support via phone this morning to see if I was doing something wrong. They confirmed that the algorithm I described above is the methodology the unit uses to calculate your fuel usage and also confirmed that the gauges were likely all that my vehicle had available. This is not the case as the Edge Insight CTS can access much of that information direct from my vehicle. My android phone using the Garmin Mechanic app was also able to get me a few more gauges that were able to work in real time but it was not nearly enough.
The bottom line seems to be that the Ecoroute HD OBDII device is about $90 to give you a few guages that you may likely already have on your car. Not worth it if you ask me. I will be returning the ecoroute HD device. I'm disappointed that it didn't live up to my hopes. I really hoped that it would. I may keep the Nuvi 1490 for navigation purposes. I really think that Garmin should keep working on the HD as it could be a truly useful application but at this point it needs to be improved. Others have figured it out and they are much smaller companies as far as I can tell.
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Worked good for a month-this is my second one...both last a month each...something with the lifetime software updates screws this unit, Garmin does not have good online support to fix software problem unless you want to pay another 30-50 bucks for an expert. Still no guarentee to fix....very NOT reccomended unit...
My main concern when purchasing was that it would not work with the OtterBox. I can place the phone in the mount with the OtterBox Defender case on it. You just about have to pry it to get the phone in and out. The quick release doesn't really work since it is so tight in the mount. I really don't have an issue with that just wanted to let others know how it works with the OtterBox case.
