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Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Replaced $100 Automatic Car adopter + App with $20 bluetooth obd 2 reader and free App.

I used Automatic gen 1 adopter for 2yrs and gen 2 for 1yr. I liked the idea of looking at mileage and the status of check engine light and email or SMS when a trip is completed or if air bag is deployed. Usually the lower mileage is an indicator that something is not OK. Could be tire pressure, air filter, engine problem....

What I never liked about Automatic was that it is says is driving and gives no other info like engine coolant temp, battery voltage level, real time MPG which older cars before 2010 or so may not have.

What I did not like at all with Automatic was that it was taking to long to recognize that car was started and pair to the phone. The newer gen 2 unit has GPS. So, it can record the trip using that GPS. What I found is that we do not want to replace a unit like this too often. You connect to OBD 2 once and then it is software upates. All the intelligence is in the App. We replace the phones more often.

So, I bought bluetooth obd 2 reader for $20 and a free App called Dash and the result is fantastic.

For Iphone there are other solutions like Carista. Just have to look.

Only thing which is constant in technology is change. Accept change or become obsolete!




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