Review ScanTools OBDLink MX w/ Torque

ZMan8 · 01-21-2012, 01:25 PM

EDIT: See second post for updated information/pics

Hi all

, I didn't see anybody reviewing these so I thought I would make one for those who are looking to monitor things using their phone or pc. I'll start of with saying I looked for about a month and read reviews of all the different OBDII units you can buy. Here were the main choices for me:

1. cheap unit from e-bay $20
2. plx kiwi bluetooth $99
3. ObdLink Bluetooh $149 (special price on amazon)
4. OBDLink MX (Bluetooth) $199

The OBDLink MX came out just this past month so that was a new addition to my choice list and after reading about it I was sold.

The cheap units had bad reviews with high fail rates and low transmission speeds. The plx kiwi had good reviews but obdLink products had the fastest transmission speeds and came with a windows program so you can connect to a PC in addition to your android device. What the Mx does even better is it tops the ObdLink Bluetooth by getting rid of the long cord that was necessary, has even faster transmission speeds, and is more secure (class 2).

Review:
Price = 7 - it's on the high side of what I wanted to spend (even though I had a giftcard on amazon) but IMO it's not a horrible deal. You get what you pay for with these products and reading reviews, everybody loves these products. Plus Torque recommends this.

Quality = 9 - The unit is very well built and plugs into the diagnostic link connector (DLC) snuggly and stays in. The only reason I gave it a 9 is because some of the glue they use to attach the sticker is showing. Scantools also had good customer service and has forums for support.

The actual Product = 10 - Pairing this with torque on my android galaxy phone took 15 seconds and once the connection was established not once did I lose it in 2 hours of test driving it. Let me say the transmission speeds are as advertised and will be the closest you can get to live feed without investing much much more (really its basically live). There was no delay so when I push the accelerator, the engine load and rpm both shoot up instantly. Comparing it to my cars rpm's it was spot on. I did not test this on my Z because it's currently sleeping, but did run it on dd scion xD. The z has a more advanced computer so I fullly expect the obdlink mx + torque to have even more features for that. On the scion I could see the following all of which I normally can't:
Engine load, Air fuel status, temperature outside, manifold pressure, throttle position, timing advance, coolant temps, MAF rate, barometric pressure, fuel pressure, intake air temperature, boost (which I dont have

) and you have customizable sensors so you can add more. Oil pressure can only be measure with the on off that our computers measure so to measure that you don't need a guage but will need to by some of the extra hardware.

In addition to all of this, with torque you can see and reset fault codes which will save you money down the raod (nissan likes to charge $110 for diagnostics which is them plugging in and OBDII unit and checking the fualt code)

Overall it's a great product and I plan to buy torque pro for $4.95, which lets you time 0-60, take videos and overlay cars stats on them

(this is good for the track guys), and other good stuff. I will review that in more detail once I get it.

P1010270.jpg

P1010271.jpg

this is how big the unit is compared to my android galaxy phone:
P1010272.jpg

ZMan8 · 01-21-2012, 01:25 PM

Finally got around to getting some screenshots and I bought torque pro:

screenshot.jpg screenshot_2.jpg screenshot_3.jpg
screenshot_4.jpg screenshot_5.jpg

Torque pro is awesome that's all I have to say.

Cost was $5 on android market, is easy to use and has many, many features. You can customize is as well.

The following is all of the features of Torque Pro. I included all in order they appear for selection. Not all are available in each car but 90% are (boost not available in 370z).
Real Time information:
0-100 kph time
0-200 kph time
0-60 mph time
1/4 mile time
1/8 mile time
100-0 kph time
40-60 mph time
60-0 mph time
60-120 mph time
60-80 mph time
90-100 mph time

absolute throttle position B

Acceleration Sensor (total)
Acceleration Sensor (X axis) ---this is how many G's on a turn
Acceleration Sensor (Y Axis)
Accelration Sensor (Z Axis)

Accelerator pedal position d
accelerator pedal position e
accelerator pedal position f

air fuel ratio (commanded)
air fuel ratio (measured) ---- you need this if intakes + headers + hFC & CBE
ambient air temp
average trip speed
barometric pressure
catalyst temperature (bank 1, Sensor 1 or 2; bank 2, sensor 1 or 2)
commanded equivalence ratio
CO2 in g/km (average)
CO2 in g/km (instantaneous)
EGR Commanded
EGR Error

Engine Coolant Temperature
Engine Load
Engine Load (Absolute)
Engine Oil Temperature
Engine RPM
Evap System Vapour Pressure
Exhaust Gas Temperature 1
Exhaust Gas Temperature 2

Fuel Cost (trip)
Fuel flow rate/hour
Fuel flow rate/minute
Fuel Level
Fuel Pressure
Fuel Rail pressure
fuel rail presure (relative to manifold vacuum)
Fuel Trim Bank 1 Long Term
Fuel Trim bank 1 sensor 1, 2, 3, or 4
Fuel Trim Bank 1 Short Term
Fuel Trim Bank 2 Long Term
Fuel Trim Bank 2 Long Term
Fuel Trim bank 2 sensor 1, 2, 3, or 4
Fuel Trim Bank 2 Short Term
Fuel used (trip)

GPS accuracy
GPS altitude
GPS bearing
GPS satellites
GPS vs OBD Speed Difference

Horsepower at the wheels --- not as accurate as a dyno, but was close

Intake Air Temperature
Intake Manifold Pressure

Kilometers per litre (instant)
Kilometers per litre (long term average)
litres per 100 kilometer (Instant)
litres per 100 kilometer (long term average)

Mass air flow rate

miles per gallon (instant)
miles per gallon (long term average)

02 Sensor 1 Equivalence Ratio
02 Sensor 1 Equivalence ratio (alternate)
...this up to o2 sensor 8
02 volts bank 1 sensor 1, 2, 3, or 4
o2 volts bank 2 sensor 1, 2, 3, or 4

Relative accelerator pedal position
relative throttle position
speed (GPS)
speed (OBD) --- more accurate

throttle position (manifold)
timing advance

Torque - calculated using weight of vehicle and engine size (user input)

Transmission temp

trip average kpl
trip average litres/100 km
trip average mpg
trip distance
trip distance (stored in vehicle profile)
Trip time (since journey start
trip time (whilst moving)
trip time (whilst stationary)---how much do you spend in traffic????
turbo boost & vacuum gauge
voltage (control module)
voltage (obd adapter

volumetric efficiency (calculated)

You can make custom sensors as well.

For the above you can select different displays:
-Dial (needle), dial (meter), half dial (needle), half dial (meter)
-bar display, graph, digital display, acceleration widget, compass (gps bearing)
-fuel status, secondary air status, fuel & air status, eco warrior,raw data display
-drive cycle status since dtc clear,current drive cycle status
-gps positioning, clock, roll meter (measure the G's), pitch meter, on/off display, push button

In addition you can have map view, graph your data (even torque/hp curves)

Edit#2 You can put custom alarms for any of the items you're measuring. So both min. and max. value alarms. This is useful for AFR, speed, rpms (you can have alarm sound off at certain rpm), etc,

Wiggins3377 · 02-05-2012, 09:53 AM

Any updates?

ZMan8 · 02-07-2012, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wiggins3377

Any updates?

Z is still "zzzzzzz"

Will update regarding torque pro this week!

Speedy · 02-15-2012, 02:24 PM

Looks like a cool product. Thanks for the info.

Deadman · 02-15-2012, 02:32 PM

So can you see oil pressure with the Mx version ? I wish the msd dashhawk worked on the Z !

ZMan8 · 02-15-2012, 02:47 PM

Most cars (including our Z) only have an oil pressure failure sensor; meaning if oil pressure reaches a certain point it i will let the ecu know to turn on a light on your dash. The ecu does not measure oil pressure on a detailed basis.

I wonder if this can be solved buy buying an aftermarket oil pressure sensor that can hook up to the ecu. Therefore, no need for gauges.

Speedy · 02-15-2012, 02:49 PM

Interesting in that my Challenger does read oil pressure and displays it on the speedo screen.

ZMan8 · 02-15-2012, 02:58 PM

This car needs an oil pressure gauge IMO. Especially, people who put oil coolers on their cars need it. I'm still wondering about if you replace the oil pressure on-off sending unit with an aftermarket unit, will that allow the ecu to read oil pressure measurements-thereby allowing you to read them using an obdII reader.

Speedy · 02-15-2012, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZMan8

This car needs an oil pressure gauge IMO. Especially, people who put oil coolers on their cars need it. I'm still wondering about if you replace the oil pressure on-off sending unit with an aftermarket unit, will that allow the ecu to read oil pressure measurements-thereby allowing you to read them using an obdII reader.

Unlikely. Most sending units are 0-5V sensors and the PCM has to know how to interpret that data and convert it to psi or whatever.

An idiot light switch just usually just goes to ground when pressure is out of the set range setting off the light.

gaveup · 02-15-2012, 03:29 PM

I have the cheap ebay $20 elm one.
Works just as good as my old wire tactrix cable I used on my subaru to log. I wouldn't waste any more money than $20 on it.

At $190 you might as well just buy uprev cipher...

ZMan8 · 02-15-2012, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gaveup

I have the cheap ebay $20 elm one.
Works just as good as my old wire tactrix cable I used on my subaru to log. I wouldn't waste any more money than $20 on it.

At $190 you might as well just buy uprev cipher...

Cipher does all the same things, but you must have a laptop. This allows me to do things on my phone or laptop. for me I didn't mind paying the extra money for the speed and security this thing offers. Plus most people told me not to trust the cheap units and said you get what you pay for...

This things blows most other bluetooth adapters out of the water in terms of how many codes it can transmit and how fast it can transmit all of them. Forgot the actuall figures. Plus it has least amount of bluetooth problems with things like interference and other people pairing with it.

I wasn't going to spend that much originally and get the kiwi plx, but when i heard about this I jumped on it. To you a waste, to me not so much.

ZMan8 · 02-15-2012, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Speedy

Unlikely. Most sending units are 0-5V sensors and the PCM has to know how to interpret that data and convert it to psi or whatever.

An idiot light switch just usually just goes to ground when pressure is out of the set range setting off the light.

I think i read somewhere you can use the datalogging program to convert the voltage reading to a psi scale... though that may not apply to the 370z.

ZMan8 · 02-28-2012, 10:01 PM

Bump... I updated the info

Speedy · 02-29-2012, 11:10 AM

That's cool!

For boost, I wonder if it'll let you set up synthetic PIDs. Boost can be determined by MAP - BARO.

01-21-2012, 01:25 PM	#1 (permalink)
ZMan8 A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 5,844 Drives: 10 370z 40th M6 Rep Power: 658	Review ScanTools OBDLink MX w/ Torque EDIT: See second post for updated information/pics Hi all , I didn't see anybody reviewing these so I thought I would make one for those who are looking to monitor things using their phone or pc. I'll start of with saying I looked for about a month and read reviews of all the different OBDII units you can buy. Here were the main choices for me: 1. cheap unit from e-bay $20 2. plx kiwi bluetooth $99 3. ObdLink Bluetooh $149 (special price on amazon) 4. OBDLink MX (Bluetooth) $199 The OBDLink MX came out just this past month so that was a new addition to my choice list and after reading about it I was sold. The cheap units had bad reviews with high fail rates and low transmission speeds. The plx kiwi had good reviews but obdLink products had the fastest transmission speeds and came with a windows program so you can connect to a PC in addition to your android device. What the Mx does even better is it tops the ObdLink Bluetooth by getting rid of the long cord that was necessary, has even faster transmission speeds, and is more secure (class 2). Review: Price = 7 - it's on the high side of what I wanted to spend (even though I had a giftcard on amazon) but IMO it's not a horrible deal. You get what you pay for with these products and reading reviews, everybody loves these products. Plus Torque recommends this. Quality = 9 - The unit is very well built and plugs into the diagnostic link connector (DLC) snuggly and stays in. The only reason I gave it a 9 is because some of the glue they use to attach the sticker is showing. Scantools also had good customer service and has forums for support. The actual Product = 10 - Pairing this with torque on my android galaxy phone took 15 seconds and once the connection was established not once did I lose it in 2 hours of test driving it. Let me say the transmission speeds are as advertised and will be the closest you can get to live feed without investing much much more (really its basically live). There was no delay so when I push the accelerator, the engine load and rpm both shoot up instantly. Comparing it to my cars rpm's it was spot on. I did not test this on my Z because it's currently sleeping, but did run it on dd scion xD. The z has a more advanced computer so I fullly expect the obdlink mx + torque to have even more features for that. On the scion I could see the following all of which I normally can't: Engine load, Air fuel status, temperature outside, manifold pressure, throttle position, timing advance, coolant temps, MAF rate, barometric pressure, fuel pressure, intake air temperature, boost (which I dont have ) and you have customizable sensors so you can add more. Oil pressure can only be measure with the on off that our computers measure so to measure that you don't need a guage but will need to by some of the extra hardware. In addition to all of this, with torque you can see and reset fault codes which will save you money down the raod (nissan likes to charge $110 for diagnostics which is them plugging in and OBDII unit and checking the fualt code) Overall it's a great product and I plan to buy torque pro for $4.95, which lets you time 0-60, take videos and overlay cars stats on them (this is good for the track guys), and other good stuff. I will review that in more detail once I get it. P1010270.jpg P1010271.jpg this is how big the unit is compared to my android galaxy phone: P1010272.jpg __________________ 2010 370Z 40 Anniv., 6 MT \| Fast Intentions \| Swift Springs \| SPC \| Z1Motorsports \| JWM \| Redline Oils \| 35% Window Tint 2015 Mazda6 \| 370ZChicago: Chicago Area Cars & Coffee Last edited by ZMan8; 02-28-2012 at 09:56 PM.

01-21-2012, 01:25 PM	#2 (permalink)
ZMan8 A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 5,844 Drives: 10 370z 40th M6 Rep Power: 658	Torque Pro Finally got around to getting some screenshots and I bought torque pro: screenshot.jpg screenshot_2.jpg screenshot_3.jpg screenshot_4.jpg screenshot_5.jpg Torque pro is awesome that's all I have to say. Cost was $5 on android market, is easy to use and has many, many features. You can customize is as well. The following is all of the features of Torque Pro. I included all in order they appear for selection. Not all are available in each car but 90% are (boost not available in 370z). Real Time information: 0-100 kph time 0-200 kph time 0-60 mph time 1/4 mile time 1/8 mile time 100-0 kph time 40-60 mph time 60-0 mph time 60-120 mph time 60-80 mph time 90-100 mph time absolute throttle position B Acceleration Sensor (total) Acceleration Sensor (X axis) ---this is how many G's on a turn Acceleration Sensor (Y Axis) Accelration Sensor (Z Axis) Accelerator pedal position d accelerator pedal position e accelerator pedal position f air fuel ratio (commanded) air fuel ratio (measured) ---- you need this if intakes + headers + hFC & CBE ambient air temp average trip speed barometric pressure catalyst temperature (bank 1, Sensor 1 or 2; bank 2, sensor 1 or 2) commanded equivalence ratio CO2 in g/km (average) CO2 in g/km (instantaneous) EGR Commanded EGR Error Engine Coolant Temperature Engine Load Engine Load (Absolute) Engine Oil Temperature Engine RPM Evap System Vapour Pressure Exhaust Gas Temperature 1 Exhaust Gas Temperature 2 Fuel Cost (trip) Fuel flow rate/hour Fuel flow rate/minute Fuel Level Fuel Pressure Fuel Rail pressure fuel rail presure (relative to manifold vacuum) Fuel Trim Bank 1 Long Term Fuel Trim bank 1 sensor 1, 2, 3, or 4 Fuel Trim Bank 1 Short Term Fuel Trim Bank 2 Long Term Fuel Trim Bank 2 Long Term Fuel Trim bank 2 sensor 1, 2, 3, or 4 Fuel Trim Bank 2 Short Term Fuel used (trip) GPS accuracy GPS altitude GPS bearing GPS satellites GPS vs OBD Speed Difference Horsepower at the wheels --- not as accurate as a dyno, but was close Intake Air Temperature Intake Manifold Pressure Kilometers per litre (instant) Kilometers per litre (long term average) litres per 100 kilometer (Instant) litres per 100 kilometer (long term average) Mass air flow rate miles per gallon (instant) miles per gallon (long term average) 02 Sensor 1 Equivalence Ratio 02 Sensor 1 Equivalence ratio (alternate) ...this up to o2 sensor 8 02 volts bank 1 sensor 1, 2, 3, or 4 o2 volts bank 2 sensor 1, 2, 3, or 4 Relative accelerator pedal position relative throttle position speed (GPS) speed (OBD) --- more accurate throttle position (manifold) timing advance Torque - calculated using weight of vehicle and engine size (user input) Transmission temp trip average kpl trip average litres/100 km trip average mpg trip distance trip distance (stored in vehicle profile) Trip time (since journey start trip time (whilst moving) trip time (whilst stationary)---how much do you spend in traffic???? turbo boost & vacuum gauge voltage (control module) voltage (obd adapter volumetric efficiency (calculated) You can make custom sensors as well. For the above you can select different displays: -Dial (needle), dial (meter), half dial (needle), half dial (meter) -bar display, graph, digital display, acceleration widget, compass (gps bearing) -fuel status, secondary air status, fuel & air status, eco warrior,raw data display -drive cycle status since dtc clear,current drive cycle status -gps positioning, clock, roll meter (measure the G's), pitch meter, on/off display, push button In addition you can have map view, graph your data (even torque/hp curves) Edit#2 You can put custom alarms for any of the items you're measuring. So both min. and max. value alarms. This is useful for AFR, speed, rpms (you can have alarm sound off at certain rpm), etc, __________________ 2010 370Z 40 Anniv., 6 MT \| Fast Intentions \| Swift Springs \| SPC \| Z1Motorsports \| JWM \| Redline Oils \| 35% Window Tint 2015 Mazda6 \| 370ZChicago: Chicago Area Cars & Coffee Last edited by ZMan8; 02-29-2012 at 11:26 AM.

02-15-2012, 02:47 PM	#7 (permalink)
ZMan8 A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 5,844 Drives: 10 370z 40th M6 Rep Power: 658	Most cars (including our Z) only have an oil pressure failure sensor; meaning if oil pressure reaches a certain point it i will let the ecu know to turn on a light on your dash. The ecu does not measure oil pressure on a detailed basis. I wonder if this can be solved buy buying an aftermarket oil pressure sensor that can hook up to the ecu. Therefore, no need for gauges. __________________ 2010 370Z 40 Anniv., 6 MT \| Fast Intentions \| Swift Springs \| SPC \| Z1Motorsports \| JWM \| Redline Oils \| 35% Window Tint 2015 Mazda6 \| 370ZChicago: Chicago Area Cars & Coffee

02-15-2012, 02:58 PM	#9 (permalink)
ZMan8 A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 5,844 Drives: 10 370z 40th M6 Rep Power: 658	This car needs an oil pressure gauge IMO. Especially, people who put oil coolers on their cars need it. I'm still wondering about if you replace the oil pressure on-off sending unit with an aftermarket unit, will that allow the ecu to read oil pressure measurements-thereby allowing you to read them using an obdII reader. __________________ 2010 370Z 40 Anniv., 6 MT \| Fast Intentions \| Swift Springs \| SPC \| Z1Motorsports \| JWM \| Redline Oils \| 35% Window Tint 2015 Mazda6 \| 370ZChicago: Chicago Area Cars & Coffee

02-15-2012, 03:29 PM	#11 (permalink)
gaveup Enthusiast Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Tamarac FL Posts: 324 Drives: 10 Nissan 370Z MB M6 Rep Power: 180	I have the cheap ebay $20 elm one. Works just as good as my old wire tactrix cable I used on my subaru to log. I wouldn't waste any more money than $20 on it. At $190 you might as well just buy uprev cipher... __________________ 2010 Magnetic Black Metallic 370Z 6M stillen gen 3 CAI - topspeed test pipes - invidia gemini CBE - UpRev tune 301whp (HP Logic Mustang Dyno)

02-05-2012, 09:53 AM	#3 (permalink)
Wiggins3377 A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Cincinnati Posts: 3,236 Drives: 40th 370 Rep Power: 76	Any updates?

02-15-2012, 02:24 PM	#5 (permalink)
Speedy Enthusiast Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: TN Posts: 390 Drives: check my signature Rep Power: 13	Looks like a cool product. Thanks for the info.

02-15-2012, 02:32 PM	#6 (permalink)
Deadman Base Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Ohio Posts: 177 Drives: 2011 370z Base+S 6MT Rep Power: 13	So can you see oil pressure with the Mx version ? I wish the msd dashhawk worked on the Z !

02-15-2012, 02:49 PM	#8 (permalink)
Speedy Enthusiast Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: TN Posts: 390 Drives: check my signature Rep Power: 13	Interesting in that my Challenger does read oil pressure and displays it on the speedo screen.

02-28-2012, 10:01 PM	#14 (permalink)
ZMan8 A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 5,844 Drives: 10 370z 40th M6 Rep Power: 658	Bump... I updated the info __________________ 2010 370Z 40 Anniv., 6 MT \| Fast Intentions \| Swift Springs \| SPC \| Z1Motorsports \| JWM \| Redline Oils \| 35% Window Tint 2015 Mazda6 \| 370ZChicago: Chicago Area Cars & Coffee

02-29-2012, 11:10 AM	#15 (permalink)
Speedy Enthusiast Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: TN Posts: 390 Drives: check my signature Rep Power: 13	That's cool! For boost, I wonder if it'll let you set up synthetic PIDs. Boost can be determined by MAP - BARO.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
HP Torque	RiCharlie	Nissan 370Z General Discussions	15	07-24-2011 10:35 PM
More Air=Less Torque.?	Chan Chee Hoe	Intake/Exhaust	12	02-18-2011 06:58 AM
Low end torque on 350 vs the 370?	cossie1600	Track / Autocross / Drifting / Dragstrip	20	05-06-2010 08:18 AM
Where's the torque??	sbkim	Nissan 370Z General Discussions	14	02-02-2009 07:14 PM