Tuesday, August 12, 2008

How to Gauge Your Hypermiling Progress - Product Review: ScanGauge

You can't be a hypermiler without knowing how many miles per gallon your car is getting. Serious hypermilers will want to gauge the MPG their car is getting not only when the fill up - giving you your car's average miles per gallon, but also at specific points along their routes. One of our first product reviews is of the ScanGauge II. This scan gauge is an invaluable tool for the serious hypermiler. It monitors multiple factors useful for not only gauging your results when trying to increase your gas mileage, but also provides a multitude of other features you will find useful in managing your vehicles. One such feature is its ability to gauge the trouble codes your vehicle's computer is throwing off. This is useful in identifying problems your car may be having, some of which may affect your vehicle's fuel mileage.

In my opinion the most useful feature of the ScanGauge II is its ability to gauge your vehicles instant MPG, as well as current, trip, and previous average MPG. Shown on a convenient and easy to read digital display, this knowledge is necessary for gauging how you as a hypermiler are performing! Without it, you may think you are doing well, only to be disappointed by the total miles on your trip meter the next time you fill up. Until I got my scan gauge, it happened to me many times.

The scan gauge is also handy and very easy to mount! It has two ports on the actual guage that act as recepticles for the wire from the computer, making it easy to mount anywhere in the car with one gauge recipticle on the side and one gauge recipticle on the rear.

The scan gauge is compatible with all vehicles made in 96 or OBDII cars.

I looked for my scangaugeII at multiple sites, including ebay, amazon, as well as many other online stores. The best price I found on this combined with service and speed of delivery, was amazon. Here is a link to the product:



The main reasons I feel this is a useful item:
1) Instant MPG ratings
2) Trouble code readings (I used to have to pay $50 just for a diagnostic fee when taking my other car's to the dealers when they had issues. Over the long run, this will pay for the scangauge alone)
3) Average Current, Trip, and Previous MPG ratings
4) View fuel consumption
5) See actual cost per mile
6) See your vehicle's horsepower
7) Able to turn off vehicle's "Check Engine" light
8) Almost 40 digital gauges in one handy digital device.

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