Review ScanTools OBDLink MX w/ Torque

ZMan8

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

ZMan8

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

Wiggins3377

Any updates?

ZMan8

Z is still "zzzzzzz"

Will update regarding torque pro this week!

__________________
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

Speedy

Looks like a cool product. Thanks for the info.

Deadman

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

ZMan8

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

Speedy

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

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.

__________________
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

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.

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...

__________________
2010 Magnetic Black Metallic 370Z 6M
stillen gen 3 CAI - topspeed test pipes - invidia gemini CBE - UpRev tune
301whp (HP Logic Mustang Dyno)

ZMan8

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.

__________________
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

ZMan8

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.

__________________
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

ZMan8

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

Speedy

That's cool!

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