http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vehicle-ELM327-Wi-Fi-WiFi-OBDII-OBD2-Car-Diagnostic-Interface-Scanner-For-iPhone-/390578037649?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5af043e391
I was thinking of picking this one up an dusing my android phone to display things like voltage, MPG, etc.

They also allow you to read the error codes and other things related to the vehicle - a very cost effective alternative to paying to have the codes scanned or buying an actual scanner, depending on where you live. (I heard that autozone has stopped scanning the codes for free)

Thoughts?

I mainly want one for the cool factor.

 

I have that exact dongle and I have Torque on my phone. Works awsome. I also have Dash Command as a trial and it is VERY helpful. I would try to stay in the US as far as shipping goes. Not a dis to China. Just saying shipping gets pretty long from overseas.

 

lol I'd rather save more and wait.

Torque works on my net10 android phone but I would love to get a cheap tablet to put in the dash storage.

Should I get the wifi or the bluetooth version?

I figure wifi would work with my 10.1" 1280x720 netbook right? I could buy or make a mount for it (similiar to the ones they have in cop cars)

 

wifi is made more for iOS apple devices, the Bluetooth ones work well with android.
I paid the $5 for the premium torque app, money well spent. Just the other day I started it in the garage and thought the engine blew up, checked the codes and found 2 for throttle sensor out of range, then remembered I had left the throttle body unplugged to look at the connector. It also lets you check for emissions test system readiness, displays all kinds of gauges, and lets you mirror the display so it reflects off the windshield for a HUD (only works well at night).

 

Will the wifi version work on windows/linux?

"Supports Android / Symbian / iOS / WP system smart phone / laptop / tablet PC"

I'm pretty sure either protocal will work on any device with bluetooth or wifi with appropriate software?

I think I'm gonna spring for the wifi version and see if I can get a program on my laptop to work with it.

 

That's why i prefer bluetooth, at the time I couldn't find windows software as good as torque for android.

 

If the laptop does not have Bluetooth - a Bluetooth USB dongle is CHEAP - as long as the O/S app can talk to it via Bluetooth rather than Wi-Fi.

 

I tried that, Bluetooth dongles on laptops can be iffy, the drivers don't always play nice with the windows Bluetooth stack or the software. Trust me, the android solution is easy, fast and cheap.
You can get a no-name android tablet from china online for $100 these days if you want a larger display than a cellphone.

Not mine:

 

Android would be my choice too - it's just giving him an option for his consideration. :)

 

Well, ahem. I have bought that dongle before, I got one of the 50% bad ones, but got my money back fast. Got another one from a different vendor (a blue one, ELM 327 V1.5) and it works good.

I use an $.89 BT dongle on my laptop (Windows7) with ScanMasterELM that I found for free. It has many more features than Torque. I also connect it to my Android with either Scanmaster Lite or Torque free.

A caveat re: the $.89 BT dongle, they do burn out.

I also use the BT to use my phones internet connection on the laptop (it's 10 years old). Unlimited data is nice.