Found a bluetooth reader ELM327 for $65 shipped from China to work with "Torque (ad supported)" App. by Ian Hawkins. Anybody have any input to the bluetooth reader itself? I can always change apps, such as "OBDroid-free". If I like either, I will be buying the full version. My main concern was with the reader and it coming from China. I'd prefer not to blow $65 bucks if I should just buy another elsewhere for $100 or so, if it is better of course. Do these apps support data logging, current vehicle statistics, etc? Such as coolant temp, fuel trim, O2 voltage, knock sensor voltage, TPS sensor, ..., ...
If you find out any info about this let me know, Im curious also. Im a tech and would love to use my phone to scan cars. I have torque installed and looked at those china bluetooth adapters.
You can find obdII units cheaper than $65. This one (as of this posting) is $22 and ends in 4 hours. OBD Blue tooth Supports all OBD II protocols (A): eBay Motors (item 200473898013 end time May-25-10 14:55:00 PDT) This one is a buy it now of about $1.83 + $29.99 shipping http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/V1-3...Z170487460972QQptZMotorsQ5fAutomotiveQ5fTools As for chinese purchases... I've made probably about 8 from hong-kong and have never run into any issues. The problem you are running into is the typical "you get what you pay for" mentality of most americans... don't buy into it. That's just how the big companies justify making you spend 10x more for the same crap. I have yet to buy a bluetooth OBDII reader, but I will be buying one from China when the time comes. I have two other reader cables... Vag-Com and an elm327 to usb OBDII that were both purchased from a seller in China. Both cost $0.99 + $3.00 - $5.00 shipping, and both work flawlessly. My opinion - Buy the $20 unit, save $45 off what you were going to spend (and $100 off typical selling price of US-based sellers) and don't look back.
To be fair I agree with you about paying more not equaling better but.... I have purchased more than one item that turned out to be complete garbage. Best bet is to try and let someone else buy first and benefit from their experience whichever way it should go.
Everybody has a different level of gambling. My comfort level is around 30 bucks for something like this. $65, not so much. I'll take a chance on this one, and post my findings when I have a chance to use it. My other choice was a $200 unit from CAR QUEST that I could go get now and use now, but I think I will be able to do more with even the free app for my phone than the limited capability of the $200 unit. Yeah, I could drop $2500 on the model specific unit for the cars I specialize in, but really? I know shops that won't spend that kind of money, even though they use it sometimes twenty times a day.
Also taking the plunge on a read from ebay. Will post feedback when it arrives. Good Luck on yours. I have heard it torque works well.
Purchased on the 25th, payment cleared on 28th, I suppose it shipped then or perhaps Tuesday. Don't have it yet.
Registered USPS mail slip arrived on the 13th. Picked up from PO on the 15. Need to spend time on app dev's forum to figure out specifics on operation/capabilities. When app starts, codes shown, later, when checked through menu, it will say no codes in ECU.
