jakey wrote:why the sarcasm? scared to answer my question? don't be a jerk.
You're seeing sarcasm where it doesn't exist. And what the hell would I be scared to answer, seriously?
That you're happy with your $9 jobbie is great - that's your choice, and if it does what you want it to do, and you're happy with the price you paid, then you've paid exactly what you needed to pay for what you got.
I'm interested in the device I linked to. It's widely regarded as the best of the bluetooth OBDII devices, particularly for use with apps such as Torque, as it has the fastest read speeds, you can leave it connected all the time (as it's not meant to drain the battery if you leave it connected), it's flash upgradable (for feature enhancements or bug fixes), known good customer service from the vendor, compatible with a variety of vehicles (including those fitted with CANBUS as well as older electronics systems), includes security features (so unauthorised people can't pair with it and/or make changes to your car whilst the device is attached), etc. - check the link I provided for the full feature set. I didn't at any stage suggest that it's the only device anyone should ever use, or that there was something wrong with your $9 device. Nor did I attempt to force anyone to buy this.
If you're not interested in it, great. Nobody's forcing you to be interested in it.
But if you're not interested, don't be a dick and call people who are interested in it "jerks" because they see value in something you do not. I provided a link to the webpage for the device, people are also able to use Google to search for info if they want, and people should be free to make a decision as to whether or not they're interested free from innuendo and insults from people who may disagree with their choice.
The only person being a jerk here is you - insinuating that because you're happy with a $9 item, there must be something wrong with me because I'm considering a $150 item. If rather than trying to insult or question my right to make my own decision regarding which item I buy you were infact asking a genuine question, perhaps you could learn to ask your questions a little more suitably. I'd have responded totally differently had you said something like "I bought a $9 OBD2 reader, but the one you're linking to is $150 - what are the potential differences between the two?". The response then would have been something like this:
I saw the ELM327 stuff mentioned on the Torque website (
http://torque-bhp.com/wiki/images/thumb ... Clone6.jpg is the pic they provide), they said the following:
"Some units seem to suffer poor build quality and reliability issues. Other units are perfectly fine. Make sure you purchase with a buyer who has a decent returns policy should the unit turn out to be defective. If you have connection issues, or displays randomly 'pausing' in the app then it is most likely an adapter issue.
If you are using the USB version of this adapter then be aware that you will need to make sure the adapter uses an FTDI or Prolific usb to serial converter chip and have an android device running Android 3.1 or 4.0(or above) and supports USB host mode - you will also need the Pro version of Torque for USB support (though this will be ported to the lite app eventually)
If you are using adapters with a bluetooth MAC address of 11:22:33:DD:EE:FF then be aware that these adapters will not work with other adapters nearby with the same address (and should be avoided if you plan to use multiple adapters) Some of these units also appear to have pairing issues."
So my concern there would be that purchasing a cheap ELM327-device such as the one you've got may be a bit of a lucky dip - and I'd personally rather buy a device with a good reputation and buy it once than potentially have to buy 2-3 cheaper units and spend my time chasing down faults and requesting returns/etc.
And then we'd all be a lot happier, instead of bitching at each other in what should be a nice clean GB thread. Wouldn't that be nice...