eBay 2G Datalogger

[crimsondragon]

Now we all know how skeptical we can be about ebay stuff. They could be bad but they could also be good. This product here is in the 50/50 range.

First off I'll be comparing this with the Pocketlogger for 2G. I don't have one but from what I could tell you by looking on the site, I like Pocketlogger better. I also apologize for lack of pictures. My camera died on me about a month back. Wait till Xmas time when I get a new one.

There's an Ebay datalogger that has been circulating somewhat on it. It occasionally comes and goes. Just searching for it right now you won't be able to find another auction for it.
The first time I saw it, I tracked it till the auction finished and I haven't seen the bloody thing reappear till about two months later. That's when I figured this is my chance to jump on this.

It comes crudely packaged with a palm IIIe. Decent condition but obviously used. It comes with new "dollar store" no name brand 2 AAA batteries installed and ready to go. It also has a cradle for your computer to upload files and such. It's new and never been opened. Also has the OBII adapter and a nice cable. It looks almost like the Pocketlogger's cable except it doesn't have the tap for the OBII. That's what the adapter is for. It's a 3 inch long black ugly rectangle. Thank god the OBII port is underneath the dash. I'd throw this kit away if the port was out in the open and I had to plug that monstrosity in. Oh also comes with a CD with stuff.

Onto the Palm: it has four tabs which you can browse through. They contain the RPM,
Timing Advance/Retard, O2 Sensor (front and rear), Short Term Fuel Trim, Long Term Fuel Trim, Air Intake Temperature, Air Flow, Coolant Temperature, Throttle Position, MPH, and Load. It also doesn't have as many options as Pocketlogger. Also, just like Pocketlogger, it has a mini line graph to show you the progression over time. Only one problem: the parameter names are obnoxiously blocking it making it very hard to read the graph. It also samples at a rate of 3-4 per sec. Yikes. It claims to clear DTCs. I have yet to test that out.

The CD contains install instructions (like you honestly needed this...if you're that involved with the car where you need to get a datalogger, you would know how to put this together), Palm logging software, software to download and view datalogs on your computer, and software to export your datalogs to bitmap or CSV format. I have also yet to test this out but it doesn't peak my interest much either.

Overall for the low price of $150 and if you can actually catch in on it on Ebay, this is a pretty good deal. If you don't mind the cosmetics, hard to read graph, low sampling rate, then this is the datalogger for you. If you want perfection and don't mind spending the extra time and money to find a Palm, go for Pocketlogger. I rate this baby a 7/10.

*edit*
It has come to my attention that no 2G logger can log knock. Only DSMLink or standalone can log it. Sorry about that. Pocketlogger's screenshots can be misleading.