Received the ecometer and did the install which was relatively easy. I say "relatively" in that the OBD connector is rather large and trying to thread it through the steering column labyrinth was virtually impossible. If you decide to keep the cable/connector external it is simply plug-and-play, but I wanted a cleaner look. To that effect, I cut the 4 wires for the cable just inside of the ecometer itself, threaded the cable and spliced it back together again. The ecometer housing itself attaches with either an industrial hard plastic Velcro type mount or with 2 small screws, whichever you prefer. I elected to use the Velcro mount while determining if I liked the chosen location which was the left side of the steering column. This location does not keep me from viewing any of the warning lights on the left of the instrument housing nor does it interfere with the left reset button for the mileage counter and whatever.
The meter does exactly what I bought it for, displaying either the instantaneous mileage or the average mileage. The unit has 3 levels of lighting intensity and I find that I use the brightest setting to keep direct sunlight from washing out the display. The brightest setting is not too bright for evening use either. The meter will also show RPM and MPH, though the standard speedometer and tachometer that comes with the smart does just fine. In that this is a 3-digit display, a tachometer reading of e.g. 2580 RPM would display as 2.58. Adding a mental "0" on the end and ignoring the "." is not terribly challenging and causes no problem. Changing the mode between instantaneous mpg-average mpg-tachometer-speed is accomplished by pressing the left button on the ecometer's face. The right button will perform a variety of reset functions...I found that I needed to pay attention to which button I was pressing to avoid unintended information erasure. I seemed to have learned that now that I am not constantly playing with the modes
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Overall visibility of the information is very good and doesn't require these rather elderly eyes to don reading glasses to see properly. The orange tinted sunglasses I use (Serengeti) don't noticeably diminish contrast and brightness of the ecometer, this in definite contrast to what happens to the information located on the lower segment of the instrument panel. I have to take off my sunglasses to view the data presentation for the standard smart orange illuminated display. Had a similar problem when trying to view Scangauge information on a friend's smart.
I've added a few pictures so that you can see what this install looks like.
The first 2 pictures shows the ecometer prior to installation with one of the pictures showing the side view. The Auto Meter site does not show a side view and I had no idea of the depth required till the ecometer was actually in my hands.
These 2 pictures show the current location of the ecometer on top of the steering column.
Before the advocates of the Scangauge get too excited about it's ability to present much more information just let me say that I did not want that particular display...nothing against the Scangauge or it's users, just my personal preferences.
Today
Linear Mode
