Has anyone bought and installed the OBDII Garmin EcoRoute HD add on device? I understand this device has a feature (among others) that will allow a gauge display on certain Garmin Nuvi navigation units using data from the MINI's ECU. The device communicates with the Nuvi via bluetooth and plugs into the OBDII port under the dash to get the data from the ECU. I'm curious if anyone can share their experience with this Garmin product. I am interested in getting additional information like water temperature, boost, etc. and this looked like a possible approach. Thanks in advance.

 

Yes, a couple of us here have done it.

I bought a 1490T so I could use the Eco Route feature, because I also wanted a temp gauge...the others have just been a bonus!

It's a lot of fun to use, I only wish it could put up an oil pressure reading too - but that's not in the OBD's sensor range, so no joy there.

One of the more fascinating gauges to me to watch is the timing advance - it's crazy how much advance and retard you see as you're on and off the gas!

I bought the 1490T at Costco for $230 (on sale now for $210 BTW) and the dongle from Amazon for $130.

I'm still learning about all the features in this thing, it's got a huge amount of screens and features....

 

do you have part number for dongle or how it is described in Amazon?
Thanks

 

Garmin ecoRoute HD Vehicle Diagnostics Communicator

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ef=oss_product

Now just 89.99.

 

Wow, $50 cheaper than when I bought it less than a month ago! Helluva deal....

 

I'm considering purchasing this along with a second Garmin GPS device to display the gauges (I wish I had known about this a month sooner, I could have gotten the right GPS to begin with ), does anyone know if this will mess with the built-in bluetooth in my 2009 MCS or on the BB?

 

I have the ecoRoute HD along with a Garmin 1390T and love it. I replaced a ScanGauge II with it. I'm using the HD on my '09 JCW and have no trouible at all with the factory bluetooth.

 

Mat J,
I have the garmin 1490t + ecoroute hd in my 2010 jcw. I MUST let the garmin boot up and connect to the ecoroute hd dongle BEFORE i turn on my phone (an old samsung eternity). i know when the ecoroute hd and garmin connect b/c the gauge icon will appear on the garmin. If my phone and garmin are both trying to connect simultaneously via bluetooth (garmin to dongle, and phone to car), the phone takes priority and then interferes with the garmin-to-dongle connection. after the garmin and ecoroute hd connect, i turn on my phone to connect to the car and there are no issues in connectivity or performance of either device (garmin or phone).

i discovered this conflict when my gauge icon would not consistently display on the garmin. I turned off my phone and the icon displayed.

love the garmin and its gauge feature; i've grown dependent on the gauges. hope this helps.

 

I had not noticed the Bluetooth conflict between the phone and HD, but that could explain why once or twice things quit working.....

Most of the time - since my phone is always on when I get in the car, itall just hooks up and works.

The two devices don't seem to interfere with each other at all tho - my phone is an older BB 8700....of course, age is a relative thing with phone, 1 year old is totally out of date......

 

Thanks to both for posting, I haven't totally made up my mind to purchase these items but given the lack of important gauges in the MINI dash, I am quite seriously thinking about it. Just to have the ability to see water temp and oil pressure would be quite good. It is nice to see that prices have come down quite dramatically at least since I first found out about it. I did a little pricing today and it looks like you can get the Ecoroute HD and a Garmin 1260 for just about $300!

 

You won't get oil pressure unfortunately, you will get water temp along with 18 or so other parameters....

 

Any suggestions on mounting & connecting up the Garmin EcoRoute HD to the OBDII? I'm barely a newbie with the Mini's. Truth be told I'm still trying to find where the interface is at on my new Countryman. {don't get it away... I'll find it }

Are the service guys typically cool with leaving the unit installed when you drop the car of for maintenance? Has anyone ever been challenged for voiding warranties?

 

It should not have anything to do with your warranty - I can't think of a single reason they would care about it. You may find it unplugged if they have to plug into the port at one of your service stops, so you may have to reprogram it again, but that's easy to do.

The plug-in is on the left, under the dash - the rectangular socket near the kick panel, you have to look up from the floor to see it. I unclipped the plug , installed the ecoroute, then just left the whole thing lie on top of the underdash panel, inside it.

Edit: Oops, you have a Countryman, don't know if it's in the same place or not on one of those. Sorry.....

 

Can it reset trouble codes?

 

Yes. It can read and reset trouble codes.

 

This is slightly off-topic, but here's a question for the brain trust:

I was surfing through the Android Market last night and ran across an application call "Torque" (something like that). This is supposed to work with the ODBII adapters (via Bluetooth) and can display a set of gauges as well as set/reset fault codes.

Anyone familar or have used this application in the past?

Cheers.

 

Oddly enough, I was looking at the same thing. A buddy of mine is about to upgrade from his Droid to newer model and said I could have his, so thinking of using that with Torque and a generic Bluetooth OBDII dongle.

Before the free phone option became available to me, the Garmin/EcoRoute was proving to be the most cost effective route for multiple gauges.

I believe you can get Torque for the iPhone and iPod Touch as well...

 

So has anyone confirmed whether this can read boost? (MAP pressure)

 

Yes, the EcoRoute HD measures boost

They call it intake manifold pressure.

 

I have not found anywhere. Can you set alerts for sensor 'limits' with this? Say an oil temp of 230 or higher, etc with the ecoRoute HD?

 

The Garmin is read-only, you cannot set limits on it.

Interesting how the OP never came back to his own thread.....

 

I am heading to Bestbuy today to buy one and an extra windshield mount for my GPS so I can switch my Nuvi between cars. This thing is Awesome!

 

 

 

It's on my list as soon as I can catch it on sale. I have an Amazon $20 credit coming in a week or so which I might use for it.