December 20th, 2005
CarChip E/X Logs Your Driving and Tattles on Out of Control Teens
By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
Getting the old “Check Engine” light is annoying and frightening. It can also be expensive to take your car to the shop and have them run a computer diagnostic. In Sonoma they charged my parents $75 just to find out there was nothing wrong. Outrage!
What most people don’t know is that since 1996, all cars sold in the US had to come with a special diagnostic port located within three feet of the driver’s seat called an OBD II connector. An OBD II connector is essentially a plug into the brain of your car’s computer – or on board diagnostics. Long ago and far away, I wrote a piece on turning a laptop into a car diagnostic machine, but back then (circa 1993) it was an expensive and cumbersome project that only the most die hard car and computer nut would ever attempt - until now.
Today, I got to play with the latest in the CarChip line – the CarChip E/X from Davis Instruments. Shown here, you can see it’s a tiny plug you attach to your car’s OBD II connector. One you’ve plugged in, you simply forget about it and drive. The E/X model will record up to 300 hours of driving, and unlike earlier versions, the unit attaches via a supplied USB cable and comes with a ton of diagnostic software that tracks everything from the speed you tend to drive, to even an accident log that will record like a black box the crucial moments leading up to a crash.
Big Brother er Father
I have to say I am glad they didn’t have one of these when I was a teen driver or my parents would have had a completely different picture of me as a person, but the CarChip also lets you not only monitor your teen driver to see who hit 95 mph on Saturday night, but also will set alarms based on speed and acceleration and braking thresholds you define. Want junior to go no faster than 65 or go from 0 to 60 in five minutes not three – then the Car Chip is your friend. (Sorry guys and gals)
Bottom Line: If you have an inquisitive car lover in your life – this is a unique and exciting gift that keeps on giving. At $179, you’ll get more mileage out of this gadget than a host of rechargeable road flares, de-icing kits and all that other car junk we get and never seem to enjoy. The CarChip is in credible.
More on the CarChip E/X Here
Note Be sure to check the exclusions page (PDF file) – some car modes have known conflicts. Not many, but worth a look before you buy.
As with CarChip, you’ll get time and date for each trip, distance, speed, hard accelerations and decelerations, and engine diagnostic trouble codes. With CarChip/X, though, you’ll also be able to monitor any four out of 23 user-selectable engine parameters, including:
• RPM
• Throttle position
• Engine load
• Fuel pressure
• Fuel system status
• Short- and long-term-fuel trim
• Battery voltage
• Timing advance
• Coolant temperature
• Air flow rate
• Intake air temperature
• Intake manifold pressure
• Oxygen sensor voltage
Plus, if you’re unfortunate enough to be involved in an accident, CarChip/X will automatically generate an accident log showing the last critical 20 seconds of speed.
Source: Davis Instruments
Alice Adds: I’m logging some boring stats right now, but will take it for a real spin and show you my shocking graphs later on, I promise. Meanwhile, get one of these for Christmas and you won’t go wrong!
Cheese Toast says:
Welcome to 4 years ago! Although, it is a great item.
December 20th, 2005 at 8:44 pm
Ken says:
Time and date for each trip? This reminds me of the wild speculations that were floating around in the late 1990s that computerized cars would fail on 1/1/00. The thing that no one seemed to think of was: How was the clock/calendar set in the first place, and how accurate was it? Using my old PC clock as a guide, I would have expected the car to fail anywhere between 1995 and 2010.
Same question applies here: How is the clock kept accurate? My new car has a GPS system, and the clock syncs to that, but I can’t believe all new cars have all that extra hardware.
December 21st, 2005 at 6:32 am
Alice says:
Hi “Cheese Toast” - the product is not 4 years old, it is the most up to date version in the CarChip line and it won a best of show award for 2005 at CES. I thought that it made a great gift, which is why you see it here today. I also testesd it myself personally which is why I am giving it a thumbs up for car lovers because $179 is not exactly cheap in my book.
I am glad yu raised the timliness issue, because I see that in some of the comments. In terms of what we do here: there is breaking news, which we cover every day like RIM’s patent woes and AOL/Google and so on. Then there is random funny info I come across from time to time (like how the Dreamcast and the Xbox 360 are similar or why Macs suck) - some people laugh, some have seen it before, but it’s just some fun we usually toss in for a rainy weekend. And then there is basic product info that espeically during the Christmas season, is very useful even if if the product came out in Feb or March or whenever.
The key for us here is the mix - we want to inform, amuse, and most of all help people buy good products they can use without wasting their hard earned cash on junky gadgets. Not all of those three demand “breaking news” coverage - they also need a little perspective and some hands-on testing becasue I am not going to personally tell you to buy a gadget as a gift if I haven’t tried it out espeically if it going to screw up someone’s car.
In terms of overall coverage, let me know what else you’d like to see and we will add it on - as I have said many times: RealTechNews is for the readers and you help us decide what is important - we will adjust our mix accordingly. And don’t forget - for the latest compilation of truly up to the second breaking news - check out our World news page which has live tech news feeds from Yahoo, Gizmodo, PC World, News.com and more all on one page. http://www.realtechnews.com/blog/rtnews.php
–Alice
December 21st, 2005 at 8:48 am
Ulysses says:
I have a $500 GPS (the Garmin Streetpilot 2610) that records some of this. Top speed, speed during each leg of your trip. Newer versions will warn you if you go X mph past a posted speed limit, on whichever road you’re on. And I never have to be worried about getting lost.
All the rest of the information can be seen on your dashboard’s LCD by holding the odometer button the correct number of times. (At least it can on all 2000-2006 Ford Focus, Mustangs, and most members of the Ford family.)
December 21st, 2005 at 10:10 am
Cheese Toast says:
“Hi “Cheese Toast” - the product is not 4 years old, it is the most up to date version in the CarChip line”
Actually it is, I had an E/X in my 99 Taurus. It is a wonderful product, but you write about it as if it is a new invention. I see that as the problem with some of the articles on your blog. I really enjoy your blog, as do many others, but it seems more and more that you and the other writers are hyping old tech as new tech.
December 21st, 2005 at 10:19 am
Alice says:
Cheese Toast - I don’t think we “hype” anything, that is not our job. If anything, our goal is to call foul on overhyped products (the Xbox 360 comes to mind) The product I reviewed is is the latest product in the CarChip line and according to the materials I received, it has new software and a USB connector and other enhancements that were not available in 1999 even if the product name was CarChip E/X. It also would not have been eligible for a CES 2005 award if the product was indeed that old and unchanged. The new enhancements based on the previous comments I read online, made it worth a firsthand look.
That said, if you see reviews of products on RealTechNews that have newer versions - alert me immediately because that would be going against what we do here, but I’ll stand by this product as a fine and timely choice this holiday season, and the latest from Davis in their CarChip line.
I also can’t wait to upload my charts - I peeled out today and got the alarm to ring!
December 21st, 2005 at 10:44 am
Mikey says:
You know, I saw this coming. Ever since they started going to electronic control systems in cars, theres been more and more of this “control” thing happening.
I’m a dinosaur.
I like to tune.
It gives me purpose.
Satisfaction.
Give me a mixture control screw and I’m happy. These new plastic cars all perform alike, got no character, no individuality. And the kid’s cars. Oh, don’t let get me started, whoooooooooo. All night long, jumpin up, jumpin down, boom boom boom boom. It’s almost a circ…
-sorry-
(my GreatAunt May was channeling in.)
All that aside, is it wise? Putting a flight recorder on your auto? Besides the benefits to the public liability issues, what are the benefits beyond the function that the E/X chips provide? What about personal liability? What if the chip is used against you in court? And what if it’s the only witness?
We’ve already seen “official” controls used as court ordered detainment devices, Martha Stewart had to wear one on house arrest recently. How long before your car reports back to your insurance company that you were speeding on the Interstate and orders your insurance fees to skyrocket?
December 21st, 2005 at 7:09 pm
Alice says:
I am afraid it is already happening. Car rental companies use GPS chips that track if you drove to Mexico (illegal according to most rental contracts), if you shreedded up the engine with crazy driving, or if you used the unlimited miles to drive coast to coast an dback - I think they may even have some clause in the contracts that if you go over some crazy number of miles it is no longer unlimited, but not 100% sure.
I do think it’s a shame, and nothing beats a car you can customize. Above all cars I owned, I liked my 1979 MGB that you had to adjust the idle with a screwdriver (actually that part was not fun) but I’m yanking the chip tomorrow (I made it beep for mercey last night and want one good freeway run) so we shall see what it shows. That partis fun, the other bug brother stuff is not.
December 22nd, 2005 at 9:28 am
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May 18th, 2006 at 10:26 am
ClapekDodki says:
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July 16th, 2007 at 7:42 am
Camilo Medrano says:
I want to buy this product.
December 9th, 2007 at 2:41 am