Is the scangauge II worth the money for the 6.0? I have read good and bad about it....

 

yes its worth the money.

 

$122 on Amazon right now. I have never seen them that cheap.

 

well worth money. you have the ability to monitor 20+ things with the 6.0. if you hide the cord, it will look pretty good. it was well worth the money.

 

$160 now at Amazon.

 

WOW! Wish I would have got mine at that price. I paid a little over $150. Still worth every penny. I was driving the truck blind without it.

 

what bad have you heard? If you want an impressive looking device, then yes, the Insight is a much prettier looking display with colors and a nice pod if you like, while the ScanGauge II has a pretty plain look although you can change the backlight color.

If you want to add readings that Ford didn't include in the truck, but you don't want to add dial gauges in addition to your electronic monitor, then yes, the Insight can accept a few additional inputs from add-on sensors like EGT and fuel pressure. If you want those added sensors in addition to the ScanGauge, then yes, you will need to add gauges to display their data, as the Scangauge doesn't have a way to show them.

From what I can tell neither of them does a great job with pending codes, though both can clear codes and show active ones, I haven't had any so I can't give personal experience there. I have a DTC count of 1, but the ScanGauge won't show me what it is. It will clear it, but it comes back.

However in displaying info from just the ODBII port, live data, you have to go up to something like a AutoEnginuity to get more useful info than the ScanGauge, and what it isn't able to show now is only because the XGauge data hasn't yet been worked out. They add new ones all the time.

From what I've gathered about the Insight, you have a pretty static set of gauges to choose from with little improvement or ability to add new ones. The ODBII port is giving it the same data the ScanGauge gets, but the ScanGauge seems more flexible in using that data.

So I'm wondering what 'bad' you've heard.

If you have a 6.0L or you are test driving them to buy one, you must have an OBDII monitor that can show at least a half dozen 6.0L-centric readings. This is one of the ones that does all you need. It is less than half the price of the Insight.

 

+1 well worth the money

the only bad I can think of is Code reading abilities of the SG but it should show all Generic (emission codes mainly)codes but doesnt show Dealer specific codes like a contributation code

 

Couldn't have explained that better myself, Idahoser! Reps to ya! And yes, I couldn't get my pending codes with the SGII or generics scanners, but the the Auto Enginuity software did show them.

 

Bummer! I bought one 12/24, they were $128. 12/27 they were $122. not sure when they went back up.

 

OK thanks guys... I am going to pick up a SGII and do a gauge pod to monitor my EGT's, boost and fuel pressure. That should cover it shouldn't it?

 

SGII can be programmed to read boost

EGT & Fuel Press with the addition of a SGII and your pretty well covered

 

I heard something about those $122 scanguages on Amazon having old software. And thy have a more up to date software now that does more. Might want to look into this

 

ScanGauge Capabilities

First, what it won't do:
Fuel pressure
Exhaust gas Temp
Low (crankcase) oil pressure*
These values are not monitored by the engine computer, there are no sensors under the hood so the SG can't see them.

What it will monitor:
Fuel Level
Battery voltage
Engine coolant temp
Engine oil temp
Trans fluid temp
Intake air temp (on 2 different sensors)
Injection control pressure
Injection pressure regulator
FICM (fuel Injection Control Module) main power
FICM vehicle power
FICM logic power
FICM sync status
Camshaft sync status
Crankshaft sync status
Fuel injector timing
Fuel injector pulse width
Fuel injectors 1-8 on/off commands
Radiator fan speed
Radiator fan duty cycle
Barometric pressure (ambient)
Exhaust back pressure
Turbo Boost (by tinkering with baro settings)
Turbo duty cycle
manifold absolute pressure
Accelerator pedal position
V-ref voltage
Trans shifter position (automatic)
Mass Fuel Desired

These are the main ones. People are still tinkering with codes for misfire counts on specific cylinders and there may be a couple more I missed. In addition to these gauges, the SG has a trip computer that calculates fuel mileage and trip time etc. It also scans for many (but not all) codes that may have been stored if there is a problem that turns on your Check Engine Light. It simply plugs into the OBD port under the dash so install is easy also, and finially, the price is right.
Now for the negative:
The price is inexpensive because it's inexpensively made. The display is LCD but the dots are pretty coarse and it can be hard to read (the color of the backlight can be changed which helps). Half of the gauges you will want to monitor require you to input long strings of numbers to "program" into the unit, it also must be plugged in to do that so you'll be sitting in the driveway for awhile when you first get it. and finially, it is what it is, there are no options to hook up additional sensors to allow it to display the values I mentioned in the beginning.
There are other monitors with touch screens that can be expanded to show the other gauges, like the Edge Insight or DashDaq. These monitors are considerably more expensive but the expandability is important and besides that they just look better. Back-up cameras, mp3 capability, and the ability to completely change the way the screen looks is pretty cool if your budget allows it.

 

Just checked my receipts, bought one 9/20, $159, one 11/10, $159, and the
one on Christmas eve for $128. Not sure about the $122 ones, but the last one I received appears to be the latest software.