Low Price Garmin ECOROUTE HD Vehicle Diagnostics Communicator

Garmin Ecoroute HD
Pure crap...not only did it not work for more than 2 minutes at a time it totally screwed up my 1490T...even now the sound refuses to come on at startup about 75% of the time. After 4 hard resets and a bunch of fiddling I am living with the fact that this garbage gadget has, basically, ruined my 1490T. RUN AWAY...FAR AWAY...DO NOT BUY THIS GADGET!

Initial buyer's remorse, but now glad I purchased.
It was extremely easy to install and configure with my Garmin Nuvi 1490T. It does exactly what it says it does. Honestly I had a bit of buyer's remorse after using it for a day, because it didn't seem like it was worth 0. However I decided that paying 0 for a GPS that included all the features of my 1490T plus the ecoRoute HD would have seemed like a good deal. Since that's what I paid in total, I decided it wasn't that bad of a deal.

Besides, if my engine light goes on, I'll be glad to know what the code is BEFORE calling the repair shop.

I've taken a couple long road trips now since purchasing, and yes, I'm glad I had this.

has a bug
gauges appear accurate with good selection to choose from, easy setup,have not had any check engine lights so i dont know how well the diagnostics work, the one issue i have found is my gps unit will not run on battery pwr while it is connected to the eco routehd device. for example if you turn off the car to get gas you the gps unit shuts down. the gps gives you the option to run on battery pwr but it does not accept your choice as long as there is a bluetooth connection to the ecoroute hd makes no differance if your gps is in nav mode or gauges mode the unit shuts off and you have to restart when you start the car back up,garmin techs said maybe a fix is in the works.

Fun but early bugs
Easy setup in my VW Touareg. Just did 1500 mile trip. 1st day, worked well. 2nd day, started getting "new vehicle detected" message and had to reenter vehicle data every 100 miles or so, which erases all history. The instant mpg stopped being correct (meaning matching the dashboard instant mpg digital guage) after day 1. Runs about 10 mpg under actual..

Did the update to my 1490t when i bought it, and now when connected to the Garmin updater it says an update is available, which I then do, and then it says An update is available. Have updated about 5 times and still says an update is available, after following the reboot imstructions, etc. Don't know if this is related to the ecoroute or not.

The guages are fun to watch but since the mpg is no longer accurate, not as useful.

Also not sure why I have to keep reentering my estimated average mpg. Isn't that the point of this product?

Very cool
I've been using this for about a week with my Garmin nüvi 1690, and while I haven't really done a lot of driving this week, I like it so far. I'll be going on a long trip next week, so if anything changes, I'll try to come back and post an update.

Installation was very quick and easy - only took about five minutes. When I'm connected, it changes the ecoRoute icon to ecoRoute HD in the tools menu. On the map screen, I now have the option to display MPG, in addition to the options that were already there. When I tap on the speed/speed limit icon on the map, it has changed the look of the stats there, and I think it looks better. The fuel cost option keeps count, even when you're idling at a red light, or in the parking lot. You can sit there and literally watch the pennies add up while you're sitting at a light. Other than the layout, and a continuous updating of the fuel cost stats, it also added gauges for the RPMs, battery, and engine temperature, and everything now fits on one screen, rather than having to scroll down to see parts of it. The ecoChallenge (green leaf) on the map seems a lot more accurate now, and when you click on it, it no longer shows today's overall score in the upper left corner, but has fuel economy instead. In the ecoRoute menu, it added icons for gauges and diagnostics. I haven't really had any need to check the diagnostic codes, though I did look just to experiment with it, and it said there were "no codes found," and that "[my] vehicle reports it is ready for emissions testing." The fuel economy display now shows your current MPG in a circle in the middle of the other four stats. The default gauges it shows are smaller, in each corner, and are engine load, coolant temp, timing advance, intake air, and then a big one in the middle that shows RPM. You can change any of them, and other options include mass air flow, throttle position, battery voltage, and speed. As soon as I turn the car off, it shows me my stats for that trip, and says the "vehicle has turned off" (before I got the ecoRoute HD, my 1690 just stayed on after I turned off the car, as the cigarette lighter still had power, or it said "external power has been lost" if I took it out of the mount).

That's about all the visible differences I can think of that were caused by connecting the ecoRoute HD. I guess the fuel cost estimates for when you look up places should be more accurate (assuming you use the at the pump feature), as it should have much better data about your fuel economy. Same with the MPG, cost, and amount of fuel you used that it shows you when you turn off the car or take the GPS out of the mount.

The only thing bad thing I have to say about it is that it seems to have caused some problem with the Bluetooth connection between my phone and the 1690. Now, if I don't have the car on so that it can connect to the ecoRoute HD, when I turn on the 1690, it connects to my phone, says "cannot connect to Bluetooth device," and then disconnects from my phone. I can manually tell them to connect again, either from the 1690 or from my phone, but it only stays connected for a minute or two, and then disconnects again. It doesn't seem to have any problem when the car is on and the 1690 is communicating with the ecoRoute HD.