what is the best obd2 hardware ineterface on the market that works with dashcomm

[949]

im helping a friend with his car and im doing all the work for him.

since im new at this i need some info.

he and i like the looks of the dash command program.

i wanted to start with getting the obd module first. i need to know which one is the best on the market with the fastest rate.  we will be using this on a 97 bmw 318.

i have noticed the obdlink mentioned and the elmscan 5.

im not familar with either one nor do i know of other ones that are good too.
wifi as an extra is ok but from what i have read everywhere, usb is the way to go for speed and realiability.
correct me if im wrong or please feel free to add more info.

thanks.

[John@PPE]

We try to maintain an equal relationship with all of the hardware vendors. As such, we don't try to promote one more than another.

However, generally speaking you will get better performance by paying more money.

In the case of USB vs WIFI you won't get much better performance. WIFI costs more but it's mainly for convenience sake. If you don't mind plugging in your laptop to the OBD-II interface, USB is a cheaper deal. Also, USB is for Windows only.

An incomplete list of compatible hardware can be found here: http://www.palmerperformance.com/hardware/index.php

However I don't recommend the OT-2 at this moment because there is an identified bug with some cars.

[EliRider]

I totally respect equal promotion of your hardware vendors.

But are all hardware interface features treated the same with your software? Or does your software leverage more features of other interfaces due to its advance feature set for software vendors to take advantage of?

I'm new to this forum and have a 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth. I'm specifically interested in wireless options but not opposed to connecting a cable direct to my iPhone 4S.

[John@PPE]

We pretty much work the same with all of them. We read standardized obd-ii data out from all of them. However, somebody told me that the goPoint BT module doesn't report voltage. And that the OT-2 has an extra wideband sensor. So those little things might give an extra reading or so. But I don't have a list of those so I am not sure exactly what the differences between them might be.

That said, I can't recommend the OT-2 for DashCommand right now, because there is a bug between the hardware and our software on some vehicles.

But for the most part, any interface will provide the same data with DashCommand. The main difference is in the speed at which parameters are reported, and as mentioned earlier, the cheaper the interface the more slowly they respond.

[EliRider]

Thank you John. I currently went with the OBDLink WiFi interface with your DashCommand software on my iPhone and iPad. I heard that the OBDLink product is the fastest hardware interface.

The OBDLink WiFi uses a chip that simulates that it is ELM327, but it is
faster.  The OBDLink is the fastest ELM hardware available, from there it
seems the more you spend the faster it is.  All data is the same from the
hardware.


Very interesting stuff. It would be great if you had a Data Log viewer that worked on OSX for us Mac users.

Next, attempting to figure out if I have my vehicle parameters are correct for my Abarth. I'll start a different thread perhaps that is Abarth related. Thank you again.