• 3.0 out of 5 stars

    Needs a bit more work

    • Written by from Bemidji

    I hooked it up to my truck and at first seemed to work fine, but then right away it has trouble connecting to my bluetooth. It sometimes works and then most of the time I have to monkey around with it if I want to record a driving session. I also think it doesn't work well with cold weather so if you live in the North, it will have trouble connecting to the blue tooth. Great concept, needs more testing to iron out the kinks. I am hoping during the warmer weather I see some improvement.

    1 of 2 people found this useful

  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    Did NSA Design this Device?

    • Written by from SAGINAW

    This device plugs into the ODB port of your car and transmits information to the iOS app on your device. The information includes the length of the trip you made on your car, what was your car mileage, how much fuel did you use, how many hard accelerations did you do, how many hard breaks did you make, and how many times did you exceed 70 mph on the expressway. If any of the diagnostic lights come on your dashboard, for example the engine light, then it tells you what's wrong with the car. In the event of a crash, the App calls the local law enforcement authorities and your three emergency contacts.

    It supposedly turns you into a better driver by giving you the feedback on your acceleration, braking, and speed. Every trip, you get a score of your driving. Every trip you make is recorded with all this information. You cannot access your information on the web, only on the App.

    There were some installation glitches. I had to do the connection between App and the device 3 times because it froze at this stage stating "encrypting connection". Then it failed to detect the ignition until I started driving the car. As of now, there is no Android app, only iOS app.

    I am not entirely sure how much useful this device is. Some of the information I'm already getting from my car like mileage.

    My biggest concern about this device and the app is the privacy. In order to set up the device, you have to set up an account with your email address, and name. So anybody who has an access to that account, can know where you have been, what speed have you been driving, and what kind of a driver you are. If I were NSA, and I wanted to find out where everybody's car is at any time and where they had been, this is the device I would use.

    4 of 19 people found this useful

  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    Great idea, with room for improvements

    • Written by from RICHMOND

    This is a great idea and there is a lot of potential here however the product is not quite 'there' yet.

    The install process for me was a bit kludgy and I had to re-insert the device to my car OBD II port a few times before it could be recognized by the app. Then, it still would not work right until I restarted my iPhone. Further, in the app, there is supposed to be a crash report feature where you can set it up to notify someone of your choosing in case of an accident, however that feature is no where to be found within the app!

    This app will read any fault codes output by your vehicle and tell you what is wrong. It will also let you turn off the 'check engine' light. I have not had any car trouble yet so I haven't had a chance to try this aspect of the device and app.

    One feature that is very clearly missing from the app however is the ability to use it as a standard OBD II terminal for advanced programming of vehicle options. My Toyota Prius for example, allows one to program disabling of reverse beeping by entering in some coding when connected to the OBD II port using a text terminal. But, Automatic doesn't allow for this functionality.

    I believe this platform has a lot of potential for improvement and am excited to see that they (and third party developers) are able to accomplish with it in the future. I would like display of more real time engine information like RPM, temperature, etc. As it is now, the app is basically meant to not display anything while you drive and only calculates a report for you after you turn off the car.

    And because of the fact that my car already gives me most all of the MPG and driving feedback built-in, this add on is not as useful to me than it would be to someone who has a car that doesn't already have these features built-in.

    166 of 191 people found this useful

  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    one major flaw

    • Written by from San Francisco

    it's really great, lets start off by making clear. It makes sounds to remind you of good habits whether it is connected to your phone or not. its just about everything you want it to be (and a great deal for the price too). BUT, the bluetooth connectivity is terrible. you essentially have to launch this thing every time you drive, that's how unreliable the bluetooth updating is. Sometimes if I happen to have left it running in the background, and go drive, it will work. But by habit I close all apps I'm not using anytime soon, so it misses a lot of trips in my car. I suspect if they had it their way it would, but bigger issues in iOS7's (and power consumption) limitations won't allow it. So, with that said, I Still own it, and still love it.

    11 of 20 people found this useful

  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    Almost There

    • Written by from Cookeville

    I think this is a great product....when it works. The problem I keep having is the Link and the App do not sync unless I manually go into the app after I stop my trip. I leave the app going in the background, and I can tell that the Link is working fine whenever I break too hard or speed up to quickly. I think after a few more updates, it will be a great product.

    233 of 255 people found this useful