DashDAQ? DashDON'T. Wish I DashDIDN't.

[Woodrobin]

I recently purchased a DashDAQ XL for my 2003 Jetta TDI. Let me lay out why I think this a decision that I have reason to regret, and you may want to avoid:

Preface: I am a huge GNU/Linux fan and advocate. Because this is a Linux-based device, I have been bending over backwards trying to find reasons to like it or at least keep struggling to make it into something useful for me. I've failed.

1. Price. We're talking roughly $550 USD for the base model, $635 for the GPS-enabled version. That's the cheaper third-party price; it's more expensive direct from Drew Technologies. I was in a position to take the hit, money-wise, but my problem is you don't get much for that cost.

2. Utility: While the site implies a huge list of possible OBDII data that can be read from a VW vehicle by the DashDAQ, in practice my Mk IV Jetta had 15 readable outputs. Four of these were OBDII diagnostics, so that leaves 11 driving-relevant data points. Here's the list:

DashDAQ Available Signals Report
Time: Mon Dec 12 17:57:23 2011
Firmware Version: DashGUI-2.1.4-2086
Device: a-Generic OBD2 Version:2.1.4-2086
9998	"Latency"	"OBD Latency"	"ms"	0
9999	"Updates"	"OBD Update Rate"	"Hz"	0
9996	"NET"	"OBD Network Type"	""	0
14	"TP"	"Absolute Throttle #1 position"	"%"	0
13	"MAF"	"Air Flow Rate from MAF"	"g/s"	0
1	"LOAD"	"Calculated Load Value"	"%"	0
17	"MIL_DIST"	"Distance Travelled While MIL is Activated"	"miles"	0
2	"ECT"	"Engine Coolant Temperature"	"°F"	0
9	"RPM"	"Engine RPM"	"RPM"	0
11	"SPARKADV"	"Ignition Timing Advance (#1)"	"°TDC"	0
12	"IAT"	"Intake Air Temperature"	"°F"	0
8	"MAP"	"Intake Manifold Absolute Pressure"	"PSI"	0
200	"MIL"	"Malfunction Indicator Lamp (MIL) Status (On/Off)"	""	0
303	"OBDSUP"	"OBD Requirements"	""	0
10	"Speed"	"Vehicle Speed"	"MPH"	0
Device: b-Analog Input Version:2.1.4-2086
1	"V"	"Analog In - Raw"	"Volts"	0
2	"V(C)"	"V(C)"	"Volts"	0
3	"VBATT"	"Battery Voltage"	"Volts"	0
Device: c-Analog Input Version:2.1.4-2086
1	"V"	"Analog In - Raw"	"Volts"	0
2	"V(C)"	"V(C)"	"Volts"	0
3	"VBATT"	"Battery Voltage"	"Volts"	0

For comparison, my Ultragauge, which cost less than 10% of the DashDAQ's price, found 34 relevant gauges. So the problem is not, or at least not wholly, an OBDII issue.

3. Customer service: The DashDAQ forum seems to be the main source of information on technical issues. The problem: all posts must be vetted by the moderator before being posted. In my experience, this means that friendly posts can take a week to see the light of day, and critical posts get silently killed. Questions about software updates and performance issues get what seem to be canned answers, with no evidence of any actual fixes in most cases. So my issue with customer service is that there doesn't seem to be any available. Also, they charge a restocking fee of 20%, apparently regardless of reason for return. People who sell a product that works and has satisfied customers rarely need to charge a percentage of the price to people who return the device. Reason: people keep the device.

4. Navigation: The ~$150 additional GPS option is essentially worthless. The last time the maps and software were updated was apparently early 2009. The software is so old that newer third-party maps can't be used with it (v4.5 of software that is now at v6.0). Questions as to when and at what price updated maps may be available are answered with some price, some day, we'll let you know. In other words, probably never. Three year old maps, in my area, would miss a good number of street changes, not include a good number of points of interest that didn't exist three years ago, and would be worse than no map at all. If I know I don't know where something is, I'll try to look it up before I leave or ask for directions. If I think the map is right, I'll be caught short by bad information. Please note that nowhere on the DashDAQ site do they mention the lack of map updates. They don't even mention the need to plug in the separate GPS receiver and load an SD card with the software on it in the only SD slot on the device before it will work, as far as I can tell. For comparison, many new GPS devices come with lifetime map updates, supported by ads. As for functionality, leaving aside the outdated information, the nav software tends to lock up if you deviate from the appointed route (it almost seemed to be pouting at me ) and is fairly inaccurate. Routing algorithms are odd at best. For instance, to get to my house when I was parked in front of it, it told me I need to drive around the block and park at a house that isn't even on the street I live on.

TL;DR version: DashDAQ will disappoint you on almost every level. Mine's going back tomorrow, even if I have to eat the restocking fee. I'll never buy another Drew Technologies product again. Do yourself a favor and get a Scangauge or Ultraguage and a decent GPS (or a Garmin nuvi with the Ecodrive HD OBDII device) and save yourself money and headaches.

 

[Birdman]

So you paid twice what the VCDS would cost just because it was linux based? wish I money to throw away like that.

 

[Woodrobin]

So you paid twice what the VCDS would cost just because it was linux based? wish I money to throw away like that.

Nice. I don't have "money to throw away." No one does. My experience with Linux based systems led me to believe the DashDAQ could do all the the things they claimed it could. It can't.
I suppose I did "throw away" money, in the sense that I bought into the hype that they put out. If you believe their press, the DashDAQ is supposed to be able to be customized in a huge number of ways, have access to dozens of VW parameters, and have an amazing GPS system built in (if you get that model).

In practice, it has a crappy little GPS dongle that doesn't get worthwhile reception unless you run it out the window and stick it on the roof, with outdated map software that is evidently never going to be updated. It has access to less than a dozen useful VW parameters. I'll grant that the gauges can be customized, but in practice that's just a matter of assigning different mixes of a tiny number of gauges to six different screens. So, wow. Yeah.

Had I had any idea that it fell so far short of its claims, I wouldn't have spent a penny on it. There is no reason it should, based on it being a Linux device. The potential was there. The failure was in hardware selection (crappy GPS receiver), driver acquisition (only a few expanded sets of parameters, none for VW) and customer service (censoring tough questions, not responding to questions, not updating software). The potential exists for it to be an amazing device. It's been squandered.

I'm not proud that I got suckered, and I'm not happy to expose that publicly, but I thought it would be useful to let other people know, so they don't make the same mistake I did.

So, Birdman, thanks for rubbing salt in the wound. Merry Christmas to you, too.


P.S.: I've considered getting a VCDS, but they're not the same thing. The VCDS is a diagnostic tool, better suited IMHO for someone who knows quite a bit about the workings of a VW (I don't). The DashDAQ was supposed to be something more like an Ultragauge or Scangauge, only with expanded capabilities. In practice, it found less gauges than a cheap Ultragauge and didn't have the customization potential of an X-gauge capable Scangauge. Now, of course, I know better. Expensive lesson that I hope to help others avoid having to pay the tuition to learn.

 

[Jnitrofish]

Well, I appreciate your input. Having some experience with some unix systems would make me likely to end up in a similar position.

I think I will just get a Scangauge when time comes.

Thanks.

 

[3waygeek]

FWIW, the founder of Drew Technologies was my roommate at Iowa State back in the 80s. He was a computer science major, and I was studying physics & maths. He's been a car guy for years -- he rebuilt a Chevy small-block in the living room of one of our off-campus apartments.

As far as I know, he's never had an interest in diesel or foreign cars; he was a GM guy back then, and probably is still is.

 

[Neukom720]

Sorry to bring back an old thread but I have a dashdaq for my 2008 Ford F-450 Super Duty with the 6.4 powerstroke and my reason for getting it was simple, because thats wut the masters of tuning powerstrokes uses to tune, Spartan Diesel performance, and it works awesome on them for guages too because the 6.4 has a tone ld sensors in place on the motor and I am able to read every possible peramter the engine and trans that i want and does it flawlessly. It saved me a tone of time, money, and headaches over installing guages and ut also is able to scan codes. My one problem now is that I want to use it on my 99.5 mk4 tdi which i recently upgraded yo rocketchip stage 3. When i plug it in though it wont power up in the vw. Anyone have idea of why this might be?

 

[Woodrobin]

Sorry to bring back an old thread but I have a dashdaq for my 2008 Ford F-450 Super Duty with the 6.4 powerstroke and my reason for getting it was simple, because thats wut the masters of tuning powerstrokes uses to tune, Spartan Diesel performance, and it works awesome on them for guages too because the 6.4 has a tone ld sensors in place on the motor and I am able to read every possible peramter the engine and trans that i want and does it flawlessly.

From the information I was able to dig up while trying to find out why the DashDAQ only found a few gauges on a VW TDI, it seems that DashDAQ has quite a number of extended parameters available for Ford vehicles. I imagine if it had found 35 parameters to report, like the Ultragauge that cost about 1/20 the price did, I'd have been happier with it.

It sounds like it works well on vehicles that the makers have chosen to support. So the potential is there for it to work well on a VW, but so far they haven't shown any interest in updating the software or expanding its capabilities, so I wouldn't hold my breath.

My one problem now is that I want to use it on my 99.5 mk4 tdi which i recently upgraded yo rocketchip stage 3. When i plug it in though it wont power up in the vw. Anyone have idea of why this might be?

I was usually able to get the DashDAQ to power up, although I sometimes had to unplug it and plug it back in more than once to get it to boot up. If it fails on multiple attempts, there might be a loose connection in the power system. You could contact them for help or a fix if it's still in warranty. I never got a response back when I contacted them, though, so I'm not sure what their turnaround time getting back to you might be like.

 

[Neukom720]

Thank you for your response. I did email them when i first tried it and it didnt power up. There response was very fast, same day, but not very helpful. I was instructed to test the pin in the obd2 port to make sure it was getting power. It has always worked perfectley fine on m f-450. I will try plugging it in multiple times and see if that helps. Just a side note, do u know which pin supplies 12v power for the unit? Thanx for the help.

 

[Neukom720]

U were right made sure it was plugged in all the way ans straight in and bam it fired right up. I just dont understand the manifold absolute pressure. In my 450 thats boost but the reading on the jetta cant be boost the numbers dont make sense. Wut do u think?

 

[Ski in NC]

It may be showing you map in mbar, absolute. If that's the case, it will show about 1000 engine off or idle, and boost is whatever is added to that. So 15psi boost would show map around 2000mbar, or two atmospheres.

 

[Neukom720]

Ah ic well thats a pain i wonder if there is a way to change that to normal psi and or bar???