Hardware Review: OBDLink MX Bluetooth OBD-II Reader

Nice write up. I use the OBDII Link wired version, just purchased it last year. How long did you test it for? I found running the wired version for long periods of time 45 mins+ reading while at highway speed, there would be intances where the reader would hang (freeze). I would consider moving over to bluetooth once they do a fix for the Iphone, fix the freezing issue and lower the cost. I also had a very scary moment where it tripped my tire pressure sensors to always be ON. Nissan almost refused to reset the CPU, I convinced them to try it. It took several attempts but finally cleared. The Scantool guys were able to fix the problem but it was very scary and was shocked that a read only device could affect the sensors of my 350z.

Another concern is the amount of bluetooth devices connected at the same time. Iphone, Mini Dinovo Keyboard. How many devices did you hook up?

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Originally Posted by -zip-

Nice write up. I use the OBDII Link wired version, just purchased it last year. How long did you test it for? I found running the wired version for long periods of time 45 mins+ reading while at highway speed, there would be intances where the reader would hang (freeze). I would consider moving over to bluetooth once they do a fix for the Iphone, fix the freezing issue and lower the cost. I also had a very scary moment where it tripped my tire pressure sensors to always be ON. Nissan almost refused to reset the CPU, I convinced them to try it. It took several attempts but finally cleared. The Scantool guys were able to fix the problem but it was very scary and was shocked that a read only device could affect the sensors of my 350z.

Another concern is the amount of bluetooth devices connected at the same time. Iphone, Mini Dinovo Keyboard. How many devices did you hook up?

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I had it running on a recent 3 hour roundtrip without issue. Perhaps that issue is solved, but i dont know exactly how long it'd take to make it freeze.

As for bluetooth devices connected i've had as many as 3. The OBDLink, Android smartphone, and apple BT keyboard. No issues in that regard, and i'm using a 5 year old "el cheapo" dongle.

Will they be coming out with a USB version of this since USB has a higher bandwith? That I would be interested in purchasing...

The USB version is out for a while: http://www.scantool.net/
OBDLink is the main dongle, which comes in wifi/bluetooth/usb flavors. Lots of variants, such as the SX which is a lot smaller...

They're all based on [I believe] this chip: http://www.scantool.net/stn1110.html

[Until I got this one, I'd been using a bluetooth/USB OBDLink]. It's worth noting that in my limited testing so far, the bluetooth doesn't seem to have been the limiting factor; I think the limiting factor is the underlying bus in the car. Not entirely sure, though.

Gary (-;

So the SX is just as responsive as this MX bluetooth version? I have a little bit of lag with the generic one I am currently using, however, since it is USB I dont have any connectivity issues during hibernation, it always works regardless. According to scantool.net the MX is 400 times faster than any of the competition.

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Originally Posted by david69leonard

So the SX is just as responsive as this MX bluetooth version? I have a little bit of lag with the generic one I am currently using, however, since it is USB I dont have any connectivity issues during hibernation, it always works regardless. According to scantool.net the MX is 400 times faster than any of the competition.

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pretty sure the "competition" would be other bluetooth modules. Like Chunkyks said, bluetooth is not the limiting factor here. Unless you have a high-speed CANbus network in your car the MX will work for your application.

I got my MX already and the best part about it is the fact that it has Single Wire CAN and MS CAN. I have GM car and now I can send and receive messages on the SW CAN. This is where the fun stuff is at anyway.

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Originally Posted by david69leonard

According to scantool.net the MX is 400 times faster than any of the competition.

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Correction: it says that OBDLink MX is "up to 400 percent faster", not "400 times". There is a difference. :)

I will echo Chunky and Sonic that this is an extremely well built device. Even the packaging wow'd me. I was able to modify my SWCAN code using the new "mx" command set and it worked on the first try and I was very impressed at the speed and the responsiveness to sending commands on the CAN bus.

It's not working out of the box with malcom's libobd library which is what my software uses for OBD-II stuff and I'm trying to figure out why... Maybe I need to manually set it to one of the OBD-II protocols using the MX ST commands... AT SP 0 didn't do the trick.

The range on the device isn't great. Advertised range is 30ft (iirc). I parked about 15 ft away from my apartment and sat on my couch next to the window and couldn't connect to it. This may actually be a good thing for security reasons IMO.

The SW and MS CAN features are awesome. This was the primary feature that motivated my purchase.

One thing that I would suggest for future versions is to use bluetooth 4's BLE feature for low energy. This feature may help with power consumption when the vehicle is off and bluetooth isn't connected http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth_low_energy .

A special read/write mode would be nice as well. This would allow you to read and write messages without potentially missing a beat.

Great and exciting product.
-tripzero

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Originally Posted by tripzero

It's not working out of the box with malcom's libobd library which is what my software uses for OBD-II stuff and I'm trying to figure out why... Maybe I need to manually set it to one of the OBD-II protocols using the MX ST commands... AT SP 0 didn't do the trick

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I wish I could afford one, I'd be able to get it working fairly quickly, but I'm sure working with tripzero, we'll be able to figure it out :)