Ultragauge or normal gauges?

[Breezybro]

Under what circumstances should you pick one over the other? I personally am only looking for an oil temp gauge and boost at the moment. Is the ultragauge more of a Jack off all trades while normal gauges are better for the single reasons?


Sent from my Galaxy Note 3 using Tapatalk.

2013 Chevy Sonic RS 1.4l 6M Black Granite Metallic

 

[TrippinGearz]

It kind of depends on the application. Ultragauge is good for monitoring and makeing sure everything running normal. Normal gauges are more for enthusiasts. depending in what you get. Can be more for tuneing purposes or raceing purposes. I see almost everyone that has a high performance car that have those boost gauges that reads out their max psi(for tuneing reasons). Or temp gauges to make sure they dont blow the tranny or melt a cylinder. But for our applications and for I believe $60 for 40summin gauges. Cant go wrong.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

 

[sx sonic]

UltraGauge
PROs
-Affordable
-Easy to hook up and use
-Lots of guages (boost, batter volts, fuel trims, coolant temp, miles until tank empty, instantaneous fuel consumption, etc).
-Fuel cunsumption and trip-odometer can be calibrated to extreme accuracy (much better than factory) rather easily.
-Gauge design looks O.E.M. in a Sonic.

CONS
-Gets readings from the ECM. Not really a bad thing but it's readings are only as good/fast as the sensors.
-Digital readings. For some readings that change fast such as boost the UG is less responsive than a hardwired boost gauge because it only samples information every .xx seconds (it's essentially lagging behind what's happening).


Hardwired Gauges
PROs
-looks race car
-Faster response time
-Potentially better accuracy of whatever is being measured.
-Access to some gauges unavailable with an UG (oil temp, wideband AFR, etc).

CONs
-More expensive
-More difficult installation and running wires or vacuum lines and sometimes installing sensors
-Limited in the number of gauges that can be fitted in the car.