banyon

I don`t have gauges so take it for what it`s worth. My 06 has 151000 miles on the auto with jr on tow for the last 70,000 miles. I pull some pretty heavy trailers but mostly on flat land or for short distances. I don`t pull on the floor or "race" to get where I`m going. I do change the filter & oil every 40,000 miles or so. I don`t know if I`m easier on mine then some of these other guys or if I just got a good one. My earlier post was not trying to be a smart $ss, I just know every 6 months or so I decide to put my truck back to stock & I always go back to the smarty.

xyzer

I installed gages (EGT+TRANS) and a smarty jr and have had zero problems. I am a old guy but still like to pass the slow ones with authority and maybe a bit of smoke! I found with the gages the one you need to pay attention to while towing(and sometimes empty) is the trans. Even pulling a steep long slow washboard dirt road empty will make you look for a way to cool things off. The EGT has not bothered me yet with the JR. It will hit 1200F with a load and I may go into OD to keep it cooler if it is a long grade. Moral.....you can cook the fluid in the tranny under certain situations stock! IMO. gages will save stockers!

cbx

I have an 05' with Nv5600 manual transmission in it. Really want to get a smarty. With the stock clutch, will a smarty Jr slip it in the lowest or second lowest power levels?

AH64ID

I didn't slip the clutch in my NV5600 until I put a new turbo on and was running the JR on SW3. The turbo spooled a little quicker and made a little more tq and the clutch slipped. Even after that on the SW1 setting I couldn't make it slip if I tried.

beewize

GAUGES ARE Oldschool. New for 2011 Quadzilla Scout II. All truck fuctions and a smarty controller for less money and time than gauges. Scout will show real time exhaust temp spikes (bad), %slipon your trans, fuel press, and on and on

no_6_oh_no

Electronic gauges suck, period. Too hard to read and compehend at a glance, generally less accurate than the analogs, larger error margin because they do not read actuals only what the ECU extrapolates.

Analog gauges are easy to see, more accurate, and give at-a-glance information once one is used to the normal position.


Electronic gauges are for weekenders, analogs are for real drivers.

beewize

Whats hard to read the numbers in digital form? They are nicley displayed like on your computer. The unit is also easily moved for your purpose. The fuel pressure and EGTS are realtime and have their own cables no ECU. The Amount of information you get is better for you and your truck

no_6_oh_no

Digital is never easier to read and interpret than a gauge sweep.

Many ill fated attemots to introduce digital gauges in vehicles and NONE worked from a perception stand point.

It is the way we process data, positional reference at a glance is quicker.

A pyro gauge that reads to 1600 is a good example. Needle sitting about the middle is good when towing. Needle far to the right is instantly noticed and examined. The needle positon IS the scale and reading.

A digital number of 1500 means nothing until it is processed and referenced to a scale. You cannot read it at a glance and make sense of it. It takes time to order and process the numbers.

beewize

That may be for you. Genos garage swears by the new CTS edge unit. I like knowing what gear and if it is locked up or not. At the same time knowing if any slip is occuring, even if only 1%. At the same time seeing the trans temp. At the same time seeing the %load on motor. You set your limits and alarms on all parameters. Its just more information not possible to do in gauges. Its a different tool.

AH64ID

I agree, analog gauges are much easier to read for important things like boost and egt. The CTS allows you to use analog style, not just a digital readout.

I have analog and digital gauges in my truck. For things like coolant temp, intake air temp, etc that don't fluctuate a lot digital is fine... but I wouldn't want it for boost/egt/DP/fuel/oil psi.

Electronic gauges seem to have more issues as well.

annabelle

So the heads up display on our high end aircraft are digital because they are more difficult to process?

AH64ID

Good example, and yes they are harder to process when in digital format. I'll expound on your example. I fly AH-64's. I am qualified in and fly both the A and D model's. The A is an "old school" analog gauge cockpit and the D is a modern digital cockpit. There are several gauges that were much easier to read on the A model, like enigne oil pressure and hydraulic pressure. The rest of them are still portrayed in a analog style, just digitally and are still not quite as easy to read as 100% analog gauges. They are not hard to read, just take a little more effort to see where everything is at.

annabelle

I believe the "old school" gauges of an A are easier for you to process because that is what you are use to, not because it is processed by the brain more efficiently.

AH64ID

You can think what you want, but analog signals are easier to process at a glance. An analog scale or gauge doesn't take effort to read its reading, a digital gauge must be read and then correlated to its position relative to limits.

Noticing a needle is in the middle of its safe range is far easier than going, 34.. okay 34 is good, limit is 23 to 120. Like it or not that is how your brain will process it.

Both the A and D use the same style indication in the helmet display for radar altitude, its a digital readout above 200 feet, but as you decent below 180 feet an analog scale appears becuase its easier to look at an analog scale at a glance and interpolate it.

annabelle

I know if my EGT's go over 1250, I'm getting concerned. I don't think about where 1250 is relative on a scale of temps. Same for numbers for other gauges I monitor. I care less about a scale, I know at a glance what my real numbers are, I don't have to recheck the gauge for an exact measurement.