The price difference is a major issue of course, but I'm looking for input from you guys that are running either brand of these gauges. Horror stories, pros, cons, if you have something useful to say, please say it.

 

DEFI, there is no comparison.

I am not a fan of autometer gauges at all. Their boost gaueg is inaccurate, their EGT is slow, and I found most of their gauges... shitty.

They are worth what they cost... and that's why they are so cheap.

You get what you pay for.

 

defi if you have the bucks.. autometer if you don't.... exactly what I did.. now i'll be switchign to defi maybe when i get bucks cause the autometer is.. well not my cup of tea

 

Autometer boost gauge inaccurate?? what are you talking about. i see upwards of 15psi some days... and i just have a dp/mp and a intake... i wonder why i don't see boost cut...

oh that's right.. cause it's shat I'm going to try to place it else where to see if that's the cause but all i can say is.. buy quality once so you don't have to go back and fix your mistake.

 

I'm a big fan of the Greddy Gauges. Nice pieces.

 

I myself would love to have defi, but I'm only allocated 2 grand from my inheritance to go towards the car (it already has a rebuild so that doesnt count)....so im trying to cut costs where i can.

is autometer THAT bad? really i need to hear some horror stories i know you guys know some.

 

Nitrous runs, back to back, gave 70-80 degrees of variance between readings on the EGT.
Almost no variance with Greddy. It also reacts quicker.

Boost gauge (came with the car when I bought it) read 2 psi low under full boost.

Want more?

 

My friends autometer tach reads about 1300rpm below what it really is. His fuel cut is 8600rpm, on his stock tach it reads 8300rpm. On the autometer one it reads 7300rpm. Useless crap IMO.

 

Defi Rules I ordered the full Link II system.

 

ok....
but say you could'nt afford the defi....
which other brand should I look into....
notice that i cant afford the later.....
cheap....
but i can spend some money

 

cheap?
VDO

 

Go digital.

I know where you can get a nice digital guage with 2 readouts. Boost and EGT, or whatever you like.

 

ive read that the human brain cannot read a digital readout as fast as an analog or whatever you call it (the one with a needle)

so if it was something you want to beable to glance at, and not think about (rpm, boost, oil pressure ) id go with something else but digital

-Jacob

 

Greddy gauges are a good compromise - they're reasonably priced, and are of top quality. You can get a Greddy boost gauge for right at $100 brand new.

Dale

 

From my personal experience I would say to go w/ vdo. I have tested my vdo boost gauge time and time again and it is dead on. Also, It was what like $35 or something. I would highly recomend it, no needle flutter, reacts quickly, looks nice, and from the 3 times ive tested it, it is extremely accurate.

 

well I guess I will go either VDO or Greddy
thanks for the info

 

Their are those among us who have also had problems with VDO (such as myself). My VDO gauge read 5psi when I was hitting fuel cut in an S5 TII, and read that I was pulling 24-26 inches of vacuum at idle (I don't even think that is possible).
I do, however, trust them more than Autometer.

 

Ah yes, but these have programmable outputs, so you can hook up any warning system, light, or whatever to suit your needs!

 

do a search on a forum member by the name of "gmonsen" and "autometer" He's old posts are very informative. And autometer has many lines of guages, the low lines are crap, the higher lines are good. The reason u pay so much for Defi is styling. Autometer is more focused on function, thus styling gets sacrificed. For example: go get an Armani 100% cotton shirt, get a generic barnd 100% cotton shirt. They are both 100% cotton, but the Armani costs a ton more. Why? Its designer. Defi is designer, autometer is not.

 

My Greddy EGT Is top notch. I can't compare It to that of say Autometer's except of It's max readings. Autometer's EGT only goes to only 1600F whereas Greddy's goes to 2142F. Thats the predominate reason why I went with Greddy.
But besides that, I have Autometer's A/F Ratio, Water Temp, Oil Temp, Oil Pressure Gauges and I can't really complain with the quality and accuracy.

 

you pay for what you get. what type of gauge...........Defi for boost gauges....all other you can get away with Autometer.

 

Defi all the way.. . That's all I'll run in my beast...

Been running them for the last 3 years or so...

 

autometers suck! big time. I was getting 10-12 in @ idle even though i got a little leak but great compression, it shouldn't be that low, and i was hitting boost cut at 6-7 psi. I did a test on my autometer also, at 10 in on my dads vaccumm tester and on the autometer boost gauge i had 6-7. dumbshit..

Now since i got a digital camera, i can take pics, if u guys want me to test and show u guys the pic, hit me up.


-mike

 

DEFi is the standard on gauges, greddy hks and apexi are your higher end gauges, then theres autometer...im not knocking autometer in anyway i think they are good gauges...but that is the totem pole of gauges

 

You can READ a digital gauge faster actually. What you cannot do is determine rate of change very easily unless you can do integral calculus in your head very quickly! Rate of change is important with highly dynamic displays like tach, boost, and EGT, or the altimeter on an airplane. Speed probably doesn't need to be analog, since reading it quickly and accurately is nice when you're trying not to pick up speeding tickets. Temperature displays for oil and coolant probably don't need analog displays either, since they don't change very fast in general.