ARK Design MFD-2 Review

[Spechtre]

DISCLAIMER: I have a partial sponsorship and received these products at a discounted price.

http://arkdesignusa.com/arkd-01-0004x-00.html

http://arkdesignusa.com/electronics/meter-stands/arkd-01-0106x-s.html

http://arkdesignusa.com/electronics/meter-stands/arkd-01-0106x-l.html

http://imgur.com/a/NP1GD <-- FOLLOW LINK FOR IMAGE GALLERY

INTENTION: Main reason I was considering any kind of OBD2 port gauge was to monitor temperature levels. This one fit the bill; it looks nice and had many other features making it slightly future proof for other mods I might consider. For example boost, oil pressure, water pressure, and oil temperature.

PROS:

• Fit and finish is great.
• Back lighting on screen is high quality making display easy to read.
• Customize your “gauges”
• Small screen profile.
• Easy to mount, easy hardware.

CONS:

• Instructions unclear, MFD2 caught in fan (joke).
• Difficult set up parameters.
• Instructions in Japanese.
• Bulky CPU box.

SET UP: Getting it to power on was simple, plug into OBD2 port and find 12 volt power. Getting to work after that was a bit of a challenge. Navigating through the menu was easy enough, but I would come across settings that I would have no clue to their function. Going to the instructions did not make things any more clear. They are all in Japanese, and all the pictographs were basically images of what was trying to figure out.

I chose to use the ARK Design Small Meter Stand for placement. Double sided tape is provided with both the Meter Stand and MFD-2. One nice feature of the MFD-2 is the ability to have a Left or Right handed display. This came in handy as my placement worked better with the Left (default is Right).

CONCLUSION: It looks great, but settings could have been a bit easier. Options for mounting make it a breeze to install the hardware portion of the product. Price is reasonable for a high quality gadget; more performance is limited by the capabilities of the OBD2 port. Real gauges with sensors will give readings faster but also will be more difficult to mount. I have been using this product for more than 30 days now, I find the Water temp and A/F ratio gauges most useful to me.