Wideband Air/Fuel gauges

I only have experience of one.

I had a read up on what was popular, Innovate was one of the most common names but most searches revealed people having problems. My cousin fitted Innovate and it failed, they replaced it and some time later it failed again and he gave up.

I'd read good reviews about PLX so gave theirs a go.

I got the complete setup including Bosch sensor from them, bought on Amazon for £170.
The only thing not included was the sensor boss to weld to the exhaust, working for an exhaust manufacturing company meant that wasnt a problem although they are very cheap and easy to get anyway.

Anyway, its great, it has a touch screen, nice functions such as sensor health, reaction time etc. You can display a rolling graph or digits, as well as a ring of LEDs to save actually looking at it. The screen resolution is great.

I had a problem (or thought I did, should have read the bumf better) and contacted their email help in the USA. The gauge just stopped displaying.
I got in touch at what I believe would be night time over there and within a short time they replied, couldnt have been more helpful. They advised a few checks but said basically occassionally it might need a reset like any smart device, a few seconds of reset procedure and it was fine again. They asked how I was getting on, I told them and asked if its normal, they said yes, but any problems just get in touch.
I told them I was very happy with the customer service and would recommend them to others and they thanked me and sent me a code for money off any other product.

In summary, PLX is not the cheapest but great product and great customer service.

I had worried that I wouldnt get the service as the Amazon seller was in Lithuania I think it was but it didnt make any difference.

If you go for another brand (especially Innovate) have a good search on the net for peoples experiences.

In my research I’d initially done the name Innovate kept cropping up with mixed reviews.

I’ve had a look at the PLX website and that looks a very trick bit of kit!



The reason I was also looking at Stack was I was thinking of getting one of their boost gauges as my TIM one is rattling it’s nuts off on boost now.

Knock led will be more useful ,

I had Innovate standalone on my RX-7 and it was OK... a lot more robust than internet horror stories would have you believe but certainly not 100% reliable either. It every so often just lost its mind and displayed error codes you couldn't clear without plugging in a totally different lambda sensor and letting it re-calibrate.

The actual Lambda probe was supposed to last about ten seconds mounted where I did (about eight inches away from turbo rotary furnace death) but in actual fact it survived well over a couple of years before finally burning out. However, if I knew then what I know now then I'd have bought an AEM, they certainly seem a lot less precious and emotional than Innovate

I run an innovate one on my vrT, and I’ve had quite a few issues with it going into error, which could be down to having it much too close to the turbo, I really need to get a new sensor, but feel it’s a waste of money until I move the position.

But yeah it does make me wonder if some of the errors / being temperamental is a common issue reading from what people have said on here.

Another plus point I’ve read for the AEM one is it doesn’t require fresh air to recalibrate....

I thought that was the case, I wish I had looked into them a bit more before buying...

Sure mine is only about 10’’ from the turbo which I think has contributed massively to it only lasting 12-15k

I've been running an AEM wideband gauge in my RX7 for a while now and I've had no issues with it at all, seems to read reliably and is pretty easy to read on the move

check which version of innovate you’re reading reviews of - the ONE had problems, I’ve gone for the TWO as it’s meant to be much better.

I've had two Innovate LC-1 systems on different cars. One for more than 10 years now. No issues.

They suffered a bad rep early on as the 2 x 0-5v analogue outputs weren't protected and were very easy to kill. This was fixed years ago.

LC-1 package doesn't include a dash display (though can easily be connected) - mine are connected direct to MS ECU. Never understood why the wideband displays (which are basically glorified 0 - 5v voltmeters) cost so much.

Nick