So after Loading the app for the identifier....
and then pairing the Vgate Scan by bluetooth to
my tablet
I was able to find OBDII
and it pared no problem.
I ran the app and low and behold...
check out the results.

 

STAN... looks like I have a product thats like yours.. only
8 yrs later.. lol... grant you .. I only spent
12.00 but if it gives me the info I am looking for
like ARTIE1
then I will be happy.. but there are my findings.

 

Yeah, that's what I thought, the literally 1,000's of ELM327's for sale on eBay are all v1.4 clones. There is no way a genuine v2.2 ELM chip can survive in that market. I didn't see one mention of the original in the Torque forum, even though many people were bitching about the clones. I did have to do some digging to find the Romanian company that sells them though.

 

I'm still waiting for what Artie finds.

 

Going to be a $8 v1.4 clone, he never mentioned any interest in the $60+ genuine one. If it's not the real McCoy, it's a v1.4 clone.

 

But again if this ( knock off ) does what im wanting... then the original company selling for 60.oo are idiots.... loosing money IMO.... what would make you more money ? Selling a few for big price or alot for small ... ???
I will try to get the app up and running with the scan tool
And try to lay out my gauges simular to ARTIE1... and see what I see...

 

OK lets review this again. ELM Electronics is a very small (I read 5 employees somewhere) company in London, ON, in Canada. To my knowledge, they invented the ELM327 IC used to access the vehicles computers. Chinese hackers or someone else copied the unprotected code on the IC’s and have been making there own suspect IC’s, (have they published their specifications?) with ELM’s technology. ELM has never manufactured a OBD2 scanner, they only make the brain, the ELM327 IC. The first IC was v1.0, so I’m not sure why all the pirated scanners reveal v1.4, maybe the hackers stole the v1.4 code. ELM has continued to research and develop the ELM327 IC, hence the many upgraded versions. ELM sells the IC to OBD2 scanner manufacturers, and publishes their prices on their website, I remember $21 each for ELM327L v2.2 IC (low power), for quantities of 100 or less. You would think there are more manufacturers using the genuine IC, than the Romanian facility, but I haven’t seen any. I understand people who own older vehicles automatically figure they don’t need the genuine IC, for the price difference alone, but without a comparison, we don’t know if they operate the same. People with late model years, I would think, would surely benefit with the latest version. The notion that companies who use the ELM IC are idiots is wrong, their scanners have the latest technology, not a cheap copy that will have the same suspect v1.4 for years to come. The $8 vs $57 is a tough road to climb, I agree, it’s not ELM's fault, and in my opinion is not a ripoff, you're getting what you pay for.

 

Who's to say, despite the info on their website, that ELM didn't have an overstock situation of an older chip(say a 322), and make a deal with some Chinese company?

 

I think that is a real stretch StanVan, from what I can see the OBD2 IC has always been a ELM327, only the versions have changed as they updated, and added features. Funny that you're putting the onus on ELM, and not on the dishonest Chinese companies. That is why the Chinese refer to their stuff as ELM327, not 350, 396, or 427, etc. I think we have exhausted all avenues with this thing. It's a great deal if you like hacked junk from China, if you look through the 30 plus pages on eBay(don't know how many pages total, maybe 100!),(with 50 ads per page), thousands and thousands, I saw them as cheap as $3.99. I don't expect you guys to fork over the big bucks, and it's none of my business, just seems like a sad story that the counterfeit ELM327's snowballed out of control.

 

Twscarp

Do you own one ? either the real or knock off as you call them.. ?
Do you use it in the way that ARTIE1 does >? and the way I am wanting to use mine ?