Tested: Palmer Performance Engineering’s DashCommand

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Adding your vehicles in the vehicle manager allows you to segregate fuel economy averages, trip meters, datalogging, and a myriad of other features.  The software will automatically switch between vehicles when it reads the VIN during connection.

Our gripes about the software are few.  Chief among them relates more to our phone choice, than it does the software.  Connecting via Wi-Fi presents a couple of unfortunate problems.  Number one, connecting via Wi-Fi means you can't use Pandora or other Internet-based radio apps.  Second, bring a car charger.  Without a car charger, running DashCommand will drain your fully charged battery in a little over an hour.  Finally, we recommend disabling the feature that starts the app in the Dashboards.  While this is ultimately where you'll spend the majority of your time in the app, the Wi-Fi connection to the car doesn't always initialize the first time, adding a step to the connection process.  Finally, pay attention to the help functions (displayed as question marks on some screens), as some things are a little maddening without some assistance.  Luckily, it exists on all the screens that aren't easily figured out.

Expect to see this screen more than once.  Luckily, trouble with initially connecting seems to be one of the few problems with the software, and once connected, we have yet to see it lose the connection.

If at any time you get lost, click the “?” (top left) for a help screen.  While not on every screen, it is on every screen we've come across that wasn't self-explanatory.

Overall, we've been more than happy with DashCommand.  It's already helped us diagnose a couple of issues from looking at the data displayed.  Additionally, it has some distinct advantages over a standard suite of gauges.  First, it's allowed us to spare our cars' interiors of the holes and wires that running conventional gauges brings, and second, the device is entirely portable, saving you lots of money by not needing to buy a separate gauge set for every car.  After all, those gauges usually display zeroes unless you're driving it.

Keep in mind that this is the software only.  The OBD-II Wi-Fi or Bluetooth adapter is sold seperately.

Palmer Performance Engineering