Prosport Gauge Review (pics)

[statik]

I decided to pick up a set of the prosport gauges after seeing a thread on here a couple weeks back, the prices are good, the gauges look good, and I didnt hear anything like "megans are better" so why not.

For ~ $150 shipped I got 3 gauges, boost, fuel pressure, and oil pressure, all electronic. They came on friday afternoon, so of course I spent all friday night installing them:



Boost gauge with remote sender:


I decided to mount the boost sensor on the passenger strut tower to minimize routing of vacuum lines

First problem, I broke half of the senders plastic off where you can bolt it down. The plastic is cheap and easily cracks, I almost broke the other side which would make it basically unmountable, be careful. You can make it out in the picture:



Next, I had to basically make my own harness for all 3 gauges and run a few feet of wire from the sensors to the dash:



Thats a bit longer than it ended up being but I was too lazy to measure and I have tons of wire. This wasn't a big deal really, but it does take much longer to install these gauges because of it, I know gauges like Defi come with the harness that plugs right into the sensor, but for $50 a gauge you can't complain here. Each gauge harness is about 2' and should reach the dash easily:



So far, besides the cheap plastic on the boost sensor the only other "wtf" was the size of the senders:



These things are beefy, I guess it doesn't matter as long as they work right? Both the oil and fuel pressure senders were the same size.

I picked up a dual ATI pod for the steering wheel



The fuel/oil are maxed there because I didnt have the sensors hooked up, just testing power/illumination.

I wired mine for white with the headlights off, and amber with them on (to somewhat match my cluster led's at night). You can have it the opposite, or white all the time/amber all the time based on wiring. Sorry the pics are blurry but you get the idea

Lights off:


Lights on:


Problem #3, the boost gauge needle is off, just under 0 with the car off, I literally tap my gauge and moves to 0 which is kind of :ghey: but again, it was $50 so I can suck it up.

Problem #4 ,The gauges are smoked so they appear black when theres no power going to them, this becomes a problem during the day, the gauges at night are bright and extremely easy to read, but during the day with direct sunlight on it was pretty difficult due to glare on the smoked lens (esp for the boost gauge which is on the a-pillar). The bezel provided with the gauges can help somewhat (also prevents reflection on the windshield at night) however the ATI pod is not deep enough, the gauges stick out slightly and the bezels are held in place by pushing the gauge up against the pod, so that wont work here without cutting the back of the pod out, I will probably do this.

Heres a video of them in action (sort of, didnt have the fuel/oil senders hooked up)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrZXIWLtBzo

All in all I would say the gauges are worth the price, and would recommend them for an alternative to autometer for cheap gauges, they look MUCH nicer. but hey, you get what you pay for, if you can't deal with the issues get some Defi's or maybe try out the new Circuit Sports series and write a review =]

And a bonus shot of the AFC Neo (no pics of install but im sure you have all seen it before):


I know generally SAFC's are frowned upon but I was running a bit lean up top with a rom tune and wanted to be able to tweak it on the dyno. Next thread expect a dyno and some video of my car with the tomei expreme manifold, this thing rocks! (gt28rs 15psi @ 3000rpm =])

[240silvia]

my car is actually lined with these things, lol. My coupe and my vert. I like them. And for the price/warranty, I think they are great. I'd say +1 for ProSport.

[inertiaticism]

If they are anything like Megan gauges, they fucking suck.
I've got a Megan water temp gauge and it pisses me off to no end since it is unreadably dim during the day.
Even though they are off-brand parts also, STRi gauges are much, much more readable and not as shitty as Megans.
Next time I'm just going to get something good instead of wasting my money.

[yokotas13]

yeah i have them too

They are nothing like Megan
megan is shit

[Ian]

Megan gauges are a complete and total waste of time and money

[Johny5]

apparantly these are too...

boost gauges that have uncentered needles are usually total crap, autometer name or not. thanks for the review, was about to buy their boost gauge, not anymore!

[statik]

Originally Posted by Johny5

apparantly these are too...

boost gauges that have uncentered needles are usually total crap, autometer name or not. thanks for the review, was about to buy their boost gauge, not anymore!

honestly thats really the only thing that bothered me, I sent them an email about it but i'd be surprised if I got a response.

[Quigs]

+1 for a good review. I'm sure you helped a lot of people out who were looking into the ProSports. I personally wouldn't have tried it, but I'm glad they work out for you.

STRi ftw!

[DrtyRat]

Originally Posted by statik

.....however the ATI pod is not deep enough, the gauges stick out slightly and the bezels are held in place by pushing the gauge up against the pod, so that wont work here without cutting the back of the pod out, I will probably do this.

I had the same prob. w/my ATI pod and had to cut out the back...
http://www.zilvia.net/f/showthread.p...hlight=ati+pod

[statik]

Originally Posted by DrtyRat

I had the same prob. w/my ATI pod and had to cut out the back...
http://www.zilvia.net/f/showthread.p...hlight=ati+pod

Ah yes, this will require a tad more cutting, basically the gauge needs to stick out the back =], im not sure what gauges ATI tests their stuff with but it doesn't seem like many gauges would fit (esp mechnical like your boost) without modification, oh well.

[05civse]

the "premium" prosport gauges are like 1/4 as deep as the normal ones so they would fit. also, the peak function and warn thing are awsome. I know you had the cash for the better ones (looks at second pic )!!!

[b4racing]

i have megans and they rock. Best bang for the buck

[420sx]

^ they fucking blow just like the rest of megans shit

[Irukandji]

Originally Posted by b4racing

i have megans and they rock. Best bang for the buck

Megan gauges are horrible. I got them for free from a shop that was going out of business, so I was fortunate to not waste a single penny on that garbage.
Here's an unbiased review (most reviews are from people who don't wanna feel bad about buying shit, so they say all the positives).

Here we go.

1. LED is weak, the stock gauge cluster is brighter than the gauges at night.
2. Cheap smoked lens reflects sunlight like a mirror and its absolutely impossible to read during the day. I emailed Phase2 regarding this issue and they say most of their customers have complained about the samething.
3. The sensors that come with them (specifically the oil pressure sender) does not fit on our cars, so you need to buy a sender from autometer (what I did) or some other bullshit.
4. Once the sensor was installed, the readings were totally inaccurate. The Megan oil pressure gauge read 40-80psi (Defi read 20-100psi depending on where my rpm was).
5. The gauge housings are plastic cheap shit that scratches so easily.
6. I would rather run no gauge than be fooled by Megan gauges.
7. The water temp gauge read about 20degrees off compared to Defi's.
8. Did I mention they were garbage?


Seriously guys, if you're cheap and you want gauges, go with Autometer or something that actually has a reputation. I'm not saying they're good, but they're infinetly better than Megans/Circuit Sports bullshit.

[RedStage]

Excellent thread, thanks for posting the review.
Have been torn between the Prosports and STRi's.
Gotta wait til the credit card cools off before I make a purchase on either though.

[statik]

Originally Posted by RedStage

Excellent thread, thanks for posting the review.
Have been torn between the Prosports and STRi's.
Gotta wait til the credit card cools off before I make a purchase on either though.

get the X line STRi, they are in the basic prosport price range and IMO better quality

[azndoc]

Good review I thought.

I wasnt' planning on getting these gauges but I enjoy reading your review though.

You knew that these weren't the most expensive gauges and you get what you paid for. You sucked it up and did what you had to do in order to make them work.

Good job, and nice of you to inform everyone with this review.

[bloodangels13]

I have the prosport boost guage also and it works great... i have mine wired the same way white with ignition on and amber when lights are turned on.... mine lights up perfect in either color during day driving and reads perfect... the only thing is my sender looks so much better then the one you got... ill take pics of guage placement and sender in a bit with my shitty camera phone

[BustedS13]

+rep for a review. but i've gotta say, i think i'd rather spend a tiny bit extra and go with autometer.

[GabeS14]

these guages are awesome, i have them in my car too..!
+1 for the review since i didnt take pics of mine..
Recommended!

[nismostate]

thinking about getting 4 of these gauges. premium boost, oil pressure, water temp, and tach. anymore reviews on this? i cant seem to find many reviews on STRi's.

[yokotas13]

ugh
i have 4 gauges
they are all off scale and shit

whatever they work

[kyoru]

nice gauges and nice install

[nismostate]

Originally Posted by yokotas13

ugh
i have 4 gauges
they are all off scale and shit

whatever they work

sounds like the gauges are crap after 1 yr?

[TanaMU]

Dude is that a model m keyboard? That's fucking awesome! I'm typing on one right now..

[Ninjabread]

I have the prosport water temp.

Works fine, hook up was easy.

I also have defi boost / fuel pressure, and then aem uego wideband.

None of my gauges match.

[ecuastyle84]

Originally Posted by nismostate

thinking about getting 4 of these gauges. premium boost, oil pressure, water temp, and tach. anymore reviews on this? i cant seem to find many reviews on STRi's.

i have stri's(boost,oil pressure, and fuel pressure) in my coupe and i like them alot...+rep for them

[95KA-Turbo]

I have the water temp, oil pressure, and boost gauge. I got a mechanical boost gauge and it reads fine. I installed mine w/ the hoods that come with them and have no problems at all reading in the day time. I have them set to white all the time.




The electric gauges sweep when you start them...I don't have the oil or the water temp hooked up yet...and yeah that oil pressure sending unit is freaking huge!:

[J90lude]

Good Write up!! Prosport always has good gauges.

[Rittmeister]

I have AC Autotechnic, which look very similar to these Prosports. I only have oil pressure (elec) and boost (mechanical). I've been very pleased with them, except for the daytime legibility, which seems to be the norm with smoked gauges.

I also have a big oil pressure sender - maybe that's normal too. I just mounted it to my Greddy oil relocation block, no biggie.