GPS speedometeres - are they any good?

[Pills]

I am going to redo my dash and looking at gauges at the moment.I like the speedhut legacy range due to their shallow depth, as room is tight behind my dash. Anyway, does anyone have any experience with these gauges and how accurate is the GPS speedometer. This would make my life easier as my old fashion gear driven speedo cable would need some work to convert to the newer style pickups. The bonus being alowing me to reposition the speedo without having to reroute the speedo cable so as not to bind, also one less cable behind the dash. The A$ is also pretty good at the moment.

[James Stern]

I can't speak for the GPS speedometer but the standard speedo (when calibrated) is accurate. If you go with the Lglow (sp?) gauges they are quite bright and will look differant than gauges lit with bulbs. They were easy to install and beats the hell out of VDO. Good people to deal with. Buy the whole set for continuity.

Jim

[REPTYL]

The GPS speedos are excellent, as long as you have satellite coverage.
They don't work in tunnels and take a few minutes to start reading when you first start up.

[jcraigau]

I find they also take a couple of seconds to show changes in speed.
When braking or accelerating I could notice the difference.
Very accurate when doing a constant speed.

[SP01715]

Originally Posted by jcraigau

I find they also take a couple of seconds to show changes in speed.
When braking or accelerating I could notice the difference.
Very accurate when doing a constant speed.

This is all true. I have had GPS speedos in my boats for years. They are very accurate, but they do have some lag. When doing top speed runs in my boat, I have to hold the speed for a couple seconds if I want the real number. I have wondered for a while now why they are not more popular in autos. You can change tire size, gear ratios etc... the speedo does not have to re-calibrated.

[Pills]

"I find they also take a couple of seconds to show changes in speed.
When braking or accelerating I could notice the difference"

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Regarding the delay in speed change display, is it easy to live with, or do you find it frustrating, for instance comming of a freeway from 110 to 70 to 60kph, is it noticeable, more importantly is the lag significant enough so you can misjudge the speed and get booked ?

[REPTYL]

I use an Athlon gps-rw it has no lag at all, speeding up or braking.
It usually picks up atleast 6 satellites.

[Pills]

Originally Posted by REPTYL

I use an Athlon gps-rw it has no lag at all, speeding up or braking.
It usually picks up atleast 6 satellites.

Hi Reptyl, seems there might be some confussion. follow this link to see what I was enquiring about.

http://www.speedhut.com/custom_gauge...number-820.htm

[Zedn]

Gday Pills,

There was a person on here that got a full set of the speed hut gauges and posted a pic. They look great and i am currently tossing up between speedhut or classic instruments.

If you do some searching you might be able to find the post with pics. It was quite a few years ago i believe.

Let us know how you go with them if you decide to buy.

Cheers.

[Pills]

Hi Zedn.

Well I bit the bullet and placed my order tonight. I will let you know how I go when they come. Might even post some photos when i work out how to use the gallery.

Cheers guys.

[Merv and Sharon]

I went the Classic Instruments route as I liked the convex lenses option to reduce reflected glare. I think that they have the most amazing range of choices. They also have agent in Sydney (Maurie) who is very helpful with advice, adapters, etc. It is worth spending a few minutes looking at their range.

http://www.classicinstruments.com/

[Zedn]

Merv,

What model did you end up going with? There are only a couple of options in metric to comply with ADRs.

Pills, pics are easy, check out the sticky at the top of th Aus forum.

[jcraigau]

Originally Posted by Pills

"or do you find it frustrating, for instance comming of a freeway from 110 to 70 to 60kph, is it noticeable, more importantly is the lag significant enough so you can misjudge the speed and get booked ?

You can live with it because you'll never know unless you have something else to notice it against. On braking you'll err on the side of caution because you'll think you're going faster than you are.

On acceleration it will show under for a couple of seconds until it catches up, so that's the time to be careful!

[AC COB]

Hi Pills,

I'm a bit late as I see you have already made your purchase but I think I'm the one Zedn was talking about. I bought a full set of Speedhut gauges nearly 2 years ago to the day. Along with the features you already pointed out they have a full electric 270 degree sweep and a myriad of choices for colours, designs, logos, lighting, pointers, the list goes on. They are easy to programme and have user setable warning LEDS, I limited my dash warning lights by using the ones built into the gauge for Low oil pressure, high temp, low fuel, low volts, shift lights. They really are an awesome gauge and I can highly recommend them for service, delivery & price.
I don't have the GPS speedo but mine is running off the signal wire from the LS1 PCM and was dead easy to calibrate. I was their first customer to request a 6 digit odometer to comply with our ADR's and I see it is standard now. If I ever build another car I will definately go back to Speedhut.

Cheers,
Guy

[SP01715]

Originally Posted by jcraigau

You can live with it because you'll never know unless you have something else to notice it against. On braking you'll err on the side of caution because you'll think you're going faster than you are.

On acceleration it will show under for a couple of seconds until it catches up, so that's the time to be careful!

I agree. Unless you are doing top speed runs, you probably won't notice it much.

[Merv and Sharon]

Liam - I believe that Maurie can get other models in metric (it is really only the speedo that is necessary). I used these. The curved glass is good with reflected light and they were very easy to fit. Obviously I wanted a more traditional look. Smiths was my other choice, but at double the price?

(I just noticed how much better it looks without the dash pad!)

[Zedn]

Are they the hot rod series? I think they really suit the style of the cobra. Looks good.

[Merv and Sharon]

yes Liam: http://www.classicinstruments.com/se...?SeriesCode=HR

They are really quality units.

[Pills]

Thanks for your feedback everyone. Merv the classicinstruments range looks great, but the decider for me was the 1.1 inch depth of the speedhut gauges. My dash, in some areas has verry little depth behind it due to my heater setup, so this allowed me great flexibility as far as layout goes. They would have been my first choice otherwise as well. Having said that, my current gauges are a mix of Smiths and Smiths lookalike VDO with the flat glass and chrome bezel - have never had an issue with glare etc...

Zedn thanks for the pointer to Ac Cob, and Ac Cob thanks for your reply. I feel better now seeing your gauges. They look great. Mine will be slightly different, as i have chosen the Legacy range, and yours are the Revolution range with the cobra logo.

Cheers Chris.

Ps: Might be selling the Smiths range if any one is interested.

[sideshow]

has anyone gotten one of these gps speedos passed engineering or rta
just spoke to instrument guy about afew things and i said what bout these gps speedos
he said he doesnt see how they can be allowed
anyway a cobra builder in seven hills is having problems with rta and a speedo on a cobra
basically speedo readings used to be 10% leway each way
suposedly the new rulings are
speedo cannot read slower than actual speed
can read abit faster
which means u wont think yr doing th speed limit when u r actually going faster
think thats right way to phrase it
think the rta are just getitng pissed at **** like this as we both said its one rule for some and another rule for big car manufacturers
looks like more and more people r upsetting the rta hehehehehe