Mercedes me obd dongle, worth having?

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ToeKnee

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leicestershire
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R230 SL500 in teal blue, R231 SL500 in black. (Vauxhall insignia diesel now sold) Black Ford Mondeo
As the title, I can have the dongle in my obd port but wondered what info it gives and whether it's worth having if any who had one could say? Car is R231 SL500.
 
I would be interested on the answer too.

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As the title, I can have the dongle in my obd port but wondered what info it gives and whether it's worth having if any who had one could say? Car is R231 SL500.

Surely MB's appropriate website for the device tells you what the hardware and software provide? Only you can decide if it is of value to you.
 
Unless I'm missing something, I've looked on the Mercedes website and the only way I can find out what it does is to download the app and get the dongle fitted at my local dealership. And I appreciate that only I can decide whether it's worth it or not, maybe I worded it wrongly, I was hoping someone else who had it could say whether it was worth it to them so I had some basic info to try and make a decision.
 
Mine is built in and I
1) use the geofencing all the time
2) use the unlock to open/lock the car if my keys are upstairs and I need to get in or lock (I sometimes forget)
3) check tyre pressure - never do it in the car for some reason
4) send a destination to my gps.
5) sometimes look at mileage

I do like the geofencing as a security measure as you get a warning if the car leaves the "fence".

Not sure which features the dongle will provide
 
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If it's still free then it's worth it, although I don't know what features you get with just the dongle as mine is built in. I often send locations to the car, check the cars locked, etc. and the vehicle locator/geo-fencing is good for peace of mind but if you can't do any of that it's rather pointless.
I've seen with the dongle you can see how long you've been parked up for, this would be useful but I can't get that on mine which is strange.
 
I've seen with the dongle you can see how long you've been parked up for, this would be useful but I can't get that on mine which is strange.

I get that and mine is built in, strange you cannot?
 
As the adapter is currently free if your vehicle is compatible, I would say go for it and give it a shot - at worst you just stop using it and just lose the time you spent setting it up.

The functionality is pretty limited, I only really use it to record refueling and to keep track of current mileage. There are a few 'fun' functions in the app, such as a rating for the quality of your driving and also various instruments to see when the vehicle is in motion, but I don't use any of that.

Some things to point out from my experience with the adapter:
  • data such as refueling and trips is stored locally on your handset, so if you get your handset replaced, you lose all the information with it (and very little information is shown in the Mercedes Me web portal as a result)
  • despite recording refuelling information, the app doesn't give you fuel economy stats (but you can of course work this out for yourself using the information provided)
  • the app will cause a warning to be displayed in iOS whenever you start your engine and again after approx each hour of driving to give permission for the adapter to connect to your phone - this is most annoying particularly because even if you don't respond to the prompt or decline permission to connect, a connection between the adapter and your phone will still occur and details of your trip etc will still be recorded, regardless of whether you have responded to the prompt or how you have responded to the prompt (apparently this is an Apple mandated requirement but it seems silly to me as I don't have any other bluetooth peripheral connected to my phone that gives rise to the same type of prompt)
  • you will need to reconnect the app to the adapter after each time the adapter is removed from the ODBII port i.e. after each service and whenever the port is accessed - sometimes the reconnection process doesn't go smoothly, and I have found myself spending more than 10 mins on more than one occasion trying to reconnect the app to the adapter
  • Mercedes-Benz's website invites you to fill out a webform to enable MB to contact you to get the adapter fitted - I found that MB never responded to me and I had to sort out getting the adapter myself with a dealer
  • the adapter is supplied by the parts team but you also need to speak with the sales team to get a Mercedes Me account set up and get the Mercedes Me adapter added to it - something to keep in mind if no-one from MB co-ordinates the entire process for you (don't bother going to a service & parts only location as they can't sort everything out for you)
  • the app rounds mileage up so on the odd occasion the mileage shown in the app is inconsistent with the miles shown on your odometer (out by one mile)
I was an early adopter and paid for the adapter - really not worth the time and the hassle if you had to pay £45 for it like I did. Now that it is free, feel free to give it a try if you don't mind going to the effort of obtaining one and setting it up. The adapter is transferrable to other Mercedes-Benz vehicles that don't have Mercedes Me Connect, provided that second vehicle is also compatible with the adapter.
 
Thanks for the reply
 
Not worth it. I got a free one for my CLS500 and all it did was tell me the car had been parked for 21 days (it has never been) and the mileage (inaccurate by a few hundred miles). It had the next service date correct, but fuel remaining in tank etc were all just blank. Definitely not worth the £0 I spent on it, nor the fuel in driving to the dealership to get it. Left it in there for six months then removed it as the very occasional rattle from the OBD socket flap made it more hassle than leaving it in there anyway.
 
No having the dongle is not worth it, pretty much all it does is flatten your phone battery quickly
 
Just thought I'd finish this off. I had the dongle fitted when I had the maps updated. As stated above, it shows trip info, how long you've been parked plus how much fuel you have left. I had it connected for a few weeks but it's now removed and sat in its box. Glad it was free and glad I tried it but pretty useless for my needs.
Again, thanks to all who read and answered my post
 
I was offered it for free by MB but chose not to as it plugs into the OBD port and you then cant close the flap, So a bit messy for my ocd.
 
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