Recently purchased a Crecorder II and have used it on 3 cars and found an issue with the total trip time/sampling rate and an inoperative baseline feature consistent across all vehicles.
Version 5.6.0.0 software
Version 1.4 hardware
Version 5.4 firmware
Version 22.09 diagnostic software
Recorded trip information appears to be off by a factor of approximately 3. So it I have a 30 minute trip, the trip time is indicated as 10 minutes. Stepping though the data in a Zoom function, each data point is indicated as 2 seconds, which matches the advertise spec of a reading every 2 seconds. Also looking at the speed graph and knowing my route and where traffic lights are and highway speeds would be expected, the trip graph of the speed matches my route exactly. So it appears the tool is in fact recording data for the entire trip. There does not seem to be a problem where the tool losses communication with the vehicle and the recording actually stops. The start time of the trip is accurate, assume this is based on the real time clock in the device?
So the current assumption is either the tool does not gather data at a rate of every 2 seconds, but maybe every 5-6 seconds, or the software is not correctly gathers each data point from the tool?
An additional issue I discovered is the "baseline" feature in the graphing does not appear to function correctly. The "baseline" should be a horizontal line that can be applied to any graph in order to highlight a specific measurement and to allow a reference line to me temporarily displayed on the graph.
When the "baseline" is enabled, the line does turn on, but on the 0 axis of the very bottom graph and it does not respond to the mouse clicks on any point of a data graph.
I did contact support, however, it did not seem like an actual "Case" with a refernece number was generated. I was not asked for any contact information and the person I spoke with just expected to use Caller ID as a way to reach me. Luckily I called from a phone that belongs to me, however, it is very unclear how much of a priority this software issue will be given? But non the less these are software issues that should be addressed in a timely manner and/or the the device spec may need to be revised if in case the device cannot sample data any faster than once every 5-6 seconds?
Would like to hear if these issues may be resolved in a timely manner and if this product has any support.
This is a very interesting tool that has some great potential, however, the software needs to be corrected and if possible a user adjustable sample rate/expanded memory would be a great improvement.
I think this tool has flown under the radar and is greatly misunderstood and its value is greatly under estimated.
I have and used both CRecorder 1&2, and have been having that problem for a while now. it seems to happen on certain vehicals but not others. there hasn't been a firmware update for almost 2 years now. hope they haven't abandoned this.
I have had good luck with the CRecorder so far, just the timing issue with the graphs being off.
I am having some discussions about this and not holding out a lot of hope that they might at least resolve the simple issues with the time scale and the horizontal reference lines.
Well, it's obviously over a year since the last post so I will assume that LAUNCH customer service has not paid attention to this problem since I have basically the same problem with the logged vehicle mileage and logged time and cannot seem to get any helpful response from them.
Shortly after I purchased the item a couple of weeks ago, I once experienced a logged mileage/time issue that was a factor of 3 off somewhat like “jfoj” did. But at that time I noticed that the blue indicator on the unit was blinking 10 flashes-one missing-10 flashes and so on. To get this behavior I remember that I had performed two successive formats of the CRecorder because I had forgotten at the time if I had formatted it. This double format may have corrupted the memory in the unit. Re-formatting the unit after the download session where I discovered the problem cured it.
BUT... The unit does have the "normal" ability to erroneously log both the mileage and time half of what the actual mileage/time is under normal operation (normal periodic blinking of the blue indicator). This does not vary. I have a theory that it has something to do with the 2 second sampling interval that they use. Possibly the mileage/time issue would be corrected if they went to a 1 sample per second interval. But if they could not do that, I'm sure that they could fix the problem in the client (diagnostic) software when the data is downloaded or displayed. It's kind of a no-brainer to do (if any of you LAUNCH people are listening).
And one more complaint: I discovered the other day that if I have recorded a few drive cycles and then unplug the unit from the OBD port and then plug it back in again without doing a download, the unit will then refuse to do any more drive cycle logging, When you start the vehicle the unit just sits there, dumber than a stump, with the blue indicator glowing away without blinking or taking data.
Overall, this is the only logger on the market that has all of the bells and whistles and capacity to record all OBD parameters and still fit the cash in your wallet (one company charges $1500 for a similar small plug-in product!). And if the LAUNCH customer service people would be more responsive and courteous with their customers, I am sure that they would have a bigger audience - hence more profit - with this device.
After trying for the past five weeks to get the attention of LAUNCH customer service by sending the same email again and again each week regarding my problems that I have been having with the CRecorderII, I finally received a reply today from a Mr. Scott Morley stating that this product has been "...discontinued" and to simply "...reinstall the client software" and "...format the recorder" all of which have already been done with no different results.
Be sure to consider the poor customer service record of this company and no prior warning of product discontinuance when dealing with these people. I thank the Engine Gods that I didn't spend a chunk of change on another of their products.
-- Edited by engo2468 on Wednesday 3rd of September 2014 03:52:19 PM
