# Mechanical vs Electrical boost gauge?



## lour32 (Nov 15, 2004)

Which is more accurate? Posted in 2.0 TFSI forum meant to post here!


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## BsickPassat (May 10, 2010)

electrical boost gauge allows you to place the transducer closer to the pressure/vacuum source, for greater accuracy. 

mechanical boost gauge, you need to run a long line of tubing to reach the gauge which mechanically reads the boost/vacuum. All this length of tubing reduces response & accuracy. Then on top of that, the restrictor port used compounds the issue. 

Electrical costs more 
Mechanical is cheaper


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## MFZERO (Mar 13, 2002)

from NewSouth Performance's thread on this page




 
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthre...p-IMPROVED!-NewSouth-Performance-Boost-Gauges


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## lour32 (Nov 15, 2004)

Thats why I posted this thread, because I saw that from NewSouth! From the looks of the video the mechanical is quicker! I know all about the install of both - just need to know which is better


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## SteveC (Feb 29, 2000)

lour32 said:


> Thats why I posted this thread, because I saw that from NewSouth! From the looks of the video the mechanical is quicker! I know all about the install of both - just need to know which is better


 How do you define better? 

As you can see our boost gauge is as accurate and more responsive than an electric gauge. It is much less expensive than an equivalent electric gauge and it matches the VW instrumentation.


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## [email protected] (Jul 29, 2008)

I've had both a mechanical an electronic. 

Electronic = Smooth but slow. 
Mechanical = Can be Jumpy* but it's really fast. 


*Jumpy can depend on the size of the boost tap. It really needs to be about the size of a pinhole to be smooth.


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## SteveC (Feb 29, 2000)

[email protected] said:


> I've had both a mechanical an electronic.
> 
> Electronic = Smooth but slow.
> Mechanical = Can be Jumpy* but it's really fast.
> ...


 "Jumpy" i.e. buzzing, can happen with improperly designed or installed boost gauges. That is why we have the technology incorporated into all of our mechanical boost gauges.


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## [email protected] (Jul 29, 2008)

SteveC said:


> "Jumpy" i.e. buzzing, can happen with improperly designed or installed boost gauges. That is why we have the technology incorporated into all of our mechanical boost gauges.


 For the record, I did not have a newsouth gauge.


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## sabba (Oct 25, 2008)

i had a mechanical boost gauge and hated it ... it buzzed and fluttered all the time and that was with the antibuzz tap and inline filter. 

I currently have a defi analog gauge and could not be happier with it. Its not sluggish by any means. 

I wonder how this gauge is any different then the others on the market and how it would fair with a little more boost. My old gauge would go nuts if i was in a higher gear and lower rpm range and added some throttle... 

videos can be very misleading and do wonders for a companies marketing.


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## SteveC (Feb 29, 2000)

sabba said:


> i had a mechanical boost gauge and hated it ... it buzzed and fluttered all the time and that was with the antibuzz tap and inline filter.
> 
> I currently have a defi analog gauge and could not be happier with it. Its not sluggish by any means.
> 
> ...


 The Defis are not sluggish compared to other electric gauges, but are slower than well-made mechanical boost gauges. 

I appreciate your concern about misleading marketing efforts and we made every effort to make the test as fair as possible. 

For our test... 

The competitor's gauge that we used is highly-recognized industry leader using state-of-the-art stepper motor technology. The street price on that particular gauge is $200. 

Our gauge was a random pick from our inventory. 

The lab test consisted of hooking both gauges up, according to manufacturer's directions, through a common t-fitting/manifold to an air compressor and cycling the pressure. We installed a NoBuzz fitting on ours to simulate an actual installation. 

For the street test, we used the same setup and installed it on our 2006 GTI. We drove on the street and on the highway to get the results that are on the video, making sure to have both moderate and hard accelerations to show different boost scenarios. 

The result is what you see on the video, it being edited only for time and picture clarity.


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## tdotA3mike (Feb 5, 2009)

sabba said:


> i had a mechanical boost gauge and hated it ... it buzzed and fluttered all the time and that was with the antibuzz tap and inline filter.
> 
> I currently have a defi analog gauge and could not be happier with it. Its not sluggish by any means.
> 
> ...


 i agree with this i also have a defi boost gauge and its pretty damn fast and accurate.


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## sabba (Oct 25, 2008)

SteveC said:


> The Defis are not sluggish compared to other electric gauges, but are slower than well-made mechanical boost gauges.
> 
> I appreciate your concern about misleading marketing efforts and we made every effort to make the test as fair as possible.
> 
> ...


 I spoke in generalizations above. To be honest most people running boost gauges are chipped and running more then stock boost levels. How about you show us a video of a chipped car running both and see how the mechanical gauge fairs under high load situations. This senareo is more realistic then the video you posted. 

Let's face it your in the market to sell your product and make it stand out from the competitors. Us consumers want a quality product that works as intended. 

How many stock cars are running boost gauges? Hope you see my point.


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## SteveC (Feb 29, 2000)

sabba said:


> I spoke in generalizations above. To be honest most people running boost gauges are chipped and running more then stock boost levels. How about you show us a video of a chipped car running both and see how the mechanical gauge fairs under high load situations. This senareo is more realistic then the video you posted.
> 
> Let's face it your in the market to sell your product and make it stand out from the competitors. Us consumers want a quality product that works as intended.
> 
> How many stock cars are running boost gauges? Hope you see my point.


 I understand your skepticism - In our video you can see that the gauge actually reacts faster when subjected to higher pressures. To raise the pressure 5 or 10 PSI will not change the gauge performance, some buzzing **may** be more likely, but that is why we integrated the NoBuzz technology into our gauge. We have plenty of big turbo and chipped customers and there have been no complaints when our gauges are installed properly. 

If we can find a big turbo/chipped car who is willing to be a test mule, we will consider reshooting.


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## rodhotter (Dec 24, 2003)

*boost gauges*

i had 2 mechanical gauges an AWE in my 01 vw and an autometer in my 01 audi TT now, both work great easy hookup, only one thin hose needed, wiring is for lighting


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## DUB_MANGv2 (Oct 28, 2008)

newsouth :thumbup: mine reacts very fast to any weight on the peddle


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## teejers (Mar 6, 2009)

DUB_MANGv2 said:


> newsouth :thumbup: mine reacts very fast to any weight on the peddle


same here, except my reacts very fast to any weight on the *pedal*


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## DUB_MANGv2 (Oct 28, 2008)

haha..


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