Fobo Accuracy

[I-Day]

What are you’ll feelings on the accuracy of FoboBike Tire Pressure gauges?

[jcthorne]

plus or minus a couple pounds each.

[Peteoz]

Definitely accurate enough for me, but I don’t ride on the limit. I use FOBO more as a means of forewarning of a pending failure, rather than a supremely accurate tyre gauge. I do check my fronts with a very accurate gauge quite regularly as I don’t have to get under the F3-L, but as long as FOBO is showing the rear around where I want it to be, I’m happy.

Pete

[bhern]

I'm with Pete in that I'm just looking to stay in the window, but when I first deployed my FOBO I checked it with my very accurate pressure gauge a few times and it was matching it down to the tenth of a psi.

[johnsimion]

I haven't had my FOBO very long but every time I check it, I also check the tires with the regular pressure gauge and it's always within a half-pound or pound.

[Peter Aawen]

Having being involved with the development & testing of motor vehicle tires for quite a few years, I'm pretty confident in saying that unless you are involved with tire testing & development work or some similar activity, then for most Spyder Ryders & in fact even most 'public road users' then the 'accuracy' per se (well, much past +/- a couple of PSI, anyway) isn't really all that critical, it's more the CONSISTENCY of what FOBO reports for a given pressure that is most important, and if the sensors are fitted properly & not too exposed to external temp variations, then in my experience they tend to be pretty good as far as that is concerned, certainly good enough for the purposes that most 'normal' road users are going to put them to.

And really, when it all comes down to it, how many Spyder Ryders will only ever check & set their tire pressures with a gauge that is even designed to be highly accurate in the first place, AND THEN CALIBRATED regularly & recently to ensure that it really IS accurate?? I'd guess that the answer to that is 'very few' at best..... and for most, the FOBO reported pressure is probably going to be more consistent than that from most readily available 'general use' tire pressure gauges.

[jcthorne]

My difficulty with them is more the lack of consistency between multiple sensors. IE they do not read the same. It makes setting the front tire pressures to the same point diffecult using them. I gave up trying as they are too far off unless you manage to get lucky and are shipped some that just happen to match.

I may be a bit more annoyed by it than others as I do use a highly accurate gauge to set the tires up for alignments, only to have the owner's Fobo say otherwise.

I contacted Fobo about it, even put both sensors on the same tire using a t valve stem and sent them photos showing a 1.5 psi difference. They actually accused me of photoshopping the pic and told me it could not happen. Right. See it on most every bike that has the sensors when we do an alignment. This is and the lack of support from Fobo is why ours are now sitting on my workbench instead of on our bikes. We gave up on them, just too unreliable and too much ongoing trouble. Just getting down and checking the pressure with a gauge every few weeks is less work.

[Peteoz]

This is and the lack of support from Fobo is why ours are now sitting on my workbench instead of on our bikes. We gave up on them, just too unreliable and too much ongoing trouble. Just getting down and checking the pressure with a gauge every few weeks is less work.

If you are getting down to check pressures every few weeks, why don’t you just leave the FOBOs on to give you the ongoing warning system, jc? That’s really what they are designed for, and removing them to check your tyres with your accurate gauge would be no more effort than removing valve caps anyway. I believe you are criticising them for the wrong reasons.

Pete

[2dogs]

I think you're misunderstanding the intended purpose of TPMS's in general. They're primary function is to alert you to a potential rapid tire deflation thereby saving the operator and others from impending harm. They're a safety device.

[jcthorne]

If you are getting down to check pressures every few weeks, why don’t you just leave the FOBOs on to give you the ongoing warning system, jc? That’s really what they are designed for, and removing them to check your tyres with your accurate gauge would be no more effort than removing valve caps anyway. I believe you are criticising them for the wrong reasons.

Pete

Because they give LOTS of false warning that you CANNOT SHUT OFF while riding. And then there are the 3 sensors I have that are bricks after my phone did an OS upgrade and are no longer recognized by the app. Fobo was of zero help with them and offered to sell me new ones. Sick of messinig with them. Just one problem after another. The tire pressure sensors on my Vette and the ones on my wife's Explorer just work. No batteries, no fuss, they just work. Fobo does not.

[Peteoz]

Because they give LOTS of false warning that you CANNOT SHUT OFF while riding. And then there are the 3 sensors I have that are bricks after my phone did an OS upgrade and are no longer recognized by the app. Fobo was of zero help with them and offered to sell me new ones. Sick of messinig with them. Just one problem after another. The tire pressure sensors on my Vette and the ones on my wife's Explorer just work. No batteries, no fuss, they just work. Fobo does not.

Sorry to hear that. That’s unfortunate for you, James. On the other hand though, I have never seen a false warning on mine. Yes, they occasionally get flat batteries and need to be uninstalled/reinstalled, which is 3 minutes, but apart from that, they just work, for me

Pete