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I have the MCL-3200 on the ole choppa. I love it! Does everything I need it to do. Actually have half of the functions turned off as I don't care about trap time, 1/4 mile time, other performance things I don't use. It looks great on my bike. This new one that has been floating around the forums don't work on my older bike anyway.
The Dakota Digital brand has been living on 1990 LCD technology, its frustrating... I would expect more from a company that has been making gauges for as long as they have...
This is the dakota unit...
Not very impressive...
I went with the HD Analog Tach/Digital Speedo combo and LOVE it!!
The Dakota Digital brand has been living on 1990 LCD technology, its frustrating... I would expect more from a company that has been making gauges for as long as they have...
This is the dakota unit...
Not very impressive...
I went with the HD Analog Tach/Digital Speedo combo and LOVE it!!
Yes, but as I just said, the HD brand does not work with our older choppas. The 3200 is quite a step up from my old foggy dead speedo.
What part of the old LCD technology doesnt work? It's not like they have to switch to LED to save on power. It looks pretty good to me, clean and functional.
The numbers just dont have any style that I would want on my Harley... reminds me of a 1970s calculator... maybe its just because theres no contrast, only numbers and black dead space... Its a great source of additional info, but if I couldnt use the modern plug in gauge I would probably go "R" style and run a tandem tach.
Definitely a nice product with a great feature set, but the visual layout doesn't work for me. Totally preference though... (As they say, Opinions are like as........)
Last edited by Maximus924; Jun 14, 2016 at 12:47 AM.
The Harley unit is definitely nicer looking than the Dakota Digital. That said... I saw a lot of really good reviews for the DD unit and decided to buy one. Every now and then I score a super deal on Ebay so I went looking there. Someone had one with a 'Buy It Now' of $230 which is dirt cheap. Mostly they are listed $300 on up to $400, so I sent the seller an offer and got it for $210, supposedly 'New - never installed.'
Ebay kept showing that the postage had been purchased but 'no tracking info available' so it wasn't making it to the post office. After emailing back and forth with the seller many times the unit finally showed up, three weeks after I paid for it. It was in the box but no instructions and I was a little leery that it was as brand new as the listing said.
Took out the stock unit, plugged in the DD, turned the key... got an error message on the unit for five seconds or so then it went blank. Nothing worked. The seller swore that his father had tested it (he was selling it for his old man I guess) and that it worked, which I find rather suspicious. Finally I told the guy 'the hell with it, I will send it in and get it fixed out of my own pocket, I'm sick of this hassle.'
So I sent it in to DD. The guy who sent me the RMA told me that it turned out that the unit I had was not defective, it not an MCL-3204 but in fact a newer model for bikes with a CAN bus or something like that - and he swapped it for me at no charge. The replacement unit is in place and I think it's good to go after I get all the settings made. So, for $210 total - and a fair amount of frustration - I got a new MCL-3204. And I have to say that Dakota Digital went way above and beyond taking care of an issue that really wasn't their problem to start with.
Last edited by Russ ell; Oct 18, 2016 at 10:07 PM.
I have the DD 3204 and love it. Nothing to install and works almost perfectly. The only gripe I have is that the shift setting doesn't seem to work when downshifting. Otherwise, all the functions I need are fine. The dial is red, not blue and I never have any trouble seeing it.
Question for those of you with the Dakota 3204 and the HD Security system with FOB. Can you still turn off the alarm with the PIN code the way you can with the stock speedo? Does it allow you to use the turn signals to enter code if fob is dead/not present?
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Looks good to me!
