DRE Shift Light - A Short Review

[oregato]

Hi guys,

Just thought I'd share my experiences with the DRE shift light.

I know it won't be to some peoples tastes but hey, each to their own and all that.

Purchased it off caraddiction.co.uk via eBay for £80 quid. Very good customer service and really nice people to deal with, after winning the auction, I got an email the next day to ask what colours I wanted for the different LED's. There are four small LEDS and then the bigger red one.

I decided to go with green, green, orange, orange, red. Postage was super quick and had it after two days.

Got it installed yesterday. Quite tricky to find the optimum place to put the unit, but decided to put it on the steering column behind the steering wheel, in front of the dials.

Installation was simple, good friend of mine who's a mechanic did it for me and it was a super neat job. All the wires hidden and out of site.

Set up is easy, comes with comprehensive instructions and was up and running in a few minutes. Have the low setting on 2,600 RPM, which I think is a bit low, so will probably be upping it to 5,000 RPM or so. Have the higher setting to 8,400 RPM and then for it to flash at 8,600 RPM.

Realistically for day to day driving, a unit like this isn't really required, other than to have a bit of a 'cool'/'rice' factor to the car, but I can see the main benefits of this being out on track.

I've a trackday coming up in March, so can't wait to see how it does.

Some people may argue that you could look at the rev counter to see your revs, but having the lights flash up draws your attention a little bit quicker IMO.

Anyway, just to finish, I think it's a good item, a bit on the pricey side, but sure, why not?

 

[The Lum]

Great write up well done. I agree that you could just look at the tacho but with the lights your able to keep your eyes on the track as the light draws attention without actually have to look straight at it.

 

[C&S Evo7]

I had one and agree it was a great quality unit, for racing it helps but after a while you get used to how the engine sounds at the shift point anyway, No-one realistically looks at a rev counter while racing, it takes your eyes away from what they should be looking at, you can see the shift lights come on without looking at it.
i was going to deconstruct my unit and fit the leds into the front of the peak of the dashboard above the clocks but never got round to it before selling .

 

[blueguy]

+1 that it's a great bit of kit. I have mine mounted in the same place which really works for me; you 'notice' it enough in your peripheral vision so you can keep your eyes on the track.

Agree again with what Si said about getting used to the engine sound at shift point, and the dre is a very good learning tool for that as well as being a good reminder. I also find it a nice reassurance indicator that I'm always in the sweet spot/area of the rev range (depending on when you've configured the start/end points).

 

[scottj15]

Sorry for dragging up an old post but thought it would be better than starting a similar new one...

I'm looking at getting some sort of shift indicator fitted to the DC5, mainly because since I've had it mapped and the rev limiter raised I'm finding it harder to drive and see where the limiter is at the same time. Also the power band falls off slightly before the redline anyway, so would rather shift up at that point.

I've had a look at the DRE, Ecliptech and Omex systems but wondered if any of these had a beep sound when a shift is needed? My Brothers WR1 and STI use to have 3 quick beeps that sounded when maximum power was being outputted in each gear and so optimal gear changes were a lot easier and without taking your eyes off the road whatsoever.

Does anyone know if any of these systems include that feature or of any other similar systems?

Thanks,

 

[maxvr6]

I have the Omex sequential and that doesn't have a beep sound as far as I know, but surely the point is that you place the light somewhere you can see it in your peripheral vision, so no need for a beep sound? Just takes a bit of getting used to, not sure on other peoples experience.

 

[scottj15]

I'm still considering a light system, just not sure if it would get on my nerves all the time as the lights seem to start illuminating quite low down the revs? Is this correct?
Just from personal experience the beeps seemed quite discreet but effective at just letting you know the shift point. How do you find it with day to day driving Max? And night driving?

 

[maxvr6]

With the Omex you can configure it to when you want the lights to come on, first you tell it the shift point you want, then you tell it the rpm interval between each light. My shift point is currently set at roughly 8400rpm with each light in sequence coming on 600rpm after each other so the first light comes on at 6000rpm, then each one after that 600rpms apart until the red light at 8500rpms. With my car having the same bolt ons as yours and similar mapping although vtec kicking in at 3.5k, I only need the power up to 6k for daily driving so the light rarely ever comes on, and it doesn't bother me during daily driving.

To be completely honest though I love the sequential light, looks cool as fudge especially when combined with my gauges lol

 

[blueguy]

The DRE doesn't have a beep option. You can configure the start and end points on the rev range of when the lights illuminate.

 

[anton1234]

Check out hud-e.com, it's a heads up display that indicates speed and also shift lights, plugs in to the obd port so simple to install aswell, I've had mine 3 years and still works perfectly

 

[Honda-atr]

I've got the Defi VSD-X and its a heads up display.
It has the option to use a beep together with the shift light. I never look on the speedo, always on the Defi VSD-X

 

[Brophy]

Any pictures of these HUD ones fitted in a dc5 ? Checked google but no luck ...

 

[Honda-atr]

Here you go (it's an old picture)

 

[anton1234]

I will try get a pic up over the weekend, i don't think they look out off place and for £80 not bad value, if any one is thinking of getting one DONT get the sports version as is not compatible with the dc5.

 

[Craigdb]

Hhhhmmmmm might buy one now

 

[Nickyyy]

Nice write up! May invest in one of these

 

[roncee]

I too have the vsd x. I bought it a few months after buying the car (7 years ago). probably the best bit of kit I have bought for a car ever. Its that useful. mine goes green in vtec and flashes when its time to gear change. SO useful for VTEC when things happen very quickly. Only reason to look at the clocks is when the fuel light comes on.

If it broke, I would order another straight away

 

[roncee]

I removed the stalk base so its flatter/lower down.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

[hondamad2204]

Those hud-e ones look really neat actually. What are they like in the dark Anton? Too bright?

 

[anton1234]

Those hud-e ones look really neat actually. What are they like in the dark Anton? Too bright?

Not to bright at all James, perfect for night driving