GOFAR Logbook App and Mileage Tracker: First Impressions

• GOFAR is a device that plugs into your car as a GPS, fuel and emissions tracker
• GOFAR apps on iOS and Android that provide a mileage logbook for tax purposes
• Optional 'Ray' device that changes colour to help you drive more efficiently
• Annual subscription available at AU$10/month
• First impressions: great little gadget and app that's easy to use and at a reasonable price

• GOFAR Adapter that plugs into your vehicle's diagnostic port (Adapter was 'free' with the annual subscription)
• GOFAR Ray which can be mounted on your vehicle steering column, dashboard etc (Ray was an optional extra at AU$49)
• Cable to connect Ray to the Adapter
• Alcohol swab to clean the surface where you want to mount Ray
• Velcro tab to mount Ray
• Delivery via regular Australia Post within Australia was free

First impressions:

We do love a good gadget (and app!) here at dc&b and so far we are really liking the GOFAR Adapter, Ray and Android app. We also love tech that can help save us money and carbon emissions, and also do some pesky tax record-keeping for us. We paid AU$120 (inclusive of GST) for an 'Annual Unlimited Plan' (which included the GOFAR Adapter and delivery both free-of-charge) and we also paid AU$49 (inclusive of GST) for the optional GOFAR Ray device.

I had looked at a couple of mileage tracker apps that just run off the GPS in your smartphone and weren't super impressed with them for the subscription price. I even contemplated buying a 'ye olde' paper vehicle logbook... 👴 But I'm really happy that I went with GOFAR - it's a quality app and the whole package provides a good deal more (and useful) functionality for the price. I haven't found an integration to get mileage and invoices from GOFAR into Xero yet other than perhaps fiddling around with some kind of CSV import. For us that's OK for now - but if you're running a fleet or have a lot of employees wanting to claim mileage you should look into all the options for vehicle and mileage tracking.

Delivery of the GOFAR via regular Australia Post was quick and the gear was all nicely packaged (see pics above). I'm in no way mechanically-minded when it comes to cars 🤓 but I did manage to find where to plug the GOFAR Adapter into in my Ford Ranger (the diagnostic port thingy that mechanics use apparently) and I set the Ray device up on the dash where both the driver and co-pilot can see it.

The GOFAR Android app download and setup was pretty straightforward and it's a really nice looking app with a good user interface. There's lots the app can do and I'm still learning it all - but  so far it's been logging the mileage, fuel usage and emissions all tickety-boo. It was easy to upload a fuel tax invoice photo to the app and all the necessary deets (e.g. fuel cost, litres, odo reading) all scanned in or were picked up correctly.

Only one little issue I've found to date and it hasn't impacted on the mileage tracked by GOFAR, but coming off a car ferry the GPS actually logged where we got on the ferry - not where we started up the beast to get off the ferry. It may have had no signal or got a little confused. But I couldn't see an option to edit and correct the location of the start of that journey unfortunately. Mileage tracked for the actual vehicle journey though was still accurate.

We also had some fun doing blockies and cruising car parks around my home town calibrating the GOFAR Adapter. It needs about 10 good stops and starts to calibrate the device which I think then helps inform the GOFAR Adapter and Ray about fuel efficient acceleration and braking. My home town is full of round-abouts... and they didn't quite cut it for the stop-starts. So, I'd recommend calibrating where you'll have some traffic lights and some good (longer and full) stops and starts.

Now we love Ray. He's inobtrusive and glows red when we're punching the accelerator a bit hard - otherwise he's a calming blue when we're driving in fuel-efficient ways. We'd love an EV ute that can carry a 1,000 kilogram camper on its back - but until that dream becomes a reality Ray and GOFAR are helping us keep our fuel usage, costs and emissions down (and we donate to Greenfleet to offset our emissions too). We like to please Ray. And you can please Ray too. 😎

I'll do a follow-up review when we've used GOFAR a bit more, but until then you can find out more about GOFAR and the small Aussie company behind it at their website here.

*Disclosure: We purchased this product ourselves and did not receive any special discount, commission, remuneration, benefit or other kickback for providing the review above - other than the warm fuzzy feeling GOFAR Ray gives us when we please him by driving efficiently. Please refer to our Disclosure Policy for more information.