New to the forum. Just wanted to share my experience with an aftermarket TPMS monitor (giving back to the community from which I have learned alot). Have the 2018 GT AWD (2.5 NA engine of course) bought in June 2018, and have about 6500 miles on it.
I HATE that Mazda didnt deem it fit to provide us with real time individual monitoring of the tire pressures, as many other manufacturers are including as standard. Worse yet, they do have the TPMS devices installed that can send data to the main driver display, but for some reason Mazda didnt program the UI to show them. All the car will do is show is if any tire is below acceptable pressure. Anyway these are facts that we all know already. Given that the technology was there I wanted something aftermarket to monitor the pressure.
A member on this forum found the Orange TPMS monitor designed for the CX-5. A simple search on Google or Amazon will provide it (theres only one). (
https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)).
It works off USB power, and reads each tire within about a minute of driving. Installation involved de-pressuring and re-pressuring each tire in sequence so the unit could identify which tire was which. It will also notify if tire pressure reaches over or under a preset pressure (under 27 PSI, cant remember how much over). Also shows tire temperature (you can select which to display). I will say there is a 1-2 PSI difference between the reading I take with my handheld digital tire pressure gauge, and the reading on the TPMS (the TPMS is over by 1-2 PSI). I am not sure which is correct, but I go by the handheld gauge, and just keep in mind that the TPMS is over by X amount. Mind you this may be normal since one reads air pressure outside the valve stem and the other resides inside it. All the same, the monitor read fine and saves me having to check the tires monthly.
I had an issue with the unit not powering up properly sometimes, but this was due to the cheap USB cable it came with. Simply solved by getting a better cable. Also, there is no night mode, but I keep it in the tray above the shifter and the light is totally unobtrusive at night.
While it is an expensive investment ($100), I am the type of person that much prefers to have this live feed for maintenance and safety.