Opinions on OBD-II Scanners?

[MasterWIII]

I'm going to be buying on of these come payday, since its easy to see that they will pay for themselves eventually...I was wondering if there was any preferred brand to go with? I was looking at just the Equus models and they seemed fairly inexpensive. I don't really want to pay over $200 unless it has features impossible to pass on. Thanks for any input and advice. :)

[mastacox]

If you have a laptop and don't mind using it, this is a nice inexpensive option. I have one and it works great!

http://www.urdusa.com/product_info.php?cPath=66_71&products_id=840100000

[Erich_870]

If you have a laptop and don't mind using it, this is a nice inexpensive option. I have one and it works great!

http://www.urdusa.com/product_info.php?cPath=66_71&products_id=840100000


That's what I have. It works okay. The program is a little outdated looking, but it does everything I need. My only trouble is my lap top is old and it's a hassle to run a power cord out there and wait for the stupid thing to boot up. Plus I can't drive around with it recording because the laptops batteries are too far gone.

I've been wanting to get a ScanGuage, but I don't know how it compares for things like the O2 sensor readouts.

Erich

[Seanz0rz]

im interested on something i can pipe into my carpc, and that looks like a pretty good option. i havent really looked much, but it looks god.

scanguage seems to be the default for alot of people.

[mastacox]

My only trouble is my lap top is old and it's a hassle to run a power cord out there and wait for the stupid thing to boot up. Plus I can't drive around with it recording because the laptops batteries are too far gone.


Yeah, I hard-wired an inverter under the passenger seat just for that purpose.

[MTL_4runner]

The trouble with the obd diagnostics setup is that you need to have a serial port on your laptop to use it......how many laptops have those nowadays. I've also heard of issues with USB/serial converters so while cheap and functional, I really think there are better options.

Scanguage is another good code scanner, but it should not be lumped into the same category as a true OBD diagnostics system. It gives you more driving features like "trip computer" and "digital guages" but the OBD functions are basically relegated to the codes and that's it. Again very good value for what it does, but it's not going to be as good as a dedicated OBD system.

Auterra is what I use and it has 2 platforms, one PC based (USB) and one Palm PDA based. This system has some of the same driving features the Scanguage has, but also includes very comprehensive diagnostic capabilities like graphing, multiple sensor outputs, running on board tests, etc. If you are doing some tough troubleshooting, this would be one of the better system to use.

Which is best?

The answer is what fits your needs. The Auterra does what I want it to do but certainly others are very pleased with the OBD Diagnostics and Scanguage as well. They are all worth a look if you are seriously considering an OBD capable system.

[BruceTS]

This is the one I use

http://www.obdscan.net/

[MasterWIII]

It seems I underestimated the number of choices in the world of OBD-II...I'm still not sure which one I'm going to get but I do appreciate all of the input from you guys. This has been helpful to me, even though I could have Googled it, opinions from fellow yota owners are much more valuable to me. Thanks guys.

[paddlenbike]

The serial port thing is a problem. I am keeping my old 750mhz laptop around just for this purpose. I use the BR-3 from obddiagnostics.com. They release free software updates from time-to-time.

[mastacox]

The serial port thing is a problem. I am keeping my old 750mhz laptop around just for this purpose. I use the BR-3 from obddiagnostics.com. They release free software updates from time-to-time.


The problem is easily avoided, just get a serial-usb converter. It costs like $10-20 depending on where you get it from. Just make sure to plug the converter in AFTER you boot up the laptop, otherwise it detects it as a mouse and everything gets effed up. I use one serial port on my laptop to run the BR-3, and a Serial-USB converter to plug my FTC1-E into the laptop so that I can see metrics from both systems simultaneously. The converter essentially gives my laptop two Serial ports, and you can use as many of them as you have USB ports.