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Sam Friend

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Looking in to having another diag tool at the minute we have texa, mb star, forscan, vdo (great for service/brake resets) and the old dephi copy. Just wondering about other people's choices. I am wondering about bosch kts (being laptop based is a slight off put), autel and topdon (seems to be climbing the ranks fast on Internet).
Whats does everyone have or prefer or any others?
Thanks
 
Depends what you're after really. I've seen loads of decent reviews for the likes of Autel, Topdon, launch (and their spin off/rebrand? Thinktool). Generally speaking they all offer different things but don't necessarily cover the same things as each other, if that makes sense?

I work predominantly on VW group stuff. So despite having a fully loaded laptop with ODIS I also have an OBDELEVEN dongle. For less than £100 it's worth it's weight in gold and decent for on the spot scans, live data and service resets. The only drawback is it's cloud based and now on an annual subscription. Still a worthwhile purchase unless you wanted to delve a little deeper into VW stuff then it'd be VCDS all day long.
 
Yes should of put that in, I would say our work is 70/30 lgv/cars. But we also rent alot of trafics/vivaros (2.0 M9R) so being good on these would be helpful. We don't really have a prominent brand we work on other than mercs but we have two star computers for those. Thank for your input
 
This really depends on what vehicles you work etc and what gaps need filled. Our most used aftermarket scantools are our Topdon Pheonix Smart and Otofix D1 Pro (Autel software) and this gives a huge coverage. We also have Hella (this has the advantage of workshop data, wiring diagrams, secure gateway access), Autocom, G Scan, Autel, Snap on, vcds, vcp Forscan + dealer tools and if you asked me which tool I had to buy first if starting again it would be the Topdon Pheonix Smart.
 
Thanks for your reply Darren, we have texa which has a very good coverage as we use it on trucks at our other workshop. And texa has been great but there have been a few vehicle lately that I could just do with having another tool to use. Have you ever used bosch kts? I will have a deeper look into the topdon, if your rating it highly then it goes up my list quickly 👍
 
We have snap on, Bosch kts and autel and out of the 3 autel is probably the most used for the money it’s a great tool
 
We had a kts absolutely loved it the tech info is great but data logging not so good. We only got rid due to the cost. We now have a topdon smart and after speaking to @Darren Darling and seeing what it can do we’ll be getting the ottfix from @Chris Diag Connections for the price it’s a no brainier.
But if money’s no object I’d get all 3 plus a VXDIAG for a pass thru for all the dealer tools. It’s a great tool does software updates on Odis (it sees key status) Fdrs flew through no problem also great on diagbox as stated by someone else on here.
 
Cheers guys.
The VX Diag device I have found to be a wonderful device for the price point.
The company that make the device AllScanner are a Chinese company and have designed the device to emulate that of a variety of manufactures.

But to use the device as VXDiag J2534 I have found it to be the best quality and trusted device for a low price point.

I have used this device with
ODiS
IDS
FDRS
Forscan
GDS2
SPS
Tech2Win
Diagbox (Fiat based vans didn't need the separate interface, recently it has stopped talking to the fiat systems)
Techstream
PCMFlash

And obviously this is used daily with genuine software.

It can be used either wired or if you purchase a USB WiFi dongle you can connect to it as a hotspot and use wireless.

Think mine cost me about £200 and its the best £200 I've ever spent allowing me in to the world of dealer tools for no cost at all.

(Paid for its self in one job being able to supply and code a BCM on an Astra J)

Good vxdiag blog and have a read through the blog as well.
 
Thanks for that. Do you know where you bought it from as there seems tobe alot of slightly dodgy looking websites selling it.
 

New VXDIAG VCX SE PRO Diagnostic Tool with 3 Free Car Software

New vxdiag vcx nano pro starting kit includes 3 free car brand software pre-loaded. There are 8 software optional, including: GM FORD/MAZDA VW AUDI HONDA VOLVO TOYOTA JLR Subaru, support connection by USB and WIFI.
www.vxdiagshop.com www.vxdiagshop.com

It’s this one.

Agree with all of the above and also works with Isuzu dealer tool. Again just as a j2534 not emulated except with vw (works a treat)
I got the Wi-Fi dongle to use wireless and I got a 15ft cat 6 extension cable for programming.
 
Sam6 said:
Thanks for your reply Darren, we have texa which has a very good coverage as we use it on trucks at our other workshop. And texa has been great but there have been a few vehicle lately that I could just do with having another tool to use. Have you ever used bosch kts? I will have a deeper look into the topdon, if your rating it highly then it goes up my list quickly 👍
Click to expand...
We have the KTS, topdon, Delphi, snap-on & forscan + dealer tools.

My go to hands down is KTS, the tech info is great, I personally like the data logging, the coverage is good, really good passthru tool and it also does secure gateways for vw, fca and Renault ect.

I agree that the kts is very expensive with the subscription but you get what you pay for in my eyes and I think it’s worth every penny!
 
Hello, I can recommend the G-scan, I have 3 and I am satisfied. Asia at a very high level, each brand after passthru.
 
Nathan_NBurkeDiag said:
Cheers guys.
The VX Diag device I have found to be a wonderful device for the price point.
The company that make the device AllScanner are a Chinese company and have designed the device to emulate that of a variety of manufactures.

But to use the device as VXDiag J2534 I have found it to be the best quality and trusted device for a low price point.

I have used this device with
ODiS
IDS
FDRS
Forscan
GDS2
SPS
Tech2Win
Diagbox (Fiat based vans didn't need the separate interface, recently it has stopped talking to the fiat systems)
Techstream
PCMFlash

And obviously this is used daily with genuine software.

It can be used either wired or if you purchase a USB WiFi dongle you can connect to it as a hotspot and use wireless.

Think mine cost me about £200 and its the best £200 I've ever spent allowing me in to the world of dealer tools for no cost at all.

(Paid for its self in one job being able to supply and code a BCM on an Astra J)

Good vxdiag blog and have a read through the blog as well.
Click to expand...
hi nathan hope you can help i have purchased this vxdiag and having trouble getting it set up. any pointers bud
 
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