OBD II Scanner Recommendations

[ESP6]

Good morning everyone, I was wondering what everyone thoughts were on the low end OBDII diagnostic readers, if you use them and would you recommend one over the other? Thanks

[wiswind]

You will find that there are a number of choices.
1 group are those that will connect to your laptop computer.
These will offer you the most in features, however, they require you to use your laptop computer.
With these, you can read real time trim information, and graph results, etc.

The next group are the stand alone units that do not require a computer.
They will be more limited in features.
I have a "ScanGauge" that I keep connected to the OBDII port all the time.
When a failure code is set, it will do a freeze frame collection of data that was present at the time the code was set.
This unit has far less features than the ones that connect to your laptop, but again, has far fewer features.

I would strongly recommed that you get one that can read the "CAN" codes as many newer vehicles use that coding method, and you will be able to use it on more (newer) cars.

[ESP6]

Thank you. I would like to aquire the pc type system. I'll do some more research to see what I can find. Thanks again for the info.

[Vchat20]

A bit late, but I also suggest the PC type system. I picked the single-mode PWM device off scantool.net not more than a month or so back and with the required rs232-usb converter needed for my laptop, it cost me a grand total of $65 shipped to my door USPS. If you dont mind the added bulk of having a laptop to lug around when you need to use the device, it is indispensable. The device itself can read anything the PCM spits out of the OBDII port. It's all about the software pc side in which there are numerous freeware/payware applications available out there, most of which will work with the scantool.net ELM323 device. Some provide more features than others. Digimoto though seems to be about the most feature packed though imho.

I haven't bothered pricing the handheld versions since, quite frankly, I'm a big geek and thus having the ability for a full featured readout on the laptop intrigued me quite a bit. But from what I can remember, the handheld tools ended up being a little more expensive and didn't provide nearly as many features as the PC-based versions.

Though if you are a bit cramped for space, the handheld versions may be more desirable.

Should also add that if all you are after is pulling MIL codes, any software for pc-based devices, freeware or payware, and handheld devices, both are capable of reading back these codes.