Best garage diagnostic equipment?

[S1OWW]

Not sure where to post this.

I'm shortly opening a garage and looking for people's advice on disgnosuc equipment.
The usual snap on stuff isn't great and I'm not looking to spend thousands as I know these days most can be done via a lap top and a cable.
I need to be able to do obd1 obd2, etc.

I need to be able to read all cars.

What have people used?

Thanks 👍

[bearman68]

I have a few bits.
Autoboss gives good coverage of almost everything to a decent level. Bit tricky to use, mediocre back up, reasonably cheap.
VAG-COM. Dead cheap, good on VAG, useless on everything else. Limited on coding etc. In reality, AutoBoss does almost all of what VAG com can do, but VAG is easier to use.
DEC Superscan3. Excellent bit of kit with good back up and support. Quite a wide list of applications, including some key coding. Good on French and Italian stuff, can code body control units. My business partner likes the blue teeth. Not a fan myself. Good value for money.
You'll find very quickly that you will need to decide if you want to code modules or not - this is a bit specialist for me, but we have looked at it in a decent level of detail, and concluded Autologic is prob about the best, but eye wateringly expensive.
If I was buying something now, I'd consider the Hella unit. Looks good for the money.
Colleagues have the Autel stuff (Launch is it?), but I don't think it's as good as the Dec, but will cover more Asian stuff.

[S1OWW]

Not sure where to post this.

I'm shortly opening a garage and looking for people's advice on disgnosic equipment.
The usual snap on stuff isn't great, most these days most can be done via a lap top and a cable.
I need to be able to do obd1 obd2, etc.

I need to be able to read all cars and only too happy to have a few systems if it gets the best results.

What have people used and liked?

Thanks 👍

[bearman68]

Further to my previous post, we also use extensively a Pico scope. This is really critical to us, we use it all the time, and there are few problems that are not improved with the scope. Training is a bit critical. If you have a decent ability to absorb information, have a look at Technical Topics. James Dillon is a decent bloke and knows his stuff.

[Sump]

Can usually get dealer diagnostics nowadays for not that much outlay.

For BMWs £25 - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-INPA-EDIABAS-interfa...

For Land Rover and Jaguar £80 - http://britishdiagnostics.co.uk/buy-now-2/

Or you can get something like the delphi ds150e or autel maxidas machines.

What do you want to do with it exactly? If you want all cars covered and dealerish level diagnostics than Maxidas is the way. Also depends on your budget.

[Remagel2507]

Sump said:

Can usually get dealer diagnostics nowadays for not that much outlay.

For BMWs £25 - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-INPA-EDIABAS-interfa...

For Land Rover and Jaguar £80 - http://britishdiagnostics.co.uk/buy-now-2/

Or you can get something like the delphi ds150e or autel maxidas machines.

What do you want to do with it exactly? If you want all cars covered and dealerish level diagnostics than Maxidas is the way. Also depends on your budget.

+1 extremely impressed with the Maxidas machines, very capable tools

[TheAngryDog]

Out of interest, are you a qualified or time served mechanic or are you simply going to use diagnostic equipment on people's cars?

[S1OWW]

As long as it's very good I'm happy to spend what is needed.
Any of the maxidas range you'd recommend? 708 looks to cover most things.

I'm looking to be able to check most things on most cars. I don't need to read into detail and adjust the ecu, just general service items.

Edited by S1OWW on Thursday 29th January 01:21

[Maz_uk]

We have a Snap On Solus Ultra, a Launch Diagun and couple of manufacturer specific ones.

Depends what you want to do and need it for, we generally use the Solus ultra first as it's the quickest and easiest to use but does have limitations on some specific functions and adaptations also it's not the best for coding components unless it's easy stuff like injectors etc.

If it's quite in depth and the Solus doesn't cover it - now quite rare as we update this machine twice a year and they do bring lots of additional features with each upgrade we will use the Launch or manu specific.

We will probably be buying one of the newer Bosch machines soon as I've heard some very good things about them, but they are NOT cheap!

[ch427]

The Autel 708 is the one id go for if pushed, seems like a very capable machine for the money.
Be careful of cloned units and buy from somewhere reputable like here.
www.gendan.co.uk

[Toaster Pilot]

I'm having much success with a Delphi DS150E Chinese knock off - I do not suggest you buy a pirate version to use on a customer's car, but the real one must be worth a look!

[Sump]

Toaster Pilot said:

I'm having much success with a Delphi DS150E Chinese knock off - I do not suggest you buy a pirate version to use on a customer's car, but the real one must be worth a look!

I found the software not to be that great. I think the maxidas would be a much better shout.

[ch427]

Toaster Pilot said:

I'm having much success with a Delphi DS150E Chinese knock off - I do not suggest you buy a pirate version to use on a customer's car, but the real one must be worth a look!

I have one too and to be honest its been faultless on a lot of cars, its a good thing to have in your armoury as a back up. Nightmare to set up initially though.