Best OBD Reader?

Author
Discussion

RUSTILLDOWN

Original Poster:

370 posts

82 months

Thursday 14th December 2023
quotequote all
I’ve never bought one, they sound useful but are they all the same?

What OBD reader do u have and what have u used it for?

the-norseman

14,177 posts

185 months

Thursday 14th December 2023
quotequote all
I have OBD Eleven for VW group stuff, I also have Torque Pro OBD device for Torque Pro.

mercedeslimos

1,729 posts

183 months

Thursday 14th December 2023
quotequote all
I've also got OBDEleven, had that for 5 years now and it's good for VAG stuff. This year though, I bought a Thinkdiag - made by Launch but only for the phone/tablet as opposed to laptop etc. Its fantastic! About 180 quid including 3 years subscription to every manufacturer. It's done everything I've needed on anything I've used it on.

jonwm

2,609 posts

128 months

Thursday 14th December 2023
quotequote all
Carista for me, use it on my BMW and VW T6

anonymous-user

68 months

Thursday 14th December 2023
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Carista for me too, to clear self-inflicted code when I was messing about
Cheap on Amazon then
£25 to buy V £60 diagnostic from indi
A free 28 day software trial
Cancelled after day one when error fixed
27 days remained
Can activate if I need it again

Olivergt

1,883 posts

95 months

Thursday 14th December 2023
quotequote all
Carista Bluetooth dongle 39.99 and Torque Pro app.

Both are one off fees, no subscription required.

Scroll down to the OBD Adaptor

https://carista.com/en/adapters#

Baldchap

9,118 posts

106 months

Friday 15th December 2023
quotequote all
I have OBD11 for VAG and it is exceptional if you're willing to learn. I see they now also do BMW which interests me.

For basic OBD2 code reading and resetting, the cheapest Amazon gizmo has worked for me for the best part of a decade. thumbup

waynedear

2,307 posts

181 months

Friday 15th December 2023
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Before the arrival of my bimmerlink dongle I got an engine warning light, popped my diet cheap reader on the 630 and it came up with the code for vanos solenoids... It was right.

119

11,289 posts

50 months

Friday 15th December 2023
quotequote all
VCDS is really the only one for VAG stuff IMO, however a lot of maker on newer models are locking the modules down so can only be accessed by dealers.

Edited by 119 on Friday 15th December 06:07

mercedeslimos

1,729 posts

183 months

Friday 15th December 2023
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[redacted]

Belle427

10,468 posts

247 months

Saturday 16th December 2023
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There is no best really, there are some excellent tools out there but they do cost a lot so hard to justify them if you dont do it for a living.
Topdon Topscan is one ive seen that looks interesting but im not sure how much the subs are.

the-norseman

14,177 posts

185 months

Saturday 16th December 2023
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[redacted]

Radec

4,888 posts

61 months

Sunday 17th December 2023
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Topdon Artidiag 500s bought off Amazon for around £130, reset power steering error on a VAG car.

Covers a ton of cars and gets free updates for life which some others in the same price bracket don't.

It was very fast scanning compared to a couple of OBD2 dongle/apps that I tried before which couldn't even find the error.

the-norseman

14,177 posts

185 months

Sunday 17th December 2023
quotequote all
Radec said:
Topdon Artidiag 500s bought off Amazon for around £130, reset power steering error on a VAG car.

Covers a ton of cars and gets free updates for life which some others in the same price bracket don't.

It was very fast scanning compared to a couple of OBD2 dongle/apps that I tried before which couldn't even find the error.
OBD Eleven could of done that.