Best ‘Bang For Buck’ OBD Scanner?

[kharris04]

Gday,

I have been looking into getting a good OBD Scanner for a while now as I’m advancing in my career.

A lot of the good brand scanners like Snap-On cost an arm and a leg and im looking for a budget friendly one that is able to scan, diagnose, reset lights and do small coding things (seatbelt dinging, indicator blink on lock etc). Basically like Carly, but without the price of subscription each month.

What do people recommend? I’ve heard Autel is good, but they’re still a bit on the expensive side. I don’t really want to spend more than £150..

[Spare tyre]

I’d start with the blue tooth one that works from your phone

I’ve seen then as low as £2 on eBay, but I’d find a friend that has one and buy from the same place. I’ve used them to turn off Eml lights on my bongo, which has save d a garage trip

[anonymous-user]

I had a Autel ds708 and was pretty impressed with it to be fair. I think mine was around £300 a few years ago and they are a little bit more dear now but totally worth the money to have a scanner that you can be fairly confident that will work on most cars and systems.

I don't think there was anything nearly as good available for the same/less money (and if there was, I'd have probably found it!)

[320d is all you need]

kharris04 said:

Gday,

I have been looking into getting a good OBD Scanner for a while now as I’m advancing in my career.

A lot of the good brand scanners like Snap-On cost an arm and a leg and im looking for a budget friendly one that is able to scan, diagnose, reset lights and do small coding things (seatbelt dinging, indicator blink on lock etc). Basically like Carly, but without the price of subscription each month.

What do people recommend? I’ve heard Autel is good, but they’re still a bit on the expensive side. I don’t really want to spend more than £150..

What car do you want to use it on, that is key.

BMW you can get ISTA/P for free, and a cable is £25.

VAG, you can buy a knock off copy of VAGCOM for around £50 with cable.

Not sure on other brands.

[Dr Jekyll]

Why don't cars have OBD readers built in? At least a way of showing the error code when the engine light comes on.

[kharris04]

Spare tyre said:

I’d start with the blue tooth one that works from your phone

I’ve seen then as low as £2 on eBay, but I’d find a friend that has one and buy from the same place. I’ve used them to turn off Eml lights on my bongo, which has save d a garage trip

Cheers for the reply.

I do have a cheap one off eBay, it’s not Bluetooth and it literally just reads codes. Think I picked it up for a tenner last year lol. Definitely thinking about one for the moment tho while I find the money and scanner I want

[kharris04]

WorldBoss said:

I had a Autel ds708 and was pretty impressed with it to be fair. I think mine was around £300 a few years ago and they are a little bit more dear now but totally worth the money to have a scanner that you can be fairly confident that will work on most cars and systems.

I don't think there was anything nearly as good available for the same/less money (and if there was, I'd have probably found it!)

Cheers for the reply.

I’ll keep that one in mind. I’ve heard Autel are good, just know that some are close to the £1000 range. I’m looking for one that will do all manufactures really so I’ll definitely look into this one. Thanks!

[kharris04]

320d is all you need said:

What car do you want to use it on, that is key.

BMW you can get ISTA/P for free, and a cable is £25.

VAG, you can buy a knock off copy of VAGCOM for around £50 with cable.

Not sure on other brands.

Cheers for the reply.

Looking for one to do all manufacturers really, I won’t be using it day in day out too soon but it’d be nice to have one that does all. Definitely would like BMW and VAG compatibility as that’s the cars im interested in and who knows what cars I’ll end up with soon

[kharris04]

Dr Jekyll said:

Why don't cars have OBD readers built in? At least a way of showing the error code when the engine light comes on.

Cheers for the reply.

I know right? I know cars like my dads ‘09 Focus have a test mode where it pings the code on the LCD, but it literally just gives you that, and sometimes it doesn’t even direct to anything if you look it up on google!

I feel like cars of the modern era should come with an OBD scanner like they do a scissor jack or tyre pump amirite?

[320d is all you need]

kharris04 said:

320d is all you need said:

What car do you want to use it on, that is key.

BMW you can get ISTA/P for free, and a cable is £25.

VAG, you can buy a knock off copy of VAGCOM for around £50 with cable.

Not sure on other brands.

Cheers for the reply.

Looking for one to do all manufacturers really, I won’t be using it day in day out too soon but it’d be nice to have one that does all. Definitely would like BMW and VAG compatibility as that’s the cars im interested in and who knows what cars I’ll end up with soon

You are best getting specific ones for each car.
Many do it all types are not very good.
For coding, things like BIMMERCODE are not very good, they do work most of the time, but sometimes they can brick modules or write corrupt code.

Are you a garage? Or just an enthusiast wanting to code your own cars?

I would really recommend getting the specific tools for each car you want to code..

[Byker28i]

Forscan seems to work well with the ebay wifi dongles, and there's support for various cars on the forum, codes etc.

Dr Jekyll said:

Why don't cars have OBD readers built in? At least a way of showing the error code when the engine light comes on.

A lot of cars have fault readouts available through the dash with a hidden menu code, i.e. http://mr-fix.info/mazda-6-hidden-menu-test-mode/

[Dr Jekyll]

kharris04 said:

Dr Jekyll said:

Why don't cars have OBD readers built in? At least a way of showing the error code when the engine light comes on.

Cheers for the reply.

I know right? I know cars like my dads ‘09 Focus have a test mode where it pings the code on the LCD, but it literally just gives you that, and sometimes it doesn’t even direct to anything if you look it up on google!

I feel like cars of the modern era should come with an OBD scanner like they do a scissor jack or tyre pump amirite?

I didn't know any cars had that.

[Richard-D]

kharris04 said:

Gday,

I have been looking into getting a good OBD Scanner for a while now as I’m advancing in my career.

A lot of the good brand scanners like Snap-On cost an arm and a leg and im looking for a budget friendly one that is able to scan, diagnose, reset lights and do small coding things (seatbelt dinging, indicator blink on lock etc). Basically like Carly, but without the price of subscription each month.

What do people recommend? I’ve heard Autel is good, but they’re still a bit on the expensive side. I don’t really want to spend more than £150..

I don't think what you're looking for exists. It's the 'coding' requirement across multiple platforms that's the sticking point. Ditch that aspect and you can get a decent scanner that can read all ECUs on [nearly] all makes and reset them for £120-£150. I have a Launch CRP123 that cost about £100. It won't do exotica but so long as you're not working on Ferraris, Lambo's etc. you'll be fine.

[kharris04]

320d is all you need said:

You are best getting specific ones for each car.
Many do it all types are not very good.
For coding, things like BIMMERCODE are not very good, they do work most of the time, but sometimes they can brick modules or write corrupt code.

Are you a garage? Or just an enthusiast wanting to code your own cars?

I would really recommend getting the specific tools for each car you want to code..

Cheers for the reply.

Just an enthusiast, if it’s worth getting the specific tools for specific manufacturers, then much saving will be done.

[kharris04]

Byker28i said:

A lot of cars have fault readouts available through the dash with a hidden menu code, i.e. http://mr-fix.info/mazda-6-hidden-menu-test-mode/

Cheers for the reply.

Yes I’m aware and it’s handy to be honest, like I said in a reply earlier my dads ‘09 Focus has them pop up if they have been stored too on the LCD screen. I’m just looking for something a bit more advanced

[kharris04]

Richard-D said:

I don't think what you're looking for exists. It's the 'coding' requirement across multiple platforms that's the sticking point. Ditch that aspect and you can get a decent scanner that can read all ECUs on [nearly] all makes and reset them for £120-£150. I have a Launch CRP123 that cost about £100. It won't do exotica but so long as you're not working on Ferraris, Lambo's etc. you'll be fine.

Cheers for the reply.

Looked at Launch ones and they seem to be decent for getting your foot in the door. It’s not such a coding aspect, it’s those little things like being able to turn off the seatbelt dinging or enable the horn in sync with the indicator flash on lock. Just those sort of “hidden” features if you call it that?

Definitely won’t be working on any Lambos or Rari’s haha. I could only dream. It’s mainly for use in my practical study and odd jobs. Once that’s done then I’d be able to take it into a job and knowing I have it there and then.

[Richard-D]

kharris04 said:

It’s not such a coding aspect, it’s those little things like being able to turn off the seatbelt dinging or enable the horn in sync with the indicator flash on lock. Just those sort of “hidden” features if you call it that?

Even though you're only looking at optional/comfort settings I don't believe that there is anything on the market that does what you are asking. If there is something that covers those features it will certainly be more than 10x the upper limit of your budget.

[kharris04]

Richard-D said:

Even though you're only looking at optional/comfort settings I don't believe that there is anything on the market that does what you are asking. If there is something that covers those features it will certainly be more than 10x the upper limit of your budget.

Cheers for the reply.

I know Carly has the ability to do some optional extra turn on and offs but it’s the subscription services that I won’t pay for, especially since you’d hope your car would be reliable to the point where you don’t need to be using it too much lol.

Going to read up on some reviews for one of the Launch scanners I’ve found and look around for some
more too

[320d is all you need]

kharris04 said:

320d is all you need said:

You are best getting specific ones for each car.
Many do it all types are not very good.
For coding, things like BIMMERCODE are not very good, they do work most of the time, but sometimes they can brick modules or write corrupt code.

Are you a garage? Or just an enthusiast wanting to code your own cars?

I would really recommend getting the specific tools for each car you want to code..

Cheers for the reply.

Just an enthusiast, if it’s worth getting the specific tools for specific manufacturers, then much saving will be done.

So if you're just using it as a home user why not just buy the specific tool(s) you require?
As I said , it's very cheap.

I don't see why you'd worry about getting generic readers/coders for multiple platforms if you only own one or two brands.