What’s your go to aftermarket scan tool and why?

I currently have multiple tools. The reason why is nobody does it all. Abrites, Autel, Autoland, Autologic, TEXA, VCMII, VCDS, Witech2. I also use a Drewtech J2534 pass-through for Honda, GM, Toyota, VW and Audi. Depending on what task I am going to do I choose the best tool. I would say if I were to only be able to have one tool, it would be the Autel Elite. It has wide coverage plus a J-Box

How u doing sir? I'm new to the site. The autel elite that comes with the J box for programming is that the same as the drewtech? Very little knowledge when it comes to programming but I see videos of guys programming and I want to get involved in doing that because a lot of these newer cars need modules for programming and alot of the. Need updates as a guy in a recent post talked about a 2013

No it is not the same as drew tech. But it is a capable jbox.

It is a China jbox, drew tech's toolbox functions and walk through videos are bar none for new users. On top of top notch customer support.

How you like the autoland? I'm looking at either autoland, g scan, or autologic next.

Owned all three and all have strengths for specific brands. Autologic for Euro is the best, period. Autoland is a great Asian and Euro tool, especially for Asian IMMO and BMW ZCS coding. G Scan is excellent on Asian, specifically Korean brands.

I'm liking my (new to me) Autel MS906. It does a lot of stuff the Snappy scanners won't do like program NATS/keys/immobilizer programming. Snap On guy says it's too hard/expensive for them to license all the stuff from every OEM but the Chinese just "rip it off". Not sure if that's the case but Autel gives you a lot of bang for the buck in my opinion. After free year I think Autel is $600/year

I have been very happy with my MS906BT. I've had it for about 6 months now. It does a lot that the Snap On tools won't. It can be slightly more difficult to navigate and find data and functions, but all scan tools are a little quirky. When it's missing something, the shop has a Snap On to fall back on. It is a little slower and the graphing could be executed a bit better. That said, I prefer the

Just come clarification here. There are several half-truths here so I will fill in the blanks. Snap-On, Bosch, OTC, etc buy their diagnostic information from ETI (Equipment and Tool Institute) so they can build their scan tools. IMMO is not part of that data set, so everyone that has it in has reverse engineered it. The Chinese companies do a combination of ETI purchase, reverse engineer and

Well said. The reason the autel is so inexpensive is the fact of pirated software. It is a very capable yet not supported by any manufacture that I am aware of.

Am I the only one that has a problem buying the Chinese stolen intellectual property? I know they are cheap. I know there is a lot of money to be made. I understand the OE tools are expensive, but how would we feel if someone was always trying to steal our work? If they pay the manufactures like some companies that's fine. I remember a year or so after I bought the IDS we were sent a notice with

I have several scan tools, both OE & aftermarket. I have used Snap On scan tools for many years and have learned to love them. Currently I use a Snap On Versus pro, which I have had for several years. I also have an Autel and a few other aftermarket tools. When it comes to doing driveability problem analysis, the Snap on tool is my first pick, since it is by far the best scan tool I have

I am currently using my Launch Torque I picked up a month ago. It has a lot of information in it that the shops Verus Pro doesn't have. The price was very reasonable and it gets updated constantly. I have had some issues with some tests not working, but they do have a feature to give them feedback when something isn't working.

As far as aftermarket tools go I think the Autel is the best bang for the buck. I also have a Snapon Modis Ultra and a Ross-Tech VCDS for VW/Audi stuff. If you have a large amount of the same manufacturer your best off getting the OE stuff. Which can be accomplished with a Drewtech j-2534 box and a subscription for many manufacturers.

I love my snap on verus edge , for the graphing feature , the scope , even if when I need the scope I use pico, but I really thinking about to buy the autel elite , that way I will have better cover for euro and another feature that autel is very good, so for my opinion , aftermarket these two are very good scan tools

I'll add myself to the list of people recommending the autel to compliment the modis edge. I haven't personally used one myself, but I have heard good things about the launch line as well.

John, everyone that posted so far has offered some good info on scan tool options. I would like to comment on your idea of trading in a Modis Edge for a Verus Edge. The most important thing you need to understanding when moving up to a newer snap-on scanner is that you won't be gaining any coverage or capabilities. The main difference is just in the hardware. While it is certainly nice to

We have multiple OEM tools here along with Autologic's blue box and Assist, we also have Ross tech (great tool) Snap on, Drewtech,Ease and others. We have had our Autel Elite for almost three years now and it is used daily. We had a hardware issue with the tool after we had it for around 30 months, it failed to operate so I sent it in thinking I was going to get nailed with a large repair bill

Autel hardware support sounds way better than DrewTech. Over the last few years I've had 3 Mongoose cables fail due to poor connectors / not being designed tough enough for a busy shop environment. Each time it costs me $150 to "repair" the cables, something that should last for many many years IMHO.

Not so sure about the Autel hardware quality. The cables break frequently. The antenna on the J2534 box has a 100% failure rate. Every shop that bought a 908P that I know had to buy an antenna down the road. The insurance plan that goes with the updates does make repairs more palatable. The repair turn around time is reasonable. The early model batteries had a high failure rate. The advantage is

Keep the Snap On, add an Autel to compliment it. It is the best 1-2 punch in the aftermarket industry,IMO.

I have OE for all the makes I work on. I don't work Euro and I only work on the big Asian market vehicles. I also have quite a few aftermarket tools, including OTC, Autel, Escan, Techpro and probably a few I'm forgetting. My "go to" tool is hands down my Solus Edge, it's fast and accurate enough to be a good first grab. I wouldn't attempt advance diagnostics with it unless I had OE back up