Greetings Carkiller Community,
I have an Innova 5610 scanner, the same as the 5160RS scanner that Scotty uses in many of his videos. Just a different color and available at different retailers. A little vent and disappointment here. When I got the 5610 in 2020, it had software installed from early 2018. I had been on the phone with Innova customer service several times over the last two years inquiring when the next update was coming. The general response they gave me was that it was coming soon, more or less.
I have the Repair Solutions 2 update software installed and there have been no updates. Interestingly on their Amazon account, they are touting the "Newest 2022 OBD2 Bidirectional Scan Tool with Free Lifetime Updates", which as far as I can see is blatantly false. So it's been four and a half years without an update. I'd like to hear from any Innova owners (5610, 5160, etc) if anyone has found a way to update their scanners. The product seems good but I have lost some faith in the company because of their lies. Are we supposed to take it in stride as fair business practice just because of the tough foreign competition Innova is facing?
If anyone has firmware, database or bootloader newer than 18.4.11, 18.4.24 and 18.4.3 please speak up and let us know how you came to get it. They say the updates are free and I guess they are free for the company because they don't produce any.
Here is an image from an Amazon reviewer showing software versions for his 5610 scanner. They are newer than what I have: 
Yeah, I agree. I find the Inova scanners to be good scanners but they're updating process pretty much is total crap. That's a problem with a lot of smaller tool companies. They really don't want to spend money on upgrading software and stuff where they don't make any money. Take my fancy scan tools. For example, I have to pay money each year to get updates so they do decent updates. But if they're free pretty much most of the tool companies with free updates, they're either crap or they don't even do them
Good to hear from you Scotty. I'm gettin' the itch to do another road trip. Back to Clarksville and this time maybe all the way to Colorado to see my oldest son.
Man, wish I would have seen this before I bought mine...
PC doesn't even recognize the scanner when I plug it into the USB port. Repair Solutions 2 Firmware Update Software was downloaded directly from their website and simply says that the tool is "Disconnected," even though the tool's screen is lit up and states "Follow Directions on the PC." E-Mailing support has yielded no results.
And, of course, clearing the code out of the ABS module (A very simple "Battery Low Voltage" Code from when the battery was changed) actually caused the ABS module to reset in my 2008 Acura TSX, and the dealer had to recalibrate it. Fun stuff.
Back to the store it goes.
That is definitely not good. I updated our Scan Tool sticky with your and Scotty’s information (to warn other members).
So, without the updates you can’t scan vehicles beyond model year 2018/2019 - is that the case? (Basically the time of the last update)
For what it is worth I have a complete system scanner (from Autel) that cost similar price as the Innova one and I stopped paying for annual updates several years ago, so no updates for me and I can only scan vehicles up to 2019 model year. That is good enough for my purposes, so it’s not the end of the world. However, if a company offers free lifetime updates they should update the software more than just once every few years - that is very disappointing. Presumably, that’s one main reason why someone bought that tool.
Without the updates you basically have a glorified code reader for everything past the software date. In this case 2018 or 2019 depending on which update you have.
Did you show the company that image?
Yes, since posting here I contacted the company and gave them the address link to the picture on Amazon. Now for the first time, they finally came clean. Here is the bulk of their response: "Thank you for your inquiry. Your 5610 definitely has an update. The current firmware version is 19.06.04. There is going to be another free update released in October to bring the 5610 up to 2022. If you cannot update your 5610, it can be sent to our facility to be updated at no charge. If you would like to proceed, please give us a call." So I will give them a call and try to resolve this without sending my unit in if possible.
Here is an image from an Amazon reviewer showing software versions for his 5610 scanner. They are newer than what I have:
Did you show the company that image? It’s one thing if they had no updates period, but if there is a newer software version out there (per your photo) then they should give you the update. I’d raise a big stink with the company and warn them you will let Scotty know: with over 5 million subscribers and 2 billion views they will get bad press.
Their website say's they are open on Saturday but when I tried, their system said they were closed. I tried to call them a dozen times today using different numbers and extensions. The only human who would answer was in accounts receivable. 🤔 Go figure. Other times it went to voicemail, and sometimes just kept on ringing.
I found out that Innova is owned by Equus Products Inc. and that Innova seems to have very few employees. From 5-15 depending on which website you believe. It's beginning to look like they are not really designed to provide after-sales support, but let's hope I'm wrong. I sent them another email just prior to this post and made them aware of Scotty Kilmer and his YouTube channel as well as Carkiller.com and the pertinent threads. I also admonished them to look after their company's reputation as reputation is worth quite a bit, probably in the millions for a company with their sales. I would like to avoid sending my scanner to them if possible. So far no effort has been made on their part to troubleshoot the update software/process. Mostly because they have been misleading me claiming there were no updates. Now that they acknowledge it, hopefully we can move forward somehow. I will post back here after I receive their next response, or if I don't hear from them.
It all comes down to the business relationship between the OEM manufacturer, and the companies that make these tools.
The NDA contracts are probably volumes thick, and the money exchanged is in the 6 or 7 digits. The OEM will have a lot to say about how their proprietary information is used. Some might be more forthcoming than others. LOTS of legal territory. There may be a lot of data that is potentially incriminating or sensitive even, involved in recalls and lawsuits, which may have been discovered after the fact.
Or information can be acquired the cheap Chinese way ... stolen/bootlegged etc. It costs less but you get what you pay for.
Complicated stuff. It probably best to research as much as possible before you plunk any money down.
MAJOR UPDATE:
I had to take a break from this annoyance for a while. 4000+ mile cross county trip to visit Scotty K on the way to visit my oldest son. Well, now the NEW UPDATE FOR THE INNOVA 5610 and maybe some other models has been rolled out! I noticed Innova stopped advertising "latest 2022 update" on Amazon for the 5610. It appears they have been geting some pressure/comments from people calling them out. However..., over on the Innova community forum page where they announced the update 3 weeks ago, there is a user who has reported that he has lost a good deal of functionality for his 1999 Tacoma after the update. So they are supposed to be looking into it. This is a reason to perhaps hold off on updating until they confirm what's going on.
The update is almost 800MB in size and I don't know what the memory capacity of the 5610 is. Only speculation at this point but I wonder if they had to cut off support for the older vehicles to bring this update out (make it fit) which reportedly supports up to 2022 vehicles now.