Scotty has several helpful videos on scan tools over the past couple of years. In cheap scan tool department, does https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083F65T8Q, (Feb, 2020) supersede all previously mentioned ones, such as http://amzn.to/2CccVpH, (Feb, 2018) or https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UJV3E12 (Dec, 2018) or... ? I guess I'm looking for a function rich/quality scanner at best price for a non pro.
Clarification: what do you need the scanner to do?
Eh, I've been happy with:
Panlong bluetooth OBD-II interface ($10 Amazon)
Car Scanner (app), I upgraded to Car Scanner Pro for under $5 (Google Play Store)
It does a lot, and isn't so "tuner" and "tour"-oriented like Torque and those others. I didn't need a GPS track of performance that is more oriented to racer kids. I'm looking more for transmission temperatures, fuel mix, oxygen sensors, voltage, throttle positions, airflow intake, timing advance, ignition specs, RPM and stuff like that. It was also helpful in digging out codes that were not tripping check engine lights but little piddly stuff that helped me when shopping for a used car or two.
I really appreciated it when driving through the mountains of Northern California up into Oregon, I set my display to give me a readout of outside temperature, engine and transmission temperatures in large, clear numbers. The range of the transmission temperature on the 1000-mile trip was 180 (downhill, middle of the night) and 212 (uphill at about 10 a.m. in the morning). The 212 lasted around 20 seconds.
Yeah, that's how powerful Car Scanner Pro is. At 16-hour trip, 61MB file and a chart that has dozens of parameters I can graph out as I wish.
PS - The pro version has a lot of cars in its database too... I've plugged in on multiple cars while shopping along with the 4 that I own, lots of details on each. Even a Prius...
