Best scan tool

For sure, and you never know who’s a paid influencer.

 

For sure.
The guys I follow do actual vehicle diagnostics & repairs and use them in their day to day business so I would tend to believe their discussions of pros and cons of the tools they use, granted a few of them are also retailers for certain tools but they still use and reccomend multiple other tools as well.

 

Are you adverse to Toyota's Techstream. Surprised it has not been mentioned.

 

No but there's 2 problems there.

1. It only works on Toyota/Lexus/Scion vehicles up to 2023, if you have other makes or want to help freinds/family with other makes it's useless on those.
2. The legitimate VCI costs as much if not more than a full function all makes scan tool and the legitimate software subscription is quite expensive for an DIY.

Yes there are clone VCIs and cracked/bootleg software out there but do you really trust it? I don't.

 

Sorry, getting @helix66 and the original OP's requirements mixed up.

I did the unofficial Techstream on a dedicated computer for my own use only. No problems for my minor uses... so far.

 

I guess another thing that would be cool would be to enable or change some of the functions that are disabled or hidden.

A guy was using a thinkdiag2 and could enable the window control from the remote and change the turn signal duration beyond the head unit settings.

 

It’s a year old post and it seemed better to continue it instead of duping it.

 

That kinda falls in between functional tests/bi-directional controls and programming/module set-up/coding.

Many of the mid to high end (and a few of the lower end) tools can do that kind of stuff, all of mine except the Verus (SnapOn scan tools in general don't do much in the way of programming/coding/module set-up) can do stuff like that if it's available on the vehicle.

I have an original ThinkDiag and it can do that kind of stuff, I kinda left it out as it's smartphone based and runs on a subscription model which you said you really didn't want.

Currently the only 2 smartphone based all system full function tools I know of are the ThinkDiag and the TopDon Topscan Lite/Pro (I haven't really determined what the differences are between the Lite and the Pro), both are subscription based (around $50-$80/year). I can't speak for the TopScan but the ThinkDiag will do almost everything my Autel 906 will do, I can say the app can be kinda buggy at times and is kind of annoying with notifications as many smartphone apps are these days but it does seem to work most of the time.

 

autel 906 can change tire size. When you go to tire update special feature and it pulls the drop down for OE tires, it gives you that option to put in a measured size, at least on jeeps..

Have you seen if the thinkdiag can do that?