7 best auto scanners

The name of the manufacturer itself hints at the main specialization of the adapter and its software - it was created primarily for the diagnosis of Delphi controllers that are widely used in the automotive industry worldwide. And it was developed not by the forces of Delphi themselves, but by the Swedish company Autocom. However, unlike their own Autocom CDP Pro, the Delphi adapter comes with access to the Delphi Direct Evolution online database (authorization is confirmed by the included dongle), which provides huge amounts of repair information, and it is qualitatively Russified. A separate “cherry” on the cake is the availability of official certification for Delphi dealer technical centers. Of course, the lack of an offline base sometimes interferes, but here we say “thank you” to the pirates - it’s because of the distribution of the hacked software for Chinese clones that the manufacturer translated the documentation online so that it could not be copied.

Naturally, the scanner is not highly specialized - its software shell also supports work with Siemens / VDO, Bosch, Denso blocks. That is, the scanner's coverage of the European and Asian markets is good - about 80 percent, 61 car makes in the current database. But this is still less than that of many competing automotive scanners, so the “bias” towards working with Delphi controllers is still noticeable.

Naturally, there are Chinese clones of this adapter, as well as Autocom CDP Pro. However, if we talk about clones (yes, let's be honest - about fakes), then the Chinese “Delphi-type” doesn’t have any advantages, since he has no access to online documentation. At the same time, the original scanner for diagnosing cars, albeit expensive, will be the best tool in the hands of a diagnostician, and also convenient: the shell interface is intuitive, well translated into Russian.Actually, as with “Avtokomovskaya” - the programmers worked the same.

The Chinese multi-brand scanner is made according to the traditional pattern for this market segment - a wireless adapter plus a Chinese tablet of unknown origin in a shock-proof casing. The “stuffing” of this tablet (again traditionally) is rather stupid: a dual-core Freescale processor (1.2 GHz), 2 GB of RAM. The shell in it "turns" with difficulty, but at least using it on a 10.1-inch screen is quite convenient.

However, the auto scanner also has its advantages. First of all, it’s quite a confident work with Chinese transport, which the Launch cannot always boast. The author at one time expressed many good things to the X431 Pro developers, who seem to have added many Chinese brands to the database (and even in Russia are not at all known), but at the same time the scanner refused to see the most elementary Brilliance and "Lifan". In addition, after buying a scanner, free software updates are not offered for a year, as usual, but for two years.

Unlike previous generations of FCAR scanners (which, by the way, worked on Windows CE, and not on Android 4.2), the program shell of the scanner has finally received auto-identification of car systems. In addition, unlike “launchevskogo” software, there is also an offline database of service documentation - of course, it’s far from dealerships on a particular brand or provided by leading manufacturers of multi-brand scanners, but this is already something!

Support for Russian, European, Japanese and later on the list of cars at the scanner is quite decent, the software has a pretty good shell. Its useful feature is the automatic fixation of a “freeze frame” at the time of error registration, which replaces access to the error context offered by dealer scanners, and for systems that are not designed to preserve the context in general, such “freeze frames” are even more useful.

Russian device connected to the computer via Bluetooth or USB. Developed primarily for work with cars of domestic production, and for this purpose has been successfully used by many professional diagnosticians. But with most popular cars, it can also work quite correctly: the software includes modules for working with Kia, Mitsubishi, Chevrolet, and so on.

The Scanmatik software shell is very functional - it can real-time build several graphs of current data, manage CO-correction on VAZ firmware with the lambda probe disabled, build and send diagnostic reports to print. It is possible to use the device not only with a laptop, but also to connect it to a tablet on an Android or Windows Mobile smartphone while retaining all the functions available in the software shell.

The Swedish company Autocom produces two families of diagnostic scanners: Pro Cars for passenger cars and Pro Trucks for trucks. Chinese clones that are widespread in Russia most often come in the Chinese “2 in 1” form factor - with two sets of adapters and both hacked distributions of programs.

Our ranking is about unlicensed copies of Autocom CDP Pro. Chinese Autocom clones are one of the cheapest selling multi-brand scanners, yet they are very functional. Of course, the convenience of the program is the merit of the Swedish programmers who developed it, and not the Chinese who hacked it. As a rule, a hacked clone works without much loss in functionality compared to the original, the main problem is the updates, without the installation of which real diagnostic practice is ineffective. Since the program is tied to the serial number of the device, the owners of Chinese clones have to wait for the next update in the Celestial Empire to be hacked into their device.

Due to the relatively low price, this device has become quite common in small service stations, but from diagnosticians received very specific reviews. In fact, the X431 Pro is an ordinary Chinese tablet on Android, enclosed in a shockproof external case with a compartment for a small wireless module that connects directly to the vehicle's OBD connector, to specific brand-specific connectors — via the supplied adapters.

All the problems of the device stem from this: the battery of a frankly cheap tablet discharges literally before our eyes during diagnostics, which is why the main advantage of the X431 Pro, mobility, is limited to a permanent connection to the charging adapter. The Chinese manufacturer regularly releases updates, but, instead of bringing to the mind of the program for common models, it releases updates for Bugatti and Maserati, for diagnostics of which this device is hardly used by anyone. At the same time, updates quickly fill the tablet's internal memory, and it has to be cleaned manually from under the root, removing standard Android programs that are completely useless on the diagnostic scanner. The final touch to the specifics of the thinking of Chinese designers is that the tablet not only has a telescopic antenna for receiving radio, but also has a slot in it in the outer case (!). Why this diagnostic tool is needed is difficult to understand.