I read an article in the LA Times yesterday about very interesting device called the CarMD. It's appears to be a common OBDII scanner with a twist. Like a normal scanner, you plug it into the OBDII port, and it reads the diagnostic information from your vehicle. It has a LCD screen for code viewing. However, it also retains the information on built in RAM and has a USB cable connection, so the device can be jacked into your PC. From there, you can upload the info to the CarMD website to generate a very nice hard copy report which can be taken to the dealer or mechanic. All codes are detailed in lay English on the report.

The unit is supposed to also give you a preliminary smog test evaluation to potential problems before going to the official smog test station.

The readouts can be evaluated with the ASE technicians if requested.

You can register up to 3 cars (VIN specific) to use with each device. You can upload OBDII info once per month per car. There is no monthly charge for the service.

The cost of the unit is $90 which caught my attention. It appears to be a very good price considering the benefits. I paid $60 including shipping for my Actron 9135 code reader.

Didn't see on the website if the device can reset codes - I doubt it that it does, but maybe I missed mention of this.

Anyways, if anyone comes across any independent product reviews, post the link or source here.

http://www.carmd.com/default.aspx