Gizmos and Gadgets: CarMD Scanner

[asawadude]

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

[hayaku]

potential problem is if carmd's database on codes isn't supplied by or updated to the manufacturer's codes, you'll have the correct code but wrong details.

for instance, bmw has some very special codes that the ISO OBD2 codes don't contain.. FORD, GM, Toyota, Honda, etc all have their own special set of codes as well that they update all the time with new releases...

reading and reseting dtc codes is the simplest of tasks... having the correct translation is where the challenge is at.

i use autoenginuity and they have a complete code library for ford and gm (they work with ford and gm on keeping those libraries updated). therefore every single wierd code is handled. they are trying to work the same deal with bmw right now...