Thinkdiag OBD2
 

Been trying to find a scanner that can code. I have been looking at the Carly with apprehension and especially with lacking iPhone support and now subscription service.

So one of my favorite BMW YouTube channels recommended the Thinkdiag Bluetooth OBD scanner that can code.

Anyhow they have a return policy so I ordered and will review. If it does what it says it's the holy Grail. I will definitely post an update.

Yes $40/yr. To save $100s it's a fair price. You get all makes for 1 ur included so of you service a few makes the hardware is effectively free. I will just make customer pay the subscription if I need to subscribe to another make

^ What he said, including customer data. :D Fortunately for me I'm grandfathered in with Carly as an early adopter. Best ~$130 spent. But no way would I pay as I go with it. The Foxwell has supplemented it nicely for everything before "F" chassis Bimmers, and now I've got INPA/NCSexpert/dummy suite running (will work on ISTA+ when I have a bunch of time, and alcohol, handy) most needs are being met.

In your situ Andrew I think that one definitely makes a lot of sense. I hope it does everything they claim. Please do update on the product.

As more of these companies come out with this business model (it's permeated every industry really, not just auto diagnostic) I think a full ISTA package makes more and more sense. It sucks to set it up, but I'd rather spend a week or two fiddling with drivers and software packages than send yet another company money every month. Hell, I even refuse to do monthly auto insurance... I prepay. /rant

Agree.



I got carly early, before they went to the subscription. Haven't used it in 6+ years.

Have foxwell and ISTA.


If these companies actually improved their products year in and year out, I might feel better. But they do nothing in the rear view- only look at new models/new customers. IMO


BUT.......very interested to hear what Andrew finds with his review(s) :cool:

Thinkdiag OBD2
 

I'm in computer IT and touching windowz gives me heebie jeebies. Prob about 45,000 hrs on Mac Os and 15,000 on windows and the windows experience was more effort (translate as over 3x the effort). Just can't stand it.

I support plenty of people on each platform and I run win7 on my mac but unless I really need to I do not want to do work kludgy 30 yr old software. I bought foxwell to avoid it and has served me well but doesn't code.

The big question will be can it code an e53. I’m pretty confident it can code the E70. The sooner the better to turn off the stupid every time you get in the car it runs the motors on the steering wheel bullshit.

I saw examples of it coding an E60 and that was the basis for me decide to pull the trigger.

For a pro you can spend 300 instead of 120 and have access to all car makes for two years but that doesn’t save me any money for up to two or three makes so I just bought $120 Option that will give me all makes I think for one year and then after one year I got a pay $40 a year.

First impressions: way way better than foxwell.

On E53 the coding is pretty limited but I have access to a lot of things I haven't in the past such as enable/disable the setting of the seat moving to memory position with selected key etc.

The whole system and presentation is first rate, feels like opening an Apple product.

The initial setup was simple but there was no description how to activate the subscription so it wanted to charge me $40 to access the BMW section.


The next morning all the $40 prices turned to "open" so it just figured it out so if you buy one with the 1 or 2 year subscription just set it up at night and plan to play the next day.

All the mechanic tools are abbreviated so I have no idea what most are yet and many don't apply to e53 but a major part of buying was to access things on e70 like magic parking brake etc.

The system stays functional though power cycle so don't need to unplug the dongle to jump start it like typical 237(?) Dongles

One of the main things I want to do is doable the moronic steering wheel moves every entry to car.

I'll take some screen recordings on the phone. The graphing looks nice but so far cant find a way to show multiple items and no editing of the impossible to read fonts.

A - overall review so far and does do as claimed. Of course it can only access the modules available over OBD but it's a big step up over foxwell and I always have my phone on me.

I bought the bimmer geeks software - diagnosis and programming. Using it on my Amazon Fire tablet, works great so far. One time, no subscriptions, and unlimited cars.

I have Bimmergeeks and Bimmercode. I also use Torque on the cheap Samsung Android tablet as a supplemental gauge set if I want to check things out.

You can code? For example disabled auto lock off doors, etc? There's a return policy for think. That said, the more I'm getting familiar with it the more I'm glad I got it. I'll post some videos soon

Yes, it has a full suite of coding capabilities. Very nice.

Thinkdiag OBD2
 

Nice I don't use Android I am looking for iPhone friendly solution


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I am using a kindle fire that I bought for $60.

I'm also going to try bimmercode - iOS compatible.

Just bought this today. Hopefully can disable the 'convenience entry/exit' feature of the steering wheel motor. On my E66. Funny, even in the owner's manual it says this feature can't be disabled. BMW engineers' must think that all American's were obese and cant enter or exit the seat unless the wheel first pops up and away.

I haven't found edits for the key function yet: notable: roll UP all windows from key fob. Twice I've learned on my key and rolled down all the windows and had to pull the actual key blade out of the fob to do the task of roll them up.

I can find some key settings like set seat position by key so it's looking like the wheel entrance crap is not available on e70, or just in a weird place I haven't found yet.

I was able to find where to set the speed and yes/no for auto lock doors on my e53 and a couple other things to confirm you can do coding. It also has specific sub menus for some of the biggies like pair ews and they are named well liked "I just replaced ews" sub menu.

The "ca" module where is expect to see the key coding only has reset module no coding :-(.

I looked in the places I could think of where it could alternatively be but no luck.

It takes a while for three scanner to figure out which modules are available, especially on e53. (2 minutes startup), much much faster on e70, but once running it's prob 20x as fast to browse around. Prob worth the price of admission just for that reason alone.

I'll see if I can figure out a way to compare side by side with foxwell.

So far every function such as engage AC compressor or read auc real-time voltage has been where I could find it with relative ease.

The glaring oversight unless I just haven't figured out how is that I can't overlay two graphs. The good news is that it's nearly instant to switch between and the graph doesn't start over when you do so screen shots work ok to get a compression.

The screen before the graph will display far more data points simultaneously than the foxwell and far far far easier to read.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...b6f24e8ae9.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...929a427742.jpg

Example of warm and cold O2 sensor graph.

I don't think you can, but I found a 7 year old thread that taught me a trick that I used to disable the asinine feature (right up there with the non temp gauge).

Set the steering wheel right where you like it then tap down just a bit.

Now open the door to get the dance to start and immediately tug down on the steering wheel.

The motor controller will sense the current spike and shut down the movement.

It will stay disabled until the next time you use the adjustment.

I find this a better solution as a driver that wants it just needs to adjust and it re-enables.

Wife and I are slowly working toward a middle position we both like for seat:steering so no or minimal movement when we swap.

We have e70 '12 and e53 '01.

On the '01 I think I just use it all the way up and fowrard so it never moves anyhow but I think I'll try the trick on my car also

Update; I could not find any key coding/comfort access on e70 such as allow window up function from the remote but I did find some features. I'm thinking I'll take pics of the sub options so I can find them myself later

I was able to find a fair amount of coding tweaks such as disable auto lock on e53 (lots of little tweaks like how fast to turn on interior lights).

The trick with e53 was those settings were accessed with the generic OBD tool not the BMW specific tool wow that took me a long time to locate: I enabled auto lock at 24 kph but realized it's worse than I remembered: it was forcing the doors to unlock and relock when I locked the car.

Eg: I would unlock only the driver door and when I exit the car and lock the door I can hear all three other doors unlock or possibly just reengage double lock but it's two distinct operations.

Without auto lock I now only hear one lock operation. That crap is permanently disabled now

I was able to enable daytime running lights on my 01 which is awesome. I think it's pwm the high beams at like 5v or something.

Was not able to do anything with comfort access on wife's E70 however which is annoying as I've already 3-4x rolled down all the windows by leaning on the key and have to pull the blade out of the key to use the physical blade to roll them back up vs. simply use the fob.

I also could not edit the moronic steering wheel dance but I found a workaround for that and that stupidity is stopped now.

I'm still happy with the purchase it's so much more convenient than the foxwell and light years ahead in speed and interface though it has a couple really stupid oversights that can be fixed in software so I'm about to make a review that hopefully will get their attention.

FYI: so the software wants to do a full system scan each use. You can pause as soon as the module (eg DME) passes so you don't have to wait.

I made a video using my foxwell and my thinkdiag going through the steps to engage the AC compressor and it took 90 seconds with foxwell and 30 seconds with the think diag. (and light years ahead on interface).

My report. Tried the scantool, very straightforward and easy to program features from the Comfort Access System on my E66.
Disabled the automatic steering adjustment.

Had an issue where my registration serial number was invalid, and so I sent a message to the built-in support chat. They responded within 1 hour and reset to another serial which worked. After you register, they'res an option for a free 'package' of sorts which gives you the scan and program for a specific manufacturer, which in my case was BMW.

The only issue I encountered was the dimensions where the body of the tool meets the obd port is too wide and so I can't plug it into my port. I had to use an obd port extension cord.