February 14, 2010

Equus 3140 Innova Diagnostic Code Scanner for OBDI and OBDII Vehicles

I've been working on cars a while now and I've used a few of these type of code readers/scanners (Snap-on and Mac) and I've found that this one does almost everything you would expect a pro model to do and a price that can't be beat. Shows everything you really need to know, the screen is very large and easy to read, the button layout is good, but can be confusing at first, there should have been an extra button or two as some of the controls do double or triple duty, you have to read the manual and have it on hand until you get used to the controls. I've used it right away to diagnose a problem in my late model truck and have plugged it in to a number of makes and models with great success. It's results are almost as detailed as say the Snap-on, but it costs 1/10 the price! The included software is nice, but not as full featured as it should be in saving data results. I highly recommend doing a firmware update to the unit, mine shipped with firmware 1.0 and the new firmware v2 adds some extra diagnostic functions, such as advanced DTC codes for some makes and updates the DTC code library in the unit, the unit seemed to read live data faster as well. Being able to read OBD I codes is a plus, but there are many limitations on the makes and models, a glaring omission is the lack of Nissan OBD I (Just because I own a older Nissan!). I do all my own repairs and would highly recommend this unit. The unit comes with two nylon cases, one for the unit, OBD II cable, manual and the other for pc serial cable and OBD I adapters and the cases zip together for easy transport. I do have one big complaint, this is 2007, who uses serial connectors anymore? my laptop does not even have one, I have to go out and buy a serial to USB2.0 adapter, it works well and the unit synced fine with my laptop with the adapter, but you would figure that they would have put the serial connector to rest by now.

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