Hoping for some OBD scanner recommendations here. I read the bluetooth/app solutions can be flaky and can require recurring subscriptions. Lexus and Toyota cars in my garage. Lexus is an 08 GS350, if that matters. 2018 Camry XSE. Ability to use one other cars would be nice, too (friends/relatives).

What say you? And thanks for your time!

 

I will preface this by saying I'm a mechanic so it's a little different for me than the average user perhaps.

Obviously we have scan tools at work, snap-on & autel, relatively expensive and overkill for someone who's not working on cars for a living.

​​​​​​I also have a Carista that comes with me everywhere, it was really cheap and it supports my 4GS, works great for that, but it does hardly anything on my 3GS. It's hit or miss, but for applications like Dash or Dr.Hybrid it's great, and works on everything for those apps.

I also picked up a UCANDAS VDM2 wifi obd2 scantool from AliExpress just to keep in my mobile toolbox. It's very Chinese, and the software makes that pretty evident. However you get a couple years of free software updates and it supports a pretty wide range of cars. It connects to every system on my 3GS and does everything I would imagine a personal user would need to do. Great value considering its only like $100.

I also have a Toyota techstream knockoff cable and software on an old windows XP laptop. This was the cheapest option I think it was like $12 on eBay. The techstream has a lot of stuff for our cars and if you were only using it occasionally it would probably be sufficient but is not super quick or portable.

 

I've been using the OBDlink MX+ on my 460 for over a year now with no issues. It has all the parameters you want to monitor and some you didn't know existed that are Lexus/Toyota specific.
You do not have to pay any recurring payments, I've never heard of that. It works with apple or android and is very easy to use. Its also on sale right now.

 

link on ebay cable?

 

I found a video from 2017 about one:
Also, I think this is it on Amazon today, declaring support on a variety of OS's $40:
Search "techstream software and cable" on Amazon for more options.

 

Here is another one with many more reviews and questions. Like I said, look around a bit.

 

Thanks. I dont have amazon but i see similar stuff on ebay.

 

You can get some information here from the 2IS forums.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...-pid-pack.html

 

Car Scanner and OBDMary are the ones I use with a $20 bluetooth reader.
*no subscriptions

 

I also go myself the Techstream software and a cable to match my XP laptop.

Half the time it crashes. The other half is doesn’t work. The other half (yes I know that’s 3 half’s so far) a large amount of functions don’t read properly.
Finally the 4th half, you can’t get any updates.

I would definitely avoid Techstream.

 

 

A poorly made cable will hinder your Techstream experience, but a Techstream setup is literally what the delaers used until fairly recently. One of the higher quality cables is a VXDiag VCX nano.

 

Thanks Cruzin. I did try another cable borowed from a friend, despite this being a new one. Same result.
I suspect it was the software that someone had copied.

 

I used the obd v peak or something on amazon, very accurate, downloaded the app and ran the scans, it helped me pin point my abs sensor last time and also some other minor reads.