Want an OBD scanner, recommendations?

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

2006Tahoe2WD

Full Access Member
Joined
May 24, 2015
Posts
497
Reaction score
314
Location
Silicon Valley
The Kingbolen K7 showed up. For unknown reasons I haven't been able to get through the registration process and get a connection to the car. The support people are responding. Standby.
 

Mudsport96

Full Access Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2020
Posts
1,313
Reaction score
2,106
Location
40.923,-89.488. Illinois
I typically give good ratings to my obdlink mx+. However, a recent firmware update has ruined it. I can use it to connect to cars through outdated Torque app. But using the OBDLink app crashes my phone. They are aware and are working on a fix. But come on, did they not try a beta version of the update and see that it is an IMMEDIATE crash of all hardware?
 

2006Tahoe2WD

Full Access Member
Joined
May 24, 2015
Posts
497
Reaction score
314
Location
Silicon Valley
I typically give good ratings to my obdlink mx+. However, a recent firmware update has ruined it. I can use it to connect to cars through outdated Torque app. But using the OBDLink app crashes my phone. They are aware and are working on a fix. But come on, did they not try a beta version of the update and see that it is an IMMEDIATE crash of all hardware?
I'm getting a feeling these "scanner" companies don't have good software release testing processes. It seems recently there are so many models from one company it is impossible to determine which model best covers your vehicle. IMHO it is all in the software... just what screen size do you want or need. My obdlink+ is still working - I'll remind myself not to update until I hear they have the issue fixed. Maybe I'll get my K7 working in the mean time.
 

BatsTDK

Full Access Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2016
Posts
300
Reaction score
272
Location
Orange County, CA
I use BlueDriver for most of my code reading. It pulls codes deeper than most generic scanners and the app is very user friendly and helpful at explaining what the problem is, how common it is, and user-reported fixes.
 

2006Tahoe2WD

Full Access Member
Joined
May 24, 2015
Posts
497
Reaction score
314
Location
Silicon Valley
The people at Kingbolen were able to "register" my K7 by doing something on their side. No explanation re. why I was not able to do it. At least they responded and got the issue resolved. Last night I played around with it looking for two-way functions.
 

2006Tahoe2WD

Full Access Member
Joined
May 24, 2015
Posts
497
Reaction score
314
Location
Silicon Valley
okay... I've done some testing of the KB K7 and I'm sort of not liking it too much. The software is too flakey. For one - when it was reading the VIN the dash display beeped and showed "Stability Sys. Disabled". Didn't give me a feeling. Easy enough to fix by cycling the key but still. Also a number of other glitches that are too much to describe. I'm going to give it a few more tries. The Innova might be a better choice.
 

Fless

Staff member
Super Moderator
Joined
Apr 2, 2017
Posts
11,702
Reaction score
23,770
Location
Elev 5,280
okay... I've done some testing of the KB K7 and I'm sort of not liking it too much. The software is too flakey. For one - when it was reading the VIN the dash display beeped and showed "Stability Sys. Disabled". Didn't give me a feeling. Easy enough to fix by cycling the key but still. Also a number of other glitches that are too much to describe. I'm going to give it a few more tries. The Innova might be a better choice.

If you're using an Android for the app, get "Torque" (Ian Hawkins) from Google Play. That version is free. Try it out and, if it works okay with your K7, buy the $5 Torque Pro version and get the GM Extended PIDs for it.
 
Last edited:

2006Tahoe2WD

Full Access Member
Joined
May 24, 2015
Posts
497
Reaction score
314
Location
Silicon Valley
If you're using an Android for the app, get "Torque" (Ian Hawkins) from Google Play. That version is free. Try it out and, if it works okay with your K7, buy the $5 Torque Pro version and get the GM Extended PIDs for it.
Unfortunately I have an iPhone.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
132,012
Posts
1,860,956
Members
96,438
Latest member
HarpoMike
Top