The growing complexity of automotive systems, along with the incorporation of more and more electronics, has made vehicle diagnostics tools indispensable for any shop and vehicle technician. These tools are a necessity for accurately troubleshooting issues on virtually any vehicle system that has electronic controls.
Because there are so many different types of diagnostic tools, it is challenging to select the most appropriate one.
CHECKLIST
Some general key purchasing considerations:
- What do you need or want the tool to do?
- Is the tool going to be used for one vehicle brand, or is it going to be used for a broad range of vehicle makes?
- How detailed do you want the information to be?
- Ease of use.
- Tablet, hand-held or PC-based tool.
- Physical shape and size; screen size.
- Onboard memory capacity.
- Wireless vs. cables.
- Functionality/capabilities.
- Expandability/upgradeability.
- Quality.
- Warranty/guaranty.
- Training resources.
- Technical support.
- Brand reputation.
- Budget range/price.
