Hey guys,
Im headed out to college in a few months. I will be attending automotive courses at a local community college. From what I have seen about their program you get alot for what you pay for in terms of automotive education and their facilities and tools are top notch.

I am going to buy a laptop computer, most likely a PC, for the rest of the courses and my general education. I am posting this thread to ask all you guys if you know of any laptop based software that replaces the need for an exspensive Snap-on scanner or the like.

I feel like it would be just as easy to carry a laptop into a car as it is to carry one of the scanners.

Any advice would be great,
Thanks

 

There are a bunch out there in the world. A fair few are free.... but, they don't always have all the features unlocked that the software you need to pay for does. Just do a google search, there are dozens of freeware apps out there in the world.

 

I was hoping to find someone on the forum who has experiene with a specific program and could reccomend it/discuss its general features with me. I was looking at A product called AutoTap if you ever heard of it. Also was looking at ScantoolXL Professional.

http://www.scantool.net/software/

www.autotap.com

 

yup...there are even free and pay versions of software to work via bluetooth with a phone like and android or Iphone..(Torque) .of course it is a bit limited compared to some full blown laptop programs..

 

When I went searching for software, PCMScan seemed to do everything I needed it to... I haven't had the opportunity to actually test it though....... Haven't gotten a laptop yet.

 

I saw one on youtube called Autoenginuity that sparked my interest but haven't done much research on it yet. The unit seems almost to be like the high dollar factory type programs and lets you test sensors and get drivability live data for playback and the price is not bad at all for the features IMO. Check it out, it may be what your looking for.

 

I have the Torque Pro app on my phone and love it. Like Auggie said it doesn't have some of the stuff that the laptop software has but I have been impressed with the amount of diagnostic info from this app. Also I bought one of the bluetooth ELM 327 adapters and it comes with software for the laptop. The disc I got with my adapter had like 3 different programs on it but haven't used any of them yet so can't say much about them. Just from glancing at them they look very similar to the Torque Pro app.

 

What bluetooth adapter did you buy? I have been looking for one that is compatiable with TorquePro

 

Great topic. I'm gonna start looking into this too lol

 

This is the adapter I got. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...00_i00_details

So far I like it a lot. The adapter comes with a disc with several different diagnostic programs but I haven't had a chance to check them out much yet. The adapter works great with the Torque Pro app which I really like a lot so far. I've scanned the codes on a couple of different vehicles other than my truck and it works great.