About me: I've worked on cars for about 11 years. Professionally for 7 or 8. Have held my ASE Master cert for over 5. Have used factory PC-based scan tools from Volvo, Toyota, Ford, Nissan/Infiniti, and probably a couple others I've forgotten. Plus your old Snap-On bricks, their much-newer MODIS, the Nemisys and Genisys from OTC...I've been around.

I have a rather large collection of tools, but have never purchased a scan tool, as one has always been provided by work. And I'm cheap.

Now I've grown as sick and tired of the behavior of car dealerships as most of their customers have. So I've begun to work for myself. This was a budget purchase to allow me to be able to do 'check engine' light repairs. Drivability / engine performance has always been a specialty, and it's generally more lucrative than 'grunt' work like brake and suspension stuff. Especially when you don't have a lift. And it's commonly less of a headache than trying to do electrical work without access to manufacturer resources (wiring diagrams, signal specs).

All of that said...A few years ago, you couldn't buy a pocket code reader (one of those little guys that just reads and clears generic P-codes) for the price of this thing.

Now $25 gets you a device that reads/clears codes, includes a decent collection of code definitions, shows freeze frame data, and reads/records/graphs live data. When I started seeing stand-alone scan tools that would do all of this for under $1000, I was ecstatic.

But what's this cost, again? Yep, 25 bucks (at the time of this review).

The bad:

- You need to provide your own laptop or netbook. Obviously. Then again, that still means you can have all the above-described functionality for $400 or less...and you get a 'free' Windows PC thrown in.

- Live data is slow to update. This can be from a number of factors, but I'm 99% sure the old Elm327 chip is the bottleneck. It still works, and and graphing over time can still be useful. But looking for minuscule blips in sensor data is going to be hard. Luckily, that's not often required.

And that's it for the bad. Pretty insignificant, I'd say, since most people are just going to want to read/clear codes and will not be doing advanced drivability diagnosis.

That guy you see at the dealership, probably using a fairly old Toughbook with a big awkward box hooked up to it? Yeah, he's got a much better resource. Data updates as close to instantly as possible. And he can do a few extra things: Update/reprogram the software of various electronic modules (like the ECM/PCM). Activate outputs (e.g. open evap purge valve, activate electric fan, ect). Program keys and remotes.

He also is using something the dealer probably paid $4-5,000 or more for, not including the cost of keeping their software licenses current (you pay per machine).

I'm running this on a Lenovo I bought new, over two years ago, for less than $400. "Pentium dual-core," which I believe is just a slightly neutered old Core2duo, with 2GB of memory. OBDWiz is a great little program, and there is of course a lot more stuff available. On the cars I've used this on so far, I have encountered no issues with connecting, reading/clearing codes, reading PIDs, ect.

Essentially: If you're a mechanic who wants decent scan tool functionality at a super-cheap price, or anyone who attempts to DIY on OBD2 vehicles, this is what you need. Even if you want to upgrade later to something pricier...well, if you can afford that, you're not going to miss your $25 much. And I've seen the more expensive generic PC-based cables and software...they're really not that much better.

If this doesn't do it for you, well, I hope you're freaking loaded, because the next big step up is hardware/software from the vehicle manufacturer. Or at least a MODIS or similar.

And, despite the added functionality, don't even get me started on how primitive, ugly, unstable, and unintuitive some automakers' stuff actually is. Yes, Ford, I'm looking at you. IDS is a friggin' joke. Like a six-year-old programmed it in VB.

Basically, conclusion: bad reviews are from people expecting way too much, or using non-legit (i.e. pirated) software with it (which can cause problems). The vast majority of buyers are set with OBDWiz. I don't know what's up with the complaint of it only reading 'a few' PID's...I see the same stuff a stand-alone tool would spit out. RPM, MAP, MAF, TPS, O2's, fuel trims, ect.

I work as a professional ASE certified mechanic and I bought this for home use on my new netbook that uses Windows 7 starter.

installation was easy, but simply plugging the scanner into the laptop while connected to the internet got better results because windows automatically finds the best drivers.

when you first try to connect i found it easiest to click auto-detect to make sure the pc can communicate to the scanner.. then click connect and it finds the correct protocol to use.

Reading and clearing codes was very easy.

To view all the PIDS you have to manually set it to monitor all of them or you only get a few. However when you do this the PID update rate gets very very slow and is almost useless, I was able to rev the engine up and let it come back down to idle and the scanner never updated in time to pick up the RPM change.

If you deselect all PID's and select only RPM, it will update almost instantly so the update rate depends on the car AND how much data you are trying to pull all at once. when selecting 5 or less PID's the update rate is acceptable

I've tried this product on a 2006 Honda Ridgeline and a 1996 Ford Escort, the escort appeared to have faster data refresh rates, but was still too slow when all PID's were selected

Overall this product is worth the low cost if you're trying to check and clear codes, and if you know what you're doing you can do SOME diagnostics with this, to do any real diagnosis you need a much much faster scan tool capable of monitoring all PID's as fast as the car will update them.

OBDWiz was the best software I tried for this scanner, stick with and check for updates within the program to auto update to the newest version and gain some more power

Also the best way to install the software onto a netbook is to copy the CD onto another computer and transfer it to the netbook. Or create an ISO image of the CD using daemon tools and mount it in a virtual drive

Arrived quickly and as expected. Met my needs immediately, followed the simple instructions and away I go. It provided a lot of data, but my primary purchase was for reading the codes, reset, and use for troubleshooting. Did see a slight delay in reporting of information, but it was well less than a second, and if I didn't explicitly look for the delay, I would not have seen it.

The default feature set is much more than I need right now, but as a former mechanic, I can see the value of this device along with more advanced software for some of the most complex issues.

The only thing I had to do was run the program as Administrator (Windows 8), to get it to connect. (Right click on the shortcut and choose "Run as Administrator".

I've owned this product for several years now and it still comes in very handy for checking and resetting OBD-II codes. It can not pull ABS brake system codes and isn't compatible with some vehicles like Volvo's, but otherwise it's a very useful tool for the home mechanic.

My 2004 Dodge Ram Truck's check engine light would come on intermittently; I kept going to a local auto parts store and plugging in their code reader and it would show no code and the light would go out. I figured what the heck, I'll Give this a try. TOTAL SCORE!! This thing works great, you can run diagnostics, clear the history and troubleshoot some pretty annoying problems.

Well my check engine light came on and I read the code; the Dodge Store wanted to charge me about $500 to diagnose and fix the problem. I diagnosed it myself, went on you-tube and learned how to change out an EGR valve, and picked up the part at a local auto parts store with a 20% off coupon, I fixed the thing in 1/2 hour and the parts were $33. This is the best gadget in my toolbox!

It even tells you if you will pass smog and is configurable for different states emission standards.

It hooked right up to my Toshiba laptop and linked up to the truck computer--super simple--Do not hesitate to get one of these!!!