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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 309 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
206 of 215 found the following review helpful:
 STRAIGHT UP AWESOME Dec 02, 2005
By Charles Daniel
"Chuck Diesel"
I can't stand the concept of paying $100 just to have someone hook up a little cable underneath my dash to clear out a light. We've all had that conversation... "Oh wow, you fixed it already? You just needed to erase the code, huh? Wait, how much? You're kidding. I saw what you did, I was standing right here the whole time, it took 10 minutes." THAT COSTS $100?!?!?! This badboy will pay for itself the first time your check engine light comes on. I've used it 4 times on 4 different vehicles to crank out codes. It's worked on both my Nissans, my mom's Toyota, and my sister's Volkswagen. No doubt in my mind it will work with every vehicle. It's easy to use and fits in your coat pocket. It clears the trouble codes and turns off that worthless, annoying check engine light. When I had a code that didn't go away, I checked what code it was (in the included fault code manual), then went down to the dealership and told them what I had. They verified it, and went to work fixing it with no hassle. You know that feeling like you might have gotten screwed? I used to get that feeling. I hate that feeling. Thank God I don't get it anymore.
76 of 80 found the following review helpful:
 neat product but the code book needs work Feb 01, 2006
By big moose
What a neat little OBDII code reader! I have had a problem with my Land Rover "service engine" light coming on and I hate taking it to the dealer just to tell me that they cleared the code and could not find anything malfunctioning and charge me $100. Being a backyard mechanic I also want to know what is wrong and are they replacing the right parts or if it is something I can do, or something that can wait. In comes the Actron pocketscan. It a very slick tool for under $70 bucks. The only downside is that the code book and website are sub par. I actually have to go to their competitor's web site (iequus.com) to get the codes for my Land Rover. Even though the Equus web site is much better, they do not have a code reader this small that will fit into the glove box or door panels as well. Actron should get their act together and get their code book and website up to the grade that Equus has.
129 of 140 found the following review helpful:
 Actron 9125 Review Feb 26, 2006
By LIGUY
For reading basic failure codes and to clear them the unit works fine as advertised. However enclosed with the unit was a addendum to the manual which stated that the unit was updated to include " MIL status and I/M Monitor status". These functions did not work. When I called Actron's technical support after some confusion and investigation they determined that the unit had old software and therefore was not upgraded for these new functions. I send the unit back for upgrade and the unit was returned to me and was not upgraded at all! I called support again and they had no idea why it wasnt upgraded and requested that I send it in again. I probably will not send it in again and will keep it as it is with the basic functions.
40 of 41 found the following review helpful:
A serious driver's friend Jun 24, 2007
By M. Gozum
3 weeks ago my CEL light came on. The car ran fine, there was no sensation of a defect. I could pull the battery and wait 5 minutes, which is a reset spec for OBD II without a reader, but what if the issue was serious, later on? Calling the car dealership, a diagnostic ran $75. A Toyota TSB released in 2006 said a common issue was simply a loose gas cap. I tightened it, and tried to reset the CEL. No go. Ordered the reader, as I'll need it anyway for other issues as they arise with the CEL. Followed the instruction, diagnosed the issue, checked it against the Toyota troubleshooting manual, and presto, CEL is gone. For $47 versus the $75, not only is the problem fixed, I know how to do it [ priceless!] and I now have a tool to diagnose these pesky electronic computer modules that feeds data to the CEL, just to insure the dealership is up to snuff, or I can fix it myself [sometimes it can be just a loose hose.]
It rates 4/5 for 2 reasons:
The cord is short. Its OK, but the unit will not raise to a comfortable chest height connected to the OBD II jack, one has to crouch down;
No backlight, crouched in the dark driver pedal area, a small LED or something would help a ton, given how dark it is down there and the cabin light doesn't light one's feet.
Other than that, its so simple even a cave man can do it.
38 of 39 found the following review helpful:
Great, but know what you're getting into before buying May 05, 2007
By G. Hoeppner
First off, this is a great little unit. I've only owned it for three weeks and I've already diagnosed and repaired two separate Service Engine Soon codes on my vehicle. More expensive units are available, but offer features I don't believe most people would need. This unit simply reads a trouble code one-at-a-time and gives you the options to (a.) read the next code, or (b.) delete the existing code.
That being said, this unit isn't for everyone. If you don't have any knowledge about how your engine works, or where things are, then I suspect you will have little use for this product. The ODB II codes read by the unit can be quite cryptic. For example, my first problem was P0133. The manual says "O2 Sensor CKT Slow Response (Bank 1, Sensor 1)." One of my O2 sensors was bad, but if you don't understand messages like this, you won't be able to fix your car. However, I will say an Internet search is more useful than just going by the standard ODB II messages. Also keep in mind that various codes can be related -- fixing a leaky vacuum hose might cause other codes to disappear.
In any case, I've found this unit to be extremely helpful, and it paid for itself nearly immediately. I'd much rather hunt down cheap parts on my own and use a little elbow grease to fix something myself rather than pay a mechanic.
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