Saturday 3 March 2018

3 Best VAG Scanners Explained & Reviewed


VAG is a system which helps car users scan their vehicles, identify the problems and suggest solutions so as to make their vehicles error-free. If you want to keep your vehicle at its optimum condition, you should have a VAG scanner in your possession.

In a hurry? Scroll below to VAG scanner reviews.

Features of a VAG Scanner

There are many features associated with the use of VAG scanners, including:
  • VAG scanners and tools can be used with almost any VW, Audi, Skoda and Seat car model.
  • These systems are able to check the systems, identify the errors and eliminate them in an effective manner
  • Troubles related with generic codes of cars are eliminated with the help of VAG tools
  • Troubles related with diagnostic codes of vehicles are traced and solved by such systems
  • Many automated systems of vehicles can be controlled by such devices
  • Complete scans and scan reports are given to the users
  • Default values of vehicles could be adjusted to the required values
  • Present status of the vehicles is shown for checking
  • Clear screen for easy display of the important information
  • The system of such devices can be updated with the help of the internet
  • Accurate information is provided to the users
  • These devices can be used easily for fast performance
  • Linking with any computer is possible
  • Light is provided in the screen for ease reading of information
  • This device can work independently and the user is not needed to have a computer for normal working of this device
  • Warranty of one year is provided to the users on many systems of VAG
  • All products are available in the form of package
How VAG scanner works

VAG is helpful to tune the vehicles without worries of breaking something or frying the chip. There are many models and styles of VAG devices and you can choose one as per your needs.

Upon buying, you are just required to connect the device with the system of your car and then the process gets started. This device will install the software in the system of the car which will work for its tuning.

You are not required to check the areas in your car manually, as this will be done in an automatic manner. With your VAG device, you can see the details about the working of your car on the computer screen (if it's a software based solution) or the actual screen of the VAG scantool.

When you will use such a device, your car will be benefitted as the problems of it will be checked and the possible solutions will be provided. Tuning of many types of vehicles can be done easily with the help of such devices.

When you have a VAG device, you are able to complete the process of tuning in a short time period.

Just press some keys on the device, and your tuning of vehicle will be started (like key programming is common request).

In this manner, your vehicle will remain in normal working condition and the major problems will be highlighted so that you can make plans or their elimination.

VAG Models and Styles  

VAG scanner  is available in different models and styles which addresses various VAG cars (Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda or Seat).

Some companies make the basic device in the form of kits. These kits include all the cables necessary for connections and scanning tools to make sure that users can use them properly. It is necessary to have such kits in possession so as to use VAG devices. Once such kit is RossTech VAGCOM - which we consider the best solution on the market.

You can have these kits and get a complete package in which all the connection cables are included.

Manuals are also provided to the users in order to help them in learning the use of different things in the kit.

These devices are basically made to help users in tuning of their vehicles. You are not required to check all the parts of your vehicle manually which is hard and time-consuming.

Moreover, automatic systems in vehicles could be checked with the help of VAG tools.

You are just needed to connect the wires with the system of your vehicle and your device will start to work immediately.

A software (VCDS) has to be installed to have easy communications with the system of your car. You can use VAG devices with different types of cars.

There are many types of cars with automatic functions which are checked through these devices. Many professionals are using such devices at their shops to check the vehicles and get detailed information of problems.

Moreover, tuning of vehicles can be done at a fast rate with the help of VAG devices. Different types of simple and complex details about the vehicles are obtained by such systems.

Makers of such devices charge different prices on the basis of items provided to the users. You can check the kits and other things which are offered with the basic VAG devices to make your selection.

Online modes are helpful in choosing the desired devices which will be useful for you while suiting your budget.

Special discounts are also provided by the makers of these devices so that users with tight budgets can afford them.

Simple to use

VAG devices come with a simple and user-friendly design for the benefits of the users. Connections can be made through cables provided with these devices and users are able to install the software in the system of vehicles.

Many types of automatic vehicles can be checked and tuned with the help of these devices. You are just needed to connect the device with your vehicle system and the process can be started by pressing some buttons.

Reliable and fast information about all the important functions and systems of your vehicle will be given for the optimum performance of your car.

Fast working

VAG devices are especially made to work fast on the systems of cars. You can connect your vehicle with such devices and press some buttons to start working.

You will notice that these devices are fast in working and so they are able to provide instant results. You are not required to spend a lot of time in tracing the problems of your vehicle, as the hard job will be done by the device in a short period of time.

Timely working and detection and elimination of problems in many types and makes of vehicles can be done with the help of such devices easily.

Updated procedures

The software for VAG devices is updated automatically and you are not needed to find ways yourself for updating it.

Manufacturers of these devices have made it possible for the users to use the advanced systems to help them in getting reliable support in this regard.

Your device will be updated automatically through the internet, and the latest diagnostic tools and protocols will be obtained which will be used for finding and elimination of different types of errors.

All the procedures related with your VAG devices are usually updated online automatically.

Schedule of working

You can use your VAG device any time you want and make a schedule to make sure you will check your vehicle without delays.

It is good to check all types of vehicles on a regular basis to keep them free from any defects. The problems in vehicles are often not checked and so many unexpected incidents happen. That’s why it is good to use reliable devices to check out your condition on a regular basis.

Choices for users

Users of VAG usually have many choices as there are many types of these devices on the market. A number of manufacturers are making and selling these devices these days.

You can check the amazing features of these devices online and find the best one as per your needs.

Generally, the basic features of VAG devices are more or less same but there are some differences in the advanced ones. The presentation of these devices is also different from one another for the users to have many options.

Benefits

There are many benefits for the users of VAG systems. With the help of reliable VAG tools, there is no need to get worried in this regard.

If you find that some systems in your vehicle are not working normally then you can check them with the help of VAG tools. These tools will work to do proper scanning of your vehicle.
  • You will get a report at the end of scanning which will show the details of the problems and also the possible solutions.
  • In this manner, you will have options in checking and elimination of problems in your vehicles.
  • These tools are easy to use and methods shown to eliminate the problems are effective.
  • You can just connect the VAG tools to the system of your car and scanning will start.
  • Cables are provided to the reliable connections with the system of cars.
  • There are many cars which can be checked and corrected with the help of these tools.
  • Users are able to use these tools and improve their knowledge about working of their vehicles.
You can have a schedule to check the vehicles in order to make sure that these are able to work for a long time.

Before using your car, you must check the vehicle through some VAG tools to make sure that the vehicle is in a perfect condition.

Moreover, you can get such devices which are able to improve working of your vehicle while remaining the cost under your budget.


Some Recommended VAG Vehicle Scanners:

There are many devices which use VAG tools for checking of vehicles, including the following:


RossTech VAGCOM & VCDS (#1 Recommendation)

RossTech based VAGCOM Cable and VCDS Windows software is certainly the king of VAG tools -  which has been on the market for over a decade and survived the test of time of constant VW, Audi, Skoda, Seat vehicles updates.

Actually we believe most other VAG based tools are attempt to grab a piece of market share away from RossTech.

But VAGCOM is still king simply because it can both (1) do complete manufacturer system diagnostics, and (2) safely perform car modifications with one-click of a mouse button.

What's more, because VCDS is a laptop software, it generally means you'll have a lot more comfortable real estate worth of data to work with, verses handheld VAG tools which are limited to showing no more then 10-15 parameters at a time.

Here's a video review the VAGCOM unit in a very precise manner. We did the best we could to include the transcripts. They may not make sense, so just refer to the video...


Transcript of audio (not 100% perfect):

I'm going to be talking about the RossTech VAG-COM cable or VCDS is now known this cable is an invaluable tool when it comes to troubleshooting your volkswagen.
They can't tell you generic OBD2 codes. It can tell you specific codes for your car only it can aid in the troubleshooting process - and it is a very very useful tool if your Volkswagen.
Or they're just something that you pretty much if you have anything that is call it 93 or above you pretty much need one of these would be going to work on your car and maintain it for a long period of time.
Now Ross Tech was started in 1999 by you Ross and his wife and it comes in a couple different versions now there's a k2 USB which will do most cars up to 2003.
There is the USB hex cam which is what this version is and this version will do any Volkswagen audio ox go to a car on the market and then there is a lite version that I believe the license for that is like $99.
And it covers all the cheapo generic USB adapters that you find on eBay and then there was even the old old version 409 point 1 which is only for basically mark 3 cars and some of the earlier you know 92 or so jet as you could use that on it has its use but it's very limited.
Let me show you what some of those look like this is a genuine Ross tech unit and this this is a genuine Ross tech unit and this is a cheapo eBay one now they look about the same so you can tell they're both the same basic shape and this is the older years ago on eBay for like 25 bucks.
And before I even had this one I made my own and I used this in my 98 Jetta that I bought off a Craigslist for $300 as my first interface I was working as electronics technician as you can see I printed the circuit board out using opto isolator x' here that separated the car from the computer side and it's pretty jank that it works.
But there's a lot of fun and then I moved up to this one and as time progressed on I bought this one for my shop and it has saved me countless countless hours troubleshooting troubleshooting cars.
Know this cable has a lot of useful applications for your Volkswagen not only does it help you when you're trying to troubleshoot a problem it can help you while you're getting help.
There are a lot of times that if you just ask for hey my car is doing this what do I do especially on the vortex and TDI club and VW diesel.
People will ask you hey do you have a VAGCOM give us the full readout of what your car does and they can take that and look at it and kind of give you a better idea of what is going on with your car without that extra info.
You know it is a lot of times a whole lot bit more difficult to come up with what's going on it can also change settings on your cars it can change how your key fob operates you can change your daytime running lights it can change how your radio works.
Can change coding in your ECU like if you're doing an auto to manual swap you can change the instrument cluster with that if you are timing your diesel this is.
I have to have tool because you can see where your injection pump is at and be able to adjust that within spec if you are monitoring boost issues you can do that with this it just it really has lots of applications you can set service interval resets with this and you can charge your friends to use it.
There is a VAG-COM locator that you can find if you just google vcvs locator and it'll show you a list of people that are in your area of that comm if you have one like I do you can register for the list which I have and people around.
You can come and borrow it or you can charge them a couple of bucks to use it just as a service fee so theoretically you could make your money back on one's cables now this one himself was $350 I believe it might have been $400.
They have several different pricing options you can buy them with a limited of ten Vin's that is this work with but I suggest coating up I think it's an extra $50 to use it with unlimited bins kids I go through bolts wagons a lot and chances are you might - and it doesn't take any time to use up those ten bins or say you scan a car for a friend.
Or something like that so I suggest buying the unlimited bin version I also suggest buying this USB heck scan with the unlimited bins they have a wireless version I have not tested that yet.
So I can't really comment on that it seems to be working well for others but I kind of like this version mainly because it's the one I've used for ever and I haven't tried the other one yet but I have tried other was other Wireless troubling tools.
And I seem to like the cable once more mainly because you don't have to deal with connectivity issues and setting all that up it's just plug in and go this is the setup that I have for my shop it's just a simple cheap tablet but I bought purse I didn't buy and I traded it aboard.
I think I well I guess I did kind of buy it I traded a radio in 75 bucks for this it's just a generic Windows 7 tablet plug it into and sit in the car and everything works great you can do it on a laptop.
If you have the wireless version you can use a smartphone with it so RossTech is doing very good things when it comes to making it easier for everybody to use they have great support there is a dedicated forum for support for VCDs on the vortex you can find it just by going to the community forms.
There and other sites like VW diesel and TDI club have great support where the people that are work at Ross that also monitor those form and help provide customer support that way they are also very responsive if you contact them but they ask that you kind of.
Do your homework first which really isn't out of the question if you have a product as great as this that everybody used when they were having troubles you would be inundated with requests every day.
It's just stupid quite honestly if you call the number press option five that's a good one I like that one what I'm going to be doing on Vita the diesel one heater in the future is using VAD comm to show you how to make changes to your vehicles.



OBDeleven


Different types of benefits could be obtained with the help of OBDeleven which is a modern and simple VAG tool. It is easy to operate this device, as it can be directly linked with your smartphone.

This device can work in a Bluetooth environment and check the vehicle to give details to the user. You can buy the application online any time you want which will be used for normal working of OBDeleven.

This VAG tool is very easy to use and you can get the updated software to run it when needed. It is free to get the application for this device; however, if you are looking to get more advanced features then you have to spend some money on the advanced applications.

You can enter and check the codes in this device for free to get instant results. OBDeleven is known to work very fast and you can get updated results on the screen to get details about the working of your vehicle.

This VAG tool is simple to use and many people enjoy using its free modes. Paid modes and applications related to this device are also liked by some users, as these give more benefits and present more features.

Different mods are available in this device and users have the option of selecting the desired mods. As a result, you can easily select the mods which are best for your vehicle and use them to generate reports for getting details about the working of your vehicle.

This device is also able to handle different types of codes. You can check the codes supported by this device and use them when needed. These codes usually cover all the important aspects of vehicles and their issues.

OBDeleven is able to work with different types of vehicles due to its advanced features and updated software. You can also check the types of vehicles which are compatible with this device.

This checking is necessary as it will help you make selection of this device and use it for your precious vehicle with ease. As mentioned earlier, this VAG tool is easy to be used and made in a user friendly manner.

There are many features in this device which are useful for the users. You can get the system of this device updated whenever needed.

Automatic updates are also available to make sure that the user is updated and can check their vehicles without any issues.

Details of reports are shown to the users and problems with the probable solutions are stated to help the users in keeping their vehicles in the perfect form.

You will get a cable with this device which will be connected to the system of your vehicle and also to the computer system.

This cable is able to communicate through the machines and generate the reports. This report is helpful in checking the present condition of your vehicle.

This VAG tool is high in demand these days, as it can start working in a short period of time and users are able to get reliable and accurate information about the working of their vehicles.

This device is effective for both personal and professional usage. You can have this device to check the condition of your personal car.

You can also use this device if you are a professional mechanic so as to get the details of various types of vehicles and correct all types of errors.


Xtool Vag401


Xtool Vag401 is an advanced form of VAG tool which is able to check the vehicles and give all the details on a screen.

Simple faults are corrected in the vehicles by using this system at a fast rate.

You can use long codes in this device and check the progress yourself. You can also update the software of this device in order to make it work more effectively.

There is a list of systems in this device in which you can make selection of the types you want to check. You can go through all the systems one by one to make sure that these are free from errors.

A list of basic systems is included in Xtool Vag401 to ensure that the users will have normal working vehicles.

You can check all the parts of your car which are not working properly. As mentioned previously, this device will also generate a report after the screening with solutions which can be used to eliminate the problems. In this manner, you can use this device to eliminate many types of problems present in your car.

Finally, VAG tools are high in demand these days due to their beneficial features and they are being used on a large scale in order to check out various types of vehicles. You can make selection of the desired VAG tools so that you can use them when needed.

Some devices with these tools are simple while others are complex. If you need to use such a device for personal purposes then you can get a reliable and economical device.

On the other hand, VAG tools with advanced devices are usually used by professionals who have to check different types of vehicles.

When you have such a device at home, you can check your vehicles easily and there is no need to find a reliable mechanic who will work for you.

Make sure to check the details about a few VAG tools before getting the best one at an affordable rate.

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Sources: 12 | 3 | 4 | 5