OBD2 bluetooth adapter question - OBDLink MX+ vs. XTOOL A30M ?

I'm looking to add an OBD2 Bluetooh adapter to my tool kit over here and was wondering if anyone has any first hand experience using either of these two:

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XTOOL A30M
OBDLink MX+

I've been doing some research and understand that the A30M is bi-direction and more like an Autel professional level scanner in many aspects, while the OBDLink is merely an ELM327 scanner for less advanced work.

I was all set to purchase the higher end A30M when I ran across a post on-line that suggests that if you fail to connect it to WiFi at least once a month, it will go into some permanent shut down mode forever. That seems bananas to me; I've reached out to the company in China for clarification, but have not heard anything back as of yet.

If anyone here has any direct hands on experience using either of these (especially on the likes of a 360 or 458 or later Ferrari), I'd be very curious to know what your experience has been. I'm curious to know if one is substantially faster when scanning the modules and/or streaming real time data. In the reviews I've watched on-line, people seem to say OBDLink MX+ is the fastest of the ELM327 adapters, but I don't now it stacks up against the XTOOL A30M.

Finally, XTOOL has several slightly different versions of their A30 adapter, but it's unclear to me exactly what you get across the line up for more money (the prices between what appears to be largely similar models is quite substantial in some cases).

Anyway, if anyone has used either of these, I sure would be interested in your opinions and experiences.

Ray

 

Okay just ran across this in one of the manuals I downloaded - so I think that answers the question regarding the differences between the A30 models.

Ray


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The ThinkDiag2 is super nice, but doesn't it require an on-going subscription of around $100 per year for life?

Ray

 

Here's one of the videos I watched last night that was helpful narrowing things down (along with reading reviews and watching people use them).

Ray

 

I've used the off brand ones and they are good for the most part. I have an plug in OBD2 scanner here, but the screen is small and a bit cryptic. It also didn't pickup some fault codes on a Ferrari 360 which was annoying.

Just looking for something a bit more fancy.

Ray

 

I'll look into the AP200 a bit more closely - thanks for the head up on that one.

Ray

 

The AP200 didn't have stellar reviews on Amazon. Are you guys recommending it because it's more Ferrari compatible than the rest?

I did notice my friend's Autel scanner picked up codes on the 360 when my generic OBD2 scanner reported "no codes found". I'm wondering if Autel is the best choice especially when it comes to Ferrari specifically?

Ray

 

Okay thank you that helps out a lot. I have seen a lot of people mention the Carly in regards to I think BMW and Audi, etc. I'm starting to see that some companies seems to favor some brands.

Given that my daily driver is only sporting an OBD1 computer (which will soon be replaced by a Link ECU), this OBD2 stuff is mostly just to have one hand for when girlfriends or relatives show up at my house with check engine lights; I wanna have something which will be easy to grab, but also more capable than the $25 plug in readers you see (and which I have already).

If I end up getting another 360 or 458, I'll definitely keep the AP200 in mind though. Thanks!

Ray

 

Okay just to follow up...

So I ended up buying the XTOOL A30M bluetooth OBD2 dongle. I bought it used (but directly from XTOOL), so I would presume it's refurbished and/or maybe an Amazon return kinda deal. Company was very responsible to all my questions, so that was a big plus. I opted to purchase a used iPad mini (5th gen) to install their software on. I also picked up a Magpul field case to help protect it while working around the garage, etc. So I think that will end up being a pretty nice OBD2 diagnostic tool.

Here's a video of a guy showing basically the same setup, but using an Android tablet of some kind.



The OBDLink MX+ was a close second, but I think having bi-directional will be nice w/ the A30M. I think the OBDLink MX+ would be nice from the standpoint of being able to use different apps and/or your laptop with it (since it's ELM327 compatible), but the XTOOL AnyScan app is so nice I'm not sure if that really makes a lot of difference.

As far as Ferrari support w/ the XTOOL... from what I can see, it's more limited. I don't know if that only applies to older cars like the 360 or not, but once it arrives I'll do some more digging. I think the Autel AP200 mentioned in this thread above probably offers more compatibility for Ferrari (at least that's my guess). However, since I don't have a Ferrari - nor even a car with OBD2 on it - this tool is mostly just to have handy in case someone I know randomly pops up with a CEL and/or I need to check out a potential car to purchase for my kids or something.

Anyway, everything is on order now and should be coming in next week.

Ray

 

Does the AP200 allow you to see mis-fire data in real time? Or even not in real time?

I took my A30M over to my friend's house and we hooked it up to his 360, but it seemed like a lot of stuff showed up as not supported. I wasn't able to find anywhere to see total mis-fire data on any given cylinder however.

Ray

 

ok great thank you. It's very similar to what the A30M displayed over here (see attached).

I think the Autel has a bit more, but I don't see any engine mis-fire cylinder data broken down by individual cylinders, nor showing a total mis-fire count. I'm wondering if maybe (as you say), that's something only on later models? I have seen the A30M show this data (via a "special function" sub mention, but where I saw it was a later model car also (and not Ferrari). I wonder if this is a functional limitation of the code reader or perhaps the Motronic 7.3.1 in the ECU itself?

Ray

 

So are you saying that your Launch X431 has provided misfire data on individual cylinders in the past (i.e. on other later Ferrari models), but when you tested it on the 612 that option vanished?

That's kinda what I'm seeing with the A30M. It supports quite advanced misfire per cylinder data, but that feature seems to be absent when it comes to the 2000's Ferrari 360.

Ray