Ok so first off I purchased the iCarsoft Cr max.

The reason for this is my Vauxhall meriva had some major abs problems with lots of faults showing up on dash and in diagnostics. After going back and forth to the garage for over two months and paying a fair amount, the problem wasn't resolved.

I decided I needed to take control. I couldn't afford to keep taking the card back to the garage and I didn't like the fact that i no real control or idea what the problem was and how to fix it. But I did know I would rather use my time without cost then pay for the garages time without a guarantee it would be fixed.

I researched lost if diagnostics brands. I settled on icarsoft max as it seemed user friendly, supported lots of different vehicles, was bidirectional and had free updates for life, where as most other brands at the price point charged an annual fee.

After receiving the diagnostics tool and running the update, It worked out if the box it terms of reading all the fault codes. I then googled the fault codes and worked out that the abs module needed replacing. After replacing this with a second hand one, I read that the steering wheel and yaw sensor needed calibrating before the module would fully work. I was told the Cr max was capable of this.

The Cr max let me calibrate the steering wheel sensor. When I went to calibrate the yaw sensor, unfortunately I got an "application error" it wouldn't let me calibrate. I decided to contact support. To do this you first need to switch on the log file in the Cr max tablet. Then basically go through each step for calibrating the yaw sensor. When the error comes up. All the steps are logged. Then in the support tab you can select that log, it automatically saves and you basically are then given a page to enter your problems. You can even attach screen shots also. I explained the problem and sent the email.

I took around 3 weeks but eventually I received an email from Icarsoft with instructions on how to update the software for my vehicle with an attached zip file. After completing this and hooked the diagnostics to my vehicle and low and behold it let me into the yaw sensor Calibration. After calibrating and clearing the codes all my faults were gone. Job done.

Now it's not the cheapest bit of kit but I like the fact that if I change my car it's there waiting for me or if my family or friends need it, it's there for their cars.

A positive I found was that due to my car having electronic braking I've never been able to change my rear disc or pads myself. A command needs to be sent to the car to unwind the rear brakes before replacing the pads. This always meant a trip to the garage. I tested it and icarsoft does this on my vehicle which saves me another trip to the garage.

There are the odd issues where you go into an actuation test for example when you want to test the rear windscreen wiper. When you click on the rear one in the tablet the front wiper might go off, then you click the front and the rear goes off. This is purely down to the wrong folder names being used. This doesn't happen in all the folders I just noticed the odd one in mine. Once you work out what each are doing it works fine just alittle confusing.

Pros:

Well made hardware and fairly, intuitive software. Service modes work well, has actuation tests, special functions and live data which comes in handy when fault finding.

Has free updates for life
Has customer support but be prepared to wait for a response

Cons:
Not every service mode available for every car, some have more some have less! But to be fair there are literally hundreds of vehicles available all with different service options.

Actuation test button names sometimes mislabelled but you can work out what it should be.

Support takes a long while, but I assume they get a lot of requests and it's free!

I wanted to write this review as I noticed that there were a lot of negative reviews about the kit. To be honest there were times when I was annoyed, when I couldn't calibrate the yaw sensor for example and some of the folder names had the wrong names on them, and that I didn't get an answer straight away from support after paying £360 for the kit. But then I thought I'm not paying for support or annual membership. These guys are taking on the mammoth task of trying to provide every user the ability to have many diagnostic functions available for many many vehicles for a one off cost!

Then support actually got back to me and gave me an update for my car. I assume this update will be added into there next big update for Vauxhall cars...for free!

In conclusion:

If you are a large car workshop and need support right thier and then, then maybe look at alternatives like launch or manufacturer specific tools and prepare to pay more and pay for a subscription.

If you are a small garage, car enthusiast or just some one like me who was sick of paying and not getting the problem fixed, then in my honest opinion for the money I think icarsoft are doing I great job.

Cheers Dan

Wanted a diagnostic tool for my XC90. Volvo VIDA/DICE is available, butnif a faf to use and requires a laptop, which is another expense I did not need.

So after reading about went for the iCarSoft V2.0 as the best featured kit at reasonable money. And I'm glad I did.

Not long after buying it an array of warning lights had me plugging in the V2.0, and it quickly diagnosed not only was the integrated car phone up the swanee, but pinpointed it to the back up battwries within the unit. 2 x new batteries for £40, some soldering, and use the V2.0 to clear the codes and the job was done.

Then ABS/TC slights started appearing. The V2.0 traced it to the drivers front wheel and not only identified it as an ABS fault (no kidding - duh!) but pinpointed it as a "mechanical" issue rather than an electrical one. The only mechanical oart down there related to ABS is the reluctor ring on the end ifnthe drive shaft, so I took a flier and booked it in to the dealer to have the ring replaced, btput with no expensive diagnosis beforehand by the dealer. And once again, the V2.0 was right - the new ring fitted I cleared the codes, and the problem was solved.

So my V2.9 has proven very effective, and aleady paid for itself at least once over in terms of the diagnostic/investigstion costs that having a dealer doing the fault finding would have incurred.

Sure, there are more comprehensive tools out there, such as Snap On, Delphi, VIDA, etc, but for a simple plug-in unit, with wide ranging features for disagnosing, fesetti g, and even configuring non engine subsystemsm at a sensible price, the V2.0 has proven to me to be unbeatable.