Buy this, Not that!

[fmorelli]

Protools, ISTA+ if you're willing to get that set up and take the time to learn it. For convenience I also have a Launch X431 Pro3S+ which is excellent (bidirectional, and does every car on the planet). I find myself using the Launch pretty frequently because it's just easy. I hook up ISTA+ when I have to (fire up laptop, set up ICOM, wire up, etc). Wouldn't mind hearing more about people using Protools for diag. I have the whole setup but really don't use it.

 

[SLOWESTN54]

I heard @martymil Talk about it. Looked it up from there. Maybe Marty can give us his two cents on this.

 

[Jeffman]

Protools, ISTA+ if you're willing to get that set up and take the time to learn it. For convenience I also have a Launch X431 Pro3S+ which is excellent (bidirectional, and does every car on the planet). I find myself using the Launch pretty frequently because it's just easy. I hook up ISTA+ when I have to (fire up laptop, set up ICOM, wire up, etc). Wouldn't mind hearing more about people using Protools for diag. I have the whole setup but really don't use it.

Agreed. ProTools seems to have lots of functionality.. but am I the only one who believes the user interface needs a lot of work?

For example, it seems that all of the good stuff is in “Experts Only Mode” or something like that where you are warned that if you make a mistake you’ll brick your car. Gosh, you’d think a really useful app would allow you to explore changes, but allow you to revert to previous without bricking?

Sorry for the rant.

 

[martymil]

Protools can be a royal pain in the ass as I found out last week, its a useful tool for basics but go into complex stuff and it car really brick your car. Its good for like turning shit on and off and changing vin on modules and that's about it in my books

 

[GreyNBlueE92]

I used pro tools to lci swap a 5 series... For whatever that's worth. Some VO codes, vin, and coding. Everything works although the coding isn't perfect yet. It was a lot of work and I got lazy at the end... I think i can fix it in the future.

UI is ok for basics, most of the more complicated stuff is hidden in expert mode. I just make a backup and hope for the best. You can restore from backup or vin. I haven't bricked anything yet... :Knocks on dash: Phone is always with me vs laptop. That's why I use it

 

[@juan35i]

I think ill just go ahead and install ISTA on my laptop and buy the rest of the equipment. After seeing all the Protools comments ill hold off on it.

 

[fmorelli]

All right, putting this here. Got tired of using these stupid rubber hockey puck things, atop jack stands. Love the Reverse Logic solutions but they have not been selling for a long time. Didn't want to break the bank for jack stands, either. So ... spent $110 on 4 Torin Big Red jack stands, $15 on some bar stock 6061 aluminum and such. Cut up the bar stock, drilled for some M5 socket head bolts, ran some Helicoil thread in the top of the stands, and bolted the BMW stand-offs on. Not too bad to do.

 

[NoGuru]

 

[General.Massacre]

This is epic, well done, that looks incredible.

 

[fmorelli]

This is epic, well done, that looks incredible.

Thanks. Easy to do. Honestly if you have a local place that does metals, you can probably get the bar stock cut in the right size and not break the bank. Drilling, tapping can be done at home for most peeps.

 

[NoQuarter]

Nicely done!

 

[Yourbuddysatan]

Is there any update of a full diagnostic/code tool to get for E body cars? I’d like something to do most things on my 335i. Any ideas?

 

[whyzee125]

I've bought several FitCamX for various vehicles recently. Highly recommended. They've all fit like OEM, worked flawlessly, and have never glitched.