
The best OBD-II scanners you can buy today See all of our picks for the best OBD-II scanners below. It does double duty by providing a small but efficient cabled handheld scanner for nosing around under the hood, and it can also wirelessly receive OBD data to serve as an auxiliary gauge inside the cabin to display key engine parameters. It comes with specialized cables to connect to those pre-1996 "OBD-I" models.Īncel's BD310 is another great OBD-II scanner. If you have a GM, Ford, Chrysler or Toyota car from the '80s or early '90s in your driveway, Bosch's OBD 1300 might be a godsend. It's a thick stubby plug that you can leave connected to your OBD-II port, but the app is elegant and well designed. The BlueDriver Pro Scan Tool is our top pick among Bluetooth-only scanners. It has an unusual horizontal screen, has a full complement of functions and abilities, and is one of the few scanners that can connect to Wi-Fi. The Topdon ArtiDiag500 is our second Editor's Choice. The Innova provides code definitions to help you easily identify car problems and the Repair Solutions2 app helps you get verified fixes and will give you the exact parts you need, recall info and more. It has a color display, delivers a ton of useful data, shuts off the oil-change light and can run your car through a pre-inspection test. Unlike most scanners, it has both a handheld screen and the ability to connect to an app on your phone via Bluetooth. The best OBD-II scanner we used and tested is the Innova CarScan Inspector 5310. One of the best OBD-II scanners is no longer an unaffordable luxury, but something you need to have in your car. Whichever type you choose, there are several high-performance OBD-II scanners that cost less than $200.

Not all the best OBD-II scanners are created equal. (Here's how to find your car's OBD-II port on North American cars, and here's how to find your OBD-II/EOBD port worldwide.) OBD-II/EOBD scanners work on almost all passenger vehicles sold in the United States since 1996, in Canada since 1998, in the European Union since 2004, and in Australia, Mexico and New Zealand since 2006. The best OBD-II scanners can diagnose thousands of automotive problems. We've tried out and tested more than a dozen OBD-II scanners, and we've rated them based on features, size, warranty, setup, ease of use and - above all - value.

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