It's not very straightforward with its menu so plan on trial and error until you get used to the layout

It's okay does the job but not easy to use

tl;dr is at the bottom for people who don't care. You don't need a reason not to care, but also, I'mma vent. Skip to all the smileys if you don't like to get vicariously angry through other people or laugh at their pain.

My car is ancient but not an antique (I think), so it's like poor-old, and it usually has something going on with it. I replaced the catalytic converter and the gas cap and ran out of money and patience for yet another test, so, I got used to driving with my check engine light on. I see my guys often enough, too (haha) that it's not really been a problem other than hating the nagging feeling that cars shouldn't be so :)-ing expensive so I could just get whatever miscellany fixed.

Anyway, my car developed an issue a while back and it kept getting worse. Took it in, thought I got it fixed. Got it back, nope. I kept taking it back, the guys couldn't figure out what was up, so eventually my check engine light started flashing. Great, I thought. Drove home-- I'm not taking an Uber during covid, my car can die before I'm going to take that risk-- and had it towed. Finally, I was prepared for an answer, but to be perfectly honest, nobody in their right mind wants to cough up thousands of dollars and go into debt for the ability to drive to work, which is basically what I do.

Well guess what, there was no answer. The code mysteriously cleared itself in the wee time between me driving my hunkajunk home and some guy hauling its near-zombie carcass to the shop. "Drive it until the check engine light comes back on," they said. "We'll see if we can get something." It could be one of like a half dozen things, even if I have my suspicions. I mean, who wants to bet hundreds of dollars on suspicions? Not me.

I have decided to bet on something better, which is this thing. It was under fifty bucks and it will work on my next car if I have to hurl this one into the abyss and sell my soul and many future dollars for a new way to go to work every day. I thought, okay, my engine light's on. I'm going to take it to the shop, they can look, but if they can't find anything, f-ing fine, ONE-DAY DELIVERY. So when I got another evap code, I was like, fine. FINE. THIS IS FINE.

:) :) IT'S FINE :) :)

And it is actually fine. Here is how easy it is to use this thing:

1) Find the plug, which you can google the location of, if it isn't right next to where your lever for the gas/trunk/hood is. Plug it in.
2) Turn the ignition on, or start the car if you want.
3) Press the enter button. It's not the middle button. It's the lower left button. When you're mad, dumb things like this are harder than they should be.
4) Press enter again after the thing shows all the check marks. No big if not everything has a check mark.
5) Press enter to read codes. Select your make (Ford, Honda, Toyota, etc). No need to select model.
6) Write down the codes to share or look up, if you don't understand them.

You CAN leave it hooked up while you drive, but unplug it when you leave the vehicle. It does not require a battery. Don't leave it directly in sunlight since that might ruin the screen, but it should be okay to keep in your car in most temps. The operation is simple and google is fab. Getting codes and sharing them with your mechanic can help prevent those situations where you know there's a problem but it mysteriously disappears because you had a professional look at it. If you haven't had your car pull "on best behavior" BS on you, it's a matter of time.

Anyway, now you know. And instead of owing all of my savings and all my future money to someone who can furnish me with a new potential problem to convey me to my workplace, I might be able to say, "just replace the sparkplugs", and get a few more years out of my artifact.

----

tl;dr 10/10 would and will scan again. No complaints. I don't think you can go wrong with it, unless you never want to own a car made after '96.

The only complaint I have is that it's a little hard to read. It's really good to try and figure out a vague generality of what's wrong with your car, but after you get a vague idea, still go to a mechanic.

Diagnosticar en fallas de un automóvil