Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

My dad is a mechanic, has been since before I was born. He got his first OBD2 scanner around 15 years ago and it cost him a fortune for something with very few features. It just spat out a code number with no further details. Over the years he's replaced it exactly once, with something with a few more features but still very limited on what it can do, providing nothing in terms of realtime data. These standalone units tend to be pricey if you want them to do anything, and even then, sometimes you find yourself lacking a lot. While this device doesn't do everything, for the price you shouldn't expect that, but you get the same features you would from a standalone that costs easily ten times the price. If you need more, there are definitely solutions that are much cheaper than the standalones with the same features, so regardless, just offloading the "thinking" to your phone is saving you a ton of money. It does really come down to the app you pair the device with though, the instructions recommend a few free options that are available on various phone models. I went with Torque personally, as that was the higher recommended of the bunch, and after a week they had me convinced to update to the paid version that uses the same information to provide a ton more detail. The device itself works great, but it doesn't sleep, so be careful not to leave it plugged in. I've accidentally done so a few times and didn't manage to kill my battery, but I'm sure it could after enough time. It would be nice if it went to sleep when the car was turned off so you could use it as a full-time information gathering device, but in this price range that feature is somewhat rare; and provided on more expensive options that are designed specifically to be used as an "all the time" thing. But like I said above, the device is only as good as the app you use with it, so choose what fits your needs the most and you should be good to rock and roll.