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Greetings to all those in the forum, it’s been awhile since I posted on ETCG Forum but I’ve been working on plenty of vehicles since last time I was here in July. Ever since I really got interested in the Diagnostic work of cars and trucks I’ve always wanted to purchase myself an Automotive Lab Scope. About 10 years ago I was head over heels for the PicoScope but the price always scared me away. Now I’ve seen a trend where there are lot more companies (ones that I’ve never heard of) selling Lab Scopes and prices vary greatly. I’ve been working on rebuilding my Tool collection of which I sold off stupidly 4 years ago and saving my money to go on a shopping spree so to speak for mostly hand tools but recently there have been a couple of occasions where I wished I had a Lab Scope to be able to pin point the fault on a car and lost the job to a friend of mine who has much more diagnostic equipment than I do! (Sob) Anyways, what Automotive Lab Scope would you recommend? Are there Analog and Digital Lab Scopes out there and if so, what’s the main difference? Can they both be used to test all the circuits on a car? I know how a Lab Scope works and the basic theory behind it but what should I really be looking for in a modern Lab Scope and when is it worth spending the extra money? Your personal experiences with said Lab Scope, etc would be greatly appreciated! Ultimately I think I would want to get a 4 channel PC Based Lab scope that doesn’t require it’s own separate power source and just runs off the laptop but I’ve also considered stand alone units if the price is right. The Snap On Modis can be had for $875 to $1200 used from Craigslist which would be great for the scan tool ability also but how much can I trust a stranger selling me a unit that originally costs over $6000 new and only wants a fraction of the cost now? Is there a reason they are selling them so cheap? Any opinions on the Modis, Verus or Vantage Pro?
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If I’m not mistaken the MODIS only has a single channel lab scope, used units may be selling for cheap because the cost of upgrading the software is border line insanity. If you’re working on anything that would benefit from the pro level software and being able to get into all of the systems, then why not. If you’re dealing with older cars you can get scanners that will do OBD, ABS and airbag systems for $200-$300 to start, and you would probably get some free updates.
I saw a single channel stand alone scope on the Matco site a few months ago, but it was $400+ and only single channel.
I have used vantage, vantage pro, verus and the prices for them are insane. We don’t really use them on big rigs at all. I used them in school and I want to say you really want a 2 channel though 4 channel is best you can normally do enough with a 2 channel. Scopes are great but, the price is just insane. I really want one but, at the prices they charge man. They can be extremely useful especially for diagnostic work with injectors and sensors.
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