ThinkCar ThinkDiag TKD01 OBD-II scanner review

Our Verdict

One of the largest Bluetooth-based OBD-Ii automotive diagnostic scanners, the ThinkCar ThinkDiag TKD01 shows you extended fault codes and tin turn off the oil alter light, but tin exist hard to install and has a pricey subscription plan.

For

• Comes with hard example
• Reads basic and enhanced codes
• Lots of paid optional abilities

Confronting

• Big and heavy
• Difficult to install
• App costs $40 subsequently a year

Tom's Guide Verdict

One of the largest Bluetooth-based OBD-Two automotive diagnostic scanners, the ThinkCar ThinkDiag TKD01 shows you extended fault codes and can turn off the oil alter light, only tin can be hard to install and has a pricey subscription plan.

Pros

• +

  Comes with hard case

• +

  Reads bones and enhanced codes

• +

  Lots of paid optional abilities

Cons

• -

  Big and heavy

• -

  Difficult to install

• -

  App costs $40 after a year

• -

ThinkDiag: Specs

Size: 3.1 x 2.0 x 1.one inches
Weight: two.vii ounces
Live information: Yes
Display: None
Number of keys: None
Bluetooth: Yes
Handheld: No
Warranty: 1 year

Big and ofttimes difficult to install, the ThinkCar ThinkDiag TKD01 Bluetooth-based OBD-2 automotive diagnostic scanner rewards the user with the ability to effigy out both generic and manufacturer-specific fault codes.

Unfortunately, in a world where gratuitous software reigns supreme, the ThinkDiag's base app requires annual subscription payments after the first yr, and the scanner's wide variety of add-on software costs fifty-fifty more.

In other words, the $110 you pay when buying the ThinkDiag scanner is only the offset. The ThinkDiag is yet one of our best OBD-Two scanners, but proceed those ongoing payments in mind.

Read on for the rest of our ThinkCar ThinkDiag TKD01 review.

ThinkDiag: Pricing and availability

With a $130 price tag, the ThinkDiag Bluetooth scanner/transmitter can tell you a lot about your car. ThinkCar makes a huge range of automotive diagnostic tools, from the $21 ThinkOBD 20 to the $two,000 ThinkTool Pros+ system for professional person mechanics.

ThinkDiag: Blueprint

Officially known every bit the ThinkCar ThinkDiag TKD01, but ameliorate known and marketed every bit the ThinkDiag, the scanner is an oval-shaped cylinder that's among the largest and heaviest Bluetooth-based units available.

(Image credit: ThinkCar)

At iii.1 x 2.0 x 1.ane inches and ii.7 ounces, the ThinkDiag is 15% larger and more than twice as heavy as the BlueDriver Pro Browse Tool. The ThinkDiag is so thick that it didn't fit into the OBD-Two port on my 2014 Audi A4 Allroad, so exist sure to have an OBD cablevision extension on paw.

This is the OBD-II Bluetooth scanner for those who tend to abuse their tools, because the ThinkDiag device is ruggedly built and comes with a black, hard carrying example. The black-and-red scanner'southward LED ring shows its status, ranging from solid blue for connected and green for normal operation to flashing blue to show that data is moving. A solid-ruby calorie-free signals that a recent firmware update has failed.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The companion ThinkDiag mobile app is available for Android phones likewise equally iPhones, but ThinkCar engineers warn that the app may not work with tablets.

Rather than displaying icons, the app's interface is dominated past text, with the primary screen showing everything from Maintenance to OBD-2 to a full vehicle diagnostic report that can be emailed, sent to a social networking account or printed straight from the phone or tablet.

(Prototype credit: ThinkCar)

While most of the app's screens are brilliant and colorful, the live data'southward white-and-light-blue color scheme gets done out in sunlight.

In addition to working with the generic OBD-II codes, the ThinkDiag app can dig up many manufacturer-specific codes. In the U.S., information technology's free to apply the app for a single car make for a year. Afterward that, the software costs $40 a yr for a single brand of car manufacturer. If you take two cars from two dissimilar makes, yous'll accept to pay double.

In addition to performing a pre-inspection test, the device can check the tire-pressure level-monitoring system, the anti-lock brakes and the car'south airbags. The ThinkDiag app'southward Full Vehicle Modules Report summarizes the top items that can go bad.

(Prototype credit: Tom's Guide)

The ThinkDiag'south access to alive data is first-class, only the scanner stops brusk of offer to show y'all the parts that might be needed for repairs. Finally, each manufacturer-specific software package includes the ability to turn off the oil low-cal.

ThinkDiag: Functioning

Once the scanner was plugged in and paired with my Galaxy S9 phone, the ThinkDiag app immediately showed me my car'due south vehicle identification number (VIN). The scanner allows a single download of vehicle-specific software before yous have to pay actress, so I was simply able to apply it with my 2014 Audi A4 AllRoad. Withal, the ThinkDiag picked upward the fault I had manually introduced (a asunder oil-temperature sensor) and was also able to turn off the Bank check Engine light.

(Paradigm credit: ThinkCar)

With a 35-foot wireless range, the ThinkDiag scanner allowed me to walk effectually the car and stick my caput into the engine bay while monitoring the motorcar's inner workings. Unfortunately, the ThinkDiag app doesn't suggest possible repairs for the problems it detects.

ThinkDiag: Setup

Getting the ThinkDiag scanner was just the offset. I also needed to download and install the companion mobile app, enter the scanner's serial number and activate the scanner online.

Following that, the ThinkDiag device and app each got an online update, and I was finally prepare to use it — or so I thought. I then had to enter the manufacturer, make and model year of my car to download the vehicle-specific information. It took nigh 5 minutes for me to get started with the ThinkDiag, versus less than a infinitesimal for many other OBD-II scanners.

The ThinkDiag comes with a rudimentary start-up guide, simply that'south nearly all you get. There's no instruction manual, but ThinkCar has extensive FAQs on its support website. The ThinkDiag scanner comes with a 1-year warranty.

ThinkDiag review: Lesser line

Among the biggest and heaviest Bluetooth-only OBD-Ii scanners, the ThinkCar ThinkDiag TKD01 earns its buy price past checking on faults and digging deeply into the performance of your vehicle with a comprehensive report.

On the downside, it doesn't propose repairs or parts, and later the first yr, the ThinkDiag app costs as much equally an inexpensive scanner.

Brian Nadel is a freelance writer and editor who specializes in technology reporting and reviewing. He works out of the suburban New York Urban center surface area and has covered topics from nuclear power plants and Wi-Fi routers to cars and tablets. The former editor-in-principal of Mobile Calculating and Communications, Nadel is the recipient of the TransPacific Writing Award.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/thinkdiag

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