Ross Tech Alternative

N41EF

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2005
Location
Aiken, SC
TDI
2011 Golf, 2009 ML 320, 2006 NB, 2001 NB
The biggest value I see with Ross-Tech, is that you pay up front for the cable, $250, then get lifetime software updates and tech support. If you pay full price, and clear two check engine lights you have paid for the cable. I also like the fact that unlike Durametric/Porsche you can use VCDS on an unlimited numer of cars. I've had mine many years and have read 4 or 5 of my cars, and a dozen local peoples cars as well.

I try to support those who support us. Do you shoplift? Pirate Music or Movies?

I also have a Snap Om Solaris Pro, it's $500 just to update the software each year, hence mine is 2013 version.
 

ilyago

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 14, 1999
Location
Chatham, NJ, USA
TDI
2015 Jetta S DSG
I am willing to pay for a Ross-Tech, but I have been waiting for a device I could use without a laptop.

I like the Foxwell unit - does anyone know if the Foxwell unit can display the ash load data from the DPF?
 

JSWTDI09

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 31, 2009
Location
Las Vegas, Nevada
TDI
2009 JSW TDI (gone but not forgotten)
I am willing to pay for a Ross-Tech, but I have been waiting for a device I could use without a laptop.

I like the Foxwell unit - does anyone know if the Foxwell unit can display the ash load data from the DPF?
1) Do you have a smart phone? If yes, a Ross-Tech HEX-NET wireless interface includes VCDS-Mobile. You get the full capability of VCDS with no need for a PC. However, it does cost more than a cable.

2) If is can read ECU measuring blocks, then it can read ash load data. All DPF performance is read from the Engine controller through "measuring blocks". I have no experience with this device (I have VCDS), but it should work for that.

Have Fun!

Don
 

whitedog

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2004
Location
Bend, Oregon
TDI
2004 Jetta that I fill by myself
I also have a Snap Om Solaris Pro, it's $500 just to update the software each year, hence mine is 2013 version.
And to get the latest update, you (and we) would have to buy each years update as well. So now that you are into 2015, it's going to cost $1000 to upgrade. We will just buy a new (and non-Snap-On) scanner in a year or so.
 

serjio89

New member
Joined
Aug 1, 2018
Location
Moldova
TDI
Passat
What about the vcds cable from www.totalcardiagnostics.com that i bought, is completely useless and not working, paid 116$ with ship. included, they gave a lot of different instructions on how to install: do that and do that..., and no luck, after a week of emails, they stopped answering to my emails, so dont buy from them, loss of money and waste of time. Dont let them take your money!!!!
 

pdq import repair

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2016
Location
idaho
TDI
09 Jetta
If you work on VAG vehicles VCDS is hands down the best buy for the money, period. I wish I could purchase the same quality software for the other lines we service for the same low price. I would buy them in a minute, even if I had to buy a different version for each model line.


I hired a Mechanic for my Japanese side. He had been working at Honda dealers for over thirty years and was very good. He started working on VAG cars some also after coming here. It wasn't long after he got familiar with VCDS that he told me he wished Ross-Tech had the same offering for Honda. He said it blew away the capabilities of the dealer machine. In fact he often would grab the VCDS to pull Generic OBD codes on anything as it was faster and easier than dedicated scanners we had for that.
 

1854sailor

Resident Curmudgeon
Joined
Aug 10, 2004
Location
Westerly, RI
TDI
2015 Golf SE SportWagen, 2015 Golf SE Hatch Back.
Total Diagnostics has been ripping off Ross-Tech for years. Please remove the link in your post. It just gives them more exposure.

What about the vcds cable from totalcardiagnostics that i bought, is completely useless and not working, paid 116$ with ship. included, they gave a lot of different instructions on how to install: do that and do that..., and no luck, after a week of emails, they stopped answering to my emails, so dont buy from them, loss of money and waste of time. Dont let them take your money!!!!
 

PRY4SNO

Veteran Member
Joined
May 15, 2016
Location
Edmonton, AB
TDI
2013 Touareg Execline
Necro bump! haha

On a serious note, I purchased OBDeleven Pro a little over a year ago thinking it would be a handy, cost-effective, smart phone compatible option to use on the Farmenwagen.

A year later, the Pro part of the "subscription" dropped away and I find that the basics I need to do fairly regularly are locked behind a minuscule supply of complimentary "credits." Well, last year I had hundreds of credits, today... 9. It costs 5 credits just to look at measuring blocks. Click out, and yep, going to cost you 5 more.

Go to look into checking soot/ash load in the DPF, and there's next to no information on the web or in their dedicated forums. Threads/posts are often ignored and if a reply is forthcoming, it's days or weeks away. If you get any follow up it's likely to be incoherent, insufficient or in another language lol.

Had I known, I would have done a lot more of the coding I'd been intending to do, like (for instance) disabling the auto door locks and DRL. Now, I have to hoarde the credits to ensure I have enough on hand at any time to purge the fuel filter canister when I do filter changes (every other oil change). (Otherwise, I'd have to buy more credits, despite having had a pro membership and the credits I'd purchased expiring in a year.) Driving ~300km per day, that comes more often than you'd think.

So while it saved my bacon (reading/clearing codes, for EG) at a low cost over the initial period of ownership, I wish I would have just purchased the HEX-NET cable and been done with it in the first place. At this point, I'll get one and just keep the OBDeleven in the car for reading/clearing codes on the road and keep the VCDS handy and where it belongs: in the shop in my tool chest, ready for the big boy jobs.
 

Curious Chris

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 11, 2001
Location
Pineview GA
TDI
Jetta Wagon 2003 RIP Rockford IL
I am an early adopter of VCDS and when I first installed it, it did not work: called Uwe and he figured it out. Couple years later the wires in the RS-232 cable broke two wires so I called again for the pin outs: Linda answered the phone, gave me Uwe's cell phone and I called him and he was in the line at the bank and he rattled off the pinouts for me. I kept that original cable for a long time until laptops started not having RS-232 connections so now I have Hex-CAN cable at it has served me well. When you buy a pirated product you are basically participating in the theft.
 
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