Anyone suggest a good fault reader?

[CMcKenzie]

Hi everyone,
I've been looking through eBay for the last half an hour or so, and done a few searches on here, but couldn't find anything and don't really know what I need. I want a reader to scan my car with, but the prices vary so much. Is a £5 one any good? Or are they best avoided?
I've seen this one:
VW AUDI SEAT SKODA VAG Fault Code Tool Reader Scanner OBD1 OBD2 CAN COM | eBay
And this one:
VW Volkswagen Golf polo Passat Fault Code Reader Scanner diagnostic scan tool | eBay
But like I've said, I haven't a clue what I'm looking for.
If someone could suggest one with a link, I'd be forever grateful.
Cheers,
Callum.

 

[Blackcupraa]

PM NHN on here and he can set you up with a VCDS cable for around £250 (maybe slightly more). This will be guaranteed to work and do everything you need on the car.

Failing that I did use a £5-10 Vagcom cable off of e-Bay until it randomly died after the third use. Since getting one off NH i've not had a single issue with it.

 

[CMcKenzie]

PM NHN on here and he can set you up with a VCDS cable for around £250 (maybe slightly more). This will be guaranteed to work and do everything you need on the car.

Cheers for the Info, sadly my balance can't stretch to that amount right now
But on the plus side the money is getting used for a respray
I was just after a reasonable priced one which would do all the basics, if it only lasted 6-9 months I'd be happy, just so I can make sure there's no faults before I look at getting it mapped and a few other mods, then look at getting better quality one.
Cheers,
Callum.

 

[Blackcupraa]

Honestly, get a cheap vagcom cable VAG GROUP KKL OBD 2 II USB CABLE FOR VW AUDI SEAT SKODA COM ES WITH DRIVER | eBay

Get it connected to your laptop, download VCDS Lite and it will last you an amount of time, this is assuming you can get the drivers to work and VCDS lite to find the cable etc, however if all that goes to plan, you'll be able to scan for fault codes and do other little things all day long. Just never unplug it from your laptop, ever, when it's working, I did and the cable was useless after that

 

[CMcKenzie]

For 7 quid, it's worth a punt.
Cheers for the advice,
Callum.

 

[<tuffty/>]

This info is also available in the thread in the stickies..
http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a3-s3-...-help-please-read-before-posting-updated.html

<tuffty/>

 

[CMcKenzie]

Cheers tuffty, should of really looked there. I was just wondering if the more expensive ones warranted the extra cost in terms of any functions and just quality of the device.
Just going to get a cheap one and VCDS light for now.
Callum.

 

[@udi A3]

Where abouts are you based and do u have any immediate issues? If so maybe a local member could scan and demonstrate a vcds cable

 

[CMcKenzie]

I'm not far from S****horpe/Doncaster. I had a look on the map, there is a bloke at Scunny, other than that it's out West Yorkshire way..
I've no major issues currently, just want to see what's up, if anything.
Callum

 

[<tuffty/>]

Cheers tuffty, should of really looked there. I was just wondering if the more expensive ones warranted the extra cost in terms of any functions and just quality of the device.
Just going to get a cheap one and VCDS light for now.
Callum.

Full version allows you to be flexible with the computer you use and the leads available will do our 8L's (k-line) and later cars (canbus) so is future proof... the lite version unregistered gives you limited logging ability and while reporting fault codes won't have all the labels so you need to put the work in to find out what they are... all this info is in the link I posted of course

You can register VCDS lite for 99$ which is cheap and give you all the functionality but will be tied to the one computer

Personally its the best 200 odd quid I have spent...

<tuffy/>