Have you visited the Ross-Tech website? Specifically, have you looked at the Function chart that shows the difference between the shareware and the full version of VAG-COM? Function ChartJonesy said:Just wondering i do alot of work on my car at home, but was wondering if its worth the money, what usefull features are there in the licensed product?
How on earth did you know that?!?! Dou you wear an anorak by any chance?Sebastian said:Sorry, Ross-Tech doesn't do group buys.
FWIW, the term dongle doesn't apply for 3rd party interface hardware.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dongle
A complete interface (KEY-USB) and software package for your S3 costs $249 USD. At the current exchange rate, that's £133, not £300. This includes full support and free updates for the forseeable future.madvw said:Maybe for commercial companys its fine, but to lash £300 on hardware and software is a joke, and an unjustifyable expense to get past the bank manager.
Garry said:Vag com is a bargain,I paid £266 for mine,and with four vag vehicles in the family,ive saved a small fortune in the last year.
Garry said:If the price went up to £500 I would still pay it,you've also got to remember,the back up is second to none,and ive had no problem's with a lost connection
Garry said:so buy the real deal,and stop trying to rip Ross Tech off.
madvw said:yep, thats the one i use. What serial port settings are you using in VAG-COM to get a solid connection? Also, what O/S settings do you have on the port too?
TBH, my moneys on the USB port on the dell laptop...
madvw said:Your comparisons of US and UK prices of VAG-COM are unfortunately way off.
UK resellers of VAG-COM and KEY-USB (im afraid i discount serial port solutions as serial ports are now legacy and end of life) translate $US to £Sterling almost on a 1 for 1 basis. I can currently find the cheapest GB vendor of KEY-USB for £199. This assumes that your car isnt CAN-BUS too. For some of us, importing is a risk we'd rather not take with items of that value - although i agree it may be cheaper that way before import tax is applied.
madvw said:It only has 1 USB port, its an old c600 from the days when dell were producing low voltage USB sockets that didn't work that well. I could test it out on my work laptop if i was thinking straight...
I haven't contacted gendan at all about the settings. For the OS, the only setting i've changed was the baud rate. It was really flaky at the max setting, as you would have assumed. Setting it to 19200bps is the best i can get atm. I know that old VAG ECU's communicate at 9600bps, and that newer ones are faster (i'm assuming 19200bps).
However, your faced with another load of settings within the vag-com program itself!