Is the Actron CP9580 the best code scanner available?

If you have ever used an IDS, everything else is a cheesy wannabe.

IMO, for many shade tree mechanics will outgrow a simple code READER. If you do anything beyond very simple repairs, step up and get a SCANNER. It's difficult to describe just how powerful an ODB2 scanner is once the operator knows how to use it.

At that are the horns of the dilemma. Having access to ODB2 operational data is only half of the battle. The rest is being able to understand what the numbers mean and translating into a repair.

IMO, most any scanner will do the job. Some will do it better than others. All will do the job better as the experience of the operator improves.

I have a very old Auto X-ray one line unit. It lacks data logging capabilities that when I bought it I didn’t think was important. Today I wish I had data logging. However, the one line display unit has been invaluable in solving more problems than I could count.

As far as picking a brand, if interested in custom tuning, pick the brand that your tuner uses. Otherwise, it's what ever fits your budget and interests.

wmburns, what do you think of the Delta Force tuners? Will those things also read codes and data log for dyno tuning?

tracyballard said:

what would you need to, say, observe and/ or log MAF data as you are driving?

Click to expand...

I use a one line Auto XRay to observe MAF readings while driving all the time (disclaimer: with a helper I would never drive an operate a tool at the same time ).

What I can't do is record other parameters at the same time.

I do wish that I had a better scanner that could datalog multiple parameters. Has not having it stoped me from fixing my cars? No.