I tried to read lots of posts but now I'm really confused. I hope somebody might help me.

 

So I'm willing to be able to connnect my car to a computer/phone in case something happens - simply to find out the possible cause of the problem.

At first I thought about getting VCDS software& cable. It could be good solution but it costs some money and I have to buy a laptop too (I haven't got one. I have always loved desktops only). This kit might cost approx. 600 eur and somehow I don't want to spend that amount of money. I'm not a car mechanic after all and most of the things VCDS offers might not be useful for me.

I also read about that Carista app. I understood that it needs only some bluetooth adapter that is not very expensive on eBay.  So the question - will this be enough for me (a real beginner in these things actually)? And is there a great difference between the freeware and shareware versions of Carista?

I tried to read lots of posts but now I'm really confused. I hope somebody might help me.

 

So I'm willing to be able to connnect my car to a computer/phone in case something happens - simply to find out the possible cause of the problem.

At first I thought about getting VCDS software& cable. It could be good solution but it costs some money and I have to buy a laptop too (I haven't got one. I have always loved desktops only). This kit might cost approx. 600 eur and somehow I don't want to spend that amount of money. I'm not a car mechanic after all and most of the things VCDS offers might not be useful for me.

I also read about that Carista app. I understood that it needs only some bluetooth adapter that is not very expensive on eBay.  So the question - will this be enough for me (a real beginner in these things actually)? And is there a great difference between the freeware and shareware versions of Carista?

Yes, it will be enough for a beginner.

Yes, there is a difference between the two versions. By paying you get to make changes to various settings (codings) that depend on your specific model. Try the free version and then decide if you need the paid one.

 

Be careful with the bluetooth adapter though, you need one with ELM chip version >1.4 (real version, not advertised one).

OK, thanks!

I guess that the original adapter might cost more but anyway that won't be that much as I'd pay for laptop+VCDS+cable.

Website of Carista App says that  these adapters are temporarily out of stock.

Anyone can recommend where I could buy a REAL one? I tried searching on ebay and I found a lot of products but probably most of them are fake ones. I'm not a fortuneteller to know which one is good and which isn't...

Website of Carista App says that  these adapters are temporarily out of stock.

Anyone can recommend where I could buy a REAL one? I tried searching on ebay and I found a lot of products but probably most of them are fake ones. I'm not a fortuneteller to know which one is good and which isn't...

I would recommend buying a fake one as they are very cheap and you can take the risk.

Mine is advertised as a 1.5 but in reality is a 1.4 and therefore works like a charm. Visually it is identical to this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ELM327-V1-5-Interface-Bluetooth-OBD-2-OBD-II-Car-Diagnostic-Auto-Scanner-/221288912546?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3385d8d6a2

 

However, I bought it 2-3 years ago, so I can't be sure if it has changed internally. In any case, you should give it a try as it is cheap.

Thanks!

I'll certainly try!

i'm replying to this post be course iv'e bought 2 off these of amazon they was recommended by carisda on there site tried both the app says on them defective both returned if yours work let me no be course i'm pulling my hair out iv'e bought the genuine ross teck  carn't use it an asus android note book to use the app from carista no joy there either not bad to say all i wanted to do is find  the problem with the alarm  as iv'e put a post on here and the lads have been very help full but i'm a hands on person i could not follow the instructions they gave me regards oldtimer66