OBDEleven vs Carly

[MasterTom]

So I don’t have a laptop so can’t really do the whole coding through VCDS.

 

I was looking at OBDEleven Vs Carly.

 

In all honesty, I just want to make a few tweaks to my other half’s mk3 VRS. She wants chirp on open and close and to change the home light to the fog light and a few other tweaks. 
 

OBDEleven seems to have a yearly charge and then credits.
 

Carly  I’m not to sure what they are about.

 

So what have people got, whats the opinion of them?

 

TIA

[Kjp1]

Hi mastertom, I'm having the same problem myself at the moment, the obdeleven is not a straight forward purchase and away you go, from the reviews I have read people try to carry out a function only to be told that function is not supported and to carry out that function you gave to buy credits!!!!!, I really can't be bothered with all that nonsense, I want to pay my money and be left alone not always having to buy extras, as for Carly or whatever it is called I am not sure what there set up is, I lost interest after getting my head around the obdeleven scenario. I'm getting totally confused by it all. 

Good luck. 

[Tell]

Its the OBDEleven Pro you want if "coding" the non Pro form is like the other one it's a black box. You don't know what it's doing to the coding of the car and how to get back. Coding you do since you reverse what you did. The non coding apps are black box macros running which if they bomb out you leave the cars coding stuffed. Obdelevn without Pro are the micro payment apps where you buy units or earn them. The pro license has an annual payment. VCDS would be land you with a fee but you need a laptop. Anybody who had the Obdeleven prior to circa 2021 has a free license for life and anybody later has to shell out.

 

All comes down to the level of risk you are prepared to take with black box solutions. The so called coding on Obdeleven Pro is just flicking screen icons.

[EnterName]

9 hours ago, Tell said:

Obdeleven prior to circa 2021 has a free license for life and anybody later has to shell out.

I suspect this will come back to bite OBDeleven on the backside, particularly if a decent alternative appears on the market.

[Tell]

SFD and coding device manufacturers are all in the same boat, it's a hand shaking protocol between Vag and the manufacturers of these devices. A message goes to Vag from the supporters of your device that says I need a token, token comes back, yes you can do that. No license, no token. There is a diagram on the net when it was first introduced.

 

The one click people pay for it via the micro payment apps, the big boys that do coding via the a license payment. Obdeleven covers both bases, the micro payment apps which challenge the Carista market / similar devices and the Pro side that change the coding VCDS side.

 

Added to this fun Obdeleven have the Ultra product which gets users to do their work for them by writing the coding for the micro payment apps. That is crowd sourcing of generating the apps. They pay for the privilege of that.

 

Reality is the safest coding is to do it yourself not via micro payment apps and fork out for VCDS type laptop solutions or Obdeleven Pro. A standard Obdeleven device becomes a Pro by entering the license code. The one click apps and devices are for chancers that like things simple.

Edited 12 October, 2023 by Tell

[MasterTom]

So for me it looks like OBDEleven might be the way to go, I may wait until a sale event or Black Friday. (Which shouldn't even be a thing in the UK)

Many thanks

[Gabbo]

Maybe checkout the latest reviews of OBD 11.

Since the summer this year they have almost doubled their prices & made changes to their bundles (no free credits included & no free credits from watching adverts in the app).

 

I am waiting for my new car to be delivered & was pretty sure I'd buy an OBD11 pro (1 year subscription) which was €60 on amazon.de at the time.

I decided to wait until I got a delivery date to maximise the time for my subscription.

 

Today, I don't find them for sale any longer on amazon (de or uk) & from their own website the same bundle is €99 plus additional shipping.

 

It still seems like the most complete mobile solution today & despite the subscription model, you probably wont be making coding changes for more than a year.

You're most likely to apply the mods you want in the first week, maybe try out a few others & then use is as a diagnostic reader as your car gets older afterwards.

 

 

[Gabbo]

I just checked the Carly website & it seems they have upgraded their functionally somewhat since I last looked.

 

Their website is a bit vague on what you get (and for how long, 1 year or life) but it seems they offer a similar 1-click coding functionality like OBD11.

However, I can't find it they offer the long coding method (so you can see what you are changing and the original values).

 

For simple changes it seems like a cheaper alternative than OBD11 but there's no way to confirm is speeds the coding you want without buying it. It just says "unlocks all Skoda features"

[Gabbo]

Compared with Carly, Carista appears to offer the same functionality for a lot less.

 

https://carista.com/en/supported-cars/skoda/superb/mk3

 

The adapter is currently €23 on amazon with a 1 month free trial of the subscription features.

Again 1-click app style rather than long coding.

 

Their website also gives a clear list of the functionally that is currently supported by their app (see link above).

 

1 month afterwards is €9.99 or €50 per year.

 

[Gabbo]

https://www.amazon.de/Carista-OBD2-Bluetooth-Diagnostic-Tool/dp/B0BBS73F6J

 

Edited 18 October, 2023 by Gabbo

[Tell]

The one click apps come down to whether you trust what it's doing. They are like Excel spreadsheets they start a process and if it goes wrong you are stuck as everything thing is out of alignment. Sinking feeling. I've never used the Obdeleven one click apps always the programming so you know what it's doing. You can unravel what you did from the history file.

 

On newer models coding options arent published as one click apps so you get the fun of researching it yourself. The mqb evo lane assist under taking, over taking, slamming the brakes on etc were identified by the community where it could be fixed. The one click authors sniff about the boards looking for code. This is where fixes are published as one click apps that aren't tested and don't work.

 

It's true that after a year you can probably end the pro license at doing what you want in the first year. My main use now is turning the stop start on and off between services and clearing infotainment error codes from meddling in the backend. Those two you wouldn't be doing on the newer mqb evo platform in any case now.

 

 

[Gabbo]

I would assume Carista/Carly have some kind of log so when you "uncheck" the one click option it puts back what was there before.

Sound simple for one change but when you apply multiple changes to one module I guess it becomes harder to know what to walkback.

 

They also mention "5 minute full back of all the ECU settings" which I'd assume should be able to put back the original settings of your car if everything goes tits up.

 

I think I'll order Carista at £23 and give it a go with the free month trial.

 

I've a 2014 Octavia & would like a couple of tweaks & a mk3 Superb arriving but nothing really that I wanted to "activate" yet.

 

Afterwards, I'd only need it for OBD purposes (had a few 1time errors on the Octavia recently) which would be good to understand.

 

Gabbo

[Gabbo]

My Carista adapter arrived today.

First impressions are that it is quite basic & almost all features are locked behind the paywall.

£9 a month, £20 for 3months or £46 for 12 months.

If you subscribe to the 12 month plan you can have 1 month free trial (you have to enter your details & cancel before your month is over to avoid being charged).

 

Even basic "live data" & DTCs are behind the subscription.

On my Octavia I can make a basic scan of all of the modules in the car.

It tells me part numbersetc & that I have 1 DTC in the infotainment unit & 2 DTCs on the CEM but the actual PCode(s) are only shown with a subscription.

Clearing the codes is also not possible without a subscription.

 

The live data is limited to about 10 basic parameters, the rest being hidden behind the subscription.

 

The app makes a good job of showing you what you can do for all functions (coding, diagnostics, self maintenance, etc) you just find that the "save" or "enable" button is locked with a "BuyPro" button instead.

However many of the coding options it offers are actually already available in the MFD or infotainment.

 

Overall I'd say it's not really worth it.

I was hoping for at least diagnostic functionality for free.

I guess OBD11 is a better long term choice even if it costs slightly more as it offers long coding & seems better supported by the community.

 

I might try a month free access over Xmas when I have some free time to experiment & change a few settings to see how it works.

 

 

Gabbo

[MasterTom]

Sounds like you're not overly impressed with Carista then. I am still looking at OBDEleven, just waiting for a decent offer. I am in no rush.

On 25/10/2023 at 21:29, Gabbo said:

My Carista adapter arrived today.

First impressions are that it is quite basic & almost all features are locked behind the paywall.

£9 a month, £20 for 3months or £46 for 12 months.

If you subscribe to the 12 month plan you can have 1 month free trial (you have to enter your details & cancel before your month is over to avoid being charged).

 

Even basic "live data" & DTCs are behind the subscription.

On my Octavia I can make a basic scan of all of the modules in the car.

It tells me part numbersetc & that I have 1 DTC in the infotainment unit & 2 DTCs on the CEM but the actual PCode(s) are only shown with a subscription.

Clearing the codes is also not possible without a subscription.

 

The live data is limited to about 10 basic parameters, the rest being hidden behind the subscription.

 

The app makes a good job of showing you what you can do for all functions (coding, diagnostics, self maintenance, etc) you just find that the "save" or "enable" button is locked with a "BuyPro" button instead.

However many of the coding options it offers are actually already available in the MFD or infotainment.

 

Overall I'd say it's not really worth it.

I was hoping for at least diagnostic functionality for free.

I guess OBD11 is a better long term choice even if it costs slightly more as it offers long coding & seems better supported by the community.

 

I might try a month free access over Xmas when I have some free time to experiment & change a few settings to see how it works.

 

 

Gabbo

 

Sounds like you're not overly impressed with Carista then. I am still looking at OBDEleven, just waiting for a decent offer. I am in no rush.

 

[Gabbo]

OBD11 is back on amazon again but the pricing is almost double than before.

€65 for the adapter and €100 for the pro subscription.

 

If there's an offer like before around €60 for the pro version, I'd go for that.

[Tell]

At one stage people board the dongle from Amazon on fast delivery and Pro license online direct. Isnt Black Friday sometime 🤔.

 

Currently direct

 

https://obdeleven.com/products

 

Online for the whole lot hasn't changed much but Amazon + pro direct was quicker.