Autel MaxiCOM MK808BT PRO Scanner, V2.0 Bidirectional Diagnostic as MK900BT

Why it's worth it

The MK808BT PRO is a wireless diagnostic tablet with bi-directional control, meaning it can command your car's ECU to run components rather than just report on them. Add 28-plus service resets across 150-plus brands and it does most of what an independent shop's tool does.

Active tests are what you're really paying for. Bi-directional control lets you tell the ECU to run a component — ABS solenoids, injectors, window motors, wipers, headlamps — instead of inferring its condition from a code. That's how you separate a dead part from a wiring fault upstream of it. Autel lists more than 3,000 of these tests across the major systems.

The service reset library covers the jobs that usually go back to a shop. Oil service intervals, electronic parking brake, steering angle calibration, battery registration, throttle body adaptation, injector coding, ABS bleeding — 28 and counting. If you do your own brakes on a car with an electric parking brake, that one function can pay for the tool over a couple of jobs.

From our review of 7 obd2 scanners, by Genevieve Dubois, Home & Living Expert

What we like

• +Active tests are what you're really paying for
• +The service reset library covers the jobs that usually go back to a shop
• +It's wireless, and the freedom is real
• +Automatic VIN reading makes full-system scans quick

What to know

• –It's the kind of tool you have to learn
• –Special functions aren't universal, and Autel says so
• –Software updates eventually cost money