leaning towards IDS/VCM

2763 Views 5 Replies 4 Participants Last post by P38ace, Dec 29, 2009

RRDave

Discussion Starter · Dec 18, 2009

After perusing all the traffic here and spending time with the service techs working on our RR, I am leaning towards an IDS/VCM clone.

My reasoning is fairly simple, I am planning to purchase a 3 or 4 year warranty so most repairs would head back for the dealership; this is to allow me to have some data before walking in and to perform routine maintenance/possibly avoid a few co-pays. I also have a spare touch screen computer lying around (don't ask) and the investment is therefore fairly small.

I've gotten pricing from odbiiscanner.com, http://www.obdiiscanner.com/professiona ... d-vcm.html, that is pretty reasonable, has anyone any experience with this crowd? All other suggestions are most appreciated!

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Rick-the-Pick

· #2 · Dec 18, 2009

It's a chinese clone.

It won't work 100% & there's every possibility it could damage your vehicle.

We've already had the discussions on the cloned merchandise. They're unreliable, poorly made & if it knocks any one of the ecu's out on your vehicle, your bill to repair will be twice the price of that VCM. If the company knows that you've plugged a cloned system into the vehicle the warrenty will be void also.

But, saying that, the choice is yours.

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BBS SPY

· #3 · Dec 21, 2009

RRDave
Do yourself a favor and stay away from the Chinese clones unless you like playing Russian roulette.
I don't like the IDS system myself, but i won't lower myself by unfairly knocking it, and water down my genuine attempt to offer you some really good advice.
If you are a business wanting basic features on multi model, IDS makes financial sense over anything else anyway, but whatever you do, if you are going down the IDS route, Spend that bit more and get a genuine one.

Not so many use these clones on LR's as most Buyers are Ford, which is what they are sold as, so you can find at least some examples on the web of what those guys have to go through for the sake of a couple of hundred more, but its just as bad if not worse when trying to use them with LR software. You can find people who are happy, but no where near the volume of those that have trouble in one way or another.
heres one example
http://www.digital-kaos.co.uk/forum...llation-best-practices-clone-ford-vcms-62617/

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P38ace

· #4 · Dec 29, 2009

RRDave,

I went IDS with reasoning similar to yours. No experience with the seller you link but their price is on the high side. There's a myriad of suppliers to choose from as you've no doubt found. Try to locate one with instant online chat (text) and check that it is instant, comprehensible and readily available before deciding. Also check warranty policies. There's a fairly high possibility you will have problems with the hardware !!!

Good Luck

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Rick-the-Pick

· #5 · Dec 29, 2009

It doesn't matter what they tell or promise you.

They work to different rules than the rest of the world so anything they promise isn't worth the paper it's written on.

If you're going to get the IDS VCM, go for geniune, it will cost about £3,500 but worth every penny.

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P38ace

· #6 · Dec 29, 2009

Rick-the-Pick said:
They work to different rules than the rest of the world so anything they promise isn't worth the paper it's written on.

Like everything, it's buyer beware. However, I've only ever had good experiences with all online purchases from Asia, including China. Unfortunately I can't say the same when buying from Europe. I've had most problems with the UK.

VCM hardware is listed for £2095.00 from Snap-on. http://www.ford-ids.com/. This seems to be the UK RRP.

Same thing in the US is $2399.00 from http://www.fordtechservice.dealerconnec ... dering.asp. That's good value considering it does all current Land Rover, Jaguar, Ford & Mazda.

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