Car diagnostic has come a long way. In the past, problems are diagnosed much like medical general practitioners, where the mechanic will ask for the symptoms, after which the suspected issues are then worked on. Not every problems are apparent; diagnostic was a hit and miss thing. These days we have computer diagnostic, where every aspects of the vehicle can be read with dedicated machine or even a laptop with the appropriate software. Obviously, computer diagnostic is reactive: you only go through that when something comes up or during the vehicle’s regular servicing appointment. But here’s a product that puts diagnostic in your hands and the real kicker here is, you can actually do it wirelessly over your smartphone without the cumbersome laptop with tons of scales and graphs that you probably don’t have time to get acquainted with.
Dubbed Mechanic Advisor, it consists of two parts: a smartphone app and a dongle (called Connection Key). Simply plug the latter into the car’s diagnostic port, paired it with your mobile device and start monitoring everything you can and can’t see. The app and hardware combo provides you will real-time diagnostic check with alerts and explanations for over 20,000 vehicle codes and when it seriously need a mechanic, you can scour through over 500,000 mechanics, complete with profiles and customer reviews right from the app. If there are immediate queries that needs to be answered, the Ask a Mechanic feature lets you get advice from a pro over your phone, right there and then. Moreover, the app can help you keep track of the vehicle’s maintenance schedule, letting you keep tab on the details like when it is due for oil changes, tire replacements and more.
If you’re all up for the idea of keeping a close relation with your beloved car, you can pre-order the Mechanic Advisor Connection Key at a discounted price of $44.95 (usual: $74.95) with shipping slated to happen sometime in “early 2015”. But before you jumped right into it, there are a couple of things that you need to know: the Mechanic Advisor is only good if you’re located in Stateside and it will work with almost all gasoline cars sold there since 1996. At the time of this writing, diesel and electric cars are not supported. Continue reading for a product video to learn more.
submitted via TIP US page.
