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Best place to get VAG COM from UK please. Serial or USB

Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 4:18 am
by saf
I need to get vag com for my car.

I have an Audi S4 B5. 2000 model and my friend has a 2001 model.

We want to get a cable. Which is best the serial one or the USB. In my experience serial has always been more reliable but im nit sure when it comes to cars.

Also Which kind of cable do i need and where do I buy from in uk.

I read once that the vag come site ross tech in uk took ages to dispatch to uk or was it the american site. I have no idea.

Thanks in advance

RE: Best place to get VAG COM from UK please. Serial or USB

Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 10:58 am
by ChipHazzard
Your best bet is to order it from ross-tech direct in the states their shipping is pretty good as well, I ordered mine from the vag-com uk site and it took ages and I know a few others on here have had problems as well

HTH

Mike

RE: Best place to get VAG COM from UK please. Serial or USB

Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 5:28 pm
by saf
Thanks. Ill do that.

Just wantd to know which was ore reliable. I did soem reading and found that it was vag com uk that took ages and that ross tech is completely independent, and the uk site was closed down.

Thank again

RE: Best place to get VAG COM from UK please. Serial or USB

Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 9:45 pm
by MarkB
The UK vendors list on the ross-tech site should be OK

Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 9:57 pm
by fil
I got recommended Gendan http://www.gendan.co.uk/




And copyed from my other posts,

i can see why, ordered 2pm friday, arived 10am saturday £200 all in :thumbs:

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 12:50 pm
by MarkB
I was going to buy from them, spoke to them on the phone and they seemed good

Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 7:09 pm
by GrahamS4
I would be ahppier knowing where I stand buying froma UK seller that has stock, for a set price.

I might email gendan and see if they would entertain a group buy.

Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 3:44 pm
by Uwe@Ross-Tech
If you want my opinion, Serial is slightly more reliable than USB, but the problem with serial is that it's getting pretty hard to find new laptop PC's that actually have Serial ports. Therefore we tend to recommend USB interfaces for people who have laptops that are adequate for a USB interface. That way they don't get mad at us when they buy their next laptop and realize after the purchase that they can no longer use their Serial interface.

As far as the old vag-com.co.uk site, they were indeed an independent business, and yes, we got a lot of complaints about them -- which is why they no longer exist.

I've heard nothing negative about Gendan, only positive.

If you search the various UK forums, you'll also find that ordering from us across the pond is quite quick -- usually 3 business days or less, but I will admit that the duties / taxes / import fees seem to be somewhat unpredictable.

-Uwe-

Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 3:52 pm
by ZeroK66
I did this... ordered from a UK supplier... they then went bust and I lost my money (£260) - after months I eventually contacted Ross-Tech direct. They sent out a cable to me FOC! My advice is go direct, they are quick to ship and their customer service is absolutely excellent!! Dont waste your time with local guys.

Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 4:43 pm
by spurtle
I've heard that the USB version can be registered for use on multiple laptops, but the serial version requires a new key from Ross Tech for each PC (=hassle if you want to use it with more than one machine or if you get a new laptop).

Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 5:07 pm
by Uwe@Ross-Tech
spurtle wrote:I've heard that the USB version can be registered for use on multiple laptops, but the serial version requires a new key from Ross Tech for each PC (=hassle if you want to use it with more than one machine or if you get a new laptop).
That is not correct. All KEY and HEX series interfaces act as a "dongle" (i.e. they have the license built into the interface) regardless whether they are serial or USB.

-Uwe-

Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 8:29 pm
by yorkie
I have just bought mine from Gendan, ordered it Sat night online and received it today. Unfortunately not had time to play with it yet.

Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:55 pm
by yorkie
All installed on Windows Vista, seems to work fine and is a quality bit of kit.

Cleared my airbag light although I had to sit in the back to keep it cleared, guess the connections to the front passenger seat are dodgy.

Worried to have an engine code listing exhaust gas temp sensor 1 short to live.

Is this bad?

Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 3:13 am
by Uwe@Ross-Tech
Post up the complete code please. There's a handy Copy Codes button on the Fault Codes screen, and a Copy button on the AutoScan screen. Either will put the relevant data into the Windows Clipboard, from where you can Paste it here, or into an intermediate file if the PC you're using to scan with doesn't have internet access.

-Uwe-

Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 6:36 pm
by yorkie
Somehow managed to lose the info but from memory..

Exhaust Gas Temp Sensor 1 (G235): Implausible Signal

And today same sensor but intermittent short to B+

I've ordered a new egt sensor, my Etka lists this as the left hand sensor i.e when looking towards the engine from the front of the car - is this the left?

Cheers