I am trying to decide between the GAP BT and the icarsoft v3.0. I preferably want something that will work on the three family Land Rovers; a Freelander 2, a 2015 Discovery 4 and a 2004 Discovery 2.

Any help or advice would be gratefully received. I do not have a windows laptop so it is either a self-contained unit or BT link to a mobile phone.

Also the Discovery 4 has recently had an air suspension fault due to a split wire so I will need to be able to clear that when I get it back together.

I can't provide an objective comparison between the two - however, I thought my experience of the iCarSoft V3 purchased 2 months ago might be of interest.

1) My main reason for buying the unit was to read DTCs - this it appears to do perfectly well. Recording and storing DTCs works - but you do need to be familiar with the iCarSoft interface - it is fairly low level and i dont find it particularly intuitive. Let's put that down to user ignorance.
2) Secondly, I wanted a simple way of clearing the "Oil Service required - Visit dealer" message on the information screen on the dashboard [MY2011 SD4 with the DPF]. There is a function on the iCarsoftV3 to do this - it didnt work for me. [In the end I reset the message manually without the iCarSoft tool]
3) Updating the iCarSoftV3 unit's software - for this you need a PC. I dont have a PC - I use Macs at home - there is a utility called iCarsoftMsClientKits for Macs, but it doesnt work. It downloads the image to flash the iCarSoftV3 unit - but doesn't actually update the unit. As my unit is fairly new, this isnt an issue currently.
4) The DTC Logs are stored as .rex files on the iCarSoftV3 unit. To make them readbale on a Mac or PC screen, you have to "print" a report of the DTC log - you've guessed it using the iCarsoftMsClientKits utility. Mine prints blank reports every time... I need to find the time to look into this, for me it is not high priority - just frustrating. PC users seem to be happy with the PC / Windows version of the utility though.. My workaround is to just take photos of the iCarSoftV3 screen with the "interesting" DTCs. Not very clever, I know...

Hopefully, I will warm more to the unit as I get used to it...

a100ian wrote:

I am trying to decide between the GAP BT and the icarsoft v3.0. I preferably want something that will work on the three family Land Rovers; a Freelander 2, a 2015 Discovery 4 and a 2004 Discovery 2.

Any help or advice would be gratefully received. I do not have a windows laptop so it is either a self-contained unit or BT link to a mobile phone.

Also the Discovery 4 has recently had an air suspension fault due to a split wire so I will need to be able to clear that when I get it back together.

I have the Autel AP200 maxi as well, does everything I need it to do.
I have one for the Landrover.
I also bought another one with VW licence for my sons Polo.
You get one marque free for lifetime and then can add an additional marque for £19.99. But be aware this is £19.99 for 1 year only so its more sensible to buy another unit, they're generally available for between £40-50 and anything over 2 years it's paid for itself.
I had hoped that VW included all VW group, Audi, Seat, Skoda but no they are not so generous.
Having said that it still reads generic obd codes on any vehicle, I was able to diagnose a failed coil pack on my sister in law's Skoda Fabia using my LR one.
We now have a Fiat 500 and a Peugeot 108 in the family fleet so might end up buying another 2 at some stage.
I had a Nanocom for my Discovery 2 but this does virtually everything it did in a small Bluetooth device. No cables or extra screens required. Landrover - turning owners into mechanics since 1948

2014 Orkney grey Freelander SD4 GS.
2004 Zambezi silver Discovery 2 Td5 (Gone)
1963 Surf blue Morris Mini Minor Super de Luxe (my little toy)

Thanks for the input. I am going to look more into the autel. I have read some good reports about it in this forum before.

I use the AP200 on my L405 as well, and so far has never let me down, so never bothered to get a GAP tool at well over £500

GAP II are French Canadian made I believe? In my opinion, they had a good thing going but dropped the ball ( maybe due to sales) on completing the ability to function like SDD. I've not used an Autel, I use SDD V130 with a mongoose, but I've heard really good thing about the Autel for the price.

I have a ripped off version of Delphi diagnostics, which works on every vehicle I've tried.
I have an IID too, but it has been stuck in an updated loop for months. It won't update, but connected to my phone just fine.
A email Pat at Gap, he said use the genuine USB cable and try an update, which didn't work. He now says he thinks my unit has failed, which isn't good for an almost £500 unit, which has seen maybe ½ a dozen uses.

I also have an Icarsoft I930, which although basic, was my go to unit for occasional issues that needed investigating. Hyundai Ioniq 5 Ultimate. The family car.
2009 Rimini Red SE TD4. Gone.
2006 Tonga Green i6 HSE. Gone.
Audi A5 convertible, the daily driver.
1972 Hillman Avenger GT, the project.

Hi a100ian & gang,

Ref : iCarsoft……..I bought one for wife’s Mini about 3 yrs ago……absolute waste of money…..lots of things…resets etc. are “not supported on this vehicle”. Don’t waste about £100 on it.
By contrast: I purchased an Autel AP 200 when I couldn’t get my Lynx Diagnostics to work….about £60 from AMZ. to read DTCs when I had trouble with FL2…..( see under Stuttering/hestitation P 27,28 ) it proved invaluable….& so easy to use…keep the dongle in the car & I always have phone…so it’s easy.
As Bobupandown rightly says it’s better to buy a separate unit for each car brand. I will buy one for Mini.

Thanks for your input. Is the Delphi an actual unit or just the software?

I went for the gap tool in the end as I had an ongoing suspension issue with my dad's D4 and I thought this one would be the most comprehensive at sorting the problem which it has. However, another unit could have possibly done the same and a bit of a worry hearing yours has packed up after six uses.

I have a MacBook and I have to say the software downloaded quickly and easily and everything updated again quickly and easily.At this stage it doesn't seem to be locked to a specific VIN unless you want to do more advanced work with it but I haven't tried it on another land rover yet.

If it is locked however, I will purchase and Autel for my own car with so many forum users having a good experience with it.

I know it's a bit late now but it maybe of some use to some others that might pass through this thread. I've done a small review of the Autel AP200 on our Freelander 2 .

 https://www.youtube.com/@scottandalana4x4
https://www.facebook.com/ScottandAlana4x4

where did you get the AP200 from or can you give a genuine supplier, I note some suppliers say that it does not do keys or injector coding ?

Mel.

This is the site that we got ours from http://autelstore.co.uk/ and it registered perfectly fine.  https://www.youtube.com/@scottandalana4x4
https://www.facebook.com/ScottandAlana4x4

I have checked that site and it says it does not support key programming or injector coding which I thought it would as other sites say it does.

Mel.

I'm not sure about injector programming, but Simon used the Autel to program a new key as seen here.

 https://www.youtube.com/@scottandalana4x4
https://www.facebook.com/ScottandAlana4x4