Solus Pro & Solus

[David Green]

Hello forum techs,

Could somebody please advise me what is the difference between the Solus and the Solus Pro, if anything except the colour of the case?

Thanks

David

[hefaus]

Solus Pro, Solus

Hi David. I had a SOLUS and now I have a SOLUS PRO. They are both very Good Scanners. The Solus Pro has a removable rechargable battery, the Solus Does Not. The Solus is done now for Updates as they are only Updatable to 9.2. The SOLUS PRO is way faster than The SOLUS,has a bigger screen, bigger body,has more ways of saving files, internal, external (CF) even takes a memory stick.Will be the scanner for the next few years of choice. IF you want to buy a Scanner and you can afford It would be the Solus Pro. Have A Great Day.

[David Green]

Solus's

Hi hefaus,

thank you very much for your reply and information to the Solus's

My boss has the Solus (Red) one and I have purchased the Solus Pro (Graphite) Colour if that is right. I have not examined the bosses Solus in detail but physically they both looked the same, which is why I thought I would ask for advice.

I was particularily impressed with the graphing facility of the Solus Pro, and that I can gain different information from different locations, i.e. OEM and EOBD.

I knew once I had graphed a few vehicles that I needed other equipment to help solve the problems identified, so I initially looked on the Snap On forum and found the Vantage Pro, I watched the video displays and thought the VP looked great and offered live graphs and data:, then I was advised it was not available in the UK, which having done some digging through Snap On and asking why not, our UK Snap On department in the UK and US have agreed it will be available February 2010, so I placed an order with my local dealer.

But I still had the problem of graphing for the time duration between now and then?

I found in the Snap On flyer a MT599A Blue Point live data scope/DVOM, I had a read about it and decided that it would suffice until then.

I initially had problems because the software provided was received on a floppy disc, I contacted Snap On UK who said they would get back to me but didn't, I asked my local dealer who said he will make some enquiries, so am still waiting on that one.

I rang a computer shop and asked for advice and they told me to buy a USB floppy drive, so I did and the software has loaded to my Windows Vista no problem, but then I had the problem of getting the saved data from the scope into the software on the computer, so I contacted a local electical/electronics supplies and asked about a conversion between RS232 and USB, they said no problem it is here waiting for you, I popped along a purchased the lead and software, loaded it to my computer, and now I can graph live data directly from the vehicles I work on (any) record the data (all of it) and load it to my computer and save it, and observe it on a large screen , all for £615

My boss is not an auto engineer by trade, but is looking at the Bosch KTS on Wednesday, we all told him that he would never make his money back out of that machine, we are not saying its not a good piece of kit, but some traders who own it tell us it does not have a magic wond, so guess my boss will have to learn the hard way if problems arise

David

[hefaus]

Solus Pro, Solus

Hi david. The Vantage Pro is a Great Lab scope. I am sure You will enjoy that Piece of equipment when you get. That and the Solus Pro do each other very well. I have Both and use them it to each others advantage. Have a Great Day

[David Green]

Hi david. The Vantage Pro is a Great Lab scope. I am sure You will enjoy that Piece of equipment when you get. That and the Solus Pro do each other very well. I have Both and use them it to each others advantage. Have a Great Day

Thanks hefaus

David

[hefaus]

Solus Pro, Solus

Hi David. My Solus Pro Is The Carbon Fiber Edition. I like the looks of it over regular Solus Pro, probably just Looks better to me. Both same unit just different front case cover.You should notice a difference in weight and size between the Solus and the Solus Pro. I attached an attachment to show you what it looks like. Have a Day.

[David Green]

Hi hefaus

Thanks for that, the one you show is the exact same one I have

I am learning with it all the time

We had a Renault Clio petrol the last week with a engine none starter, one of the tech's changed the vehicle battery and the car started, the customer also reported to out reception that the speedo would fail when driving. Our boss asked me to road test the car which I did with the scanner connected, after a short while the car speedo failed to function and I noticed what I felt to be a slight power loss, on arrival back at the garage I looked at the graphs but could not find any fault, then I looked at the fault codes and found PO500, where the scanner said it was an undocumented code, so I got out the books and found it to be a VSS fault, just after that vehicle left us my MT599A scope arrived so I missed the opportunity to scope it, but reading in some info later OBD II advised that the fault I identified was related to the VSS

Have a good diagnostic day

David

[hefaus]

Solus Pro, Solus

Hi David. Sometimes it helps to have more tools at your disposal. I have a program Called Escan Decode its free to use but to get the mode 6 to work you have to purchase. Just typed in the code and there it was. If you want to check out there site it' s www.automotivetestsolutions.com go to downloads and select Escan DTC and Mode 6 Decoder. Very handy program I also Purchased Escan A Great program as well. You can also download that and it will work in demo mode if you want to check it out. It only does engine related no by directional. I use this program Lots and some times just to check out the snappy readings as a cross method if something looks strange in the value readings end. I tried to attach but is to large. If You download and type in dts it will come up as what you said you had to look up in a book. I did it under generic. Have a great Day.

[David Green]

Solus Pro, Solus

Hi hefaus

Thanks for the information, very much appreciated

I will go and have a look

Thanks

David

[DustyAnthony]

Just went from Solus to Solus Pro 2 9.4 two weeks ago and I am glad I did. The Solus Pro has a reschargable batt, bigger display, seems better to navagate and will be upgradable for some time yet. I beleive the regular Solus is done for upgrades. I feel this solus pro is the best bang for the buck in the diagnostic world at this point.

[eddiesverus]

I did have a SOLUS at a time, it was the worst sanner I've ever owned. batteries leaked causing it to fail, unit was very slow and had to be send in for repairs sevral times. I aslo got the VantagePro wich has been the Best tool I've used. I got them both at the same time. I ended up trading the Solus for the MODIS wich also was a Mess at its time. sevral updates and upgrades to CPU and Screen it finaly worked great. Iv'e ended up trading it for Verus and found it still has many problems and still needs improvements. I still have the VanatgePro and its been still working at its best no upgrades or updates. I've seen many improvements it these tools but Why can't SnapOn just stick to one tool and support it at its best. Why have all these platforms, Solus, Solus Pro, Ethos, Modis, Verus, soon then a SolusPro3 ModisPro, VerusPro ect. you get the picture. Snap On needs to focus on one product and make it work right, just Like they did with the old Brick. Remember the brick? I hope now that the Verus is the last platform they offer. Hopfully they improve it by offering more speed, memory, and wireless VCI as well as PC user software. As far as the SolusPro they should keep supporting it and not kill it like the orignal Solus and Brick.

[David Green]

Not owning the original Solus (red One) I don't understand why that Solus would not be updateable?

Surely if the software is via Snap On on their vans connected into the Solus, then what stops the download into the Red Solus?

David

[kebo1970]

too many scanners

i agree with you eddie on snap on having too many scanners. i thought the modis and solus needed more functions like key programming. with all of the different scanners available from snap on; not one can program a security key. you either have to buy another brand tool or call in a locksmith.

[hefaus]

Solus Pro, Solus

Not owning the original Solus (red One) I don't understand why that Solus would not be updateable?

Surely if the software is via Snap On on their vans connected into the Solus, then what stops the download into the Red Solus?

David

I was told by my snappy rep ,the reason was because the solus and the solus pro progamming were two different ones in one.The solus pro is faster than when it was 9.2 as it had both systems in it. Now with 9.4 it seem's even faster. I may have misunderstood but the death of things keeps comming for the new. Sometimes it's just use that don't want change. Have a Great day

[David Green]

Hi hefaus

Thanks for that much appreciated

Looking forward to Feburary 2010 for the vantage pro to be available in the UK

Had a Citroen C3 1.4 MPI year 2003 in the other day, customer complained that the instrument display EML came on and the instrument display engine temperature gauge started to read low?

I put the Solus pro scanner onto the vehicle and read the fault codes which came back with set code P1161 - Throttle Position Copy?

I said well it must be something to do with the throttle pedal or throttle butterfly housing, but what would that have to do with the engine temperature gauge reading low?

Some people have complained that the scanners do not pick up the correct fault codes when problems arise, my experience is new with the scanner?

I road tested the car up to 70 MPH constant and graphed the data, to me the graphs seem to be pointing towards a fuel related fault, the lambda 1 before the CAT momentarily looses the switching signal and at the same time, the fuel trim (STFT) as the (LTFT) was not used on this model moved upto +20%, now my understanding was that negative fuel trim increased fuel but this was shown on the (LTFT) which is not used, so does the (STFT) on this model having two graphs (STFT)s indicate that both graphs showing +20% is reducing the fuel supply, the reason I ask now is because the front lambda momentarily stops reading, and lambda 2 after the cat which is reading but alot less than lambda 1 is also momentarily not reading at the same point on the graph displays?

The type of graph used for the coolant sensor indicates a continuous read out but as would be expected of a vehicle on the road at speed, the signal does slightly drop down lower on the graph scale.

Wished I knew how to upload them for you to see?

What do you think

David