STAR diagnostic clone?
 

Has anyone purchased one of the Hong Kong STAR diagnostic systems that can be found for sale on eBay for about $750? Just curious if it actually works, and how difficult is it to learn to use?

Before I developed a relationship with the OEM manufacturer for the STAR systems, we tried the clones. Their performance was not consistent enough for us. The OEMs are more expensive, but you get what you pay for. We have the OEMs for $4995

I bought an OEM unit instead of a clone so I have no input on the quality of the clones.

The Star user interface is very simple to operate. The data variables controlled by the UI are sometimes very obvious and sometimes a bit cryptic. As long as you take time to understand the variable before you change it, you are not likely to break anything.

Cloned star unit from hong kong
 

I bought a cloned unit from hong kong. Utter rubbish, when I got the unit it was broken. I then sent it back, they repaired it, got it back. It actually worked for about an hour... Broke again, now I'm sitting with a broken unit. Stay away from any chinese clone!!

Interesting.... I was sitting on the fence for one of those - now I know why I did not buy it.... :eek:

I bought one and so far, it has worked fine. I haven't done much with it except read/clear codes and play with the diagnostic features though.

Did you buy a chinese clone?

Yea, it was a chinese clone. It was shipped from Hong Kong. Kinda off-topic, but can anyone explain to me how to removed the 155 mph speed limiter?

Unfortunately the 155 MPH speed limiter cannot be removed via Star Diagnostics. You have to flash the ECU's firmware to remove the limiter.

I bought a clone. Worked great, set my ride height lower, -10c mod, and set octane to 93. Ran diag as well. I was happy with it. Just sold mine to another person.

I guess I got the lemon :(

Are you 100% sure? It is tricky to setup the Notebook.

1) Do not use a USB-serial interface, it doesn't work consistently. Use the PC Card I/O Serial card. Worse case load on to Desktop and try that because it has serial port built in.

2) When you fire it up, You have to go to device manager on your pc and make sure it is serial com port is set to COM2.

Good Luck

Thanks for the help, but believe me I tried EVERYTHING. My friend and I are both electronic engineers, do FPGA coding, highspeed digital (5Ghz+) hardcore stuff... I got the unit to work for about an hour, after that it went dead. Even with the self diagnostic , no luck.