Launch X431 PRO3S+ V5.0 Bidirectional Scan Tool, Topology Map, CANFD & DOIP

Update: 3/25/2022: I want to let everyone know that the scanner is holding up well. This scanner is perfect for diy and also a shop. The issue with the 2-year update I mentioned in my earlier review has been fixed by the vendor and I am very happy with it. What makes this company a big success is its customer service. Imagine a vendor following up with you how the product is doing after almost 1 year of purchase? This just makes me feel even more confident that I am in good hands. I cannot say this to ANY of the scanners I’ve purchased in the past, including the branded scanners that costs 3x or 5x more. We all look for the AFTER- PURCHASE support and this company never fails. If you are on the fence and concerned about the functionality and price, here is my honest opinion. It’s worth every penny! You are buying a quality scanner with a customer service that is over the top. Your other option is to buy a slightly cheaper scanner and you’re on your own without after-purchase support from the vendor. NO I AM NOT PAID TO WRITE THIS REVIEW. I just want to help out by giving you my personal experience with the scanner and customer support. Good luck! Update: 7/2/2021: I contacted Launch Tech USA and was informed by Jeff B (Product Support Representative), “unfortunately the X431 Pro3s+ is not manufactured for the North American market and as such Launch Tech USA does not sell or support it. If you need a software update, repair or if you need info about the tool we would not be able to help you, you would have to contact whoever sold it to you. In addition, the tool will never work well on US Spec vehicles... we do not sell direct, or online via eBay or Amazon.” The reason why I contacted Launch Tech USA is the product should have come with 2 years of free update. When I checked the subscription under my account, the update expires in exactly 1 year from the time of activation. Overall, I paid around $1000 and this is a material information that I can’t ignore. I don’t want to deal with any of these issue so it’s going back. ORIGINAL REVIEW: This is not your average scanner, you get what you pay for and much more. This is shop ready and a must have for diyers. I still have to navigate the system but compared to the scanners I’ve owned this Launch x431 pro3s+ v2.0 is a winner! Overall it’s well made, sturdy and built to last. I also like the large screen. I haven’t dealt with the customer service yet, so that’s for future review.

This review is for all audiences shopping for an automotive scanning tool but my first comment has to be for those of you that are nervous about buying this product, like I WAS, because the country of origin is China and not the USA. Let me just say I took the dive for you and honestly, you will NOT be disappointed with this scanning tool. I also reached out to tech support and I received a response that same day in the evening which was refreshing. I bought the Launch X431 Pro3S+ which is the latest and greatest of the X431's to replace an old OTC scan tool that served its purpose at the time but let's be honest, basic scanners are so time-consuming by looking up error codes that I decided to shop for a replacement. I took around a month watching youtube videos and I was kind of sold on an Autel scan tool that I eventually got from Amazon. Well, it did good on some cars but totally failed on Lexus cars. I reached out to Autel support and they responded that they don't support it. It was indeed a bummer as I wanted to replace the Lexus Techstream that runs on my laptop but I figured it would do. Well, it turned out that a friend of mine had a Launch x431 mini and it worked on Lexus cars. I shop with confidence at Amazon for a reason, I had to return it to get the Launch :) Now about the Launch X431 Pro3S+, I've just barely scratched the surface using this tool but so far this tool has really impressed me. I've used it on a 2004 Ford F150 Lariat, 2004 Lexus LS 430, 2008 Mazda RX8, 2016 Toyota Corolla, and a 2019 Honda Odyssey. I used Intelligent Diagnoses and it automatically picked up all the vehicles except the Lexus. On the Lexus, I used Local Diagnoses and I was able to do everything Lexus Techsteam software did. I mean everything which was amazing. All bi-directional tasks! As an example, I attached 4 pictures, one of them shows data of a shot bank1 catalytic converters on the Lexus that came out as code P0420. On another snapshot that has tabs, health reports, remote reports, and recorded data, you can go back and see all your data. I'm just a DIY guy that loves to fix cars on the side, this will totally pay for itself and some. Time is money. Finally, the tablet is really nice! The hardware is solid and fast with a top-notch protective case. Also, there are so many hardware adaptors that I will probably never use but hey, if you need it someday It WILL be there. lol Oh, and the packaging was excellent!

For the last two years, I have been extensively using a Launch X431 V Pro. It has worked flawlessly across car brands and models. I work mostly on BMW, which has some of the most complicated electronics. The Launch software has never failed me, including working on BMW diesel vehicles. Over the past two years I’ve also received excellent support from the vendor, Ucar Tech, through both their Facebook Group for customers, as well as individual one-on-one support. So when I was ready to upgrade my hardware, I was interested in sticking with Launch and Ucar Tech's support. With help from Ucar Tech, I selected the new 2021 V2.0 Launch X431 PRO3S+. Arrived in 2 days. Hardware was a huge leap forward from my prior X431 V Pro. In connecting and performing diagnostics, I would say the PRO3S+ is easily twice as fast as my prior model. The new Launch is built on the Lenovo TAB M10 TB-X605FC - a 10-inch touch screen, Android 9, and 1.8 GHz octo-core CPU account for the improved speed, visibility and useability. The PRO3S+ includes HAPTIC feedback, which is a great feature for operating the tool with tactile positive input feedback. The upgrade from the V Pro also adds 5 GHz WiFi speeds - updates easily took ½ to ⅓ the time for the prior model. The 7,000 Mah battery goes all day in the garage, without issue, in spite of increased screen size and processing speed. There are a variety of new capabilities with the PRO3S+ (the feature set is impressive for a 3rd party product working on native brands). I’ve used the bi-directional capabilities, brake service, oil service, and several others. Simply at this price point, this really becomes the cheapest tool in the toolbox when I consider its utility against the cost. There is no doubt in my mind that the upgrade was worth the cost. For anyone that uses their Launch tool with any frequency, it is a no brainer. For potential new Launch users, I can say that several years ago several professional mechanic friends recommended I look at the Launch as my multi-model car diagnostic tool. I am glad I took their advise!

I purchased this Launch X431 Pro 3S+ V 5.0 scan tool as I will be purchasing a newer import model vehicle early in 2025, and I wanted the ability to find faults, and perform advanced service functions such as brake bleeding, and what not on my own vehicles. I'm no mechanic, but I think a well-equipped DIY'er can benefit form a tool like this. This scan tool performs just as you'd expect, and has extended vehicle support, and pre-OBDII accessories, BUT... There's a question mark firmly planted in a rabbit hole here. The good: As I said, the tool is well equipped, and if you find this on sale, you can get it for less than $1,000 taxed and shipped to your door. It's a full android tablet, with Wi-Fi 5G and 2.4G, bluetooth, USB-C and is pre-loaded with its diagnostic software, and a link to download it if you need to after it's been reset, or the software removed for any reason. Pairing and registration of the VCI was easy, and I have confirmed the expiration date of my software updates is in fact 2 years from the date of activation, so no troubles there so far. The first thing I tried before activating it or updating anything was to do all the bi-directional stuff I could get my hands on that I understood on my own truck and everything I commanded to happen did just fine. I have not tried this on any US domestic vehicles. Getting to that. Network topology is great to have, live data works as you'd expect with the read values as well as the expected range next to them. Vehicle coverage seems to be extensive, and the scan process is fast enough for my taste. The included accessories for Pre-OBDII cars is reasonable, including the 38-pin Benz connector, which I'll probably never use. The device has support for addons that don't really cost a lot such as a battery tester, a bore-scope, and an oscilloscope if you're so inclined. You can even purchase software add-ins to support large trucks and motorsports vehicles if you wish. The bad: Can't comment on the update process yet, but from what I've read, it can get convoluted and expensive when you do update this unit and have to pay for it, and I couldn't even be sure if it's a subscription or not because of the language included in the text description of the update. Hardware is a little lacking with only 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage and no apparent expansion slot that I'm aware of. Maybe there is behind or inside the case or something, I don't know. A slight upgrade will bring the hardware specs in line with their competitors from XTOOL and spice this unit up just enough. It does seem to trudge through the internet rather than blaze across it. The question mark planted in the rabbit hole: I'll try my best to be brief here, but if you've read this far... Let me be preemptive here and say I'm not knocking anyone, seller, manufacturer, or Amazon on this or anything, but light needs to be shed on this so I'm shaving a star off the top because of the existence of this question mark. The shade being cast by the giant question mark planted in the rabbit hole is this... I found out after I ordered this product as I continued to view reviews and content about this and similar products from Launch that Launch Tech USA does not distribute ANY of their scan tools or products on Amazon or EBay. It turns out that this particular model, although a valid, and legitimate product of Launch, is a "global" market product for sale predominantly outside the US. My product arrived set to English and to Pacific time, so I had no issues setting it up. But if it's a global market product, and not a native US market product, what's it doing here? I'm glad that it is, because it's a steal, but I have questions as to why this product exists in Amazon's US market website. Does Launch (CNLaunch.com) allow this because representatives contacted through LaunchTechUSA.com will tell you they don't if you're looking for US support. Is the seller acquiring these en masse at some bulk discount pricing and selling them at a good retail price that you and i can agree on? Conclusion: What I have is a legitimate Launch product that does what the advert says it does and that so far hasn't posed me any issues. the product was very well packaged, double-boxed with company origin information on the side. It arrived as described, undamaged, and perfectly functional. It could be faster, the hardware could be upgraded a little bit to meet competitors' specifications, and internet performance could be better. But as a scan tool, I haven't had it very long, so all I can say is "so far, so good." I'm shaving off a star due to specs compared to competition, and this shady question mark of why it's even on the US market to begin with when Launch Tech USA does not sell tools like this on Amazon, and that the US Launch arm won't support it, but will direct you to the global resources for any technical or product support. I can't knock this seller, Amazon, or this product. Everyone delivered. I have no reason not to recommend this if you need a scan tool because it performs as expected, but what I will say, is proceed with caution, do your due diligence and reference model numbers against the site that coincides with the US market. My first recommendation would be to buy your scan tools from appropriate outlets supported by the US side of the company, referencing against their US website and subsequent US product lines. OR, purchase a product that is appropriate to your region's market from a website that's serving that market. But if you're wiling, then try this. The seller delivers, the scan tool performs, and it's a steal. Overall, no complaints.

I just tried to renew one vehicle that showed up under IMMO it stated software diagnostics and IMMO for Subaru. They charged me one $60.00 and all I got is the IMMO for Subaru and no diagnostic updates for Subaru. I tried to explain problem to someone for Launch China support and they are not responding. They will rip you off do not buy this scan tool. It will be impossible to renew. They only make it so you can renew Chinese And India car makes nothing for US makes. Look elsewhere OTOFIX or Autel they don't rip you off when its time to renew. Launch makes it so expensive to renew once your membership expires they just want to buy another scan tool from them. Autel / Otofix also update their software with new features and Launch x431 has made no improvements. Launch wants $678 per year to renew 5 makes. That's almost my renewal for my Snapon Scanner. See Photo For Launch Renewal Rates directly from my x431. Once your subscription expires on Launch they also slow down the scan speed. On Subaru and Honda's tested four time slower after software expire. They are doing everything possible so you will buy a new scan tool from them. For shops scan speed is important. If you care about software updates then don't buy this and they will not fix anything because the support is in China and they don't care. You will see no improvement. The problem with this scan tool is when it expires in 2 years. They take away options to renew a single vehicle make like Honda for example. Two weeks before it expired they showed options to renew single vehicles in the Mall under Service Upgrade and each vehicle was $56 but again they took these options away and only left the option to renew 5 vehicles at $524 for one year. This is two thirds of the scan tool cost. It would be cheaper to just buy a brand new scan tool. So they are making it impossible to renew without getting ripped off. Also under local diagnose when you select a vehicle that has expired it will show the $56 option for that vehicle to renew but when you click on the renewals link it just takes you to the page in which you can see the $524 option. I'm mean seriously horrible software and buggy. They advertise that it can renew but then take the option away. I have tried contacting Support and explaining this and they were completely useless and located in China and they don't care and don't respond for weeks on end. You can show them the problem but again they will do nothing. You will not get support for this Scanner if something happens and they also don't correct things in feedback. I have reported numerous problems for multiple years in the feedback and they do absolutely nothing. For example the data compare or snapshot only shows in Metric values but they have no option to display in USA values like PSI for example for measurements. The only thing this offers is topology everything else is a joke on this tool especially the graphing compared to my Snapon Versus Edge or Autel or Otofix Scan tools and did I mention it is very slooow. They haven't updated the UI at all compared to Autel Otofix in two years and have come out with any new graphing or alerts. Autel and Otofix deliver awesome graphing. The software looks like it was designed by a 3rd grader. They are behind the times and if you were to buy a scan tool I would look at Autel or Otofix based on alerting and graphing capabilities. So you basically have to buy a new scan tool once this expires because they will make it too expensive to renew for what it is and you have to deal with china support and they won't be of any assistance. Basically I have a brick. This is basically a scam in the end. You would be better off buying a Topdon Topscan pro compared to this yes you won't have Topology but they topology isn't that smart it truly doesn't know what modules the car comes with anyway. It also doesn't show whats on CAN low or CAN high networks.

This scan tool has as many, if not more features than a Mercedes dealer level scan tool. This tool can perform programming that is either locked out due to region or unavailable on a OEM scan tool without a special passcode. I am able to activate features like intelligent headlights and disable the automatic reset of the engine start stop feature. It's also bidirectional meaning that you can perform activations and test systems manually with the scan tool. The operating system is smooth, without any glitches and can run a short test within a very short amount of time. A real time saver when it comes to diagnosing a fault. It also has a menu with shortcuts of common items like service reset. Another plus is that it's a expandable platform. You can get additional components that work with the scan tool to perform things like key programming, oscilloscope, battery testing, multimeter, video scope etc. Overall I'm very happy with this purchase and it will make my life much easier diagnosing vehicles…

Have had this since about August and have been very happy with the purchase. Use this for mainly 6.7 power strokes 17+, and have had zero issues gathering data. This was an upgrade from my older think pad unit. I wanted topology mapping and this was the unit I landed on. Launch’s overseas models are very confusing but Jack was extremely helpful in making sure what I wanted was on this model. He was also nice enough to include a few extra items that I forgot to select when checking out with Amazon. Registration was a breeze. Update can take a little bit during initial start up but no big deal. I did have an issue trying to run off of hotspot, as some work I do is in the field. OBD II scan worked but most the other abilities require Wi-Fi. Jack was quick to let me know android tablet and apple hot spot don’t work together. Not a huge issue and I’m sure there’s a work around out there I just haven’t figured out. All in all I am very happy especially with how quick the seller is to respond even after the purchase was over. This seller is top notch.

Not impressed for the price. Very important to note this first... This is a Chinese marketed scanner. Launch USA clearly stated it will NOT provide customer support or service to Chinese marketed scanners. Scanner needs to be sent to China for repairs. Customer service in China and only available by email which can take 24-48 hours for a reply. Shipping and repairs could take weeks if not longer. Setting it up for the first time is challenging and somewhat confusing. Doesn't mention having to setup the wifi under Android "setting" and "wifi data connection" settings first. I'm using it on a 2018 Ram 1500, 5.7 engine with SGW bypass cable and scan speed is fairly slow. I have a older $300 Topdon with bluetooth VCI that is 5-6x faster. Connecting to the vehicle's OBD takes a long time, up to several minutes and keeps flashing connection communication messages while connecting. It does finally scan all the modules. The topography "intelligent scan" option reads all the modules and turns each green or red depending on the status. However, using the "manual scan" option the modules turn blue indicating it was scanned but doesn't indicate if it passed or not. Thinking the slow scan speed on the Ram was caused by the SGW bypass, I tested it on a 2016 Honda CRV and again scanning speed was very slow. Took almost three minutes. The old $300 Topdon took less than a minute. The scanner, made in China is extensively geared for Asian and European vehicles. American vehicle model coverage is somewhat limited to the big three brands. Connected to the 2018 Ram, the instrument panel randomly flashed "service electronic parking brake". The truck doesn't have electronic parking brake option. This doesn't happen with the Topdon or shop Xtool scanner. The live data displays 12 individual graphs but can only combine 4. This isn't mentioned in the sales literature. Not sure why 12 live graphs are needed. The 12 graph display are very small and difficult to read on a 10" screen. The $300 Topdon can combine six. For the price should combine eight live data readings especially for 8 cylinder injector and ignition comparison. I guess Launch thinks everyone has a four cylinder car. The bidirectional control works but the functions are hard to find and not intuitive. It asks for SWG code you have to press "skip" for every bidirectional module you want to test which gets annoying. Again, this could be because of the SGW bypass cable. It asked for the VIN for some reason one time as well. Seems buggy. The 52 special functions is a more a marketing gimmick. The number of functions the can be used depends on the vehicle make, model and options. Most are useless for US made vehicles. Launch offers two year updates that some people reported have been problematic. Xtool offers three years. All in all... for the weekend DIY car repair guy the scanner does what its suppose to do but user interface isn't very well thought out and not intuitive. Its over priced for the capabilities. It would be more of a value in the mid $400 price range. The other issue is the product models are an alphabet soup of confusion trying to figure out capabilities between models vs price. Most of the scanners models have overlapping functions but confusing model numbers and pricing.

Très bon produit facile à utiliser je regrette simplement de ne pas commander le xprog 3 en supplément

Good ,thank you

Helt ok.

Sono passato dal Launch CRP919E che riuscivi a fare qualcosina nelle macchine piu vecche , al LAUNCH X431 PRO3S che fai quasi tutto anche nelle machine piu recenti , prodotto eccezionale , facile da usare , qualche problemino con le Mercedes e Bmw , nella codifica degli inietori , per il resto prodotto molto valido !!!

Launch Diagnostic Scanner: Exceptional Value and Comprehensive Coverage After several months of daily use across a variety of cars and vans, this diagnostic unit has proven to be an outstanding investment and fantastic value for money. Functionality and Vehicle Coverage The scanner offers comprehensive diagnostic coverage, seamlessly handling everything from basic code reads to more advanced functions like viewing live data streams and graphical displays. Crucially, it has successfully connected to and diagnosed every vehicle I have worked on to date. Its capabilities cover all aspects of modern diagnostics, with the exception of specialized oscilloscope functions. Performance and Speed The unit features a quick start-up time and is exceptionally fast when reading data from modern vehicle ECUs. While I've noted a slight slowness on older vehicles, this is generally consistent with the slower communication speeds of older ECUs and is not a fault of the tool itself. Regular software updates are provided, ensuring the tool remains current with new vehicles and diagnostic protocols. Value and Professional Comparison For a professional environment, this scanner offers a significant financial advantage. I find myself regularly preferring this unit over my Snap-on scanner, primarily due to its considerably lower purchase price and the much more affordable ongoing update fees. Connectivity Note It is worth noting that the scanner occasionally requires an internet connection when initially connecting to some vehicles or when performing software updates. This is easily managed by using a mobile hotspot or available Wi-Fi and has not been an operational obstacle. Verdict This Launch scanner is a must-have tool for any professional technician or serious DIY enthusiast. It delivers high-end functionality and reliability at a fraction of the cost of its premium competitors.