Spinifex:Hi. I agree - to a degree!! 
I have a long history in engineering/science, but I have always had an amateur fascination for economics and in particular the methods that folk use to make buying decisions (yes I know - I should get a life)!
Your "objective" based decision model for choosing between VCDS, or OBD11 (or VCP for that matter) is perfectly sound! And I'm sure that there are some (many?) that use your rational thinking method to make their choice. But as that bastion of philosophy and sometimes pop culture band once said " You can't always get what you want- But if you try sometimes you might find - You get what you need"!
Clearly your very sane approach of thinking about "do a few tweaks" and "simplicity" is based on the "what you need" end of the decision spectrum (incidentally, OBD11 dongles now cost $150 AUD delivered from Austoinstruct - I purchased my OBD11 device at a much lower cost long ago). Every potential buyer of a diagnostic cable should start by doing this analysis
But I believe that there is also a legitimate approach at the other end of the spectrum based on "what you want". As I said previously, there are people (like me) that value stuff like high-end engineering design, speed of response and industry reputation. Now, I'm not saying that we would pay anything for these attributes, but those of us that feel this way are prepared to spend extra for these qualities. We aren't any better, nor are we any worse than those that use your yard-stick to make purchase decisions - we are just different type of buyers!
Again, neither of the two approaches to making a purchase decision is correct and neither are wrong. It simply boils-down to how the potential buyer values the additional expenditure.
I very much doubt that Ross-Tech could survive if it relied solely on the professional user market for its sales. PRoffessions users tend to be "sticky" customers, but they tend to be "seldom" buyers and the underlying market just isn't that big. The fact that Ross-Tech remains a viable commercial entity in competition with Voltas IT means that there is a healthy market for both types of "enthusiast" markets- which is a good thing (IMO).
The recent increase in the cost of OBD11 dongles has clearly been possible because Voltas IT has recognized the price-gap with VCDS as an opportunity for additional revenue - but it's a gamble for OBD11 between maintaining sales volume and extracting profit from each unit sold. The irony of this decision is that it makes the choice for us "high-end" buyers more palatable!!
Don
PS: my apology to any trained economists reading this - I freely admit that my knowledge of the black-arts that motivate purchase decisions is rudimentary at best!
Last edited by DV52; 04-02-2018 at 12:10 PM.
Please don't PM to ask questions about coding, or vehicle repairs. The better place to deal with these matters is on-line, in the forum proper. That way you get the benefit of the expertise of the wider forum! Thank you.
Originally Posted by brettue
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All I want to do is scan my car (Skoda Octavia 2009 VRS) for error codes and clear them when I've fixed it. Will this device do the job?
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