CR Pro description
The iCarsoft CR Pro is a handheld multi-brand diagnostic tool with buttons. It reads every control unit in the car across 58 makes and handles the 9 most common service functions. It costs €279.95, runs off the car's own power and you never pay for updates.
Your own car, without a garage trip for every warning light
A cheap OBD2 code reader only sees the engine. When the airbag, ABS or automatic gearbox light comes on, it has nothing to say. The CR Pro gets into those modules and every other one the car lets it see: comfort, body, climate control. It tells you which ECU has stored the fault, shows live data and freeze frame, and once the repair is done you clear the code.
On the servicing side it covers what home mechanics really do on their cars: resetting the oil service light, opening the electronic parking brake to change rear pads, registering a new battery, recalibrating the steering angle after an alignment, forcing a DPF regeneration, coding injectors, bleeding the ABS, relearning the throttle and resetting the TPMS. If it's your first time doing the pads, read how to open an electronic parking brake first.
Why buttons?
There's nothing to charge or pair. You plug it in, it recognises the car from the VIN and within a couple of minutes you have a full scan. It fits in the glovebox and copes with life in a garage. To update, you download the package on your computer and transfer it with the TF card in the box.
Where it falls short
It isn't bi-directional, so it can't command a cooling fan or an injector to see if they respond. It doesn't code control units either. For reading, clearing and servicing, you won't miss either.
CR Pro or CR Pro+?
For €60 more, the CR Pro+ adds active tests, goes from 9 to 48 service functions and has a 4.3" screen with twice the resolution. It's worth it if you like to chase a fault right down rather than just read the code. Both compared point by point in CR Pro vs CR Pro+. Still unsure whether multi-brand suits you? Read multi-brand or single-brand.
