Because my project car also has the infamous pixelated instrument cluster, I can’t exactly tell what the issues are. So I thought this would be an opportune time to try out TOPDON’s ArtiDiag Pro, a diagnostic tool that not only can give me insight into the trouble codes my vehicle has, but also allow me to do any other kind of diagnostics I need to. For this review, TOPDON supplied this scan tool for me to test and offer my honest opinion on.

As opposed to a thermal imaging camera that connects to your phone, which will likely give you a better display image (utilizing your phone’s display), it won’t be as easy to use as a handheld one like this TOPDON unit. The TC004 has a great build quality that is easy to use and handle, and it has many useful features especially for the car DIY’er.

An easier alternative and one that I much prefer doing is using a battery tester. A battery tester is a tool dedicated to the job of testing your car battery’s health, as well as the charging and cranking health of your battery. It takes the guess work out of figuring out the voltage ranges and testing procedures, and puts it all into an easy-to-use tool, such as this TOPDON BT300P Battery Tester.

The TOPDON JS2000 Jump Starter is a very capable power unit with 2000-amps of peak current, which can power up to 8.0L gas engines and 6.0L diesel engines. The jump starter also acts as a power bank offering 16,000 mAH of battery output for charging your electronic devices.

TOPDON is a popular brand offering a wide range of these more-capable scan tools depending on your specific specialized needs. TOPDON sent me this unit called the AD600S (a.k.a. ArtiDiag600S) for review, which is advertised to have 8 reset services and 4 system diagnostics. Depending on what you need a diagnostic tool for, you should take close look at the capabilities of the specific unit you’re looking at, as they have many different models with differing features.