Mini-VCI Success

V8.00.034 is reasonably current, that is the one I have and I recall that Techstream shows a 2014 copyright date.

 

I find there seems to be some resistance on PC against buying the VCI . However once it has been purchased and used everyone that has done this is more than pleased by it's capabilities, and it's versatility. Only by telling of this like Rob's post above will this very capable piece of equipment become more accepted.
Perhaps it is the low price that makes people think it is rubbish, but it really is the must have item if you wish to work on your Prius or for that matter any Toyota.

John (Britprius)

 

miscrms,

Thanks for the information. My order is on its way and would love to get my hand on this tool soon.

Is it possible for you to share some of the screenshots of your setting in Techstream? I try to find some document or user guide on Techstream but do not find too many. Never use it before and I would love to get some suggestion from people like you.

Thanks

 

I think the fact that the software is pirated and "cracked" is what most object to. If you can get past that issue, it's a great tool.

 

While I can see that point of view "if indeed that is the case" Toyota and many other manufactures are holding there own customers to ransom.
How many Toyota's have been sold worldwide since say the year 2000, not just the Prius. If the software was sold along with the car for $5 extra on the new vehicle price this could include all the service information on one CD, bearing in mind it works on all Toyota's. How much extra would they have made compared with the amount they charge at the moment for this software with the limited market because of it's price. There would be no "pirating or cracking" because there would be little or no demand.
The same applies to the satnav updates these should come free of charge for a minimum of say 10 years at the price we pay for the navigation system in the car. People are making copies of these to use in there cars. It would perhaps not be unreasonable to expect a free update when the car is serviced at the dealer, if an incentive to have the car serviced at the dealers is required.
I believe when we buy a vehicle we have the right at reasonable cost to have access to all service information so that we can service/repair that vehicle ourselves. Not at the highly inflated figures charged.
You could argue that all the monitoring systems that are available, Scangauge, Tourque, Priidash, and many more break the rules, because they are reverse engineering of the manufacturers products using the manufacturers codes to operate.
How many people can honestly say they have never recorded in one form or another a piece of copyright music.

John (Britprius)

 

At least one U.S. state has a movement in this regards:
2013 Right to Repair Law | Massachusetts Right to Repair
I note that the information is stipulated to be available "at a fair market price". This is included as we do not have that state of affairs at present.

 

I like this provision in the proposed Massachusetts law: "New provisions of the law require manufacturers starting in 2018 to provide motor vehicles owners or their designated independent repair facility access to complete repair information through the utilization of a universal interface that complies with the SAE J 2534, ISO 22900 or SAE J 1939 standards. The universal interface, when combined with a laptop computer, will extract all repair information and diagnostic codes from any manufacturer make or model, thereby eliminating the need for the purchase of expensive manufacturers’ diagnostic scanning tools."

I have no complaint with Toyota's business practice with regards to providing technical documentation, techinfo.toyota.com is ahead of other auto manufacturers and the subscription pricing is quite fair.

Techstream Lite at $1,345 might be reasonably priced for an independent servicer who expects to use this on a daily basis to generate service revenue, but is priced on the high side for an owner who might need to use this a single-digit number of times during the life of his vehicle.
https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInfoPortal/staticcontent/en/techinfo/html/prelogin/docs/tsliteflyertinfo.pdf

I just noticed that Techstream Lite is also priced at $495 or possibly lower, if you don't require access to techinfo. See page 4:
https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInfoPortal/staticcontent/en/techinfo/html/prelogin/docs/tslfaqtinfo.pdf#page=7

So for those who don't want to deal with Mini VCI, that is your alternative priced in three-digits.

I'm wondering how long Toyota will tolerate Mini VCI being sold before they take steps to shut it down.

 

I also ordered the same one and it appears to work fine on my 2007.

 

Looking at the Toyota site the Mongoose cable is an eye watering $495 and the subscription to Techstream lite is $1095. Buying the two together is $1345 saving $245.
I know other manufacturers charge similar fees but this still does not make it right. It should be possible for owners to access there own vehicles diagnostics at reasonable cost "I am not talking hundreds of dollars" or no cost at all.
With many modern cars such as the Prius with there information screens (MFD) it should be easily possible to access them there. In production this would cost little.
Manufacturers are denying owners access to information about the cars that they purchase unless you pay them an extra large amount of money.

John (Britprius)

 

It is true that Mini VCI users have zero official support, and for that matter, zero unofficial support as well, not to mention a trojan at no additional charge (at least according to McAfee). But what do you expect for $25.

 

I did not have problems either. No reported virus with AVG. The program does state to disable antivirus software while loading. I checked the CD first, and no virus was reported so I followed the instructions then checked again after the program was loaded still with no virus found.
Could it be that some virus software reports things like the update capability as a trojan.

John (Britprius)

 

I'm using VM Ware Fusion with a copy of Win XP. Fusion allows you to capture a snapshot of the virtual machine so if anything gets jacked up you can wipe it out and go back to a previous snapshot.

 

I became interested in the Mini-VCI while discussing some problems I was having with the ELM327 OBD2 adapter in the Torque Pro thread. After several members there mentioned their success and satisfaction with the Mini-VCI I ordered one from Amazon. Rather that continue to HiJack the Torque Pro thread, have moved my comments over here since this thread seems more appropriate and active. Thanks..

That said, I have been "struggling" with the install of this, rather vague, installation package. After reading the encouraging comments here, I hope to get it eventually sorted out. For now, I would comment that their videos are un-narrated and blurry screen captures (I also find nearly the same un-narrated videos on YouTube).
I'll spend a little more time trying to figure out the patch procedure, etc.. and be back with progress reports as I figure it all out.

Steve

 

Are you installing it on a Windows XP or Vista operating system? I believe it needs to be 32 bit. If not, that could be the problem. I tried it on my Windows 7 laptop and it wouldn't work so I found a used Asus Netbook on Craigslist for $50 and it installed and works perfectly.

 

Are you installing it on a Windows XP operating system or older? If not, that could be the problem. I tried it on my Windows 7 laptop and it wouldn't work so I found a used Asus Netbook on Craigslist for $50 and it installed and works perfectly.