Full marks to Colin at Blackbox for excellent communication both prior to order and during order process. Decided to purchase a Faultmate FCR (the basic consumer unit to find & clear fault codes) as my experience of D3 had been that many problems were software "glitches" and that clearing the fault codes often resolved problems but involved a day off the road at the garage!
Disco3 Forum Discount provided - remember to PM/e-mail Colin for this as there is no provision on their website - and his PA phoned after the order was placed online to confirm the net price to be taken from the CC.
Was slightly concerned at the cost of postage (over £20 upwards ), but as Colin flagged up, the unit has to be shipped from Cyprus. The quality of the delivery service fully justified the charge though - order was placed on 16th, VIN (required to lock the unit) on 17th.... and the unit appeared with me on 22nd! (under a week!) and that was with the cheapest shipping option. Tracking details from the couriers were supplied which worked and showed the parcel's route from Cyprus to Parcel Force in the UK. Very much a case of "paying for what you get" with the postage & fully justified as I've had local UK online orders take longer than that
Have yet to unwrap the components & test - paperwork was neat & QC checklist signed off by the packer & checker; User Guide though is just a single sheet of paper but I suspect that on plugging it in that there will be screen prompts.......
to be continued
23rd Feb 2010 10:15 am
PaulP
Member Since: 04 May 2007
Location: Barcelona
Posts: 4317
Re: Faultmate/Blackbox Solutions
Ecosse wrote:
User Guide though is just a single sheet of paper
To be honest I think BBS went overboard with the user guide
The FCR is so easy to use that it really doesn't need any type of user guide....just plug it in and the on-screen prompts make it simple.2006 Discovery 3 TDV6 SE AutoBuckingham Blue 2007 Golf GT DSG
23rd Feb 2010 10:35 am
TwelveSticks
Member Since: 16 Jan 2010
Location: Dublin
Posts: 798
Yep - I could have typed that pretty much word for word after my experience of buying the Faultmate FCR a couple of weeks ago (except for the postage being to Ireland, natch).
The unit works a treat and is very easy to use. Was a bit purturbed at the number of faults it seemed to be reporting though
BTW - Anyone know where there's a list of what all the fault codes mean?
23rd Feb 2010 4:16 pm
PaulP
Member Since: 04 May 2007
Location: Barcelona
Posts: 4317
There are plenty of generic lists on the interweb....
Why would you need it though - the FCR will scroll the exact text description of each individual DTC on the screen 2006 Discovery 3 TDV6 SE AutoBuckingham Blue 2007 Golf GT DSG
23rd Feb 2010 4:23 pm
TwelveSticks
Member Since: 16 Jan 2010
Location: Dublin
Posts: 798
I'd just prefer to have somewhere to read them all at once, that's all. Reading them on the screen is like looking at one of those news ticker things - ok if there's only one or two, but pretty tiring after a while. As I say, there really were a lot of fault codes (especially for a car which seems to be running fine)!
23rd Feb 2010 4:27 pm
PaulP
Member Since: 04 May 2007
Location: Barcelona
Posts: 4317
Just clear them all and check again in a weeks time
The ones that warrant attention will return quickly enough. 2006 Discovery 3 TDV6 SE AutoBuckingham Blue 2007 Golf GT DSG
23rd Feb 2010 4:28 pm
BBS SPY Site Sponsor
Member Since: 15 Jun 2007
Location: Sunny Cyprus
Posts: 3054
Thanks Ecosse
When you are used to only local postage rates, it does sound a little bit steep, but then when you consider the item is being air freighted around 3500 miles and the level of service you get, even with the lowest cost option, it is indeed not actually that bad.
And as i mentioned in an previous post, if we were in the UK, the unit would cost far more than it does and the VAT is only 15% rather than 17.5 which saves you around a fiver.
USER GUIDE !!!
What user guide ???
i asked my guys to just throw any old bit of paper in there with it, as we felt sure no one would actually ever read it
But as you suspect and PaulP confirms, in usage its almost totally idiot proof.
A) Ign on and plug it in,
B) Use up and down arrow buttons to scroll through ECU list and use A button to accept selection.
C) use up and down arrow buttons to scroll through choice of read, clear or go back and use A button to accept selection.
Shimples 8)
We are actually knocking up a little Micro web site to deliver, hints, tips, Faq, development news, and provide updated software for the FCR and instructions for use of, which will be live quite soon.
As noted, such a sophisticated network of ECU's that are in the Disco 3 does result in simple network chatter type codes to be logged which can be simply ignored and cleared, and the degree of these is of course different between vehicles.
It is therefore a very valuable thing in its own right to have equipment that allows you to become familiar with them, such that you can then very easily identify the difference between the regular ignorable codes that get stored over anything new or recurrent.
Something no dealer would ever have the benefit of.
Imagine taking a D3 to a dealer who is faced with a page of codes, some of which he has seen before and some not, and being able to say, this is the new one that has only occurred since i have had this particular problem. Certainly stops and red herring chasing or dismissing as normal
ndsykes,
Obviously we have already invested quite significantly to produce the FCR at all, and we are quite limited as to what can be displayed on a 2x16 LCD display. However the ability to connect the unit to a PC does provide the possibility of much further enhancement of the FCR's capabilities in the future. And without saying too much, we really do have some quite mind blowing plans, although it will never surpass our flagship MSV-2 equipment. Of course at present, the FCR is still quite new and we do not have enough owners to justify such additional developments, but with every single unit sold, the number of users and owners grows and hopefully will reach the level at which we can justify such further development investment.
23rd Feb 2010 6:47 pm
hotrocks
Member Since: 05 Jan 2010
Location: England
Posts: 467
I have been meaning to post a similar thread since I took delivery of mine, but the usual excuses of being busy at work and knackered when I get home meant I never got around to it!
The OP is what i would have said 'word for word', this unit is fantastic, so easy to use and so fast it made me cry when I next booted up my computer and sat waiting for windows to do its thing (different I know but made be realise that a good bit of well designed kit can work well).
Anyone who is sitting on the fence wondering if this is worth the money... stop thinking and start buying!
I have saved about 60 quid so far in stealer charges and saved even more by purchasing the service reset tool at the same time and re set my service indicator after I completed a service that I struggle to see is worth 500 quid.
23rd Feb 2010 7:00 pm
Discotres
Member Since: 25 Jan 2010
Location: London
Posts: 8491
BBS, is it worth getting if you still have two years warranty to go and only have a GS, looking at the clever options on it there is minimum for my car, nothing required for knobs, just twist and go. My record player is fine and I don't have a screen with anything on it, well not LR anyway, so please convince me I need one and I will get one. Thanks.
23rd Feb 2010 7:12 pm
buellbeast
Member Since: 30 Jul 2008
Location: Exile
Posts: 1885
Discotres
Dont hesitate. Having seem the FCR in action and having read about the quality of most dealers fault finding. The FCR reads the faults within a second or so and gives you something to go to the dealers with if needed. I believe even the dealer tool takes nearly 10 minutes just to read all the faults.
Sometimes it's handy just to be able to clear a fault, to get you home or even to a dealer. I've rescued a vehicle in the past having initially called LRA albeit the AA turned up and its was the faultmate that got me home as the AA man couldn't read the car.
In all its IMHO a worthwhile investment and a quality bit of kit
23rd Feb 2010 7:25 pm
Discotres
Member Since: 25 Jan 2010
Location: London
Posts: 8491
Buel, my point is as I am still in warranty should I be bothering with all that, I just call LR assistance unless I am in a desert which is highly unlikely. I watched a video of it and half of the things it does are irrelvant to me, I wonder if he does a BBS Value box?
23rd Feb 2010 7:43 pm
PaulP
Member Since: 04 May 2007
Location: Barcelona
Posts: 4317
Are you confusing the FCR with it's bigger brother the MSV-2 by any chance? 2006 Discovery 3 TDV6 SE AutoBuckingham Blue 2007 Golf GT DSG
23rd Feb 2010 7:45 pm
Paul.
Member Since: 11 Nov 2008
Location: Leicestershire
Posts: 201
So how much is one of these wonderful tools including delivery?Cheers Paul
Discovery 3 TDV6 SE
23rd Feb 2010 7:48 pm
D4JWW
Member Since: 20 Oct 2009
Location: London, UK
Posts: 1318
product and support
23rd Feb 2010 7:49 pm
Discotres
Member Since: 25 Jan 2010
Location: London
Posts: 8491
Well this is what I was looking at, most of the items are not on a GS so not much use, the ones that are would be of use. I haven't counted but I have no screen, telephone, electric seats e.t.c e.t.c.
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- remember to PM/e-mail Colin for this as there is no provision on their website - and his PA phoned after the order was placed online to confirm the net price to be taken from the CC.
), but as Colin flagged up, the unit has to be shipped from Cyprus. The quality of the delivery service fully justified the charge though 
- order was placed on 16th, VIN (required to lock the unit) on 17th.... and the unit appeared with me on 22nd! (under a week!) and that was with the cheapest shipping option. Tracking details from the couriers were supplied which worked and showed the parcel's route from Cyprus to Parcel Force in the UK. Very much a case of "paying for what you get" with the postage & fully justified 
(especially for a car which seems to be running fine)!
