I am considering purchasing either the ALLDATA CD or the MB Shop CD. The ALLDATA CD is a lot cheaper than the MB Shop CD. Any recommendations one way or the other? I was "raised" on the old Chilton manuals, but Chilton is better suited for American cars and it is not as informative as it used to be. I await your sage advice.

Spend the extra money and get the MB CD. HANDS DOWN the MB CD is much better!! Alldata isn't too complete, from what I've heard. Definitly get MB CD, I will when it comes out for my car. Others will vouch for this.

I will vouch for David. I believe he will absolutley buy the MB CD when it comes out. :D
Personally I have not been that impressed with "No Data." The same problems afflict them as do the Chilton manuals in respect to info on MB.

I second that opinion. I have Alldata and I find it exceedingly wanting. Good for only a few things. It has no range or scope.

Smiles.

I would say that the MB CDs are absolutely the best for cars til about 1990. As the cars got more electronic the Diagnostic Manual became the most valuable info. Alldata does have the Diagnostic manuals and the ETMs (electronic troubleshooting manuals). They are very poor on repair procedures.

I don't know what you get with a consumer version of Alldata but what I get is semi usefull for late model cars. As I say it does have the DM and ETM and it does apply the right system to the year in question. (something a bit tricky if using the DM).

It will be interesting to see what MB will put on a CD for the 140 chassis. There were no print manuals that I know of to condense into a CD as there were with the current chassis being done on CD.



[Edited by stevebfl on 04-26-2001 at 09:11 AM]

I have both. I would not buy
Alldata again if the MB CD was
available. (Unless I wanted just
the diag charts Steve mentioned
above.) Alldata has a fraction
of the info.

Darrell

what about macintosh ???
 

I've heard that the MB CDs are not Macintosh compatible. Is this true or should you be able to specify when ordering?

AARON ROCHARD

1976 230.4 W115

and a powerful G4 Tower !

About MAC support
 

The service CDs for the 1973-1993 models DON'T work on the mac. The shockwave stuff is the problem there.

One of the guys on this list rewrote the front page navigation for the 201 disk, so that if you copy the disk to a hard drive, and then add his new front page, it will work just fine. It hasn't been tested of course (neither he nor I have a mac), but since the only thing present is an HTML file and lots of PDFs, there should not be a problem.

The NEW service CDs for the 1954-1972 models ARE mac compatable from the get go.

-CTH

You can get The Popular Mechanics Alldata
for $19.95.
Worth the price for the codes and charts,
but just as an addition the the Benz CD.

Limited to each model, but does include TSB's
and Recalls.

I have both. The AllData is easier to "surf" through its logical set up and you don't have to exit and restart to use sections that are on the "other" disc, like the MB. But, the MB disc contains most all you need; although, it has NO basic troubleshooting section whic the All Data does.

Personnaly, I use the AllData untill I find what I need (it's faster that way) then use the MB Disc if the AllData info is vague or incomplete.

My friend has a Popular Mechanics CD that has info on many cars. He has to call in to get access to different model's data via some security code. Is that the disc you are all talking about? If so, can you tell me where to call to get customer service from them? We recently tried to get the MB data (you have to pay) but the phone # he had was no good.

Alldata has an on-line 1 year subscription for $19.95.

You sign up for it at http://www.alldatadiy.com

Smiles.