I've seen quite a few of those sub-1K DAS clones on e-bay from China, has anybody actually bought one and tried it?

I'm skeptical to say the least, and of course when you have a problem I'm sure the technical support is top-notch.

I have a MT-2500 and its not a bad tool for the price but the software is a bit flaky - not all the advertised options work as described and some of them don't work at all. Some of them will work on Monday but won't work on Wednesday, even on the same car.

But overall its an improvement over say a generic OBDII reader. The live data components can give you valuable guidance and the ability to manually activate EGR valves, air injection systems and fuel tank purge valves is invaluable when troubleshooting.

As far as the code values goes it varies with the year and chassis. For the newer cars the engine codes are mostly OBDII codes however transmission codes seem to be MB specific. For the pre-obd years the engine codes are MB specific. But I've found that the software tends to be the most bug-prone on the older (90-95) year cars.

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98 Dodge-Cummins pickup (137K)
13 GLK250 (157k)
06 E320CDI (341K)
16 C300 (89K)
82 300GD Gelaendewagen (54K)