Nanocom Evo: where to buy?

[MonLand]

Took the plunge and got a 2001 Td5 110. Now that I have seen the check engine light on, I want to be. Able to read engine diagnostic codes and such. Looks like the Nanocom Evo is the way to go. 
Where do you buy a used one? any pitfall when buying used? (I assume getting one already unlocked for Defenders is more cost effective of course)
Or where to buy a new one for the best price?

 

thanks,

Loic. 

[Anderzander]

Hi Loic - they seem to very rarely come up for sale second hand …. perhaps because the people who buy them do so because they are intending to keep their vehicles for a long time ?   The only places I’ve seen them, when they do come up for sale, is dotted across the various forums.

I’m out of touching with buying them new - the company who bought the rights to the original nanocom and developed the EVo was BBS, Black Box Solutions and they used to only sell direct, with the odd group buy being arranged by various groups to secure a discount.

Bearmach had their own version - which I would expect to be well supported, so worth looking at that too. 

[Arjan]

https://www.nanocom-diagnostics.com/

 

[dailysleaze]

Defender2.net usually has a group buy going on with a 20% discount. Unfortunately, the import duties now cos of Brexit run to about £80 on top because they are shipped from Cyprus. Might be cheaper to get an easyJet flight and pick up in-country 😁

[missingsid]

I am selling one but it is licensed for D3 a new vehicle type is around £60.

I'm looking for £250 as it was £500 new. A Def TD5 Nanocom is £390 so not such a big saving.

[paime]

How do the Nanocom systems compare to the various cheaper alternatives in here: https://www.diagnostic-world.com/pages/best_land_rover_obd2_diagnostic_scan_tools__2021_guide_273368.cfm ?

[missingsid]

If you can find someone who has bought one of each to compare!

[reb78]

I have the Nanocom Evo for the D2 and a Hawkeye Total for the D3 (having said that I have it for the D3, the Hawkeye is unlocked for most current and historic LR models as standard, the Nanocom is locked to a vehicle type as standard). Nanocoms pricing is ridiculous when you want to add a vehicle to an existing machine. At the time I bought the D3 I could have bought a brand new nanocom for the price of the licence and lead that BBS wanted to sell me to upgrade my exisiting unit... Rather foolish pricing I felt. The D3 cable is backward compatible with the D2 but the D2 one isn't forward compatible  so needs upgrading if you go the way I went.

Hawkeye Total is much more reliable and user friendly than nanocom - so much so that, unless I am changing the fuel map on the D2, I use the Hawkeye for everything.

BBS firmware upgrades are buggy and often **** something up that was working on the previous version - to the point that i dont bother to upgrade now if it seems to be working. There are random glitches in the machine as well setting auto's to manual, miles to KMs etc etc. They sell it as a complete solution for land rover diagnostics but its a pretty amateur bit of kit IMO. Instruction manuals are around but hard to find and poorly written. It even struggled to power bleed the brakes on the D2 - output was feeble whereas the Hawkeye had them bled in no time. The Hawkeye doesnt need an instruction manual - for anythign you need help with you press a button and it explains, or tells you what to do as you go along.

The 'instrument mode' on my Nanocom doesnt work - unless i really am doing 50,000 rpm and my battery voltage is more than the mains. When i raised this with BBS years ago the owner told me it was a nice to have feature on a machine that i should feel privileged to own... bollox.... you put a feature on something I have spent good money on... it should work.... I still have the communication somewhere. I gave up as they clearly werent going to address it or fix it.

 

Hawkeye doesnt do ECU programming which is why I havent got rid of the nanocom to be honest. BUT... I think Bearmach may have stopped making the Hawkeye as it doesnt seem to be for sale anymore and they are flogging the nanocom units now. Shame.

For models from around 2007 onwards, the GAP IID tool is the one to have - vastly superior to nanocom and writes to the ECUs but unfortunately they dont cover the TD5 vehicles with this - https://www.gap-diagnostic.com/products/iidtool/ (I just put it here in case any one with a TDCi or D3 or L322 upwards is reading). 

The only other diagnostic that gets good reviews in the Lynx I think - its distributed by Britpart but is actually good according to all I read but do your own research on that as I havent used it.

 

Edited August 6, 2021 by reb78

[paime]

Great info! I have a 2016 RRS and a TD5 Def so was looking for a single box that would do most things. To be honest i just want it to clear codes on the RRS and keep an eye on things on the defender. ECU remapping is for magicians and clever people, not simpletons like me!

[oneandtwo]

I bought a Nanocom evolution years ago for Td5 defender which had disco Td5 included with it from what I remember. When I upgraded to a Puma it wasn’t very expensive to add the Puma module.

I hadn’t used it for years but had to update it last month to reset the steering wheel angle sensor on a 2015 Puma and it all worked fine still and did it’s job.

[reb78]

3 minutes ago, oneandtwo said:

I bought a Nanocom evolution years ago for Td5 defender which had disco Td5 included with it from what I remember. When I upgraded to a Puma it wasn’t very expensive to add the Puma module.

I hadn’t used it for years but had to update it last month to reset the steering wheel angle sensor on a 2015 Puma and it all worked fine still and did it’s job.

Maybe it depends on the model - to add the D3 to a nanocom bought for a D2 was just silly money - the unlock code is £264 plus I would need to buy another lead. Given I dislike the Nanocom I wasnt giving them that much more of my money! The unlock for some models is only £60 - thats what i was hoping for and i would have put up with the dislike of the machine!

Just found this - Bearmach have stopped making the Hawkeye unfortunately - https://www.facebook.com/bearmach/posts/1355537444605833/

Rimmerbros redirect to the Lynx as the equivilent to Hawkeye but like I say, I have never used that.

[landroversforever]

1 hour ago, reb78 said:

Maybe it depends on the model - to add the D3 to a nanocom bought for a D2 was just silly money - the unlock code is £264 plus I would need to buy another lead. Given I dislike the Nanocom I wasnt giving them that much more of my money! The unlock for some models is only £60 - thats what i was hoping for and i would have put up with the dislike of the machine!

Just found this - Bearmach have stopped making the Hawkeye unfortunately - https://www.facebook.com/bearmach/posts/1355537444605833/

Rimmerbros redirect to the Lynx as the equivilent to Hawkeye but like I say, I have never used that.

The way nanocom works is that it’s unlocked for certain things. For example my Td5 disco one, will do defender td5 engine stuff. For example the defender td5 one will do disco td5 engine stuff but not the BCU stuff. 

[simonr]

I bought the BBS Faultmate for my Td5 (long ago) and the price was eyewatering!  Support was pretty much useless / non existant and licences to add more vehicles cost almost as much as the vehicle itself.  Never again shall my path cross BBS's!

For my RRS I bought a GAP IID tool - and rate it very highly!  Don't know what the support is like as it hasn't needed any - it just works!  Mine uses the dash display & steering wheel buttons for it's user interface - which is kind of clever.  Newer ones have a phone interface too (good if the steering wheel buttons don't work I guess).

One friend had Hawkeye - and thought it was pretty good.  Another had Lynx and also rated it highly - their capabilities seemed very similar.  I will definitely look at those the next time I buy a diagnostic tool.

[missingsid]

On 8/6/2021 at 9:31 PM, reb78 said:

Maybe it depends on the model - to add the D3 to a nanocom bought for a D2 was just silly money - the unlock code is £264 plus I would need to buy another lead. Given I dislike the Nanocom I wasnt giving them that much more of my money! The unlock for some models is only £60 - thats what i was hoping for and i would have put up with the dislike of the machine!

I just looked at the BBS shop and yes it is nonsensical in that the D3 is £110 more than the Defender @ £505  plus Def code @ £60 BUT the Defender plus D3 is as you say so £390 +£264 +£60 therefore buy it the wrong way round and it is £570 for D3 plus Def but £715 for Def plus D3.

 The new Evos all have the better spec cable so if you buy new Def one then you won't need the new cable saving £60 but still £80 more.

[landroversforever]

I think the other point with stuff like the D3 onwards is they've got a lot more other things going on compared to a defender so whilst they look expensive, they're really not that bad. Especially if you then compare a similarly specced diagnostic tool from something professional - Autologic etc.

[reb78]

6 hours ago, landroversforever said:

I think the other point with stuff like the D3 onwards is they've got a lot more other things going on compared to a defender so whilst they look expensive, they're really not that bad. Especially if you then compare a similarly specced diagnostic tool from something professional - Autologic etc.

But compared to the GAPIID which is better than nanocom and does all nanocom can do reliably the nanocom is expensive. Its much more expensive than the £300 Hawkeye Total or Lynx Evo which is only really a code reader although has some programming functions but is unlocked across most of the LR range. 

[MonLand]

On 8/6/2021 at 5:54 PM, landroversforever said:

The way nanocom works is that it’s unlocked for certain things. For example my Td5 disco one, will do defender td5 engine stuff. For example the defender td5 one will do disco td5 engine stuff but not the BCU stuff. 

So…… If I wanted to go the Nanocom route, I should get the Disco Td5 version? Anything the Disco Td5 would not do on a 2001 Def Td5 (maybe the immobiliser access/check/changes?)?

[missingsid]

3 hours ago, MonLand said:

So…… If I wanted to go the Nanocom route, I should get the Disco Td5 version? Anything the Disco Td5 would not do on a 2001 Def Td5 (maybe the immobiliser access/check/changes?)?

Go to the Nanocom sales page there is a usable online demo where you can try each type out.

[reb78]

I dont know but there will be something that makesyou buy two of their licences.