Well I had some adventures this weekend; I bought a LEGIT Drew Technologies Mongoose Pro JLR on ebay as NOS (RIP $600). I had a clone aka Mangoose and I jacked up programming keys and had a stationary piece of aluminum; the cluster did NOT have the transponder info written to it, but it had the existing keys cleared. I do have a 100A 12V RV station power source that works awesome, so I had reliable, low noise, constant voltage; this I know is critical.

I had an XP VM from British Diagnostics with SD v130 with my Mangoose cable; when attempting to program keys it **** the bed and cleared things. It is crap. I have since Office Spaced the Mangoose cable with glee.

I have a Win 7 32bit VM with v156 and it is fully functional (was having trouble finding versions to work until I dropped $10 on ebay for one) with my Mongoose Pro JLR cable. I ended up finding that there was a communication issue with that module, the IPC. I ended up having to configure the IPC as a new module, and in the process I was able to program the keys again, and regain use of my vehicle. The system also helped me with my adaptive headlight issue in troubleshooting it.

Basically, the clones are trash for real work (not just reading stuff). Get the real deal. Get a GOOD and reliable power supply, not a cheap car charger or anything. I'm a grand into my PSU and Mongoose and glad I did it; plus you can get pretty good resale on legit tools, where you get near nothing for counterfeit stuff. I'd rather be punched in the tit over and over than deal with that clone again...

 

Thanks for sharing and glad to see someone fail with the rubbish knockoff clones.

If you are going to go through the effort of performing your own diagnosis to save money on dealer fees, why gamble for a few hundred dollars on cheap equipment...get the real thing and save the headaches and hassles.

 

I agree with NO CLONES, but I opted for the Jaguar-Approved DA Dongle instead of the Mongoose cable. I've done many a session and have had zero problems with it, even while reprogramming and flashing modules. The DA Dongle is about half the price of a Mongoose cable.

 

Does that mean you are doing side jobs for people who live close by?

 

I have had my clone for around 8 years and have done some extensive programming with it with no issues so I don't think all clones are created equally.

I would have a concern about using SDD on a VM though but if your PC spec is decent enough it may not be an issue. I used to use a VM but now have an old laptop that has 5 partitions, some XP and some Windows 7, that have different software installed on them.

 

I only have one laptop, a Alienware R17; i7-6820hk, 32gb ram, 1070, 1tb m2 ssd. It'll do Lol. I allocated 8GB of RAM and 1 processor to the VM; which is plenty for that.

I honestly would prefer to go the local OS route. This VM i acquired works just as intended though.

 

I have been using a clone on my own car for years with no issues, but do have a real one as well can't realy tell the difference in performance

 

Bahahahhaahahaaaa!!!! Nobody lives in UTAH. Nobody with XKs anyway.

 

I do a lot of work for other people, but almost always it's GM, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Subaru. Very rarely Euro stuff; not that I don't do it all the time with my cars, but most of my friends and family who have cars out of warranty are not owning euro stuff.

I just did an AC Compressor in a Pontiac G6 and a few weeks ago did a wheel bearing and power window regulator on a Chevy Impala.

 

Here is my review of clone versus real Mangoose cable

 

My clone Mongoose and Mongoose Pro are both very close to the appearance of the genuine Drew product.

The labelling is the same and so is the inside of the casing. This is the Mongoose but the Mongoose Pro clone is much the same:













The only definite differences between my clone and your genuine Drew are the clone has thinner cable, no sticker on the chip and no row of pins on the left of the board.

Graham

 

Same issue here with the British Diagnostics cable and virtual machine - every module in the car flagged an error, wouldn't lock, wouldn't start, lit up like a christmas tree. Had to clear all the codes with a Foxwell 510 (which only has read and clear functions). Gave me grey hair, so haven't been near SDD since. Glad to hear your legit version works, it'll pay for itself quickly at $600

 

This is why I've told many, many people in this forum to avoid British Diagnostics like the plague.
Some don't listen.

 

can you advise or is there a post of recommended clones or where i can buy an original?

 

Prices keep going up, I got mine for like $130 a few years ago. There are probably some out there somewhere else for cheaper

DA Dongle on Diagnostic Associates