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Harbor Freight Autel DS708!?!?

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Tarheelgarage

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OK, just checked the serial number of the one here at work and there is a Q in the sixth location.

HTH
 

dnschmidt

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I had a discussion with an Autel Rep in the Autel booth at AAPEX. He swears on a stack of bibles that these are not supported by Autel USA. And that in fact they are no longer available from Harbor Freight.

Has anybody received one of these from Harbor Freight in the last two weeks? According to him this has been stopped. What’s the real deal? He did confirm that the “Q” in the serial number identifies it as a North American unit.
 

jdm5

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I received mine yesterday through Harbor Freight (with the 25% coupon). I'll check the serial number tomorrow.
 

jdm5

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I can confirm the serial number has the Q in it and had no problems registering it / updating it.
 

twostooge7

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Nov 3, 2014
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I just ordered the ds708 from harbor freight and registered today and did most recent update with no issues
 

Nekit

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Aug 7, 2012
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Could you tell me what software and firmware versions you updated to. Mine is System V6.25 and firmware V10.22. Trying to decide if I should update or wait.
Thanks
 

alteredpilot

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Apr 13, 2006
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anyone here make a purchase more recently? curious about the support issue. the 20% off coupon is back and my genisys took a ****.
 

Nekit

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I purchased the Autel ds708 in December from HF online with the 25% off coupon. I waited till a few weeks ago to register and start my updates, as you only get one year. I had no problems.
 

737mechanic

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Jun 2, 2010
Messages
205
Here is a link from Autel saying they will discontinue the DS708 in 2016 but still provide updates until 2020.

DS708 discontinue notice from Autel

On the other hand if you did buy one from Harbor Freight and had any problems with it wouldn't they refund your money?
 

dnschmidt

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Buy the damn thing. It's the best deal on Earth for a bidirectional scanner. The HF units do have the Q in the serial number and update flawlessly. JUST DO IT!!!
 
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vgs8606

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Sep 24, 2010
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when I downloaded the user manual, I could not find the bi-directional section in it. how long does it take to boot up every time you hook up to a vehicle? Once you disconnect from the car, it shuts off, right? there is no internal battery? can it log the data as you are driving and then later analyze either on the scanner or on the computer? am I asking too much of a $1000 scanner? may be but even some $100 scanner can do the stuff which I just listed
 

kythri

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Lebanon, OR
If HF is getting these directly from China like they say then wouldn't that be illegal?

No... why would it be...

if you buy a Japanese import nissan skyline rather than from a dealer that doesnt make it illegal??

Yes, actually, in many cases, it would be.

There's a big difference between a retailer importing quantities for resale and an individual importing a car for personal use.

There's legal precedence (under copyright law, of all places) that companies have been able to prohibit import (or apply punitive damages to importers of) of "grey market" goods - i.e. buying direct from a factory that's violating agreements with the product creator/owner, or buying from foreign distribution channels where the product is sold far cheaper.

https://www.fenwick.com/FenwickDocuments/Zimmerman_CRI_article_Oct2011.pdf

This details a couple cases, but basically, it boils down to quantity foreign purchases intended for domestic retail do not have Right of First Sale protection under US copyright law, and since the products in question have copyrightable elements upon them, their import and sale is a violation.

It's an awesome extension and abuse of copyright, but that's how it currently is.

If HF wasn't an authorized dealer, and was importing these from China, Autel could have shut this down long ago, EASILY.

HF may still be an "unauthorized" dealer, but if they are, they're likely getting their products from a domestic source, rather than factory-direct, and that domestic source does appear to be selling them domestic market product as evidenced here, otherwise, again, Autel could have gone after HF to find their supplier, and shut THEM down.

Really, the only thing Autel could do is stop selling their product to whoever is supplying HF, but, I imagine with quite a few folks whose products are being sold through mass-market channels (i.e. Amazon, eBay, etc.) and claim that those are not authorized channels and therefore not officially supported, they turn a blind eye to this, because it makes them a ton of money. They pay lip-service to the authorized dealers who complain, so as not to lose those channels, but they don't actually do anything about it.

I remember the kerfuffle over the Power Probe and Amazon - Power Probe Inc. swears up and down that Amazon isn't authorized to sell these, but, magically, Amazon's supplier still manages to get them to Amazon.
 

dnschmidt

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Ask yourself a simple question. Who would you rather piss off some authorized dealers who sell ten of these a year or Harbor Freight who sells ten of these an hour and also sells all of your other code readers and scanners (rebranded of course but made by Autel) at every one of their stores. Probably at least 100,000 of those a year.

These are legit units and have the Q. What else matters.
 

JonnyMac

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Dec 15, 2012
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Victoria, Australia
So here is how Autel operate globally.
I was researching our autel purchase and the official retailer of them wanted from memory around $3000. However a google search revealed that autel.com.au was selling them for considerably less. Strange I thought so I emailrd autel directly and asked (mainly to ensure they werent fake) if they knew of this website. They reponded and said yes they were genuine units and were aware of the site.
The summary is that autel will sell anyone there products regardless of whether they have an authorized status or not.
 

atikovi

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My tool distributor has a promo for $840 with a free AULAL519 bonus thrown in. If the 708 wasn't going away soon it might be a good deal but I can imagine some deeper discounts next year on a discontinued tool.

They also have the MS908 for $1,825 with a free MAXICHECKPRO but that's a bit much for me.
 

Vic Turner

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Oct 28, 2015
Messages
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HF is advertising the Autel MaxiDAS for 1099.00.

Now that this thread is a little older has any of the original owners of the 708 from HF had any issues getting updates?
 

Mechanico

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Jul 6, 2015
Messages
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I'm new to Garage Journal and this is my first post.
I was wondering if Autel Plans to replace the Autel DS708 with a newer version or will it be dropped completely?
 

atikovi

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Just tried this on a 2013 Chevy Cruze and it seems to diagnose all the modules and perform various activations. Was about to buy a GM MDI plus a laptop to use it with thinking that was the only platform that would work. Beginning to really like this tool.
 

lbhsbz

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Long Beach CA
Autel is not supporting to tool with updates since it's not sourced through the proper channels...just like buying one out of China on EBay, last I heard
 
Joined
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Location
Cape Town South Africa
I'm new to Garage Journal and this is my first post.
I was wondering if Autel Plans to replace the Autel DS708 with a newer version or will it be dropped completely?
The DS708 has been stopped from production last November 2016. Autel has replaced this with the New Maxisys MS906. It has exactly the same diagnostic capability its just on a faster / modern operating system and interface. Its really good for troubleshooting and fault find/ clearing codes. But its limited on Coding.

If you want to learn on what the differences are in the new Maxisys series.. go to www.Auteltech.co.za . I will explain the differences so you can make an educated decision
 
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