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I have the $25 BAFX. I also have the $60 ScanTool LX. I also have the $100 ScanTool MX. I've used them all with Torque, so I can't comment on how they work with Carista.
The BAFX worked fine with a Galaxy Note and a Galaxy S4 using Torque. The biggest advantage is price. However, there are a few drawbacks. First, it sticks down too far in the BRZ where I risk hitting it.
Second is that it ALWAYS draws power from the OBDII connector, even when the car is off. It's not enough to kill your battery overnight unless you have a charging problem, but if you're going to leave it parked for a few days, you might need to remove it. OBDII connectors are really only made for infrequent use, and pulling it out every night will eventually widen the sleeves in the connector and cause it to stop making good contact, resulting in errors.
That's why I bought the ScanTool LX, which was on sale on Amazon as one of their Christmas lightning buys. In addition to everything the BAFX does, the LX also has a battery save function where it shuts itself off automatically after the car has been shut down for a few minutes, so you can leave it in the car all the time without worrying about ever killing your battery. It's also considerably shorter than the BAFX, and I have yet to accidentally bang it with my ankle.
Amazon ran another lightning sale on the MX, so I picked it up also to put in my other vehicle. I have only used it a couple of times, but to be honest I can't tell any difference between it and the LX except that one's green and the other's black. I'm not sure what justifies the higher price.
You can use the software that comes with the ScanTool adapters, but as has been noted, DO NOT use any software that comes with any of the cheap Korean or Chinese adapters. Those CDs they include are full of malware. They're not actually trying to infect your machine. Rather than pay for licenses for the software, they download it from warez sites instead, and it's already infected when they get it. Cheap bastards.
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