if you wish to compete with what you call the big boys then you dont have very great expectations !

halfords and kwik Fit dont exactly set the world alight when it comes to diagnostics ! ask them if they can configure and AFM to a BMW or an ABS module to a VAG or reconfigure the self levelling air suspension on an X5 or program diesel injectors on a Jaguar !

You need to be ahead of the rest of the game to suceed !

Diagnostic equipment is useless without the experince and training ! and £200 quid wonr buy you much.

i spent around £30,000 on diagnostic equipment at dealer level and scopes to be able to beat the competion with diagnostics !

Dont forget most new cars need new components configuring when fitted , so you will need dealer level equipment to configure.

Autodiagnos, autologic Autocom and carman scan is all reasonable gear but you will need 5-6 bits of kit to cover a good range of cars !

There is not one piece of kit that does it all. Hella also now do quite a good piece of kit with guided diagnostics and wiring diagram platforms for around 3k mark !

Some garages use them as door stops, some use them along with many others !

not the quickest kid on the block.

One of the quickest kids on the block, up and running in under 10 secs is one of these

http://www.autodiagnos.com/

you will be suprised how if you end up plugging into 10-25 cars a day how speed is really important.

these are with guided diagnostics

http://england.hella-gutmann.com/diagnostics/mega-macs-66/overview/

i have the launch diagun its awesome its has dealer level on most makes then a generic obd2 scan also. get a k-line protector it checks for a high voltage on pin7 on the dlc save your machine being fried this can happen to some cars plug in it checks if it light up don't plug in its caused apperantley using cheep stereo wiring harness, parrot systems can cause this too, autodiagnostics make these for about 40 quid. launch diagun would set you back about 1.5k.

regards hope it works out for ya. matt.