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Opinions on ALLDATA?

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Old 01-17-2012, 08:22 AM
spittybays
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Hi from Hamptonbays. I have been reading reviews on ALLDATA many - but feel that's par for internet reviews. Full service maual from Motorfan is only 11 bucks. Anyone feel Alldata has that much more to offer? Thanks, Jeff.
 
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Old 01-17-2012, 08:56 AM
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I have AllDataDIY & factory service manuals for all of the newer vehicles that I own and have coverage no AllDataDIY for all the vehicles I maintain for family & friends. I use AllDataDIY the most.

I'm not sure who 'motorfan' is, but if it's one of those shop manual on a CD things you can buy off eBay, I have never found one that I like. Most are clunky with little to no user interface and finding information is like looking for a needle in a hay stack.
 
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Old 01-17-2012, 09:02 AM
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Originally Posted by spittybays
Hi from Hamptonbays. I have been reading reviews Full service maual from Motorfan is only 11 bucks. Anyone feel ... has that much more to offer? Thanks, Jeff.
Actually, I hate it. But for the money and convenience one year was worth it. I wouldnt buy anything but a full GM shop manual.. make sure that's what you're getting.

If you get the online subscription, also download XnView and learn how to use the Screencap and batch conversion features.

Be smart .. dont download the images themselves

Kyle: "Clunky" and no user interface? Sounds like what I got. What am I doing wrong?
 

Last edited by pettyfog; 01-17-2012 at 09:04 AM.
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Old 01-17-2012, 09:55 AM
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Originally Posted by pettyfog
Kyle: "Clunky" and no user interface? Sounds like what I got. What am I doing wrong?
Are you using AllDataDIY or something else? I find the search feature on AllData very helpful & their layout, once you get used to it, is somewhat intuitive. In my experience with them, the CD manuals found on eBay don't have much by the way of a search feature and are often not organized in any intuitive manner.
 
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Old 01-17-2012, 12:35 PM
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Originally Posted by swartlkk
Are you using AllDataDIY or something else? I find the search feature on AllData very helpful & their layout, once you get used to it, is somewhat intuitive. In my experience with them, the CD manuals found on eBay don't have much by the way of a search feature and are often not organized in any intuitive manner.
Here's my bookmark
ALLDATAdiy.com - Current Subscriptions
so I guess so.

I used a Ford factory CD I bought off ebay years ago and it wasnt much better. I got to assume it's oriented to a different mindset... I'm pretty sure I've been doing online longer than anyone else here... 1979. So I'm computer, not job-shop, oriented.

Everytime I do a search I end up in a one liner sentence that says 'it's covered in..." and there's no link, of course.
In fact I dont recall finding ANY 'drill down' links. Meaning from one piece of useful info to another, all i see is indexes.
I use browser 'back' a lot.
Maybe I'll try doing a mental 'reset' and start over pretending I dont know anything about the site. Sometime that helps.
 

Last edited by pettyfog; 01-17-2012 at 12:46 PM.
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Old 01-17-2012, 01:02 PM
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I have been using AllDataDIY for my vehicles for the past 6-7 years now so maybe I'm just used to it. I never have a problem finding something whether it's using their menu system or the search feature. Mitchell's OnDemand is different and I find it more difficult to find stuff there, but I like their diagrams better than AllDataDIY.
 
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Old 01-17-2012, 01:02 PM
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I have been using AllDataDIY for my vehicles for the past 6-7 years now so maybe I'm just used to it. I never have a problem finding something whether it's using their menu system or the search feature. Mitchell's OnDemand is different and I find it more difficult to find stuff there, but I like their diagrams better than AllDataDIY.
 
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Old 01-17-2012, 01:42 PM
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I had a Mitchell's 1989 EVTM about 5 inches thick when I was doing my Mustangs and Merkurs.
The diagrams were troublesome because they had all the circuitry on one page making it a little difficult to read, but also great because they had all the circuitry on one page and all were adjacent.. so I could easily compare and contrast all the various EECIV set-ups.
I didnt care for how the diagnostics were done in text but I got the reason for it. .. I assumed that it was necessary for the general shop.
 
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Old 01-17-2012, 03:28 PM
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There is a learning curve with Alldata. Moving in and out of the information depth. The price is very good and I have both my blazer and my wife’s Saturn subscribed. It doesn’t have everything, various important items that could make a big difference, but all in all, I’m satisfied with it.
 
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Old 01-17-2012, 04:33 PM
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I have had it for my blazer for the past 3 years. It gives you a lot of info.
I think it is worth it. I just signed up for another 5 years. It comes in handy.
A printed manual is nice and I have several but being the computer age
I find myself at their website very often.

Mark K
 
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