Anyone out there familiar with the different offerings from Rinda/DIACOM, CDI....are there others?

What is the best all around?

Most of all use will be with Volvo and Merc I/O....but some Merc OB.....and Yamaha is becoming VERY popular here....

well for mercury there is the mercury cds system, good luck if you are not a dealer and the ddt which has cartridges that you can some times find online like ebay or something, Volvo and Yamaha both have simular systems to cds, but once again your out of luck if you not a dealer, But you can always try the little flashing light

I have the Rinda Diacom software it has pretty much everything you might need... They are the ones I believe that makes Merc's Scan Tools....

http://www.rinda.com/marine/diacommarine.htm

http://cdielectronics.com/MEDS.aspx
I don't have it but have played with it. It has some nice features. I hear other Techs talking about how much better it is then the rest. You can take "snap shots" (records all info for a certain amount of time) when running and play it back for review.
You can set it up to have it look like a screen just like looking at dash gauges.
Its some nice software.

I am pleased with Diacom. I've used it with a 496 and 525. The latest version includes more support for OBs.

Thanks for all of the replies....

I took a look at the MEDS package, but the test system with adaptors and case and bla-bla-bla is hella-expensive....

On the other hand, DIACOM seemed VERY reasonable....and with the new v2.5 that also supports OB....or at least merc...I thought it maight be better suited and a little more flexible...

Do you know if the 4-stroke ob are adopting CAN....or are they doing an IEEE or bus com?