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At this exact moment I think that tool (launch 431 pro mini) is the most capability for the least money and is especially good on European makes. But like all of them it won’t do everything.
These guys put out this guide yearly and it is a good place to compare what the different product lines claim to do. The honest reality is an aftermarket scan tool is always going to be a compromise and none of them do everything on every car. That’s why the professionals always have more than one so they can switch to find the one that does what they need on that particular car.
If you are working on older cars the used Snap-on tools have great capability and potentially helpful repair tips depending on the model. The trick is to buy one that has a relatively recent software upgrade. The used pricing is usually about the same regardless of what version it has so caveat emptor.
For newer vehicles and moving forward J2534 pass through is the way to go. The new Drew Technologies CARDAQ-3 is relatively future proof and will allow you to have factory capability on a large number of makes as long as you buy the subscription from the manufacturer. It is around $1,600 which sounds expensive but the updates for a scan tool will exceed the price difference in a year or two.
