User Feedback: MB SD Connect C4 What Work

I’ve got a Chinese clone of SD Connect C4 and with a little effort managed to get to the level 9 authorizations (Very High).
Didn’t try any fancy things like mileage/dpf removal since I don’t need it, but switching heater booster to the water heater, enabling/disabling some cluster menus, enabling corner lights and integrating an aftermarket alarm and remote was like a walk in the park.

They are clear, I’m talking about the difference between the color temperature of halogen and xenon.
Something like 3700K vs 5000K. I was going to replace my cornering bulbs with some hotter LEDs, but then just got used to them.
Every time you turn the wheel, you get a reminder of how good was your decision to invest into xenon option.

Besides, I’ve done stuff like reset the adaptations on my transmission, drive-in adaptations on the transmission, and relearning of the throttle plate and sunroof. I had changed my battery and afterwards the sunroof would not go back smoothly. I went into the relearn function and voila it worked.
Plus, I can lower the suspension with Das-Xentry

Other than finding and reading faults, MB Star C4 can be used to modify and adjust settings on control units (as well as add oem equipment) which are unavailable in the standard version, but the ‘developer’ version,
*Be careful in using in developer mode as you can seriously screw up all the controlling car-confusers and no dealer ever knows how, or wants, to fix it for you.

Someone asked “Does it allow one to update TCU/ECU programming to newer/latest versions (presuming you get a recent release)?” the answer is  For this you have to have access to dealer-network to get the latest and greatest, which is highly unlikely with a Chinese clone system.
If it’s not broken don’t fix it, especially with complex stuff you are not sure what you are doing.
For the rest its an expense well spent if you are technically inclined and doing your own maintenance and/or repairs.

Some users recommend machine-specific hard drive with pre-installed and ‘authorized’ software, I.E SD connect C4 plus Dell D630 laptop, because they consider SD connect with external hard drive is not good at the following aspects.
External hard drive yes and no:
1)  If laptop broke, you could just plug it into another machine.
2)  It’s a lot slower than running it from disk, because of VMWare overhead. If you use it 2 or 3 times a year, a VM solution is perfectly fine.
3)  Hangs off the machine and can be damaged as you move the laptop around. If you pick up the laptop, the USB drive unplugs, then it will fall to the ground and you’re cooked.

Internal Hard drive advantages:
1)  Much faster, if you use it quite a bit then go External hard drive.
2)  Internal is so much nicer because now I just have the multiplexer and laptop to carry to the car. Nothing to unplug or fall off.

MB SD C4 plus DELL D630
To summarize, no one tool is perfect, which one to get, it’s up to your decision according to your needs and budget.