Big Sky Euro

Hey everyone,

So I've been meaning to pick up myself a Volkswagen Service Manual (a.k.a. Bentley Manual) and I've been trying to decide on whether I want to get the CD or the published book. The only experience I have is with the electronic version (and that's limited).

This is what I have so far:

Pros

Book -
You don't need a laptop.
You can take it with you wherever you are and look anything up at anytime.
You don't have to have a laptop sitting in your engine compartment while you're trying to work

CD -
Rumored to have better wiring diagrams
You can print out only things that are applicable to your car
You don't have to worry about getting the pages dirty because you can print out more
Probably quicker search features for finding what you need

Cons

Book -
Will get dirty and would be expensive to replace
May not be as detailed as the CD (again, rumors I've heard)
It's a big stinkin' book (1,000+ pages)
May take longer to skim through the stuff that's not applicable to your car.

CD -
You just payed for the manual, now you have to pay to print anything out
You have to have a reliable laptop and power source to view.
You have to worry about getting your laptop dirty and/or dropping it and breaking it
You can only install the Manual on 1 computer.

So those of you out there with experience with either (or both) of these, your input would be appreciated.

book for the convenience.

Bently FTW!!!!!! once you browse a bently a few times youll know where everything is, and they are extremely thorough!

I personally have all books for my cars. I bought a CD of my Evinrude outboard motor, and I think that sometimes it is hard to find exactly what you are looking for. It is a manual from 1957, though, so that may be part of it. I usually just take the laptop to the garage, with out printing anything out, but then I have to worry about touching the laptop with my greasy hands, so that is something to think about also. YOu will be jumping sections in the book so much that you will end up going back and forth to print stuff out, I would think.

I have both - on my laptop for the MKIV and the book for the B3 Passat.

The book is handy, but I prefer to run it on my computer because I can have it up and run Vag-Com at the same time and I don't need to switch between the two, and I always have a scan tool and repair manual on hand. The updates are nice too, and content gets updated with the new content and TSB's if there is one. I have no need to print anything out - I did once and I just printed it to PDF and then saved it for reference on my desktop so I wouldn't have to search again.

My HDD took a dump a few weeks ago, so I had to reload everything and getting licenses loaded wasn't as bad as the last time it happened. The licensing is limited to one PC, but you may want to check the EULA to see if it allows one "work" and one "home" PC or something like that.

That laptop is used almost exclusively for scanning and repair reference, and most of the time I have it with me at GTG's and when I travel. You can pick up an older laptop so you don't have to carry your nice one around. Mine is a Dell 600m - nothing special, but a great little notebook you could probably pick up for less than $250.

If you ever want to check it out, just let me know and I can give you a remote "demo".

I need to get the book. I still don't have one. I know some people who have two book, one for getting greasy and one for when they want to read up on something or to keep in their cars for on the road.

Thank you everyone for your input. I think right now I'm going to go ahead and get a book. I can pick one up on Amazon for $69. When I get a new laptop to replace the one I have now I might buy the CD version. I'll then have an old laptop that I can have dedicated strictly for maintenance and not worry about getting it dirty and such.

you might check whoretex... I mean Vortex unless you don't want used.

I have bought used bemtlys, and as long as all the pages are there, you are golden!

I'm going to look for one at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.