Snapshot is a recording of what a control module on the vehicle was receiving for information while the snapshot is being made. A snapshot may be used to analyze the data during the time a vehicle condition is current. In this way, the persons doing the repair only focus on the induced failure, and there is no need to worry about missing any data related to the failure. The snapshot contains information around a trigger point that you have determined. Only a single data list may be recorded in each snapshot. The scan tool has the ability to store 2 snapshots. The ability to record 2 snapshots allows comparing hot versus cold and good versus bad vehicle scenarios. The snapshots are stored on a First I, First Out basis. If a third snapshot is taken, the first snapshot stored in the memory will be lost.

Snapshots can be one of two types:

When a snapshot is taken, it is recorded on the memory card and may contain as many as 1,200 frames of information. Because the snapshot is recorded onto the memory card, snapshots are not lost if the Tech 2 Scan Tool is powered down.

The snapshot replay screen has a plot soft key that can be of great value for intermittent diagnosis. The snapshot plot feature can help you to quickly determine if a sensor is outside of its expected values by plotting 3 parameters at a time. The data will be displayed both graphically and numerically showing the minimum and maximum values for all frames captured. This is helpful, especially if the fault occurs only once and does not set a DTC.