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Q: What types of jobs did you use this tool for?
A: I used this on several programming jobs for Nissan, Chrysler, and a Mini Cooper. I also used this alongside ADAS calibrations on Toyota and Honda radars. The importance of having proper voltage with these jobs is huge. The unit did not care if the battery had 1.5V or 12.6V in maintainer mode. It just powered up the car to the 90amp limit I set and let me do the work.
Q: How did the tool function as far as saving you time?
A: The thoughtful design of the T90000 made the setup and connection time to the vehicle much faster.
Q: How has using this tool impacted your shop’s profitability?
A: The T90000 gave me the confidence to know that the vehicle I am working on will have adequate power during programming. It saves me lots of money compared to replacing components that fail due to low voltage while I’m programming.
Q: What kind of setup was involved before using the product?
A: The battery cables must be installed on the Tornado. The process was simple and TOPDON even provided the 10mm wrench needed to install the cables. Overall, it only took 30 to 40 seconds to install the cables.
Q: How easy was it to use?
A: This is as easy to use as my crockpot. You just set it and forget it. The tool does all the work! Once the voltage and amperage are set, the tool does all the thinking for me. I don’t need to interact with the device until my job is done.
Q: How was the product packaging? Did it come with any accessories?
A: The box has a handle on the top to carry it around, which is very nice since it weighs 20 lbs. The handle will hold up if you need to carry it some distance. For example, I had the Tornado as carry-on luggage from Las Vegas to Orlando, and the handle held up the entire time. The foam inside the box keeps it well protected from any damage when shipping the tool.
Q: Was there a manual included? Was the manual easy to understand?
A: Well usually men don’t read manuals until something goes horribly wrong, which at that point is too late, but just this once, I sat down and read the manual ahead of time. Some manuals read like the engineering team wrote them, providing little useful information and more technical jargon than a college course. This is not the case for the Tornado 90000. It read as if it knew the questions someone would ask and had answers that everyone would understand. It contains various pictures of the different screens, lights, and buttons too. It explains when to use each of the six different modes on the unit and how it helps restore the battery to optimal condition. The manual also comes in nine different languages.
Q: What features did you like?
A: I own three other battery maintainers/chargers. Maybe I have an addiction, but is it really a bad thing? This is the only one that allows me to control the amperage that it outputs. This seems like an odd feature until you need to see if a module communicates on a bench or want to test something like a blub but don’t have a fuse inline. Setting it to 5 amps allows a current limit when something goes wrong.
The screen is always on, showing the live voltage output and current output through the cables. As a daily program guy, this is a massive feature over my other maintainers. Rolling power bumps cause problems, and I like to know if it’s on after the lights flicker (the testing I did with this unit didn’t have any power bumps to see how it holds up to quick on/off cycles). To test a power bump, I unplugged the cord with it on maintainer mode. The vehicle was taking about 10 amps. I unplugged the cord from the wall for five seconds then plugged back in. The Tornado 90000 didn’t miss a beat. This is because of the very large capacitors inside the unit. This was a huge bonus feature for me. My other units all have custom-made battery cables with meters to keep me informed about output voltage/current.
Q: Is there any way you could think to improve or add to this tool?
A: I would love to have all the cables connect and disconnect with a clamp or plugin action instead of having to screw them on; however, the cables are very flexible and store easily even when attached to the machine.
Q: On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate this tool overall? Why?
A: 10, it does everything it should, plus things I didn’t think were important until I got to play with it.
*Note: This product was given to the reviewer free of charge from the manufacturer.
