Well, 458 etc isn't a SD3 car it's from the cross over period going to a DEIS/MD tester, (just like a SD3 won't go beyond QPV or GT, hence we have MD/DEIS for later cars)
Leonardo is the most well known aftermarket tester, costly but does cover a lot of cars.
Factory testers like for example a MDE require not only a subscriptions, costly investments and approvals from head-office. (trust me I know, i have them)
SD2/3 and the SDX haven't been made in a long time, the last updated testers i recall run ether 07 or 09 firmware/software.
SD's come in ether Ferrari, Maserati OR a Combined tester, (there are even knockoff testers, those do not have the badges left and right)
Then a large portion of SD3's had time locks, aka every year you pay fees to unlock testers for 12 months, (MD, MDE, DEIS all work like that as they're laptops)
Lock free SD3 "full" exists and is the most valuable as they never expire and can run all cars they can also code airbags and alarms (there are "light" versions, especially with later laptops)
SD3's require old-school Windows XP or 98 laptops with RS232 ports to maintain them and if equipped to run SD2 Emulation mode (don't underestimate that)
Further more SD3's have a basic wiring and cable kit, there where dozens of additions and adapters, often they are missing or damaged, you'll need them heavily depending on the models you work on.
There even infamous "switch matrix" adapter modules which are required for certain models and if not used properly you can really mess up a BCM
MD, MDe, DEIS
Are later laptops, they require subscriptions and will lock, as there aren't lock free variants they need internet every week, unlike the Porsche PIEWIS which i believe must see internet to boot, and a McLaren pass-trough that is online
They as well have whole adapter kits depending on the model and version.
Often they aren't full (key codeing, trw programming, nqs writing)
Basically the same applies to LARA & LDAS from Lamborghini, but i'm not going to bore a Maserati forum with that.
Word of warning,
We've received many Maserati's in the shop from other garages that have messed up configuration & calibration files by using aftermarket testers (for example software in the tester doesn't match firmware variant of car's modules, there can be a myriad of those in a production run)
To be honest there is also a ton of incorrect info floating around online, so it's easy if you know what you're doing but to be frank a amateur can ruin a car with a factory SD if used improperly
A aftermarket tester can very very easily misinterpret data coming out of the Maserati, 4200GT and QPV has quite a few interesting ways of doing this.
Let alone writing data or calibrations to a module (if you are outputting a reverse engineered V201 software in to a V231 car you can really mess it up) if a aftermarket computer can read "Florence" can network language (proprietary Ferrari/Maserati) it doesn't mean it can properly send configurations out to the modules.
This is where Lamborghini Gallardo logic's (vagcom with a lambo edit) don't match with a Ferrari.
