buy it without the j2534 and buy a drewtech. Drewtech boxes are approved by more oems then any other box. If you are thinking about trying to programming with the maxisys there are are a few makes like BMW / Mercedes that you can flash with but thats it. I would imagine in the future there will be no programing with the tool at all. It is not really a good idea anyhow. Programming outside of the oems application or tooling is asking to brick a module

   i have the 905 mini     and the drew cardaq m  box.  so far i used the drew box 6 times   3 gms   2 fords  and 1 toyota  and it worked  perfect.

For your information, our Maxisys Pro (Maxisys+J2534) can support programming BMW and Benz. And in the future, it is scheduled to support Ford programming. 

   Same predicament, Decisions, decisions. The Used Solus Ultra price sounds good because you get pre 1996 OBD1 coverage in it, but maybe the European car coverage is not unlocked yet and you'll have to still buy The European Adapters and maybe  keys for at least one of the euro adapters.
  Snap On software with Euro still falls short of Autel doing quite as many functions and may have less coverage for brand new cars than  Maxi Sys, however what is listed on their scanners usually Beta tested before hand and works without issues , Graphing works well, there is troubleshooter, and with a free PC program called Shop Stream connect you can view , playback ,and save recorded files on your PC
   If you are in good health , can deal with stress, Chinglish, generally  longer wait time getting support,  have more time and patience to be a Beta tester submitting datalogs dealing  with things that might not work as advertised on  one car  but will shine on the next one ,  gives you WiFi, Blue tooth ,camera,  internet, HDMI port, potential to be rooted, stream music ,movies, videos, run surround sound speakers, and make tablet a part of your blue tooth phone,then the MS908 comparatively is still  a bargain.

 I don't think the scanner software be shut down, but when the update period expires,your ability for the tablet to access Autel's server for BMW and Mercedes programming files come to an end. If you do not backup your software, and something goes wrong and causes it to stop working you have no recourse to start with, but to buy another  update sub  and pray a fresh software install fixes it ,and that you don't have to deal with wait for support and sending out to China  for repair or paying for an authorized Total Care Exchange unit,( if that is how it works now.
   I tried to get support to post a Sticky or You tube Video of  How To Make a Backup of the MaxiSys hard drive ,but I guess it is too much work , or process can vary too much  from Windows XP to Windows 10 to provide a cut and dry path to easily do it.
   If  some type of cut and dry  Tutorial Video of How to Back up a Maxi Sys harddrive using a Windows 10 PC , I would be way more inclined to finally upgrade from my DS708 (that I have the original software on 4GB card and a 16GB class 3 card of software of what I presently have ,just in case).

 You can buy Maxiflash Pro. So far I and others user have test with different brands and all seems to work.