Idatalink-omegalink Blade compatibility

I have the Ol-loader cable and I'm finding the Idatalink Blade Al a little cheaper than the Omegalink Blade Al online. My question is can I order the Idatalink Blade, plug it into an Omega brain and flash it for whatever vehicle I am installing on without any issues? From the looks of it they are completely interchangeable but I'd rather hear that from someone who has tried it. Thank you for your time.

No they are not interchangeable. You would need compustar for that. Now a non blade adsalca will work. But the blades are not interchangeable

I guess I will be the guinea pig. I picked up an Idatalink Blade-AL for $40. I'm gonna see if it will take programming in an Omega 1860 EDPB. If not I have a few Ol-Blades. I've heard a few people say it works fine and now you are the second person to say that it doesn't. I will let you know what I find out.

I haven't actually tried an install with this set-up but here is an Omega Blade AL cartridge installed in a Compustar CM7200 module.

Here is a snip of this setup getting successfully flashed with the latest CH4 firmware ( Ver 1.5 to Ver 2.7 ).

Like I said, I didn't actually install this into a vehicle but it seems to be all set to go with an Omega Blade AL in a Compustar R/S brain.

Soldering is fun!

I'm just going by what the Compustar tech support guy told us at a training.

Understood.  My example is the exact opposite of the OP's question.  I've got an Omega Blade AL in a Compustar CM7200.  Plus I'm not using the iDatalink site nor the Omega site to flash it.  As you mentioned, the ADS AL-CA, FLCAN or OL-MDB-ALL module's are pretty interchangeable, especially if you're like me and go W2W.  Soldering is fun!

Here is what I know about the protocols of the systems Idatalink is an open protocol. Can be programmed for whatever you want. Compustar is COM. This is their protocol. Flashlogic is DBI. This is used with a few more lines Omega, I am not sure of their protocol. SO with what I know Idata can be used with anyone in D2D mode. The other companies all lock their firmware down so you have to use their products. Kreg357, why are you still using w2w? D2D is solid as long as the RS system you are working with is quality. I have been doing D2D for years and can count on 1 hand how many times I had to wire a system w2w.

So the Idatalink Blade-Al just arrived. I plugged it into an Excalibur 1860 EDPB, plugged my Omegalink Loader in, and it flashed just fine. When you log onto the site it detects the module. This one came up as "COM Blade-Al" lol. Side note...I ordered an Ol-MDB-GM1 the other day, its showed up in an Omegalink box, and the Module had a sticker on it that said Ol-MDB-GM1, but when u remove the sticker the plastic housing has Idatalink stamped into it. I think it's pretty safe to assume it is all the same equipment that 3 different companies slap their logo on and sell as their own.

Correct, it is the same equipment but the firmware that gets loaded onto them can be different. I imagine the new blade from VOXX will slide into the same module but I would guess that it has the DBI protocol since that is what all other VOXX products use. I may be wrong though.

So I was wrong! Even though the Idatalink module flashed just fine it doesn't work. I kept getting two red flashes, then a blue flash. Then I flashed an Omegalink blade al and it worked flawlessly. I even flashed the Module from the Idatalink website but apparently it doesn't like the Omega brain. Pretty bad that Omega can slap their logo all over Idatalink's products and sell them as their own, yet they make sure unless the blade says Omega on it, it won't work in their brains. Sorry for the bad info guys.