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best hand tuner

cbprov

By cbprov
in Engines & Drivetrain

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cbprov Enthusiast

cbprov

Posted
Posted

hi can any body give me a non biased answer on the best hand held tuner out there ,a plug and play tuner ,if you install a a performance tune with the hand held tuner and then change it to a tow tune for the weekend for towing will this show as a 2 flashes changes on the computor counter

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MikeNH Senior Enthusiast

MikeNH

Posted
Posted

None of the "boxed" tunes are very good. You'll want a custom tune from Black Bear or one of the other folks who does it. They all still use a handheld device to load the tune too.

 

Never heard of a towing tune on a gas truck. Can't help with that.

14'SilveradoLT Enthusiast

14'SilveradoLT

Posted
Posted

Tow tunes generally keep the cat temps lower over prolonged periods and change up the shift points. Most well rounded tunes can tow without any issues. Most tuners can also change the shift characteristics in the tow/haul mode setting.....so one tune should/could do it all.

 

I'm not sure if the tune swap would set off the counter(s). I would "assume" yes, but I'm not in depth on this platform enough to say.

 

IE: On the EcoBoost I ran Tow/Street/Performance tunes.... You did NOT want to tow on the performance tunes. My Tuner "Southern Speed Inc." Turned out around 375 whp and 430-450 wtq on some of the performance tunes. The tow tunes allowed for the added engine load of towing to prevent detonation.

 

The tow tunes kept the cats from melting due to prolonged stresses.

14'SilveradoLT Enthusiast

14'SilveradoLT

Posted
Posted

^^^^^ I agree, some things I miss.....other's (like monitoring temps/detonation/afr's ) not so much, haha.

 

A lot of guys seem to like Diablew tunes...I would consider that device and the way it tunes to be a custom "boxed" tune. You may even be able to store a few different tunes on the device...not sure.

 

I'm waiting for SCT to polish out theirs...but that just because I've logged hundreds of times on LiveLink and can pin point issues pretty quickly.

KARNUT Senior Enthusiast

KARNUT

Posted
Posted

I never had a custom tune always hand held, two reasons, one is if there ever was a problem with the warranty I could get them involved. Second reason I was happy with the mild engine tune, removing some of the TM and V4 delete they provided. Ive been using hand held tunes since 2001, never had a problem. Now if your going to go into the engine with serious mods, custom is the only way to go. My truck on a hand held tune is a different truck, very pleased.

14'SilveradoLT Enthusiast

14'SilveradoLT

Posted
Posted

Karnut, have you datalogged the boxed tunes??

 

In my personal experience: On the road the feel fine, but when I looked over datalogs there have been times where KR was pretty significant under load. Adding a "true" custom tune really polished things out and actually made the overall drive-ability perfect.

KARNUT Senior Enthusiast

KARNUT

Posted
Posted

Karnut, have you datalogged the boxed tunes??

 

In my personal experience: On the road the feel fine, but when I looked over datalogs there have been times where KR was pretty significant under load. Adding a "true" custom tune really polished things out and actually made the overall drive-ability perfect.

I used to drive 60k miles a year, so its been a few trucks even a trailblazer SS. I would set my RPMs and shift points at max and TM at 75% or 100% and drive the hell out of them. Some of them over 200k miles. The only claim was a transmission on my Trailblazer. On my 14 same thing only I run mostly E85. Never a datalog, every hand held I every used the trucks allways felt good through the RPM range. In most of my post about tunes, I would state I believe there is more to be had with a custom tune, but if I had to face the warranty police at GM, leaving a little on the table and big name hand held would go a long way in keeping my warranty.

cbprov Enthusiast

cbprov

Posted
  • Author
Posted

i want to just smarten up shifts hate the tranny ,a all around tune is what iam looking for ,for my 2012 i had a superchips flashpac hand tuner ,loved the tow tune and perfornmance tune ,i had to run premuim fuel but it was a totally differant truck ,made you smile when u drove it

14'SilveradoLT Enthusiast

14'SilveradoLT

Posted
Posted

I used to drive 60k miles a year, so its been a few trucks even a trailblazer SS. I would set my RPMs and shift points at max and TM at 75% or 100% and drive the hell out of them. Some of them over 200k miles. The only claim was a transmission on my Trailblazer. On my 14 same thing only I run mostly E85. Never a datalog, every hand held I every used the trucks allways felt good through the RPM range. In most of my post about tunes, I would state I believe there is more to be had with a custom tune, but if I had to face the warranty police at GM, leaving a little on the table and big name hand held would go a long way in keeping my warranty.

 

Just a question, the reason I asked is that I felt the same until some datalogs on two different vehicles.

 

---when I ran the logs, there wasn't much at all on the table and in some RPM's they pushed the limits...several tuners have stated that the stock tune is fairly aggressive and more could be gained by pulling some timing. That's on a stock tune....

 

I log EVERYTHING now, haha. IMHO, I agree with most that the stock tune on the 5.3L running 87 octane is actually quite aggressive. That was from watching TQ Pro.

KARNUT Senior Enthusiast

KARNUT

Posted
Posted

Just a question, the reason I asked is that I felt the same until some datalogs on two different vehicles.

 

---when I ran the logs, there wasn't much at all on the table and in some RPM's they pushed the limits...several tuners have stated that the stock tune is fairly aggressive and more could be gained by pulling some timing. That's on a stock tune....

 

I log EVERYTHING now, haha. IMHO, I agree with most that the stock tune on the 5.3L running 87 octane is actually quite aggressive. That was from watching TQ Pro.

People are going to say Im nuts but I could feel my 5.3 run better on 93 gas. That's the reason I went to E 85. At first I was afraid of it at the time it was only 20cents under 87, figured it wasn't selling much and going bad. When I felt the performance change from 87 to 93 I had to try it. Made a big differents. The tune was to get rid of the V4 and TM. Getting rid of most of the TM woke the truck up, I wasn't looking to add any more timing with the tune, just rising shift points and RPM, red line.
14'SilveradoLT Enthusiast

14'SilveradoLT

Posted
Posted

I think that most people who have datalogged the stock tune, are def not going to think you are crazy lol. Adding 93 or even 89 actually keeps the KR down...which means that the truck is pulling less timing (ie: adding it).

 

So nope don't think you're crazy, haha.

 

Now if you said it made it feel like a 6.2...I'd day you're nuts...lol. I wouldn't say that my truck on 93 is faster at all...I would say that it feels more "consistent".

 

 

To get thread back on topic.....I've personally never liked the mapping on a superchips. Might be great on this truck though...

6.2 Denali AWD Enthusiast

6.2 Denali AWD

Posted
Posted

http://superchips.com/products/gm-flashpaq-2842-2842/ any body heard any feedback on this handheld tuner

I've experienced with different handheld and custom tunes over the years on different trucks, engines, trans, etc. and the Superchips flashpaq I recently purchased for my 6.2 is my favorite of anything I've ever experienced. Took my 0 - 60 MPH times from high 6's down to high 5's on performance setting running 93 octane. Love, love, LOVE it!

chuckl1218 Senior Enthusiast

chuckl1218

Posted
Posted

I've read a lot about the Diablew Tune unit, but never had one...

On my 2011 Silvy, I had the complete Banks PowerPack including their matched CAI, shorty headers, cat back exhaust and tuner. The tuner was nice because it had some canned tunes for Economy, Sport 87 or 89, Super Sport 90+, Towing and then you could stock with manual adjustments such as AFM delete, shift torque, etc. Each time you change from one tune to another, it required a reload of the stock tune which is then saved again as part of the process so that you always have stock to go back to.

I liked the "package" but if I did it again, I would buy the components I wanted and then have a custom tune with datalogging. My $0.02..

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