Another Handheld Question

redstreetracer36 · April 3, 2008

was wondering which handheld to go with for my 2004 5.3l....looked around and didnt much besides the diablosprot predator which is $344 for my pick-up...any suggestions?

Schmids5.3l · April 3, 2008

Don't get it.

There's MUCH better tuning for $350. You can probably get 2.5hrs of dyno tuning done with $350, and tuning doesn't get much better than that.

If your worried about taking it to the dealer and them reflashing your tune, you can buy a factory PCM from a junk yard to toss in for the trip to the dealer. I'd imagine they would cost around $90, but thats a complete guess, I can see them being cheaper. Some mail order tuners just send you a tuned PCM and you can keep your factory PCM for dealer trips also.

redstreetracer36 · April 3, 2008

Don't get it.

There's MUCH better tuning for $350. You can probably get 2.5hrs of dyno tuning done with $350, and tuning doesn't get much better than that.

If your worried about taking it to the dealer and them reflashing your tune, you can buy a factory PCM from a junk yard to toss in for the trip to the dealer. I'd imagine they would cost around $90, but thats a complete guess. Some mail order tuners just send you a tuned PCM and you can keep your factory PCM for dealer trips also.

i was looking around the internet and wasnt real certain on which handheld to purchase ..but to the dyno thing i live in oklahoma theirs not alot of shops wit dynos...i think the closest is like 200 miles away...im not worried bout the dealer.. truck is no longer under warrenty....from the info i have gathered it looks like diablosport is the best way to go

omegafiler · April 4, 2008

Custom Tune Thread

http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=74556

Handheld Thread

http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=65184

You can also search the forum for lots more info on both, of course.

redstreetracer36 · April 4, 2008

thanks for the links

VMax2007 · April 4, 2008

Call Justin at Blackbear Performance.

Stay away from Wait4Me and Nelson. Jesse (W4Me) is a hack and Allen (Nelson) has crappy customer service.

I have a Nelson tune and he is a good tuner, but I insist on top-notch CS too. I have heard Justin provides both and I will likely be switching over to Blackbear soon the way it's looking right now.

Handhelds SUCK in comparison. Trust me, I have had both.

redstreetracer36 · April 4, 2008

ok thanks..let me know what kindve differnce the new tune makes.

RBos05Z71 · April 5, 2008

Not wanting to hi-jack the thread started, but I think the OP needs some more insight on why handhelds are so poor in quality. I had two ford vehicles programmed with sct with custom email tunes, and they performed amazing. Granted, there is some tweeking that could be done, but what makes it so bad for say, and SCT handheld with custom tunes to work on GM?

royg · April 7, 2008

i got a 2006 sierra with a 5.3. i purchased an SCT from wait4me and Jesse put 3 tunes in them and the max performance is awsome! just like night and day. i like it and had no problems. i had a camaro with a Hypertech and there is no comparission the SCT is better all around. plus the SCT you can have 3 tunes instead of one

Schmids5.3l · April 7, 2008

Not wanting to hi-jack the thread started, but I think the OP needs some more insight on why handhelds are so poor in quality. I had two ford vehicles programmed with sct with custom email tunes, and they performed amazing. Granted, there is some tweeking that could be done, but what makes it so bad for say, and SCT handheld with custom tunes to work on GM?

SCT has custom tuning software, and with a SCT hand held you can store multiple (3 maybe) custom tune's. The shop I go to uses mostly SCT for their Fords. They'll dyno, custom tune a daily driving tune and upload it to the hand held, then they have the option of 2 more tunes, like a nitrous tune, or a race gas tune, high boost with meth tune, etc.

Our hand held's suck, because their a generic tune that everyone else gets, my guess is a bump in timing, increased trans line pressure, and probably a speedo remover. There's hundreds of tunable variables to these motors, and I doubt hand helds touch 5 of them. Email tuning is iffy, as the tuner isn't seeing real world results, or real diagnostics on the engine, like air fuel ratio. That's what makes Blackbear a step better than all other mail order tuners, is he sends you equipment to scan runs in your vehicle, then you send the scans (and PCM I'm assuming) back and he fine tunes.

The reason were steering him away from hand helds is because it's complete blasphemy when you can get a tune 5,000 times better for the same or better price. Which would you buy - A. a truck load of rotten oranges, or B. a truck load of fresh oranges in a refrigerated unit, both are the exact same price.

omegafiler · April 7, 2008

Call Justin at Blackbear Performance.

Stay away from Wait4Me and Nelson. Jesse (W4Me) is a hack and Allen (Nelson) has crappy customer service.

I have a Nelson tune and he is a good tuner, but I insist on top-notch CS too. I have heard Justin provides both and I will likely be switching over to Blackbear soon the way it's looking right now.

Handhelds SUCK in comparison. Trust me, I have had both.

Man, I guess I missed this one.

alaska511 · April 7, 2008

Call Justin at Blackbear Performance.

Stay away from Wait4Me and Nelson. Jesse (W4Me) is a hack and Allen (Nelson) has crappy customer service.

I have a Nelson tune and he is a good tuner, but I insist on top-notch CS too. I have heard Justin provides both and I will likely be switching over to Blackbear soon the way it's looking right now.

Handhelds SUCK in comparison. Trust me, I have had both.

Man, I guess I missed this one.

LOL...yeah, he talked me into the Nelson

jimmyboy8301 · April 10, 2008

i had superchips and hypertech and both worked but were bland. i had HPTuners on my 01 Camaro SS and it was awesome. I've heard great things about the predator plus you can have a custom tune made and then downloaded onto the predator, it's a great option for somone who wants a handheld. i'm pretty sure for my new truck i'm going to get the predator after doing so me looking around. I know lots of guys are all about the custom tunes but i like to be able to put the tune in myself and take it out whenever i want and a custom tune without a hand held doesn't really allow that. So for a daily driver i would say a predator...........from what i've heard and read.