Don't mean to get into a discussion about which is best but I've often wondered how one choses the right tuner for the truck. There are so many tuners out there and generally speaking don't most of them pretty much do the same thing? Reading about some of these tuner on their respective websites, I'm not sure I can tell a lot of difference between the various tuners and what all they do.


Will someone explain some of the fundamental differences between the most popular commonly purchased tuners?

 

Don't let anyone kid you...it's all trial and error. The turner world is a try at your own risk and it's known on the both sides of the transaction. The canned tunes are for the most part pretty safe, however I'v seen some custom tunes that would scare a person if they only knew...

 

Basically the two things you want to consider when looking different brand tuners which is by far the biggest differences.

1) Preloaded tunes or custom tunes? Preloaded tunes are written by the manufacturer and usually designed for stock, to close to stock vehicles with basic bolton stuff like intake, cold air intake, bigger tires, ect ect. A custom tune can dial in any type of mods usually and also give better power as preloaded tunes as typically conservative compared to what a custom tune COULD do, but that custom tune is also dependant entirely on the skill of the person writing it.

2) Handheld tuner vs monitor tuner. A lot of the cheaper model tuners are basic handhelds, just upload the tune to the truck and done. Some of the more expensive ones have ability to be touchscreen and have a display that can read and display your read time gauges like air fuel, temps, boost if applicable, stuff like that.

For the F series, SCT and Edge brand tuners are by far the most popular just as FYI.

 

That's an interesting comment. I suppose you know this first hand? Have you used several different tuners? Not doubting you just curious.

 

I have a 6.0 and a 6.7 diesel and been at this for a while. The 6.0 was my learning curve with turners and theirs too. The 6.7 has to be tuned for the DPF and EGR deletes. I think diesels are much more forgiving in the tune area. Only air, fuel and timing (either FICM or HPFP) to deal with. I have so far not tuned my Ecoboost. It's just piece of mind at this point that I'm not someone else's guinea pig.

There's always a pro/con game when tuning. The diesels have much more pro's because the engine runs better with all the emissions junk deleted. Gas engines don't have that issues and to me the cons outweigh the pros...