The Hypertech Tuner - Reviewed w/ Pics

[CoolVanilla]

The Hypertech tuner supplied by High Horse Performance for the GIFO4 arrived safe and sound this afternoon. As always, Josh and HHP made sure the order was processed quickly and that it was shipped right away. From order placement to delivery took a total of 3 days.


Opening the box revealed the tuner, cable, manual, and warning message.


Initial impressions of the tuner box itself were luke warm. Looks a bit out dated, and the small display looks like its gonna be a bit hard to read.


Here is the connector port. Its located on the top.


The back:


And the cable:


I read the manual (see below) and came away with the following:
-There are "Premium" (aka 91+ octane) and "Regular" engine tune options. No economy tune.
-Speed limiter is selectable only by tire rating. For example, you can select T rated tires, select T and your limit is set to 116mph. V and its set to 147mph. There is no way to specify a variable number.
-That is it. Yep, you read that right; those are the only two options you can set with this tuner. No tranny modes, no torque management, no shift points, no tire size. Just "Premium" and speed limiter.
-Programming can take up to 14 minutes!?! I measured the time to be 12 minutes with some key flips mixed in.

I plugged my unit in and pressed "Y" as the instructions say. I found pressing for 1 second powered up the unit. Once on, I noticed the screen has no back light, and the contrast is not settable; on my unit, the screen is almost unreadable due to the contrast being set too dark.

Also, the supplied cable is *almost* too short. Because it plugs into the top, and its fairly short, I had to kinda maneuver weird so I could use the device. YMMV.

The first thing it tries to do after showing a couple of intro screens is check for trouble codes. Mine had none so it went right into the programming mode.

I selected Premium, I selected ZR rated tires (set limiter to 255mph) and told it to program. 12 minutes or so later and we were ready to roll.

I turn off ESP, find a nice quiet industrial side street, punch it and

..

..

well nothing really. She goes, shift as stock, pulls as stock... if you didn't tell me, I wouldn't be able to tell you it was programmed.

MAAAYYYYBBEEE at mid RPMs there is more pull. But the GIFO4 will really tell us that. There just isn't enough of a difference for me to know for sure.

I'm withholding final judgment, but for my money the lack of settable parameters is tough to ignore. Also, the stock tranny feel alone is probably enough for me to pass on this tuner. The possible mid range power increase could be nice, if its really there.

Anyway, I'll leave it there for now. We'll see how it does on the dyno and at the track during the GIFO4.

Here is the manual:

[CoolVanilla]

[RandysWay]

Doesn't matter with the small display - you won't have too much to read anyway. If you're unsure about your highly-efficient purchase, think of it this way: It's another mod.

Well, truthfully.. it seems really worthless. No, I mean...REALLY worthless. A whole two options? Woohoo! Twelve minutes to program the car? Anybody got a Rubiks Cube handy?

Sorry you had to waste your money. At least nobody else will! :D

[LowGo]

Interesting. Thanks...

(and nobody can accuse you of not providing enough pictures!)

[bipto]

I would have guessed as much. Based on the initial description when it was (nearly secretly) released, it sounded somewhat limited... Maybe GIFO4 will surprise us... :neutral:

Thanks CV!

[Ozzie]

Thanks for the comprehensive pix and review, CV. I was VERY curious as to how this product would stack up against the SC unit. Much appreciated.

[Fondy]

HOLY cow thats alot of pics great info thanks.

[CoolVanilla]

Well if they had a darn PDF, I wouldn't need to take them pics...

[thewagon]

Great writeup CV.
Upon first impression it does appear there is not much to be impressed about.
Looking forward to the GIFO4 analysis.

[the hurse]

nice write up, thanks for the info!

[BUTWEET]

Thanks for all the efforts, C.V. Appreciate it man.

[Dupie24]

Thanks CV, great write up. Makes me happy I have the SC tuner that worked right out of the box and has worked flawlesly! But I guess thats what GIFO4 is all about, to see what works and what doesn't

[FactoryD]

Great write-up CV. I'm glad to have went with the flashpaq now. Although, I'd be happy to be suprised @ GIFO4.

[Lik2race]

Great writeup CV.
Upon first impression it does appear there is not much to be impressed about.
Looking forward to the GIFO4 analysis.

After reading the write-up, I too,would be VERY
dissapointed with buying THIS particular product. May
have been 'rushed out to the public' too fast.trying to
compete with SuperChips.

[formerice]

I have the SC Flashpak tuner on my RT and am very happy. Have the Hyperpac on my Hemi Ram, waste of money. If you can't change torque management, why bother. Installed both on dyno and ran quarter mile sprints on Mustang dyno. RT ran like a bat outa hell, a 13.7. Truck , no change.