BRZedit and boost. (also wondering BRZedit vs ECUtek with boost)

[NickFRS]

How many people here are tuned with BRZedit and boosted? Or has any tuner shied away from it? I keep hearing people says BRZedit sucks for boost from multiple locations but never really see it on the forum.

And yes i used the

[jamesm]

I used it up until ecutek was available for end user tuning. It's fatal flaw is the inability to implement a proper boost cut. Having had wastegate lines pop off once and melt through a second time, this matter a lot to me lol. Aside from that it's perfectly workable. It's no racerom, but it'll do the job if necessary.

I wouldn't recommend it given the other options available though. Support is absolutely nonexistent, and the product hasn't been updated once in the entire time I've owned it. If you're not willing to shell out the money for racerom (which you really, really should on a turbo car, or any that you intend to tune yourself), I'd go with oft and deal with it's shortcomings before giving epifansoft my money. It is at least well supported from what I can tell.

But really, just do yourself a favor and buy racerom. Could've saved me months of headaches had it been available to begin with. Custom maps alone make it worth twice the cost. Boost control, flex fuel, custom traction control, whatever you want. It's no contest. Nothing else comes close on features. The others are just cheaper, and when you're building a turbo car cheaper is rarely better.

[evan]

Its not that bad. I used to have Ecutek and their map switching implementation sucks. Flex fuel is BS imo. I'm a firm believer that the tool is only as good as the hands operating it.

Plus, epi has been very very responsive with me via email. 24 hour turnaround at most. Better than I ever got with anyone else. I have launch control and no lift shift on a reliable tune that is producing great power. That meets my criteria.

I spent thousands of dollars fucking around with John and Tony on e-tunes with Ecutek. Wait a waste. Had I started with BRZedit and the local tuner I have now, I would have saved a shit load of $$$.

Plus when I finally lose it, I'm going Motec which is when the real tuning starts. Stock ECU tuning will always have limitations.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[jamesm]

I've never gotten an email response from Epifan except when I bought the software. Must be selective...

And yeah if my experience with ecutek was based on an etune from Visconti and fa20club i'd likely feel the same way. A local tuner will always win that battle, regardless of the software used.

If you plan on actually using the software to tune your car though, my point remains. It's just way more powerful.

[evan]

I wish I had the time and energy to prioritize learning engine management systems. I rely on others.

Eat your vegetables..

[mad_sb]

MAP is using BRZedit to provide base maps for their newly released turbo kit. Shiv and the OPenFlash folks are doing vortec and phantom super charger maps using open flash. Both of these solutions use the stock rom image, they are just different tools for editing and flashing the stock rom. The stock rom is fully capable of supporting boost, though you may loose a couple features in comparison to EcuTek as @jamesm stated above.

[NickFRS]

I currently have BRZedit. I was the First car tuned at PREracing in Feb 2013. @evan you have had flawless support because all the B.s I had to put up with. Esp once FFS came out. (PRE only got BRZedit because I kept bugging jason in 2012 to get it.) They were going to get ECUtek but they dislike the software and company and got BRZedit on release.

Like when my car was N/a and FFS first came out. Car was flashed but on FFS the car would stick at W.e RPM I shifted into for a good 3 seconds then would rev. Would also squeal my belt. FFS timing values were way off on my first Innovate tune causing issues. There has just been countless issues I have had with BRZedit. Wondering some real facts that tuners can share. Also I cannot data log my own car. I had them take FFS off my car because of the countless issues. (I never liked how I couldn't change the launch control RPM unless I had the tuner do it or how FFS was always set at damn near redline to correct issues)

Innovate even told me ditch BRZedit for ECUtek. But i'm struggling to keep that mentality. Would be nice if an actual tuner who has used both software could step in and give their 2 cents. I'm giving PRE and BRZedit one last chance. Otherwise i'm making the switch. The last time I had my car tuned I told them to keep the car as long as they want. Didn't want to pick it up with any tuning issues. Yet there are still issues like 2k rpm jerk and no power on start. Or stutter at 2kish RPM's. It's just getting to the point to where I fear for my engines life. But we shall see after my next visit.

But if any tuners can give accurate advice or knowledge that would be great. I'm no tuner. Never bothered to understand the software. But I almost think it's time to start digging. I've never had this many issues with any car in the past tuning wise. Not even our 400whp 400wtq low boost monster.

[jamesm]

Originally Posted by NickFRS

I currently have BRZedit. I was the First car tuned at PREracing in Feb 2013. @evan you have had flawless support because all the B.s I had to put up with. Esp once FFS came out. (PRE only got BRZedit because I kept bugging jason in 2012 to get it.) They were going to get ECUtek but they dislike the software and company and got BRZedit on release.

Like when my car was N/a and FFS first came out. Car was flashed but on FFS the car would stick at W.e RPM I shifted into for a good 3 seconds then would rev. Would also squeal my belt. FFS timing values were way off on my first Innovate tune causing issues. There has just been countless issues I have had with BRZedit. Wondering some real facts that tuners can share. Also I cannot data log my own car. I had them take FFS off my car because of the countless issues. (I never liked how I couldn't change the launch control RPM unless I had the tuner do it or how FFS was always set at damn near redline to correct issues)

Innovate even told me ditch BRZedit for ECUtek. But i'm struggling to keep that mentality. Would be nice if an actual tuner who has used both software could step in and give their 2 cents. I'm giving PRE and BRZedit one last chance. Otherwise i'm making the switch. The last time I had my car tuned I told them to keep the car as long as they want. Didn't want to pick it up with any tuning issues. Yet there are still issues like 2k rpm jerk and no power on start. Or stutter at 2kish RPM's. It's just getting to the point to where I fear for my engines life. But we shall see after my next visit.

But if any tuners can give accurate advice or knowledge that would be great. I'm no tuner. Never bothered to understand the software. But I almost think it's time to start digging. I've never had this many issues with any car in the past tuning wise. Not even our 400whp 400wtq low boost monster.

i have tuned with both pretty extensively. brzedit has absolutely nothing at all on ecutek aside from the fact that it is cheaper and the logger is nicer. it also has map tracing, which is kinda cool but not particularly useful. in terms of capability though it's lightyears behind ecutek. ecutek allows you to do virtually anything you want. that cannot be overstated. it's in a completely different ballpark in terms of capabilities. you can come up with an idea and just implement it. no need for a stock map that may kinda-sorta be able to be repurposed into what you need, no hacking. you just do whatever the hell you want, create whatever maps you want that take whatever inputs you want and modify whatever output channel you want (within the limitations of what is currently available as far as input/outputs, which is pretty much everything you'd want). it's not even a contest.

i can tell you though your problems have nothing to do with software. you can tune a car to perfectly stock-like drivability with either platform. if you're tuner is unable to accomplish this with brzedit, new software isn't going to help.

[evan]

@NickFRS, I had no idea that your problems with the tune were bad to this extent. I really feel for you. I'm going to PRE tomorrow and will talk to Jason/Erich. @DarrenDriven is tuned on the same software and tuner. Have you reached out to him for his thoughts? Either way, I can never justify e-tunes. They suck. I'm sorry to those who might be offended by that. I simply don't see the value in Ecutek the way @jamesm does. I've owned it twice and tried e-tunes with two different tuners. The process was unprofessional at best.

Either way, debating which OEM ECU tuning solution is better will net little in terms of core differences. I have had my eyes on a standalone solution for a long while now. Tuning on Motec will be much better than both. Only the investment and indecision on end goal are stopping me right now. We will see..

Eat your vegetables..

[Kodename47]

Originally Posted by jamesm

it also has map tracing, which is kinda cool but not particularly useful.

When you say map tracing, do you mean live or recorded playback?

I recently found out that if you keep the maps open on ECUtek when you're connected to the ECU it will highlight which cells are in use.

[NickFRS]

Originally Posted by jamesm

i have tuned with both pretty extensively. brzedit has absolutely nothing at all on ecutek aside from the fact that it is cheaper and the logger is nicer. it also has map tracing, which is kinda cool but not particularly useful. in terms of capability though it's lightyears behind ecutek. ecutek allows you to do virtually anything you want. that cannot be overstated. it's in a completely different ballpark in terms of capabilities. you can come up with an idea and just implement it. no need for a stock map that may kinda-sorta be able to be repurposed into what you need, no hacking. you just do whatever the hell you want, create whatever maps you want that take whatever inputs you want and modify whatever output channel you want (within the limitations of what is currently available as far as input/outputs, which is pretty much everything you'd want). it's not even a contest.

i can tell you though your problems have nothing to do with software. you can tune a car to perfectly stock-like drivability with either platform. if you're tuner is unable to accomplish this with brzedit, new software isn't going to help.

With FFS it was software based. (was right when it was released) It took 3 weeks for BRZedit to respond and fix the FFS tables. With my current 2k stutter n what not the tuner has my cars timing reduced by 15-17 degree's till 1700 rpm. Never happened till retune when he reduced the timing this much. It is tune related. When the car is in it's lug of no timing then spurts into timing zone at 2k it jerks. Deff not the car's natural behavior. PRE is going to try a different "technique" on tuesday. The car is also tuned way differently then the first tune. There was lots of issues with WAY TO MUCH timing in the low end n what not. They learned that while tuning another customers car then had to reflash the 4 other customers including me to fix the issue. And that's coming from the Tuner. Thanks for clearing some things up though.

Originally Posted by evan

@NickFRS, I had no idea that your problems with the tune were bad to this extent. I really feel for you. I'm going to PRE tomorrow and will talk to Jason/Erich. @DarrenDriven is tuned on the same software and tuner. Have you reached out to him for his thoughts? Either way, I can never justify e-tunes. They suck. I'm sorry to those who might be offended by that. I simply don't see the value in Ecutek the way @jamesm does. I've owned it twice and tried e-tunes with two different tuners. The process was unprofessional at best.

Either way, debating which OEM ECU tuning solution is better will net little in terms of core differences. I have had my eyes on a standalone solution for a long while now. Tuning on Motec will be much better than both. Only the investment and indecision on end goal are stopping me right now. We will see..

Eat your vegetables..

I have. I don't want to speak for Darren or others though. I've also already talked to jason. I'll have a further discussion with him when I come in tuesday. No need for someone else to speak for me. i've been doing business with PRE since 2010. Also wouldn't be doing Remote tuning. Id be switching to drift office like josh and wally have done and utilize ECUtek. Josh was very un satisfied with his tune. Wally followed suit with Kevin. Thats a discussion for another day or PM! I've been talking to them while they re-work josh's car. I am hearing some promising and concerning details. I'll be doing my 2 year Ownership review soon though. Everything will come to light to the community with lots of reviews and break down of the car and issues. It hasn't been smooth sailing!

[evan]

@NickFRS.. Don't worry buddy, I wasn't planning on speaking with them on your behalf. You're a big boy.. You can handle yourself.
My discussion with them was going to be very specific around the new tuning work that Erich is now doing with BRZedit. I don't plan on switching to anybody else ever unless I move out of state. I'm very impatient when it comes to dealing with non-local resources (in the tuner world) and we are fortunate to have PRE local to us. Nothing is perfect. Nobody is perfect. There is no magic pixie dust. I've said this before. I know this even in my own work. How things are identified and addressed is more important..

I know it hasn't been smooth sailing for you, but keep on top of it and I'm sure it will all work itself out. I've had my frustrations some days as well. I think some of the local guys can attest to that. I even went out and bought two books on understanding and tuning engine management systems (when I have a little bit of time to dedicate) just so that I feel empowered when having discussions with my tuner. I don't plan on becoming a tuner. I have my hands full at the moment in my own work.

Eat your vegetables..

[jamesm]

Originally Posted by evan

@NickFRS, I had no idea that your problems with the tune were bad to this extent. I really feel for you. I'm going to PRE tomorrow and will talk to Jason/Erich. @DarrenDriven is tuned on the same software and tuner. Have you reached out to him for his thoughts? Either way, I can never justify e-tunes. They suck. I'm sorry to those who might be offended by that. I simply don't see the value in Ecutek the way @jamesm does. I've owned it twice and tried e-tunes with two different tuners. The process was unprofessional at best.

Either way, debating which OEM ECU tuning solution is better will net little in terms of core differences. I have had my eyes on a standalone solution for a long while now. Tuning on Motec will be much better than both. Only the investment and indecision on end goal are stopping me right now. We will see..

Eat your vegetables..

you don't see the value because you didn't use it to tune a car. you used it to flash someone else's tune on your car. the value lives in the software itsefl... the capabilities it gives you as a tuner.

[evan]

Originally Posted by jamesm

you don't see the value because you didn't use it to tune a car. you used it to flash someone else's tune on your car. the value lives in the software itsefl... the capabilities it gives you as a tuner.

I'm not a tuner @jamesm and I never will be. I don't care much for the minutia between the tools. I care about the end result and the experience with my tuner. The end result and tuner experience works for me. Happy customer. Nothing more to see here..

I have this discussion all the time with people in my business. They don't care about the technicals. They have their own focus areas. I can respect that. We can't all know everything about everything all of the time. We then rely on each other to get us through life, regardless of the task at hand.

Eat your vegetables..