It seems this thread has become the place to write a review or at least share your thoughts, so here we go.
It's been about a week since I received my open flash tablet and it's been absolutely amazing. I'll start out by saying that as far as I can tell, this is the bargain of the century. Not only does shiv and his team provide amazing consumer service and product support, he and his team also find time to keep improving what they have to offer through their tablet, which has graciously remained the same price. Best part is all these improvements and new tunes are 100% FREE! I'm pretty astounded at how they are able to juggle so many things successfully without some strange voodoo or wizardry involved. So kudos for that.
Also, considering everything you get, including a physical tablet, I'm astounded that it's not more expensive. In a day and age where non-resellable software is more and more abundant, it is humbling to make a tuning purchase that will have potential future resale value if I ever decide to sell it (but let's be honest, why would I ever do that).
-stage 1 tune-
For the first hour after getting my OFT I ran the stage 1 turn on 93 octane. That was a week ago and from what I remember the engine felt more aggressive, but at the same time more refined. The first few times idling at a stop light I had to double check to make sure my car was on because the idle was so smooth. Driving around town, up to 3k felt pretty much the same ( although I didn't give the ecu much time for learning). And I was ok with that as the car had decent torque from 2.5-3.5 k for stock. However even with just the stage 1 tune the torque dip is pretty much nonexistent. There is this nice growl right at 4k which leads into the sound of the engine opening up. I was pleasantly surprise with the nice kick that the car now had at 4k. The way I drive when I'm daily driving is to rev up to around 3.5 to 4k, which on the stock tune left me wanting more. I never liked the feeling of ending the current gear in the torque valley. It always left me feeling like I wasn't getting anywhere and made the lack of torque even more noticeable. The stage 1 tune in itself is worth if for that reason alone. Also The upper range of rpms has a nice kick to it.
-E85 tune-
As for the e85 tune, oh boy does it improve this car. Pretty much the reason I bought the OFT. My car is bone stock and this to me was the best $$ deal for drivability and power without being loud, which is my personal preference (although I still plan on getting the OFH to throw on the stock exhaust). The torque down low is plenty. It feels like it pulls as hard from 2.5 to 4k on e85 as it did from 4.5 to redline on the stock tune. About 4 years ago a friend of mine owned an s2000 and one day he let me drive it around all day . This was before I learned how to drive stick. Comparing that to the frs on shivs e85 tune it feels as fast if not faster than the s2000. Day 2! Of running the tune, after about 60 miles of learning, I did a pull coming onto the highway. I went through 1-2-3-4th gear and I was really surprised. It just kept pulling. It was relentless. 3rd and 4th pulled seemed to pull as strong as 2nd did. It was a pleasant surprise. Also, coming out of a corner you've got a lot more confidence. Most corners I go around in city and county driving I come out of with my rpms around 3k or so in second gear. With the added torque throughout the rev range you've got a lot more confidence coming out of those daily driving corners whereas before on the stock tune you had a bit before things started to pickup. And with spirited driving its even better. Even with daily driving and needing to pass someone or accelerating from a stoplight, everything seems very effortless now. It's no supercharger, but for me it's plenty to keep me satisfied for street use.
I'd also like to mention I had my first cold start this morning with a temp of 27. It was 40 and 50 all last week and my car started up no problem. This morning however was a bit rough. It did start on first try however it sputtered for about 10-15 seconds before it finally settled down. Not too bad, I was expecting it to be more difficult.
I'm thinking about posting a video up soon with me driving around so anyone interested can hear some of the new sounds the engine makes and I'll probably give a few impressions too
I hope this will help anyone who is interested!