ECU TEK cable question...

[Shit Luck]

So i have to ask this question.
what is the difference between an ecutek cable and a rosstech cable?
my rosstech from my vw will do a generic obd2 reading on any car so it must be pinned out the same as any obd2 reader cable.
so if that is the case i should be able to use the cable i already have with an ecutek liscense to load ecutek tunes on to my frs, correct?
if visconti or someone could chime in here and explain how the cables differ i would appreciate it.
i cant see now the cables are different.

[Foobar]

The ECUTek isn't a standard OBD2 cable. The software won't work with anything but the cable. It's proprietary so that ECUTek can control who's using their product.

Once (if) we have an open ECU type of solution available, you should be able to use a standard OBD2 to USB cable.

[Shit Luck]

not true... the software isnt married to the cable its married to the ecu on our cars.
also they appear to be the exact same cable in construction.

[xwd]

There are electronics in the Ecutek cable which are different than a standard serial to OBD2 cable. It has its own set of Ecutek-written drivers which are installed when you install the Ecutek software and plug in the cable. Without detecting an Ecutek cable the software won't connect to the car. The license is actually tied to the hardware dongle you are given and you are correct it is not tied to a cable at all, but the cable is proprietary.

So no you can't use any other cable other than the Ecutek one.

[Shit Luck]

if this is true, why is the liscense married to a car? i get that i would have to buy a liscense that isnt the issue, i am wondering why i need to spend another amazing a amount of money for the cable.
the cables physically are the same construction.

i guess i am just amazed at how rediculously expensive the cable and liscense are compared to the exact same product from ross tech for vw's at this point.
basically ecutek stuff is a massive rip off based on it being the same product ross tech is offering for vw?

[Laika]

Originally Posted by Shit Luck

if this is true, why is the liscense married to a car?

i guess i am just amazed at how rediculously expensive the cable and liscense are compared to the exact same product from ross tech for vw's at this point.
basically ecutek stuff is a massive rip off based on it being the same product ross tech is offering for vw?

If you're near SE PA you're welcome to use my ECUtek cable

[Shit Luck]

Originally Posted by Laika

If you're near SE PA you're welcome to use my ECUtek cable

i appreciate the offer, i am about 2hrs from philly, i am in york pa.
i am really feel i need to have my own cable as i plan to go forced induction at some point.
This whole ecutek seems like a giant scam to me based on the price of other similiar products.

[whtchocla7e]

Wait a year until the market becomes saturated with similar products or pay for the privilege to be one of the first "now".

That's how it all works..

[xwd]

Originally Posted by Shit Luck

if this is true, why is the liscense married to a car? i get that i would have to buy a liscense that isnt the issue, i am wondering why i need to spend another amazing a amount of money for the cable.
the cables physically are the same construction.

i guess i am just amazed at how rediculously expensive the cable and liscense are compared to the exact same product from ross tech for vw's at this point.
basically ecutek stuff is a massive rip off based on it being the same product ross tech is offering for vw?

It's married once you flash the car with the software using that specific hardware dongle.

Different car makes have different products which are less expensive or more expensive. It's not the same product, Ecutek had to do their own reverse engineering of the ECU and build their own product. Just because it's similar doesn't make it the same. They are also the only ones right now and people have been willing to pay for their product, so they don't really have an incentive to make it cheaper. I'm not sure if anyone will make a competing product, with Subarus Ecutek and Cobb were the only two reflash vendors until open source came along.

It took a long time for other Subaru models to get open source reflash, and eventually it will probably come to the BRZ/FR-S as well.

[Shit Luck]

Originally Posted by dwx

It's married once you flash the car with the software using that specific hardware dongle.

Different car makes have different products which are less expensive or more expensive. It's not the same product, Ecutek had to do their own reverse engineering of the ECU and build their own product. Just because it's similar doesn't make it the same. They are also the only ones right now and people have been willing to pay for their product, so they don't really have an incentive to make it cheaper.

It took a long time for other Subaru models to get open source reflash, and eventually it will probably come to the BRZ/FR-S as well.

at this point its more cost effective to just go stand alone on this car...
seems as if the car has so many issues with just bolting parts on that it needs tuned everytime you tighten a bolt at this point.
paying for a "tune" everytime you bolt on a part is gonna be a very expensive proposition.

[Laika]

Originally Posted by Shit Luck

i appreciate the offer, i am about 2hrs from philly, i am in york pa.
i am really feel i need to have my own cable as i plan to go forced induction at some point.
This whole ecutek seems like a giant scam to me based on the price of other similiar products.

I would agree that once you're at the FI stage, it's beneficial to have access to your own cable at any time. Is ecutek a scam? Ehh it's kind of a monopoly at the very least. Like everyone said, it's a matter of waiting for more options.

Originally Posted by Shit Luck

paying for a "tune" everytime you bolt on a part is gonna be a very expensive proposition.

I'm not sure what it's like with FI but I know Visconti offers free updates if you just send him datalogs of your new mods.

[Yruyur]

Originally Posted by Shit Luck

i appreciate the offer, i am about 2hrs from philly, i am in york pa.
i am really feel i need to have my own cable as i plan to go forced induction at some point.
This whole ecutek seems like a giant scam to me based on the price of other similiar products.

You are paying for the fact that no one else has cracked the ecu encryption. If you are the only maker of a product you can pretty much charge anything you want. But as you can see from the crazy amount of ecutek business it's a price that people are willing to pay.

When there is competition out there then they will start competing on prices. When the market is fully saturated then most likely the ecu will be open source and no one will have to pay to tune. Its always the early adopters that will pay big to have the fun months / years before the others.

Sent from my flux capacitor using Taptalk

[cnk]

Originally Posted by Shit Luck

at this point its more cost effective to just go stand alone on this car...
seems as if the car has so many issues with just bolting parts on that it needs tuned everytime you tighten a bolt at this point.
paying for a "tune" everytime you bolt on a part is gonna be a very expensive proposition.

You only pay for the tune once as most vendors won't charge to update the tune unless you go FI. Even if you go FI I would expect that the tunes would follow the same support structure where you pay for the FI tune but get updates for free.

As an example, I know with @Visconti if you buy his tune and add an intake, he'll send you an updated tune file.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2

[xwd]

Originally Posted by Shit Luck

at this point its more cost effective to just go stand alone on this car...
seems as if the car has so many issues with just bolting parts on that it needs tuned everytime you tighten a bolt at this point.
paying for a "tune" everytime you bolt on a part is gonna be a very expensive proposition.

Most of the tuners have tried to be accommodating to popular mods like intakes, exhausts, etc. and have offered updated tunes for free. If you want to spend $2K+ on a standalone that is certainly an option. Right now there is only one I'm aware of (Hydra EMS) which can fully control everything.

Also the only parts which really have shown a need to retune are intakes which is understandable.

The car is new, so cheaper options may come in the future. In the Subaru world if you want an ECU reflash the only real options were Ecutek and Cobb, and Cobb has no plans to build anything for this car. I don't know if and when Ecutek will see competition, might not be until open source tuning is a reality.