# tune or hand held programmer?



## AlanSr (Jan 4, 2008)

what is the main difference between a tune & programmer like super chips or diablo?

one of these will be next on my list.


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## fergyflyer (Apr 18, 2005)

I just did a Diablosport Predator on my 02 Z28. 

It was real easy to use. They have a "canned" tune that comes from Diablosport. On this particular one you can change other parameters yourself. Those parameters are the how rich or lean you set the car up, shift firmness for the automatic transmission. CAGS elimination on a manual. Programming for 91 or 93 octane instead of the factory 91 tune. You can also change your speedo to compensate for different gears. 

I tried playing with it at the strip last Saturday, doing back to back runs stock versus tuned. Unfortunately they decided to not keep up with track prep so my numbers weren't accurate. As a guess I'd say that I picked up 2-3 tenths by doing the tune and the cat-back exhaust that I just did on the car. 

Is it worth it, give me another 2 weeks and I'll let you know with some dragstrip testing. 

GMHTP magazine did a test of handheld tuners on a Camaro. I tried to find the article but couldn't. They saw a bump in hp and in better dragstrip results.


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## fergyflyer (Apr 18, 2005)

A tune at a speedshop is tailored to your particular car. They might get another couple of hp by doing it real time with a dyno. 

As far as tha is concerned, the speedshop tune is better. The handheld tune is more flexible and allows you to go to stock or even set the car up for regular fuel if you would need that for some reason.


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## GM4life (Mar 18, 2007)

AlanSr said:


> what is the main difference between a tune & programmer like super chips or diablo?
> 
> one of these will be next on my list.


Handheld tuners are good but they add alot of timing on the low end(out of the box). A tuner showed me on HPTuners when I had just the out of the box CAN tune. It is cool because you can do some of your own adjustments if you know what your doing. It added a hair bit gas mileage, I was able to clear codes, remove the CAGS, and adjust the fan temp settings(LS1). I was able to return it back to stock for warranty work. Dyno tunes are the best because the tuner can adjust perameters that the handheld can't do.


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