Price | $370 |
Rating | 5 |
Pros | Great new features
Tune works well |
Cons | Like most competitors, need to plug in to access some new features |
Recommended | yes |
Comments: This review is for the beta version with the new features for the 2007-2010 JK. There are a maze of new options. Not too difficult to navigate once you get used to them.
DTCS: Get right to reading and clearing!
Preferences: A couple of nice options for English/Metric units, and for wrapping menus.
Engine Tuning: Same as before - Stock, Regular, and Premium tunes
Top Speed: Not real exciting, but functional. You can set your top speed to match your tires up to ZR (way faster than the Jeep could do in a free-fall).
Rev Limit: I haven't found a use for this feature.
Thermostat: Just like before.
Idle RPM: Three options: 4LO, Normal, and Winch.
4LO allows you to set the default idle speed when you are crawling. I set mine up a bit to get it closer to the TC stall speed.
Normal is for the default idle. Don't see much reason to mess with that setting.
Winch - if I could give three thumbs up, I would! This works great with the PowerPlant winch, even in compressor mode! Nice to have the Jeep automatically go to 1600 RPM (or whatever you want to set it to) when there's an electrical load on the engine.
Throttle body: The Viper TB is too close to voodoo magic for my tastes, but if you believe in it the tune should help your "limp mode" issues.
Throttle response: This is another really cool feature. You can chose the "Hypertech" suggested defaults or tune to your liking. WAY nicer driving with just a little tweaking. This option could keep me busy for a very long time fine-tuning since there are so many options to choose from.
TPMS: I've been waiting a very long time for this option! Set mine to 10 PSI. I run between 12-15 PSI when on the trail. This should tell me if a popped a bead (wish I had beadlocks, but that's for the future).
Two qwerks with the TPMS setting I discovered:
I had a low tire before I started (TPMS light on). No matter how I set the option, the light would not go out. I put back the factory tune and aired up all of the tires so the light went out. Now it seems to work great. So, be sure you are starting out "clean" before selecting this option. BTW - the lowest setting is 2 PSI. Would be nice to have "Disable" as an option.
Setting the TPMS to a different threshold doesn't give me the "Install Tuning" option. If I select another option it comes up. A bug, maybe?
Tire Size: Same as before.
Axle Ratio: Same as before.
Vehicle Options: Need to plug in the tuner and have the engine running for these to work. Not practical for me to have the tuner in the vehicle at all times, especially when wheeling. The plug gets in the way. It's not a low-profile plug like the Aeroforce gauge (which I prefer to leave plugged in). It looks like the lockers all engage - no option for "front dig". It would be far better if the options could be worked into the existing switches. Maybe that's not possible. I won't be using this option often, if at all.
Overall I'm very pleased with the new features.