celly
disturber of the peace
- Joined
- July 28, 2004
- Messages
- 6,841
- Reaction score
- 25
- City, State
- calgary
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 99 eb 5.0 awd
For a long time, Apten ruled the chip domain on this site. Everywhere you turned, it was "Apten this, and Apten that", especially when Brian was with the company. I bought into the hype, but wasn't necessarily disappointed. An Ex with an SCT chip is a happy Ex. More responsive, more power, more fun to drive. My Apten tunes impressed me for the most part. I heard about this amazing service in the "old days" from Brian, but things have definitely changed since he left. I emailed Apten numerous times and no replies. I finally had to call them and after a few tries, I spoke with a human. One day the phone just rang and rang, another day it rang busy. I think I once had the option of voicemail. Once I got Gene on the phone he was very helpful, and had my chip to me in pretty short order, but he did nail me for some pretty steep FEDEX charges. Overall, I was happy.
Then "Hypnotic Illusions" , aka HypIllAuto aka Wayne Foy came onto the scene and became a site sponsor. Finally, an alternative! He would program SCT chips and flashers and reburn chips if wanted. I had two banks on my chip open, so I touched base with Wayne about dropping one of his programs into one of the open banks. He was helpful and responded to emails quickly and was always helpful. I wasn't quite ready to send my chip. Very busy at work and had just had a baby in the household. Busy times.
Not long after, "BamaChips" aka Doug904 aka Doug Studdard started posting again on the site after a long hiatus . As luck would have it and with uncanny timing, he had approached Rick not long before Wayne arrived about sponsorship too. I had heard of his programming before, not only on this site but on others (I think I hit him on a few Google searches a while back). I also touched base with him about filling up the other blank space on my SCT chip. Doug was also a great guy to deal with. Very helpful and knowledgeable too. Given that Doug is in Alabama, and not too far from Georgia where Wayne hails from, I suggested we send my chip to Wayne for his program, then move it to Doug and then back to me. I got real busy with work, Christmas and life in general, and it took me a few weeks to remove the chip.
I then ran into an annoying stalling issue that sure looked like a connection problem with my chip. Once again both Wayne and Doug helped me with the issue and offered a lot of great advice. I took the chip out to do some troubleshooting, then kept it out to package it up for the trip to the southeast US of A.
Getting programming at Apten was pretty generic. They asked a few basic questions, then pretty much sent you their generic package. Generic is "OK" because it's much better than stock, but both Doug and Wayne asked tons of questions about not only basic mods, but things like fuel octane levels in my area, elevation of my city, gear ratios, driving style and wrote tunes tailored to ME. I gave them both the same information on which to base the tunes on. Wayne got his work done and also spent some extra time straightening up my bent connector which was twisted because of a questionable install done previous by yours truly. (DOH). He then quickly moved the chip on to Doug who had the chip turned around quickly and in my hands soon afterwards.
I've had the chip back for probably a week and a half now. All you have to do is be without a chip for a while and you'll realize how much you missed it. A stock Ex (even with custom exhaust and Volant intake) is no match for an Ex with a custom tune (or 4!) put in. I went out to play with my new toys, switching back and forth between the tunes for a little while, before filling up a new tank of 91 and testing using one program for 1/3 of a tank, followed by the other, then to Apten for the bottom 3rd.
In no particular order (except for Apten):
I had Bamachips' "91 torque" program installed by Doug. I was impressed with what he had to say about "tuning down low" and I can see what he means. For a daily driver, this is a great option. My Ex is snappy and responsive in traffic, but I still have amazing passing power on the freeway and excellent accleration. The shiftpoints are crisp and tight. This tune is very sweet.
Wayne installed a performance tune in my chip, with emphasis on torque as well. I told Wayne that the tune feels "different" than Bama's rendition, but different is not a bad thing. I wanted to get away from "cookie cutter" tunes after all! The shift points in this tune are also tight and smooth and my Ex also has some sweet accleration and the whole tune feels great.
I did try Apten again last and just like being without a chip for a while is noticeable, so was switching to Apten's performance tune after playing around with the superior offerings from Wayne and Doug. The Apten tune is still a definite improvement over stock, but it feels a bit sluggish after getting used to the other 2. As much as Apten was pretty good, there were times I felt like my Ex was revving too low, and when my Ex stalled a lot previously, I thought it was entirely due to connection issues. I'm now thinking the programming from Apten may have caused some of it. I tended to also get CEL codes off and on with Apten and have never quite nailed them down. I'm pretty sure I won't have these problems with my new tunes.
The only downside to all this is that I have a space left over in my 4 bank chip, because it's unlikely my Apten 91 tune will ever see any action again. I don't plan on sending my chip anywhere soon, so I'll just have to be content to switch back and fort between banks "2" and "3" from now on.
We are most fortunate to have not only one, but two excellent programmers who sponsor the site as well. You won't go wrong with either. I have no intention of dyno testing the tunes or dyno testing anything. I'm just an enthusiast who likes a fun ride, and I have that X2 now!
I also got Doug to overwrite my former Apten 87 program with an 87 tune of his own, but I've hardly touched 87 since I "got chipped" so I'll have to check that out at a later time, probably the next time I road trip.
Overall:
Bamachips
Hypnotic Illusions
Apten
Then "Hypnotic Illusions" , aka HypIllAuto aka Wayne Foy came onto the scene and became a site sponsor. Finally, an alternative! He would program SCT chips and flashers and reburn chips if wanted. I had two banks on my chip open, so I touched base with Wayne about dropping one of his programs into one of the open banks. He was helpful and responded to emails quickly and was always helpful. I wasn't quite ready to send my chip. Very busy at work and had just had a baby in the household. Busy times.
Not long after, "BamaChips" aka Doug904 aka Doug Studdard started posting again on the site after a long hiatus . As luck would have it and with uncanny timing, he had approached Rick not long before Wayne arrived about sponsorship too. I had heard of his programming before, not only on this site but on others (I think I hit him on a few Google searches a while back). I also touched base with him about filling up the other blank space on my SCT chip. Doug was also a great guy to deal with. Very helpful and knowledgeable too. Given that Doug is in Alabama, and not too far from Georgia where Wayne hails from, I suggested we send my chip to Wayne for his program, then move it to Doug and then back to me. I got real busy with work, Christmas and life in general, and it took me a few weeks to remove the chip.
I then ran into an annoying stalling issue that sure looked like a connection problem with my chip. Once again both Wayne and Doug helped me with the issue and offered a lot of great advice. I took the chip out to do some troubleshooting, then kept it out to package it up for the trip to the southeast US of A.
Getting programming at Apten was pretty generic. They asked a few basic questions, then pretty much sent you their generic package. Generic is "OK" because it's much better than stock, but both Doug and Wayne asked tons of questions about not only basic mods, but things like fuel octane levels in my area, elevation of my city, gear ratios, driving style and wrote tunes tailored to ME. I gave them both the same information on which to base the tunes on. Wayne got his work done and also spent some extra time straightening up my bent connector which was twisted because of a questionable install done previous by yours truly. (DOH). He then quickly moved the chip on to Doug who had the chip turned around quickly and in my hands soon afterwards.
I've had the chip back for probably a week and a half now. All you have to do is be without a chip for a while and you'll realize how much you missed it. A stock Ex (even with custom exhaust and Volant intake) is no match for an Ex with a custom tune (or 4!) put in. I went out to play with my new toys, switching back and forth between the tunes for a little while, before filling up a new tank of 91 and testing using one program for 1/3 of a tank, followed by the other, then to Apten for the bottom 3rd.
In no particular order (except for Apten):
I had Bamachips' "91 torque" program installed by Doug. I was impressed with what he had to say about "tuning down low" and I can see what he means. For a daily driver, this is a great option. My Ex is snappy and responsive in traffic, but I still have amazing passing power on the freeway and excellent accleration. The shiftpoints are crisp and tight. This tune is very sweet.
Wayne installed a performance tune in my chip, with emphasis on torque as well. I told Wayne that the tune feels "different" than Bama's rendition, but different is not a bad thing. I wanted to get away from "cookie cutter" tunes after all! The shift points in this tune are also tight and smooth and my Ex also has some sweet accleration and the whole tune feels great.
I did try Apten again last and just like being without a chip for a while is noticeable, so was switching to Apten's performance tune after playing around with the superior offerings from Wayne and Doug. The Apten tune is still a definite improvement over stock, but it feels a bit sluggish after getting used to the other 2. As much as Apten was pretty good, there were times I felt like my Ex was revving too low, and when my Ex stalled a lot previously, I thought it was entirely due to connection issues. I'm now thinking the programming from Apten may have caused some of it. I tended to also get CEL codes off and on with Apten and have never quite nailed them down. I'm pretty sure I won't have these problems with my new tunes.
The only downside to all this is that I have a space left over in my 4 bank chip, because it's unlikely my Apten 91 tune will ever see any action again. I don't plan on sending my chip anywhere soon, so I'll just have to be content to switch back and fort between banks "2" and "3" from now on.
We are most fortunate to have not only one, but two excellent programmers who sponsor the site as well. You won't go wrong with either. I have no intention of dyno testing the tunes or dyno testing anything. I'm just an enthusiast who likes a fun ride, and I have that X2 now!
I also got Doug to overwrite my former Apten 87 program with an 87 tune of his own, but I've hardly touched 87 since I "got chipped" so I'll have to check that out at a later time, probably the next time I road trip.
Overall:
Bamachips
Hypnotic Illusions
Apten
