Clarification
This is not about whether you would or wouldn't tune one if handed a laptop. It's about whether you'd buy and install one on your own car, or a car of a friend, given total control of the choice. If a customer comes to you, as an installer/tuner, and says "Use BigStuff3, please" you're obviously not going to say no. Likewise if a car already has an old DOS based HalTech on it, and you're asked to improve the tune, you also wouldn't say no. But would you put those on your own vehicle given the choice? Likely not?
Disclaimer:
Please do not judge by this list alone. Instead you're encouraged to read through the whole thread and see what justifications were made for each vote.
Worst at the top
- 5 - MS1 *
- 4 - MicroTech
- 4 - BigStuff3
- 4 - Hydra Nemesis
- 3 - VEMS (& derivs)
- 2 - GoTech
- 2 - ECOTRONS
- 2 - Accel gen3
- 2 - PerfectPower
- 2 - MS3 (inc MS3-"pro", etc) *
- 2 - MS2 (inc. MicroSquirt, etc) *
- 1 - FuelTech EMS
- 1 - SDSEFI
- 1 - Wolf EMS
- 1 - Tec3&co
- 1 - Spitronics
- 1 - Dicktator
- 1 - AEM
- 1 - Holley EFI
- 1 - ECU Master EMU
- 1 - Link/Vipec http://www.linkecu.com
- 1 - Motec http://motec.com.au
- 1 - FreeEMS * http://freeems.org
- 0 - Nira http://www.nira.se/engine.php
- 0 - 034 Motorsport, etc http://www.034motorsport.com
- 0 - EFI Technology http://www.efitechnology.com
- 0 - FAST XFI http://www.fuelairspark.com
- 0 - Omex technology http://omextechnology.co.uk
- 0 - Autronic http://www.autronic.com.au
- 0 - EMS http://www.enginemanagementsystem.com
- 0 - Haltech http://www.haltech.com
- 0 - Adaptronic http://adaptronic.com.au
- 0 - Kronenburg/KMS http://www.vankronenburg.nl
- 0 - CANEMS http://www.canems.co.uk
- 0 - Syvecs http://www.syvecs.co.uk
- 0 - Life Racing http://www.liferacing.com
- 0 - McLaren Electronics http://www.mclarenelectronics.com
- 0 - DTA FAST http://dtafast.co.uk
- 0 - Bosch Motorsports http://www.bosch-motorsport.de
Unknown OR not too bad at the bottom
Note on inequality, until stats get up, there is insufficient data to actually mean much, thus there are some problems with the above:
- Link should likely be closer to a zero, than a one, it's far better than the other ones.
- MS2/MS3 should likely be closer to a one than a two, they're far better than the other twos, and possibly even better than most ones, but not better than the Link.
Unless otherwise specified, a particular brand/name/model includes all variants of that brand/name/model. If you think one of the above options needs splitting into more than one variant because there's significant difference between them, justify your reasoning.
Note, this is about the word "never" not about the term "right now" if you'd not use FreeEMS right now, fair enough, but it doesn't warrant a vote. If you'll never use it, I'd like to hear why! :-)
Piggy-backs are a joke, consider them ranked above the worst of these (even if not quite that bad).
Some people might think this is negative and counter-productive, however if you asked "which is the best standalone" you'd get a zillion answers. So to me it seems most effective to simply rule out which ones you SHOULDN'T get/buy/install on your engine. Then from the remaining list of reasonably well implemented systems, you can take your pick for any reasons (even bad reasons) and you'll likely be fairly safe.
I'll update it periodically and keep the order from most to least hated.
Fred.