OVTune OTT Tune

[Huck89]

I’m looking at getting a tune very soon and I just wanted to get some opinions. I was originally going to go with the KDMax tune but then someone nearby offered to do OTT. Does anyone have experience with the OTT tune that can give me a quick rundown of the pros/cons?

 

[gelsi2033]

I’m looking at getting a tune very soon and I just wanted to get some opinions. I was originally going to go with the KDMax tune but then someone nearby offered to do OTT. Does anyone have experience with the OTT tune that can give me a quick rundown of the pros/cons?

I would advise reading up on this before deciding, but I can say after having two 3rd gens and being on OTT 2.0 and KD in the past, OTT seems to have really nailed it. I would definitely chose OTT over KD given the option again.

Overland Tailor

Calling all On & Off Road Enthusiasts

overlandtailor.com

Originally did OTT 7.0 with 4.88 gears.
Now on OTT 8.0 still 4.88 and AGM 14..5VDC alternator charging. Mild/medium throttle.
I have been running OTT 7/8.0 since May 22 = 16k + Miles.

Cons - Can't think of any except maybe that the tune does not work when using cruise control (I don't think any of them map cruise control).

Pros - It will NOT make the truck fast it just moves the entire power band lower and as implied in the name, it is a torque tune so you will feel like the truck is more peppy.

Stock these trucks do not come alive until above 4k RPM (4600 rpm max torque and 6200 rpm max HP). OTT moves that down the band so I think your max torque is in the 3k range and max HP in the 5k range. It also improves the power available 2k to 4k which is where most of use our trucks.

I can't speak to stock gears since I originally got this tune once I re geared but I hear a lot of people say that it gets rid of gear hunting on stock gears.

It definitely improves shifting and for me at least, I have forgotten what gear hunting is like. It lives in 6th gear on the highway even when climbing hills and passing.

I like the two different throttle settings. I chose mild/medium. I would not want to go higher, but you can try the more touchy throttles and if you don't like it, your tuner will adjust. The more aggressive throttle is usually put into the ECT mapping so when you hit the ECT button, you can feel a difference in your throttle and it still holds the shifts longer (good for getting on the highway).

 

[mZiggy]

Just for the record, YotaWerx Tuning maps separate Cruise Control tables

 

[Huck89]

I would advise reading up on this before deciding, but I can say after having two 3rd gens and being on OTT 2.0 and KD in the past, OTT seems to have really nailed it. I would definitely chose OTT over KD given the option again.

Overland Tailor

Calling all On & Off Road Enthusiasts

overlandtailor.com

Originally did OTT 7.0 with 4.88 gears.
Now on OTT 8.0 still 4.88 and AGM 14..5VDC alternator charging. Mild/medium throttle.
I have been running OTT 7/8.0 since May 22 = 16k + Miles.

Cons - Can't think of any except maybe that the tune does not work when using cruise control (I don't think any of them map cruise control).

Pros - It will NOT make the truck fast it just moves the entire power band lower and as implied in the name, it is a torque tune so you will feel like the truck is more peppy.

Stock these trucks do not come alive until above 4k RPM (4600 rpm max torque and 6200 rpm max HP). OTT moves that down the band so I think your max torque is in the 3k range and max HP in the 5k range. It also improves the power available 2k to 4k which is where most of use our trucks.

I can't speak to stock gears since I originally got this tune once I re geared but I hear a lot of people say that it gets rid of gear hunting on stock gears.

It definitely improves shifting and for me at least, I have forgotten what gear hunting is like. It lives in 6th gear on the highway even when climbing hills and passing.

I like the two different throttle settings. I chose mild/medium. I would not want to go higher, but you can try the more touchy throttles and if you don't like it, your tuner will adjust. The more aggressive throttle is usually put into the ECT mapping so when you hit the ECT button, you can feel a difference in your throttle and it still holds the shifts longer (good for getting on the highway).

Thanks for all the information. I’ll definitely do some more research but based on the reviews here it sounds like OTT is pretty solid.

 

[mZiggy]

Thanks for all the information. I’ll definitely do some more research but based on the reviews here it sounds like OTT is pretty solid.

I'd recommend including YotaWerx in your research as well.

Nonetheless, enjoy whatever you pick, I don't think there's any such thing as a bad tune available

 

[406Camper]

I am currently looking at OTT as well.
benh088 was helpful. I was going to do it at Overland Expo West but got COVID.

 

[benh088]

Thanks for the tag 406Camper ! I can confirm that OTT does include maps for both adaptive and standard cruise control. Cruise does still shift more frequently than with regular driving just due to the way cruise works -- it is adamant about maintaining a constant speed, so the second there's an incline or resistance it adds more throttle and can downshift, whereas your foot may be a little more forgiving. Add 70+ MPH speeds and winds and it can seem like it's more like stock again.

Additionally, OTT does add low and mid-range torque and horsepower that Toyota left room for, so you will get a small power increase from our tune as well. I've been tuned for 40k+ miles on my 2016 Tacoma TRD Off-Road and I've just hit 112k miles. I've had zero issues thus far. I'm running the mild/medium AGM tune. OTT is a game changer!

 

[Huck89]

That’s awesome! I can’t wait to get it finally. I’m pretty sure the answer is yes but with the tune I’ll no longer need the pedal commander correct? The tune takes the place of what that’s attempting to do correct?

 

[RevN3]

I've been running OTT on my truck since last summer. My rig is a manual and the changes are very subtle because of that. I probably wouldn't do it again (at least not for the price I paid, IMHO tuning manuals should be 1/2 price) but it is nice to have a little extra oomph when passing or hauling. I only really notice it around 4k RPM. No change at all under 2K. I'm also not really noticing any improvement in MPG.

 

[mZiggy]

I've been running OTT on my truck since last summer. My rig is a manual and the changes are very subtle because of that. I probably wouldn't do it again (at least not for the price I paid, IMHO tuning manuals should be 1/2 price) but it is nice to have a little extra oomph when passing or hauling. I only really notice it around 4k RPM. No change at all under 2K. I'm also not really noticing any improvement in MPG.

As someone who put just as much work into their brand's (not OTT) MT tune development as AT, I can confidently tell you that a well-done MT tune should absolutely not be half price.

 

[RevN3]

As someone who put just as much work into their brand's (not OTT) MT tune development as AT, I can confidently tell you that a well-done MT tune should absolutely not be half price.

I'm not judging your tune as I obviously havn't used it (OTT is pretty much standard in the PacNW) but I was told the MT-OTT tune was also developed specifically for MTs. I've mentioned this before but the whole tuning industry really needs to work on being more transparent and trying to be more legit with independent testers. It's basically impossible to compare tunes and really get an understanding of what they do in a practical scientific sense. People say "do your research" but all the tune information comes from the tuners themselves so it's all biased. I believe in the concept of tuning but it really needs to come out of the shadows. Meeting a guy in a parking lot and sending him ~$500 on PayPal so he can plug a laptop into your truck and do what essentially seems like magic is not a good look.

Again, not reflecting on you mZiggy, just the weirdness of the entire industry. There is no other mod for my truck that is implemented like this.

 

[mZiggy]

I'm not judging your tune as I obviously havn't used it (OTT is pretty much standard in the PacNW) but I was told the MT-OTT tune was also developed specifically for MTs. I've mentioned this before but the whole tuning industry really needs to work on being more transparent and trying to be more legit with independent testers. It's basically impossible to compare tunes and really get an understanding of what they do in a practical scientific sense. People say "do your research" but all the tune information comes from the tuners themselves so it's all biased. I believe in the concept of tuning but it really needs to come out of the shadows. Meeting a guy in a parking lot and sending him ~$500 on PayPal so he can plug a laptop into your truck and do what essentially seems like magic is not a good look.

Again, not reflecting on you mZiggy, just the weirdness of the entire industry. There is no other mod for my truck that is implemented like this.

I've been saying for a LONG time that the community would benefit immensely from having independent testing of all tunes. See below link for one such posting about it. Every time I've mentioned it though, it goes nowhere.

KDMAX OR OVERLANDER TUNE ?!?!

Well, if there was a huge change it would probably be worth it, but hopefully the new KDmax solves the various annoyances I was having on the previous...

www.tacomaworld.com

The Facebook group "The Real 3GT" recently had a post/discussion about this very thing too. Some good ideas shared. But ultimately I doubt it'll ever go anywhere anytime soon because I've seen it yet ignored so many times, and honestly it could even be because it may be seen as against a company's best interests. After all, without the test done you can claim as loudly as you want pretty much whatever you want. It becomes more difficult when you are losing reasons to blindly state your claims as more data becomes available.

It doesn't have to be about which one is *best*, because I don't believe there's a "bad" tune out there anymore. Just needs to provide something that highlights differences to allow people the means to begin deciding for themselves. Currently people just scream their preferred tune option and the one that gets shouted about the loudest gets picked even if it may not be the best option for someone.

Not many people do any sort of quantifiable datalogging and research either. One of my networked tuners (ASE Master Tech) spent nearly $2k he said buying all of the community tunes with the intent to datalog and test every one on his personal truck to then give him the data he wanted to inform his decision on which network he was going to offer to do tuning services for. This was not publicized either, as I'd no idea until he reached out with his proposal to join the network.

With regard to "developed for MT specifically", I'm sure that my competition claims the same, and that's fine. For myself though, and my brand, I used to own a 2017 6MT and used it to develop the Coyoza tune which was widely regarded as the best tune for MTs at the time, and why CVC bought it from us. And I used my truck to develop it. It was genuinely the only one at the time where I can confidently say was made by a MT owner, for MT trucks, on a MT truck. The others were just ports of AT tunes to MT, and the results showed.

This was improved upon further following the sale of Coyoza and our rebranding to YotaWerx.

To my knowledge, OTT does not own a MT Tacoma and would've used testers. Or maybe they sat down in a MT truck and tuned it. Idk. Perfectly fine. It's not like every company HAS to own the trucks they develop tunes for. It just helps.

I can really only speak for myself though.

At the end of the day, the best answer currently really is "to do your research". It just is. But yes, there are inherent drawbacks to that as well due to the lack of independent testers.

Your opinions and comments are valid man, and I didn't take them personally. Don't worry about offending me over it.

Regarding your point about the parking lot thing, this is why we've considered ourselves fortunate to have so many big name brick and mortar businesses reach out to us and offer to join our network and sell our tunes, and ultimately it's part of the business plan along with a stricter vetting of tuners who do not have businesses and would offer their services on a mobile basis, even to include networking with local shops to give them the means to help those shops and give them a place to work out of.

Because the public perception really does matter, and it can't get overlooked.

 

[BLtheP]

A lot of good points here. I’ve been on OTT with the manual since May ‘22. Bone stock tires size, all terrains.

The frustrating part about the tune industry is definitely what N3 said. Researching just gets you looking at who can shout the loudest, which sucks. At the time I was choosing my tune, I was new to the forums and had JUST got my truck. KDMax was still kind of all the rage so I was YouTubing it and ended up calling someone on the tuning map for KD in DFW. That fellow told me we could try it out but that he actually liked and ran OTT which he was also an installer for. Ended up settling on that after trying both.

What I like about OTT is that it is extremely smooth, and feels like it could have been stock. What I don’t like, and it may not be their fault, is that if you’re at low rpm in 2nd gear, the motor still has very little get up and go. Running higher octane fuel has helped to advance the timing slowly over time which seems to have helped a bit, but it’s still easy to bog down. I’ve talked to OTT and they are very helpful guys….they have assured me that they’ve spent 16+ hours on the dyno making every tweak they can and that what I’ve got is as good as it gets.

What I have no experience with is everything else. I’ve never tried anything from OVTune, Coyoza/CVC, YotaWerx, etc. I try to “do the research” which mostly for me means quietly reading posted dynos to try and see how the torque curves look. I don’t want to ask people questions because you inevitably start going down the road of “well you should get my tune because it’s the one with the best torque and throttle response”……end up with a lot of answers from different people that all sound the same and really don’t clear anything up.

My hesitation to try other tunes basically hits a roadblock when I see the dynos. I have yet to see a dyno that looks better or worse than OTT. They’re all right about the same. A lot of tunes really highlight what happens after 2000 rpm, and how their tune picks up better torque than stock at that point. I don’t really care about 2000 rpm, as the design of the motor gives you ample torque beyond 2000 rpm regardless of the tune. Toyota gave us a tall 2nd gear that really needs performance off idle. Now, it’s a V6 and I know that asking for torque off idle is really not possible much which is why a regear on stock tires is totally in my plans and happening next month.

But anyways, the torque curves for NONE of the tunes look good or better than what I already have, down at idle to 2000 rpm. I need that to be better. I don’t really care what happens beyond that because they’re all good at that point. So I’m really hesitant to change anything.

I used a local tune installer, but will be getting the VFTuner package soon so I can become self sufficient. I’d recommend most do the same. Cut out the middle man. Tune installers are not the smartest folks either. Not to insult them, but if you want technical details, they usually will give you a whole lot of nothing. Nice folks, but they think because they’re tuning you, that they know more than you about automotive. The guy I had has done all sorts of exhaust to his truck, “cold air” intake, and various other stuff and thinks his truck drives much better and kept trying to get me to do all the same stuff which would cost thousands. The truth is I drive his truck and other than noise, it really does not feel any more powerful.

The tune creators are smart, the installers are just computer users so no telling how much or little they know. The only benefit to using an installer is it’s a one and done deal, and sometimes you can try a few tunes like I did before settling on one. What you cant do if you use an installer is have control. I’m getting OTT to make me some more edits in the idle rpm setting and a few other things that will make nice changes for me before I decide if I’m ever going to try another tune or not. Can’t do that if I have to keep begging the installer fella to flash them for me every time the OTT guys make edits.

 

[mZiggy]

Honestly you're likely to never see anything for a dynograph that shows "better than what you have lower than 2k rpm" because dyno's aren't run that low, not to mention getting a shop to run a dyno in a way you want may simply be something they won't or don't want to do.

Now, they can be done, and hell, I'm down to try to set that up for when the currently in-testing YotaWerx updated tune is ready for dyno, but you're probably never going to see it from multiple companies as a point of available comparison for you because a dyno demonstrates full throttle power and torque curve and does not necessarily represent drivability, and showing the WOT curve that low isn't extremely useful to most people, even if they think it is.

This is actually why it's important to remember that dynographs are nice and all, and they do tell an important story, but they're a diagnostic tool first and foremost and they do not tell the whole story. It is extremely convenient to say "look at my dynograph, it's amazing and therefore my tune is amazing" while omitting the fact that it's showcasing one aspect of the tune and ignoring the most important part: regular driving, and THAT'S where reviews come into play.

People go WOT fairly infrequently. High load scenarios? Sure, all the time. But they aren't the same and they will perform differently.

In summary, you're pretty much going to almost always have to rely on anecdotal and personal experiences to get an idea of what a tune is like sub-2500 rpm or so. Because below that, most people are pretty much at partial throttle and so it wouldn't be represented on the graph anyway.

Regarding torque down low off-idle: it's there, and up through that 2k rpm range. You can have it in your tunes. But you're effectively asking that it be demonstrated on a dynograph and that just isn't a reasonable request that can really be accommodated. Otherwise dynographs would be 600-6k rpm runs. That also enters into a physics discussion with gears, because you'd need to be shifting to start off that low and so you wouldn't even get the proper data that you're wanting to see.

In the 6MT, a bunch of us would lug the 6th gear down to 12-1400 rpm or so and then smoothly accelerate from there. Patiently. It's not a rocket ship, particularly in such a high gear and low rpm. It would smoothly and "strongly" accelerate, within reason. But you can't show that on a dynograph. It's not wot, and it shouldn't be because you'd break something or just have a bad time. And yet that's a drivability scenario that is frequently seen and we liked doing. How do you quantify that for someone?

 

[BLtheP]

Honestly you're likely to never see anything for a dynograph that shows "better than what you have lower than 2k rpm" because dyno's aren't run that low, not to mention getting a shop to run a dyno in a way you want may simply be something they won't or don't want to do.

Now, they can be done, and hell, I'm down to try to set that up for when the currently in-testing YotaWerx updated tune is ready for dyno, but you're probably never going to see it from multiple companies as a point of available comparison for you because a dyno demonstrates full throttle power and torque curve and does not necessarily represent drivability, and showing the WOT curve that low isn't extremely useful to most people, even if they think it is.

This is actually why it's important to remember that dynographs are nice and all, and they do tell an important story, but they're a diagnostic tool first and foremost and they do not tell the whole story. It is extremely convenient to say "look at my dynograph, it's amazing and therefore my tune is amazing" while omitting the fact that it's showcasing one aspect of the tune and ignoring the most important part: regular driving, and THAT'S where reviews come into play.

People go WOT fairly infrequently. High load scenarios? Sure, all the time. But they aren't the same and they will perform differently.

In summary, you're pretty much going to almost always have to rely on anecdotal and personal experiences to get an idea of what a tune is like sub-2500 rpm or so. Because below that, most people are pretty much at partial throttle and so it wouldn't be represented on the graph anyway.

Regarding torque down low off-idle: it's there, and up through that 2k rpm range. You can have it in your tunes. But you're effectively asking that it be demonstrated on a dynograph and that just isn't a reasonable request that can really be accommodated. Otherwise dynographs would be 600-6k rpm runs. That also enters into a physics discussion with gears, because you'd need to be shifting to start off that low and so you wouldn't even get the proper data that you're wanting to see.

In the 6MT, a bunch of us would lug the 6th gear down to 12-1400 rpm or so and then smoothly accelerate from there. Patiently. It's not a rocket ship, particularly in such a high gear and low rpm. It would smoothly and "strongly" accelerate, within reason. But you can't show that on a dynograph. It's not wot, and it shouldn't be because you'd break something or just have a bad time. And yet that's a drivability scenario that is frequently seen and we liked doing. How do you quantify that for someone?

Fair enough. I’m not much in the know on dynographs and what it takes to properly create and market a tune. I don’t ever drive at low lugging rpm in situations where I can avoid it. People that ride with me are always surprised how I keep the revs high as I drive. The problem for me is with situations where I don’t have that control. The only reason I even care about the idle down low is because of situations where I get forced to slow down unexpectedly and then have to speed back up quickly again, like a changing stoplight that goes from red to green, or driving in the right lane at 45 mph and the dude in front of me turns and I have to slow down for that. The gearing Toyota gave us makes that difficult when 1st is short but 2nd is tall. A tune that can actually work well in 2nd gear that low is what I’ve hoped for. Regear will help with that a lot but a tune that can accomplish it with actually decent low end torque would be nice.

Whenever I finally buy the VF tuner software, I’ll have my OTT files saved and eventually won’t be against buying other tunes. I may try the Yotawerx and compare them by seat of the pants. Trust me, I am very in tune (no pun intended) with the low speed 2nd gear issue I complain about so much. I’d know in about 1 minute of test runs if it’s better/worse/same. I have never seen anybody compare OTT with YotaWerx whatsoever which is why I’m still interested in it.

I am curious, does Yotawerx keep the Atkinson cycle deactivated like the old OV Tune SFOB did? Does it also get rid of the gear specific responses on the MT? Or are you unable to disclose that info? The SFOB people seem to be decently happy with the low end torque, and I know OTT still uses a mix of Atkinson, so I’m really interested in some comparisons.

 

[mZiggy]

The published YW tune does not use FO for the AT tunes, due to the fuel economy loss observed, while we keep FO as a separate requestable option for the MT and we've even begun just including it as separate tune in our tune packs because those same fuel economy losses aren't observed on the MT trucks from what we've seen ourselves and had reported, and the benefits are really great.

Remains to be seen if we'll make the only standard option for our Blackhawk 2.0 tune.

For the record, my reply above was in no way meant to try to drag you away from OTT either. I understand as much as anyway how much it sucks to be potentially paying hundreds of dollars to try different options.

 

[BLtheP]

The published YW tune does not use FO for the AT tunes, due to the fuel economy loss observed, while we keep FO as a separate requestable option for the MT and we've even begun just including it as separate tune in our tune packs because those same fuel economy losses aren't observed on the MT trucks from what we've seen ourselves and had reported, and the benefits are really great.

Remains to be seen if we'll make the only standard option for our Blackhawk 2.0 tune.

For the record, my reply above was in no way meant to try to drag you away from OTT either. I understand as much as anyway how much it sucks to be potentially paying hundreds of dollars to try different options.

Thanks for the info. If I were trying the YW, I’d definitely want to try both.

No worries at all, I’ve wanted to do this since before we’ve ever talked. There are so many options, it’s hard not to wonder what else is out there. The guy that tuned me first ran SFOB and then KD and OTT. He claimed OTT was the best for sure, but I question his methods fr determining what’s “best”. So I definitely want to do some testing for myself, but only until I have my gears done since the gearing I’m on now is not permanent. Makes more sense to get all the permanent choices made and installed, then start testing tunes since what I have now is good anyways.

 

[406Camper]

Just got the OTT tune. What a difference. I will report back when I take it off-road next week.

 

[bonifacio]

So OTT is the way to go now?

 

[drizzoh]

So OTT is the way to go now?

OTT is the way I'm going once I stop spending money on other things lol.

 

[benh088]

OTT is the way I'm going once I stop spending money on other things lol.

A tune is easily the best bang for your buck mod you can do, especially if you're adding weight, regearing, or going with larger/heavier tires. If I ever total my 3rd Gen and get a new one, I'm tuning it ASAP. Hands down the best mod I've ever done on my Tacoma. I've had guys purchase their Tacoma and immediately head to me for a tune. No joke, one customer couldn't find the Tacoma he wanted near NW Wyoming, so he flew back to his property in the New England area and was able to find the truck he wanted. He drove it home and stopped at my place to tune it on the way with less than 800 miles.

 

[drizzoh]

A tune is easily the best bang for your buck mod you can do, especially if you're adding weight, regearing, or going with larger/heavier tires. If I ever total my 3rd Gen and get a new one, I'm tuning it ASAP. Hands down the best mod I've ever done on my Tacoma. I've had guys purchase their Tacoma and immediately head to me for a tune. No joke, one customer couldn't find the Tacoma he wanted near NW Wyoming, so he flew back to his property in the New England area and was able to find the truck he wanted. He drove it home and stopped at my place to tune it on the way with less than 800 miles.

I tuned the truck with the off the shelf OV tune around 1000 miles because the gear hunting drove me insane - and got even worse after putting on the 33's to the point where it was almost undrivable, and I was ready to trade it in. That fixed my issues for the most part, but the support I was expecting from them has been crap so I'm looking into doing the newest OTT whenever I get around to it.

 

[406Camper]

OTT Tune Report: Just got back from West Yellowstone. To quote Gregg who got the tune with me in Billings, "It drives like a Camry, and that's a good thing!"
Most of the gear hunting is gone, except if in cruise control, which is expected.
I went over several mountain passes with no problems. Really nice to have higher torque in lower gears and was evident snow wheeling.
I highly recommend any tune, as they are probably all very similar. I can only speak to the OTT Mild/Medium tune that I got. My truck is on the heavy side with armor and 33's.

Mark

 

[bonifacio]

OTT Tune Report: Just got back from West Yellowstone. To quote Gregg who got the tune with me in Billings, "It drives like a Camry, and that's a good thing!"
Most of the gear hunting is gone, except if in cruise control, which is expected.
I went over several mountain passes with no problems. Really nice to have higher torque in lower gears and was evident snow wheeling.
I highly recommend any tune, as they are probably all very similar. I can only speak to the OTT Mild/Medium tune that I got. My truck is on the heavy side with armor and 33's.

Mark

How much was OTT? I bought VFTuner when it was OVTuned. It was like $700-800 or something. Then paid the upgrade fee to update from OVTuned to VFTuner. Then bought a couple tunes years ago for $40-$80. They would just be locked so you can't customize or edit them. Then VFTuner limits the number of vehicles you can flash to and has a credit based system. So even if they were to flash it, it wouldn't use their credits. No problem paying the money for their work. I reached out to inquire about OTT. Wouldn't need a tuner to do it since my vehicle is registered/unlocked with VFTuner or whatever it is. I would just need a locked to my vehicle file to flash which I can do myself. The quote itself seemed super high. It was more than half the cost of VFTuner itself. Is that right? Shits wild. That makes purchasing anything from OV/VF a complete waste. Is that how it is now?

 

[BLtheP]

How much was OTT? I bought VFTuner when it was OVTuned. It was like $700-800 or something. Then paid the upgrade fee to update from OVTuned to VFTuner. Then bought a couple tunes years ago for $40-$80. They would just be locked so you can't customize or edit them. Then VFTuner limits the number of vehicles you can flash to and has a credit based system. So even if they were to flash it, it wouldn't use their credits. No problem paying the money for their work. I reached out to inquire about OTT. Wouldn't need a tuner to do it since my vehicle is registered/unlocked with VFTuner or whatever it is. I would just need a locked to my vehicle file to flash which I can do myself. The quote itself seemed super high. It was more than half the cost of VFTuner itself. Is that right? Shits wild. That makes purchasing anything from OV/VF a complete waste. Is that how it is now?

The VFTuner kit should be like $400 and tunes should be roughly $200, in general. There are exceptions but as far as I know Yotawerx and OTT are both $200 tunes.

 

[RevN3]

How much was OTT? I bought VFTuner when it was OVTuned. It was like $700-800 or something. Then paid the upgrade fee to update from OVTuned to VFTuner. Then bought a couple tunes years ago for $40-$80. They would just be locked so you can't customize or edit them. Then VFTuner limits the number of vehicles you can flash to and has a credit based system. So even if they were to flash it, it wouldn't use their credits. No problem paying the money for their work. I reached out to inquire about OTT. Wouldn't need a tuner to do it since my vehicle is registered/unlocked with VFTuner or whatever it is. I would just need a locked to my vehicle file to flash which I can do myself. The quote itself seemed super high. It was more than half the cost of VFTuner itself. Is that right? Shits wild. That makes purchasing anything from OV/VF a complete waste. Is that how it is now?

OTT tunes in the PACNW are generally done by two guys who are friends with each other and run $500. They are very active in the local Facebook groups.

 

[bonifacio]

So the guys that have OTT. Is that $200-500 from stock to OTT flashed? Since they meet up and flash, I'm assuming since they have meets, they just have a flat fee. You pay what the tuner charges and you're on your way.

When OVTuned came out I paid $645 for it. With their ODB dongle and base maps for me to flash.
Then tuners made their own maps and you could buy them for $60-120.

Later, OVTuned updated to VFTuner. I think the price stayed around the same. They offered adopters of OVTuned to update to VFTuner for $79 or so. Custom tunes were $60-200. You were still able to flash at will. Offer a tune flashing service. Just know the ECU ID. If you had the map files, you could flash it to as many vehicles you want without restrictions. I was able to collect all the base maps and tuning package files. So I could have ultimately flash OVTuned for other people and charged whatever I wanted.

Because of that VFTuned then began started to implement a credit based system limiting the number of vehicles that could be flash. It licenses to VIN's or something like that. A registration tied to that VIN. So now that there's some database there that removed to ability to flash whatever whenever, the tuner guys are able to increase pricing since they buy the credits and basically resell with the tune.

I guess I'm just bitching because I was an early adopter. Now it's just a lot cheaper overall to have a tuner do everything.
So instead of paying $400-500, I'm still paying that + $645 + $79 + other tunes I purchased. I know the tuning guys have to be compensated. But damn! The prices spiked and integrating licensing only hurt the early customers who bought everything. I'm just butt hurt.

The tunes themselves can be locked by the tuner, so that you can't see or make changes to the files. I wish there was a way to lock the tune to only be able to flash to a specific VIN or have permissions to tie it to an account. I'm guessing that also contributes to the prices going up. Just having the file, as long as you buy the credits, you can flash for other people.

I guess VFTuner took advantage of being the only option and increased their prices as well. They deserve it, but I'm just whining about having to spend more.

Tune Pack for base maps is $300. $319 for the Software License. $200 for the OBD Device. For what I bought in 2019 for $642 is now $819. When ultimately today, it's just $400-500. With how it is now, it was just throwing away a big chunk of money that I'll never use. I'm just crying and venting guys. From what I understand, I'll end up paying $719 on top of what you guys paid for OTT just to end up with the same thing. I'm sure everyone else that got it years ago is in the same boat. I'm just poor and in my rambling thoughts phase.

 

[BLtheP]

So the guys that have OTT. Is that $200-500 from stock to OTT flashed? Since they meet up and flash, I'm assuming since they have meets, they just have a flat fee. You pay what the tuner charges and you're on your way.

When OVTuned came out I paid $645 for it. With their ODB dongle and base maps for me to flash.
Then tuners made their own maps and you could buy them for $60-120.

Later, OVTuned updated to VFTuner. I think the price stayed around the same. They offered adopters of OVTuned to update to VFTuner for $79 or so. Custom tunes were $60-200. You were still able to flash at will. Offer a tune flashing service. Just know the ECU ID. If you had the map files, you could flash it to as many vehicles you want without restrictions. I was able to collect all the base maps and tuning package files. So I could have ultimately flash OVTuned for other people and charged whatever I wanted.

Because of that VFTuned then began started to implement a credit based system limiting the number of vehicles that could be flash. It licenses to VIN's or something like that. A registration tied to that VIN. So now that there's some database there that removed to ability to flash whatever whenever, the tuner guys are able to increase pricing since they buy the credits and basically resell with the tune.

I guess I'm just bitching because I was an early adopter. Now it's just a lot cheaper overall to have a tuner do everything.
So instead of paying $400-500, I'm still paying that + $645 + $79 + other tunes I purchased. I know the tuning guys have to be compensated. But damn! The prices spiked and integrating licensing only hurt the early customers who bought everything. I'm just butt hurt.

The tunes themselves can be locked by the tuner, so that you can't see or make changes to the files. I wish there was a way to lock the tune to only be able to flash to a specific VIN or have permissions to tie it to an account. I'm guessing that also contributes to the prices going up. Just having the file, as long as you buy the credits, you can flash for other people.

I guess VFTuner took advantage of being the only option and increased their prices as well. They deserve it, but I'm just whining about having to spend more.

Tune Pack for base maps is $300. $319 for the Software License. $200 for the OBD Device. For what I bought in 2019 for $642 is now $819. When ultimately today, it's just $400-500. With how it is now, it was just throwing away a big chunk of money that I'll never use. I'm just crying and venting guys. From what I understand, I'll end up paying $719 on top of what you guys paid for OTT just to end up with the same thing. I'm sure everyone else that got it years ago is in the same boat. I'm just poor and in my rambling thoughts phase.

$400 for tuning kit. You paid an extra $245 for the tune pack from OVTune. Then you paid another $79 to update.

OTT, if you have it done by someone, is usually $400. The problem is, that's a flat fee. If you want to ever try any other tunes, that will be another $400, not to mention the lack of control by having to go to someone else for updates or to flash you back if you want to try something else and then want to revert bck to what you had.

Overall, if you're a one and done, paying a tuner is cheaper. If you want to tinker and try different things, self service is the better way to go.

 

[bonifacio]

$400 for tuning kit. You paid an extra $245 for the tune pack from OVTune. Then you paid another $79 to update.

OTT, if you have it done by someone, is usually $400. The problem is, that's a flat fee. If you want to ever try any other tunes, that will be another $400, not to mention the lack of control by having to go to someone else for updates or to flash you back if you want to try something else and then want to revert bck to what you had.

Overall, if you're a one and done, paying a tuner is cheaper. If you want to tinker and try different things, self service is the better way to go.

Yeah, that's what I thought. I'm one and done. Was gonna give a shot at tuning the base maps, but it's a bit nutty for me.
I guess I could see if my friend might want to mess with it so I don't have to cough up another $400. I know, you're probably oh great... that's a bad idea.
But he's a tuning legend in the Honda world. Super nice builds. Even owns a Dynapack and Mustang Dyno. My other friend created Nismotronic. So they'd be more experience in tuning overall. But I'd imagine Tacoma specific would be different due to purpose.
I guess that's one way to do it. Support friends.
I'll ultimately shop around and probably just grab OTT.
Thanks for the info everyone. Was trying to understand it and you guys did that for me.

 

[bonifacio]

Lite-Mild or Mild-Medium?