Is the Cobb's Accessport a waste of money?

I recently ran into someone on another forum that told me that the AP is a completey waste of money because I can do the exact thing with a $70 cable. what do u guys think?

how much does the laptop that you need to use that $70 cable cost?

 

how much does the laptop that you need to use that $70 cable cost?

 

 

I use my company's laptop for flashing/editing maps so it costs me $0. :lol:

I recently ran into someone on another forum that told me that the AP is a completey waste of money because I can do the exact thing with a $70 cable. what do u guys think?

 

Since a $70 cable is a lot cheaper than a $700 accessport, go ahead and purchase it and let us know how your tuning results turn out, it'll make for an interesting price comparison.

Can that $70 cable read my boost, moh 1/4 mile times ect through software?

Can that $70 cable read my boost, moh 1/4 mile times ect through software?

 

You can datalog with it.

You can get a much cheaper VAG COM cable if the only thing you want to do is datalog. IIRC, Integroid is using a VAG COM cable to datalog because the AP V2 cable doesn't have any USB drivers that allows it to be used to datalog.

 

The TACTRIX cable has special voltage modulating chips that allow ECUFLASH to flash the ECU. I think the cheapest one is $79+shipping.

You can certainly acheive the same basic results, but you do get value for your money with the AP. Preloaded maps, real time maps/tuning all in a little handheld device. The compact size of the unit makes it much more convenient to tote around than a laptop. The interface, functionality and real time mapping make Protuner the definate tool of preference for professional tuners. Most professional tuners will not tune opensource flashing software.

 

Some guys become very adept as getting the most out of their cars with opensource tools. Other are far more capable of doing more harm than good. I have personally seen several cars that made the same or less hp/tq than stock cars, even though they were modded. Some of the opensource maps out there are very good, some.... well, Mom always said that if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all...

Definitely agree, it's the tuner that's the most important.

 

I have personally seen a datalog from a protuned LGT using a Cobb AP that was not good. It didn't knock; it was just lame and you could tell how the tuner was lazy at mapping the timing.

 

The Cobb AP gives the tuner more security in knowing their maps aren't going to be shared freely but it also prevents the car owner from reviewing the map to see what the tuner did. (I know you can still read the base map using ecuflash and the real-time map can be read... but with a little more difficulty).

Not a waste of money at all if you don't want to try to tune your own car. I don't know enough about tuning to even try. I love my Accessport.

If you know how to tune the car yourself or know a tuner willing to do it for you, then go head by all means get the cheaper option, but if either is not an option, then good luck messing around with your ECU blindly

if you know what your doing, go for it. if not...car go boom!

IMO unless you have some good idea on how to tune, the Cobb AP will always be the safer bet. And you have the added security that cobb will help you out in the event something goes screwy during the flash.

I suggest we just encourage the OP to go with the cheaper option and then tell us stories of the consequences, maybe he'll luck out and save himself a bunch of cash, or maybe he'll meet with something bad and it can serve as a cautionary tale for other forum ppl

you still need a good program for tuning, and rarely are there good free programs for tuning

Forget about tuning yourself unless you have an extra car you can use. By the time your done fiddle tuning with a butt dyno it will probably have gone BOOM.

 

For the $$$$, you can't beat the AP bang for the buck. I keep several maps loaded in mine, including a 100 octane race gas map.

 

If you can get the correct ecu tools, monitor your A/F and KC correctly, go for it.

enginuity must be an exception, because its great.

 

its UI is leagues ahead of other opensource/free ECU tools

(crome or uberdata come to mind)

 

you still need a good program for tuning, and rarely are there good free programs for tuning

my car was tuned using enginuity - no problems at all, the tuner I have does about 5 subies a month.... why spend megabucks for cobb or ecutec?

It is a question of whether you wanna pay up later for your mishaps...or not. ECU management is something I am willing to pay for...not necessarily to point fingers when things go south but rather because it was developped on purpose by knowledgeable people who were paid to dick with that thing only...as opposed to part-time "hobby" approach. Good luck.

enginuity must be an exception, because its great.

 

its UI is leagues ahead of other opensource/free ECU tools

(crome or uberdata come to mind)

 

that is one of the exceptions

I've played with computers since my Vic-20, and I don't have the balls to play with my ECM. I don't have the budget to get an AP, but I'll wait until I do.

It's funny how your average legacy owner has no balls when it comes to mods. Stop drinking the kool-aid and parroting everything you read on this board.

 

The open source tools are IDENTICAL to the access port. They're touching the same damn things in the same damn ways. If you get one of the off-the-shelf free maps available, you're going to get the same thing as you would with an Access Port, but for 1/10 the price.

 

If you don't want to fiddle with it, you don't have to. Enginuity happens to have the functionality of Street Tuner built in (for free), but you don't have to use it. You can just use ECUFlash to load an off the shelf map (or one of the e-maps you can buy from $25 from whatever tuner whose name I can't think of).

thats not recommended.

 

at least one LGT owner has flashed the wrong map to his car and bricked his ECU.

 

you should always copy all of the modified tables over to the rom that came on your car, then flash that to your car.

 

That leaves no chance of overwriting the precious bootstrap code that allows and initiates communications between flash kernal and ECU.

Mods are one thing, but modding the computer is less easy to spot mistakes. Other than getting an inconvenient ride from my wife, this is my only car. I need it to run. Sure, a new ECM is less than an AP, but by the time I spot a problem I'll have damaged more than just the computer.

 

I know OS tools are the same. I just trust an established company to provide me with maps more than I'll trust freely downloaded or self created ones. I also don't think my car is a slouch, so tuning is really low on my priority list. If it were higher, I'd look into it more closely- until then, I'd be better off paying The Man if I want to play.

For what people get on this forum for used accessport's, why take the risk on an open source map? Half the reason I plunked down the $600 bucks or so for my AP was that I know I can get $500 bucks back out of it when I sell my car next year. $100 net for a proven product? That is a no -brainer to me.