I was looking through my stylinconcepts.com magazine and saw a Hypertech Power Programmer III for Ford vehicles for $349.95. Are these better than chips? What are the advantages over a chip if any?

 

Peacemaker,
I owned one of those for about 2 days...LOL. I was extremly disapointed for the money.
I put a superchip in right after I got rid of the hypertech...no comparison in my opinion. And the superchip is less money.
Click on some of the post by a poster here posting as Superchips_Distributor.
You would do well going with them.

Rocks

 

Thanks Rocks. I might get a superchip. Not just to be faster, but for better gas milage. Did you notice a difference in your mpg's when you got your Superchip? Not trying to be too nosy, but did you feel pretty good hp/torque gains with the Superchip?

 

hypertech is a thumbs down. i know many people who tried it and said it was a horrid waste of money. while you can change the programming, i think that all the power is at full throttle and high revs, not everywhere like the superchip. what can i say? i run the superchip, works for me.

 

Thanks for the info. I'm saving for a Superchip then.

 

Milage!!!! Whats Milage??????

My milage got worse...LOL...but only because I tromp it every chance I get. I am still going through the new toy phase with mine.

I do know that if you drive "normal"(what the hell is normal?). You gain maybe 1 or 2 MPG's.

Maybe if your after milage you could buy a ricer. (jk)


Rocks

 

I don't like rice.

 

Hi Peacemaker,

Thanks for your post!

With respect to your question regarding the potential for mileage gains, I wanted to provide some feedback for you...............

It's only fair to say that the Superchip is a *performance* part first and foremost, and that while it does have some potential for mpg gains when driving "normally" (read: conservatively, or keeping foot out of the firewall), that cannot be absolutely guaranteed, nor is that the Superchip's primary purpose.

There is *potential* for mpg gains, and many people do see them, including us on every single one of our vehicles for over a decade now, our 500+ HP Lightning included. That potential for improving the fuel mileage is basically a by-product of the increased timing (spark advacne) used on part-throttle as part of our performance tuing for premium gas, so your results depend primarily on how you operate your vehicle and the quality of fuel used.

So what we see are that the mileage results from using the Superchip depend on:

1.) How the vehicle is operated and maintained - meaning, things like: Drive it like a sports car, and any 2-3 ton truck will see mileage drop right into the toilet, just as you would expect of course. When many people first install their new Superchip it's only natural that they tend to drive the vehicle harder checking out new performance levels, which will cause mileage to drop. Also, failure to keep the ignition system (spark plug wires & coil packs) in good shape replacing them as needed on those models that do not have the coil-on-plug ignition system will contribute to worse mileage all the time, just as tire pressure, not having a good 4-wheel alignment, etc. do, all the basics of vehicle maintenance in other words.

2.) The energy content (# of BTU's per gallon of fuel) of the premium gas used with the Superchip as compared to the energy content of the 87 octane regular gas being used before the Superchip. - This is something we commonly see, as sometimes people will try to use cheaper premium gasolines simply because they have to use premum gas with the Superchip. However, this is a false economy, and will show up in worse fuel mileage.

People report mpg gains ranging from .5 mpg to as much as 3.5 mpg; the average increase in highway mileage, which is where you have the most potential for mpg improvement, usually runs about 1.0-1.5 mpg in these F-150's. Some get more, and some get less, but that seems to be what gets reported more often.

The actual fuel cost analysis has shown that the additional fuel costs to run the Superchip on premium gas all the time as compared to running on the factory program on regular gas is not more than $100 per each 10,000 miles driven, a tiny amount in reality. So for most people driving 15K-20K miles per year, they spend about $2-$3 a week more for gas on average. Some save a few pennies, and some spend a bit more, it just depends on driving habits, vehicle condition & fuel quality, basically. These figures are based on a 20 cent per gallon delta between 87 octane & premium gas (91-94 octane), and a 50-50 mix of city & highway driving.

The Superchip is almost never going to allow you to actually spend less money for gasoline overall. We have actually seen that in most of our vehicles here at Performance, allowing us to actually save a few pennies, literally, however, that is only because we have a low cost delta of only 10 cents per gallon between 87 & 93 octane where we are, instead of the average delta of 20 cents per gallon.

In terms of which performance chip to use, the Superchip is the only performance chip that tunes each vehicle for it's exact software revision (or "computer code" as we refer to is, and there are hundreds of different codes each model year alone in these F-150's!), that tunes for maximum horsepower and torque all the time at any throttle position or rpm, and that is still 50-state emissions certified, no other chipmaker offers all of that.

Most chips only work during open-loop operation, which is basically extremely heavy to wide-open throttle only, and most are also "generic," meaning they are compromised to run on all similar vehicles instead of being made for each individual vehicle.

The bottom line is, we don't care about the name on the outside, all we care about is the quality of the product *inside*, and that's why we use Superchips in all of our vehicles and recommend them to everyone looking for a performance chip, as there isn't a better product to optimize the powertrain program.

People have been seeing me say this here for so long it's almost painful, so rather than me going on sounding like a blatant commercial, feel free to take some time reading thru the threads in this section, as there are years of posts here about results with the Superchip, how their owners like them, etc. to browse thru.

If you'd like to go over any of this in more detail, give us a call at our number listed below, we'll be happy to go over any questions you may have.

Best of luck with your truck & whatever you decide!

 

That's alot of info Mike T. Thanks for taking time to talk with me about the Superchip. I've got your number, and you will problably be getting a call in mid-October when I can get a few extra dollars to fool around with. Thanks again for your time.

 

You're very welcome Peacemaker, anytime.

In the meantime, we hope you'll hang around and enjoy F-150 Online with us in your spare time!

Have fun,