Same... If I'm doing any real work to my car, I've got the laptop and I'm in the passenger seat. The APv2 has been decent at taking some logs for minor things, making changes on the desktop when I get a chance, then flashing it onto the car, but for the most part, I'm just driving on a finished tune. In most cases, I do not want to be logging anyway. I just want to get in and drive the car, which I do.
I'll have to play with my buddies v3. In honesty, the v2 build was a cheap... VERY cheap piece (especially considering the price). Out of the box, my screen flickered and does not have a solid feel. Most of the guys I tune with the v2 have severe burn-in. I'm just not in a hurry to give Cobb any more of my money after having it.
If it weren't for real time tuning and the ability to store maps on a small device, I would still be using my TacTrix since any real logging is done with a laptop. Someone needs to make an app for my phone. I always have it on me, it costs far less, and does a hell of a lot more.
This is in my opinion really the obvious better solution that I and many others have thought of. I was recently talking to Tactrix about developing an Android app. This would not only allow you to use your phone, but also a tablet or even an android head unit. Imagine how much better having a touch screen head unit with maps on an SD card for tuning would be than a tacky AP attached to the dash. You'd also have the freedom to use and store your maps as you saw fit. You would no longer be stuck with an over priced proprietary device with no removable memory.
Anyone who has ever compared a decent pro-tune to a Cobb OTS map knows that OTS maps are far from ideal. For Cobb's bottom line they are great... they get to sell the same maps thousands of times, but the consumer is really getting a raw deal in my opinion. You end up paying $650 for a device that probably cost about $20 to make because you get these OTS maps that are jumpy and make about half the power that a decent protune would. You also end up being able to use a very limited number of hard parts and having to protune if you want things like the highest quality intake etc.
As for 6x live data this is just a gimmick in my opinion. The 5 most popular gauges are Boost, Oil P, Oil T, EGT and Wideband... the AP is limited to factory metrics so it does exactly 1 of these 5 things. After the novelty wears off this AP will end up in the glove box for most customers just like the last one did. Does it have more memory than the last one, is it faster? Yeah but the V2 AP set the bar pretty low. The V3 isn't anywhere near what an android device that costs half as much can do when it comes to processing speed, memory, screen resolution or any other technical specification you can measure.
I recommended these things for a long time because at the time I really felt like they were the best option (I've probably sold more of these on IW than anyone else), but on my latest STi I realized that off the shelf maps on new STis are pretty terrible in my opinion. On my older cars they were much better, but on these newer cars the power isn't linear at all it felt like driving my 07 with the OEM tune. Sure they are better than stock, but not much better. Certainly not $650 better. The problem you have when a company has a virtual monopoly on something like this is it becomes very difficult for vendors like us to offer a better solution and make any money doing it. Even a low level Cobb dealer pays $520 for a V3 AP with free shipping from what I'm told. Even though a Tactrix interface and a real human doing some actual tuning is a cheaper better option (more power, safer power, better logging etc) it's very difficult for vendors to make any money selling this kind of thing, but anyone who knows us knows that money has never been our main focus.
I've thought long and hard about it and had a few long conversations with a tuner friend of mine. After driving my 13 with a few different Cobb OTS maps I just can't see myself promoting this stuff anymore. I've closed all of our AP threads and I'm doing my best to clear out our remaining inventory at a fair price. I'd rather offer a good product than a highly profitable one. The biggest problem we have is the fact that a Tactrix interface relies solely on a laptop. If anyone who is good with android wants to work with us on this for the good of the Subaru community PM me I'd love to chat about it.
In the end I'm really not sure if there is money to be made on any of this, but I want it to happen because I want there to be a better solution than APs for myself and everyone else who owns a late model turbo Subaru. The technology for something infinitely better than an AccessPORT is right there in front of us we just have to make it happen. If there is any car enthusiast community with people who are intelligent enough and have the technical ability to do this sort of thing it's the Subaru community.
-Geoff
