You're right, I was confusing the installation of the IED's with an early version Screaming Eagle race tuner I had on a Sportster. Hell, I've wasted so much money on half-assed gadgets for motorcycles I get them all confused. Regardless, the fact remains that they are a fixed bias in the control signal stream. I stand corrected on the install, but I stand by my original point that, compared to a proper tuner, they're a band aid at best.

 

My personal bias is that I often think that simple solutions, if they do a decent job at what they're intended to do, are more elegant and brilliant than complex solutions.

 

Very well put WF!!

 

I'll take that to mean you've never tried a real tuner.

 

I'm afraid that you're still making incorrect assumptions, as you did with the processing path of the IEDs.

 

Here's my take on tuners...
I purchased my SEPT, V&H pipes and S&S A/C from the dealer.
For doing so, they gave me free installation.
All I had to pay for was the Stage 1 download.

Now being the as dealers are bound by EPA rules, I was less than thrilled with the final result.
Sure, they adjusted the timing and raised the rev limiter a bit (which I'll never use anyway) and the bike did run better - snappier throttle.
But since it was still tuned to be EPA-compliant it was still lean as hell.
This was confirmed since it was now running hotter then ever (oil temps of 275° in traffic) and I saw an increase of 4MPG.
I complained at first since we talked about this at length before I had the work done, and these were two things they assured me would NOT happen. As you can imagine, that quickly changed to "that's normal".
And of course, they offered to make it "run right" for another $350 for a dyno.

Now getting back to my original point (dealers bound by EPA rules), even if I did let them do this they would still tune the bike as per EPA standards - they already admitted as much.
So what's the point really, if I'm going to get it back still running the factory A/F ratio of 14.6:1?

It may be a quick-n-dirty way of doing what I needed but by adding ViED's I was able to get more fuel into the engine (now around 13.9:1), which made the bike run noticeably smoother, the decel popping I had after the Stage 1 was all but gone and oil temps decreased by at least 20° - maybe more.
So what's wrong with that?

As for the SEPT, I went out and bought the cable kit and tuning software to check out the Smart-Tune feature.
I was a little disappointed.
While I'm sure it will do a fine job, as has been reported here, it requires multiple runs in increments of 25%, 50%, 75% and WOT for 10 seconds each, in each gear, in order to properly "map" all possibilities.
Easier said than done.
I don't have many roads around here where I can run 6th gear at WOT.
And anything less than a full map will result in a half-assed map, correct?
This is exactly why putting the bike on a dyno machine is better.
Smart-Tune can only work with the information you feed it...

Seems my only real option for a near-perfect tune is to find an indie with a DynoJet machine who knows how to use it.
According to DynoJet's website (where you can search by location), except for the one at my dealer there isn't another DynoJet machine within 200 miles.
That, or spend another $500+ for another tuner. That ain't gonna happen...

In light of all this, I'm quite happy with the results I got spending $100 for the ViED's...

 

Glad the Vied's are working for you. As I said in my earlier post, many people are happy with them and that's what it ultimately boils down to. In my case, the Power Vision tuner completely transformed my bike after I dumped hundreds into dealer "downloads", ied's, analog race tuners, etc.

Whatever works for you is what is best.

 

Ummm, I didn't make an incorrect "assumption" about the signal path of the IED's... I made an incorrect statement about how they were connected because my old man brain confused them with another device I used on one of my MANY bikes. I acknowledged my "profound stupidity" in front of the World. So... please... enlighten us with your wisdom about real tuners versus "elegant and brilliant" solutions. Please. <Cupping my hands behind my ears in anticipation of a revelation of new information>

 

If anyone wants set of these cheap shoot me a PM. My Power Vision is on the way. They've been on my bike for about 2 weeks.

These work as advertised but if you want the smooth as butter feel of a well tuned engine get a flash tuner. Tuned my previous Sporty with the PV and it was night and day vs stock. I expect no less when I get the Slim dialed in.

 

I thought the concept was already clear enough for most people. Sometimes you need to be able to change 100 different parameters, or a thousand different cells in a tune, and sometimes you don't. On my supercharged vehicles, that kind of flexibility is necessary. But if I could accomplish what was needed with an inexpensive plug-in device which only required about 10 minutes of my time, that would be a logical first choice, maybe even the smartest and most elegant one, depending on how you look at it. If you associate unneeded expense and complexity with superiority, you probably won't agree.