Noob 101 (Purchasing S300)

[NoLimits]

Smh, idk if it's just me but...

I'm ready to buy my s300, so i go on hondata.com n goto the s300 section.. There's links to upgrade from s100/s200 to s300 that leads you to a form to fill out, n the upgrade to s300v2 does the same but the link with the s300 n software doesn't. (leads to like an info page).. Wtf n I tried mad different ways n can't buy it .. Grrrrrr wtf!
Lol it shouldn't be that complicated or I'm simply missing something -__-??

[abqjohnny]

Go through a dealer?

[TypeRTeg669]

Originally Posted by abqjohnny

Go through a dealer?

^^What he said. Who do you plan on having tune the car? See if your tuner is a dealer.

[TheAlpha]

Why are you going with Hondata S300? Is that what you tuner uses? You may want to consider going with Neptune, as the support and feature set is better (at least that is the trend over the past couple years)

[justYncredible]

Nolimits:
Get with your tuner and see what they want you to get before you spend the money.
Hondata is a great tool and of you don't have the system you have to purchase it at regular price and not the upgrade. But hondata only deals with dealers I believe

[Da1witskilz]

My recommendation is to go with a LOCAL Hondata dealer. Local dealers tend to sell their ecus cheaper than online dealers and the customer service is usually better in person than through email. Make sure to go with a local place that does all the work in house since they'll probably have the engine simulator and whatever else is necessary to test and troubleshoot your ecu if you have any problems in the future. This decision is really up to your tuner but basically every reputable honda tuner supports Hondata.

Originally Posted by TheAlpha

Why are you going with Hondata S300? Is that what you tuner uses? You may want to consider going with Neptune, as the support and feature set is better (at least that is the trend over the past couple years)

Neptune isn't as widely accepted and a few tuners won't tune on Neptune because they've had bad experiences on the earlier versions. I bought my Neptune ecu directly from JR and it had a few intermittent issues right out of the box, but he didn't want to take it back and he would only check it out if I was covering all the shipping and diagnosis costs..in the long run I spent enough money diagnosing "my cars issues" that I could have bought 2 Hondata s300s. Seriously. In the end it turned out the ecu he sent me was junk and that caused ALL of my issues the whole time. Don't get me wrong, the tuning support is pretty good with Neptune but Hondata is just as easy to tune on if you understand what you're doing and there are way more dealers to work with.

[TheAlpha]

Originally Posted by Da1witskilz

Neptune isn't as widely accepted and a few tuners won't tune on Neptune because they've had bad experiences on the earlier versions. I bought my Neptune ecu directly from JR and it had a few intermittent issues right out of the box, but he didn't want to take it back and he would only check it out if I was covering all the shipping and diagnosis costs..in the long run I spent enough money diagnosing "my cars issues" that I could have bought 2 Hondata s300s. Seriously. In the end it turned out the ecu he sent me was junk and that caused ALL of my issues the whole time. Don't get me wrong, the tuning support is pretty good with Neptune but Hondata is just as easy to tune on if you understand what you're doing and there are way more dealers to work with.

Interesting, here in VA most tuners actually tune on Neptune, Hondata isn't as widely used anymore, although many VA Hondas still run it. No (Honda) tuning program is hard to tune with, if you know one its pretty easy to learn the other 3. Going from eCtune to Neptune only took me a few minutes to orientate myself. Neptunes built in security is one of the big reasons I made the switch.

[97redjetgsr]

save few more pay checks and get the AEM EMS 2

[NoLimits]

I have to agree that I would prefer going through a local dealer,Because its faster n if any freak ups , I'll just drive there.. I seen there are other dealers I just thought hondata themself should sell em but guess not..

AEM EMS would be great but out of the question for my pockets.. I am tuning my car my self, no dyno, jus street pulls n my laptop. I chose hondata because I've read up on many tuning tools n have heard more positive feedback on the s300 between security features, boost control option, n how 'easy' it is to mess around with (theres more too it but its mainly the great reviews and the new v2 version is now available) but I guess I'll have to go through a dealer

[justYncredible]

your going to tune itself!!!!
i wouldnt do that lol
i have zero knowledge of tuning lol

[migee]

I've dealt with these guys before: Honda ECU Packages | HA Motorsports

Was a positive experience.

[97redjetgsr]

Originally Posted by NoLimits

I have to agree that I would prefer going through a local dealer,Because its faster n if any freak ups , I'll just drive there.. I seen there are other dealers I just thought hondata themself should sell em but guess not..

AEM EMS would be great but out of the question for my pockets.. I am tuning my car my self, no dyno, jus street pulls n my laptop. I chose hondata because I've read up on many tuning tools n have heard more positive feedback on the s300 between security features, boost control option, n how 'easy' it is to mess around with (theres more too it but its mainly the great reviews and the new v2 version is now available) but I guess I'll have to go through a dealer

why are you going to buy S300 then and no take it to a tuner? you might as well have a tuner burn s100 chip and call it a day then waste that kinda money.is your engine built?

[cluelessmale]

tuning any ems is basically the same. AEM have a lot of extra stuff that street cars never use..

AEM has auto-tuning but unless you understand what the basic tune needs to be and how to set it up it will just blow up your engine like any other bad tune.

if it is your first time tuning(under 500 hours), go with the simple systems, unlit you understand the basics. also get something with data logging, it makes street tuning easier than having to do everything live.

[fcluddington]

I was able to successfully tune my NA car and turbo'd car using Neptune RTP. The customer support in "learning to tune" from Neptune is excellent. BTW I had no prior "efi tuning experience".

Really all the different tuning softwares are just a type of tool to use. Go with what ever one you personally like. I like Neptune for a lot of reasons, Also have never heard of any problems with getting it fixed.

Before you buy from a dealer run their name on here check the feedback.