Mods, I feel this is not a Generic SC/BF question, hence the new topic.
Stokey’s SUPERCHIPS Experience
I have been mulling over the various mapping choices for a while now.
My requirements were to have the car “more driveableâ€Â. By that I mean, more horsepower/torque, but not to alter the delivery too much. I am impressed at the way the GTI Ed 30 delivers the usable torque/power so low down the rev range.
I happened to be passing Superchips HQ, and dropped in. I spoke at great length with Jamie Turvey, toured the building and then handed my keys over to him.
The process of adding Bluefin, took about 30 mins, and then away I went. The drive back was ok, traffic was heavy, the car behaved faultlessly, although I was not happy with the power delivery.
The map I was given was the low power in 1st and 2nd gears, to reduce wheel spin. This has been spoken about on the forums for a while.
Drive home
All was a little vanilla up to 3500-4000 rpm, but then all hell broke loose, lots of torque, and urgency. Not really what I was looking for, the delivery had been changed, and not the low down torque/poke I was after.
I spoke to SC Hq and they were as good as gold, I was to receive another map, which was to be emailed to me the next morning. I was told to upload the BF drivers onto my computer.
That’s where the problem started; I am running a desktop and laptop with vista 64-bit operating system. The Driver is not compatible, I tried running the software in compatibility mode, and that had no effect.
Options
Live with the map, not an option, I don’t drive my car at 99% all the time, and a lot of the power was not accessible until the higher reaches of the rev range. I stress it may suit others, you will have to make your own mind up on that one. What is one mans pain, is another mans pleasure.
Send the BF back to SC to have the new map uploaded, not the versatility I was swayed by at the outset.
Buy a laptop, or retrospectively load XP onto my desktop/Laptop, not an option really, as 64-bit has been out for a while, and an innovative product such as SC BF should be “modernâ€Â.
Send the BF back to SC, and receive a refund.
I decided on the later, and after I had reloaded the stock map their courier collected the boxed handset, and I received a slightly tardy refund today. I suspect that the refund was tardy due to the weekend, and Halifax being a bit useless. Not SC hanging onto my cash at all.
I have spoken to SC and they assure me that they are developing a Driver for 64 bit.
Postscript
Would I use SC/BF again? Most definitely, I think the versatility of the BF is great, and a real plus point for me. Their customer service was second to none. Even when I was having trouble uploading drivers, they gave me some pointers, and work-arounds, but they did not work, and quite frankly I did not want to hack a “modern†product.
The only caveat I would place on that is finding a map that suits my needs, that the driveability of the Ed 30 is not compromised in any way.
I have at the moment gone full circle, I had more horses and a whole load more torque, but the map at the moment (Standard) is far more suited to me.
Some may say that 64-bit is not common, perhaps not, but it is modern software, and is becoming more prevalent, and I think SC should be compatible, and I hope in the future it will be. I should have asked the question when looking to have it fitted. Although I have bought other stuff, and it has all worked on 64-bit.
So a big thank you to SC for trying, and I hope we can do business again soon. I must add that this piece, is not a slating in any way of SC, just highlights a few pitfalls, and I must add, I am not sure I would have had the same assistance post purchase at a Generic map dealer, or the offer of another more suitable map, or even a refund.
