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Originally Posted by bNks334
I just picked up a JB4. The more I read into how it works, and what it is actually capable of, the more I realize I made a mistake buying it... It's fun to roll around on the street with, but I would never trust using it for continuous high load events like a track day.
The JB4 sits at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to car tuning options. It is great for its various features. For actually tuning the car it's not so great. It is popular because it is an easy and CHEAP solution to quick power. Most people select a map to race their buddies with and never think twice about what is actually going on with their car.
Basically, anyone pushing real longterm power with the JB4 pretty much just use it for boost control. They get a real custom flash tune to create safe reliable power.
Continue reading if you care to hear more on why I am so frustrated with the JB4...
The JB4 also seems to be programmed in a dumbed down way compared to something like the Cobb AP. It's just not a very powerful product. While the JB4 is monitoring a lot of the more meaningful parameters with its proprietary safety algorithms, the end-user can't actually log the data and review it them-self. You are limited to the few elementary columns of data the JB4 lets you log. I want to be able to see things like actual load vs target load and actual knock noise rather than just seeing ignition timing. Cobb gives the user way more power in this regard.
My biggest gripe with the JB4 is the support. The people at BMS do not seem to actually be very knowledgeable about their own product. The majority of their comments are just one liners that add no substance to any of the questions being asked. They literally skirt and skip over the important stuff and leave you with generic crap like "set everything back to default." It feels like the equivalent of calling tech support for them to just ask you if you've tried turning the product off and on again...
The forums are also an absolute mess of information. You'd think they would've released user manuals for each major firmware release since things have changed vastly over time. The wheel control charts and default user settings aren't even accurate. Some of the logged parameters have drastically changed functionality and meaning over time as well. It makes weeding through forums posts to get information almost impossible. For instance, there were points in time where the header for the columns of logged data didn't even reflect the right numbers. The N55 and N54 firmware is even different, yet you have to look at the N54 thread to get all your information on how the product works. The N55 JB4 doesn't even utilize half the stuff the N54 JB4 does yet the options are still there and there is no explanation that they do nothing. The picture they tell you to look at to get the default user settings has numbers in these settings. Talk about confusing and idiotic.
It just feels like a broken/incomplete piece of software to me... It feels more like "Terry's" personal software experiment rather than a tuning companies mature product. The rest of the staff seems clueless on how it even works. Again, a majority of their responses end up being, "play with it and see what you like," and then they quote the very vague write-up "Terry" did on the product. For instance, they tell you a setting can be set from 1k rpms through 5k rpms, but they avoid explaining the effects of changing the setting from 1k rpms vs 5k rpms...
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The JB4 has it's purpose but a proper flash tune is the better route to go for the ideal tuning method.
JB4 works best for those who need the features for back end flashes.
If you've been here since the inception of BMS and their tuners you'd understand more about how things work with their offerings.
I can't say anything bad about them as they've been in the platform for a while and had some good innovations and offerings where nobody else did.
If you just want a tune, stick with a flash option.
Quote:
Originally Posted by drunkenmagnum
According to COBB (I just spoke to them Wed) they are not done with the N55 completely. However, they are WAY behind on their updates. They still haven't overcome the 98G1B ROM. As a COBB V3 user, its very frustrating. I have a $600 tuner that does me no good and I am not willing to backflash because I had the dreaded AC stall problem. The latest updated was the only thing that fixed it.
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Supposedly Cobb is continuing with N55 but who knows if that's vaporware or not. I really feel bad for the N55 guys.
Hopefully MHD comes to fruition soon for you.