I am looking to purchase a tuner for my 2011 5.3L Silverado. Really looking for a combination of power/performance when I want it and economy for commuting to work. Tightening up the transmission performance is also high on my list.

Are there any recommendations out there and what are the pros/cons? Really looking at the Bully Dog 40410, Superchips Dashpaq, Edge Products GM Gas Evolution, and Diablosport i3 tuners.

Thanks in advance!

I am in League City. Was really looking for something I could swap back and forth between when necessary and run diagnostics on the truck when I need to.

I have thought about running some custom tunes through other tuners, but am really just getting my feet wet.

Nice, Dickinson here. The guy I've been using for years is at Ace's Performance in Pasadena and I highly recommend him. For your truck, I'd expect pricing to be approximately $450.

The PCM being flashed wouldn't hinder your ability to diagnose anything.

What is the advantage of having a custom tune performed at a shop over having many preset tunes for essentially the same price? Just trying to learn more about it.

Another (better) example of handheld making less power than stock calibration. 263 rwhp w/ handheld, 279 rwhp w/ stock calibration, & 289 rwhp w/ custom tune.

To add to Silvy's extensive knowledge...

...handhelds are based on a set group of paramters that differ, engine to engine, vehicle to vehicle. You might have heard of "factory freaks"...that is why.

A custom tune is done on the streets or on a dyno, but starts at a baseline that is supposed to gain performance versus stock. While running the vehicle on a dyno/the streets the tuner logs certain parameters that tells him how to adjust it for more power. You can get crazy with custom tunes and get crazy numbers (comparatively) or be more conservative for engine durability.

I actually had a custom tune on my TBSS and would tweak it for trips for better MPGs. HPTuners is pretty awesome. Had a custom tune on my 1000hp Audi S4, too.

Even if they're more expensive, custom > canned, all day e'ryday.

Silvy will tune it lower for you

I used Diablo lew and emailed the recordings to them / they sent it back and I loaded it. Took 2-3 recordings / emails, but I've been happy with the job they did on my 2011 Tahoe. Custom tune just not in a shop.