ive read so many conflicting statments regarding thses 2 programers for an early 04.305/555. i have the diablo predator and i like it but often wonder if the smarty is worth the hype on the early 04s,i know its the tuner of choice for the newer models,i am planning on updating to an 06 truk at some point,i dont want the 6.7 or the plution stuff so an 06 is my choice,will a smarty for my 04 be any beter than my pred? i know the smarty has choices for rail pres and such so i like that aspect and it does tires size which is good but on the 04 will it be worth the money to get one,anyone what has tried one on a 03-04 please post ur likes or dislikes,thanx guys.

 

I've got a 06 with a diablo sport in it, I get good power but it lopes baddly on high idle in winter and they don't seam to be doing much about it. If you've got the money get the smarty, You'll be much happyer.

 

ya i have read ur posts on the diablo site,i gave johan a tip on recreating the cold weather but thier to busy i guess,the pred works well on my 04 but i wouldnt mind trying a smarty to see if theres any dif on the 04 truks

 

Have you downloaded the most recent revison? You will have to get a different model of predator for the 06-07 trucks

 

With my predator (U7131) it has live data were u can plug in and drive and monitor RP, for the money my vote is predator, but cant dog on the smarty cause I have never used it, I can tell u around my town I havent been beatn by a smarty yet!
Kyle

 

By the way with latest tune my rough idle is pretty much gone, and i can uses the cruise control again! They r getting closer to making it perfect...haha

 

I found the Smarty worked better on my truck, especially the beta programs than the predator. The predator gave me rough idling and super hot egts. And then there is the hiatus of customer service, seems diablo vanished for awhile and maybe getting things back together. I consider it worth my money to have the support of Mads electronics and the vast majority of Smarty owners here.

 

WHat are your goals? I can't say I've tried a Predator, but I hear enough good things about them + they are cheap. I can tell you to stay away from the standard PPE, the BDTD and Superchips, I have tried them on an 03 and an early 04 and had problems w/ them all. The SMarty is flat out bad **** on my 03 so I bought two, 1 for the betas and a POD. You might consider a PPE hot+2 w/ adjustable RP, TM, etc...., if there's any truth to what they're coming out with, but I would wait and see.

 

Maybe you can find someone in your area and they'll be kind enough to let you try the SMARTY... I've never tried the Predator, but I can assure you the Smarty is great on my 305... Night and day differance between the Smarty and the the BDDL I had before....

 

Happy with my Smarty SR POD on my 03 HO.

Running the 90 hp setting and seems to work great. Great mileage too. Just got 22.2 MPG (hand calculated) on my last trip which was 200 miles at around 65-70 MPH.

Probably won't try the 130 hp setting till I get my converter in.

That being said, I've heard good things about the PPE and Predator on the 03 and 04s. I've heard the Bulldog doesn't work well on these motors.

Also, the pressure boxes like TS and Dr P seem to work well.

And there is also the TST. Which is known to make really good top end power. Denver Dodge just dynoed 522 hp with one on an early 04.

Heres an article on pressure boxes http://www.drperformance.com/pdf/TDR48.pdf

 

Well, I've tried a few.

PPE did not like my truck.. caused it to pop and miss. PPE kept saying it was my truck, short on fuel. Rail pressure and supply pressure were fine, so I am not sure about that.
SMARTY was good, but honestly, I was not overwhelmed by the 130hp. Asked Bob for another tune. He sent me a file and I tried it. No offense to anyone, but the tune was rough. Touchy throttle, almost completely undriveable.
BDDL does not make good power on the 555s. Enough said. The OLD power pups did ok, but they were a little rough around the edges also. The new programming is a dog!
I keep going back to the predator. I can't speak for other years, but for my 555 the predator kicks butt! I can't wait to get it on a dyno with the RKL puff tunes and extreme power puck. Sweet combo and cheap! You can find predators for 200ish used, and I just bought (for giggles) a regular power puck NEW off of ebay for 51 bucks.

 

thanx for the replies guys,awsome info,i know the pred works well on the 555 engines but i wish they had the tiresize thingy,thats almost my main reason for wanting a smarty and the fact they have manyyyyyy tunes to choosefrom,i got the pred so cheap i would probaly keep it just for fun,im planning on getting a 06 someday so the smarty will comewith me and the pred can stay on the 04.thanx for the repleis,

 

Dave,

I may be down in Kamloops in on weekend of May 2nd. If you want I can bring my Smarty SR Pod down and if you want to meet up you can try it out. I have both Diablo and Smarty, Smarty runs alot cooler IMO.

Lee

 

Sorry in advance for taking the thread off topic...

tcr, this is what I have been wanting to do, 2 Smarty's. 1 for my 411 and old programs(myS-04), and 1 for the new S-06/POD. Can this work? Go back and forth between the two, because they both go back to stock and recognize the software?

With my 03, I hate to imagine losing the 411 and betas, for the new tunes that may not work as well, and not being able to go back.

Jess

 

That's exactly what I do. I go back and forth w/o any issues. I use my POD for everyday use and I'll through a regular S06 on w/ 4.2 or 4.3 stack w/ pressure to go fast