Sprint Booster v3 initial thoughts

I have a 2021 TRD Sport. This truck is great. I found the skinny pedal response to be less than I would like, and I learned about MiniMania’s Sprint Booster (and also Pedal Commander) in these forums. Given MiniMania’s 30 day money back guarantee, I thought I’d give it a shot. I ordered directly from MiniMania. With tax, it set me back $311. It’s enough $$ that I really took my time making the decision to buy it.

I got it hooked up today and I want to share my first thoughts. This is version 3 of the Sprint Booster. It comes with a dongle that hooks up between the OEM throttle cable and the accelerator pedal. It also includes a switch with LEDs that attaches to that dongle and that lets you pick between multiple programs. You can choose “Off,” “Sport,” or “Race”, and “Sport” and “Race” each have 9 different settings to dial in the sensitivity. According to the instructions, “Sport” offers up to 30% more sensitivity and “Race” offers up to 60% more sensitivity. I don’t know if these numbers are accurate, but for sure “Race” makes the pedal way more sensitive.

It was very easy to set up. One thing that stood out to me was that the instructions say to open the door and then wait 10 minutes so the truck’s computer can do a full check on the electronics. The instructions note that not waiting could result in a “check engine” error. I wonder if this is why some people report an error from Pedal Commander and Sprint Booster. I don’t know that for sure, but it isn’t something I’ve seen mentioned before.

I have found my sweet spot at “Sport” level 3 - this is pretty low, and it makes the pedal just a bit more responsive than stock. Noticeable, to be sure, but it’s not night and day. With this setting, I feel that I have plenty of control over the throttle - the force I’m putting on the accelerator results in what *I* expect and want to happen.

So, is it worth $300+? I can’t answer that for everybody. I’m going to think about this for a couple of weeks before I make a firm decision. But, here’s what I’m thinking. The increased throttle response makes the pedal work the way I want it to. It isn’t an enormous difference, and I would be just fine if I never got the Sprint Booster. However, I plan to keep this truck for many years, so even a small improvement over a long period of time still adds up to a lot of value, and $300 for ten+ years of slightly greater satisfaction strikes me as reasonable. So far, I’m leaning towards keeping it.

 

Not worth it
. Just get the kdmax 6.0 premium tune . Read this. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/new-kdmax-performance-tune-by-paparee-and-twtaco.713699/

 

All it does is push the throttle open faster, you can do that with your foot.....

 

NO. Not correct at all. Sure, you can push the pedal down further, but the point of this booster is, to NOT have to push the pedal down further, but to have it REACT when you push the pedal a little sooner. If you were to try it, you would DEFINITELY see the difference a throttle booster makes.

 

I also have the Sprint Throttle Booster. I highly recommend it. I have mine set on "Green 9", as the RED section was just too sensitive for me! BUT, in your case, I don't know if you really did any google searches or not, but it looks to me like you paid WAY too much for the Sprint. I got mine for around $130! I bought Sprint because it is the ORIGINAL throttle booster, and I liked the really clear explanation in the video posted on Youtube by "Master Chief" where he actually set up a real throttle assembly to show in detail exactly HOW a throttle booster affects the throttle assembly. Probably the best example of what it does out there on Youtube.

 

Brand New, a Sprint Booster is $300. At that price, you might as well get tuned for the same price. Sprint booster fixes throttle response, but does nothing to adjust the engine power band or the transmissions gear hunting.

 

I’m not denying that it does it faster, but all it does is open the throttle blade further for the same amount of push on the pedal.

 

1000% this! Got it done about a week ago will never look back.

 

Get the OV tune or KD max you'll be happy you did....

 

Yep. If you get someone to flash your ECU, it’s even cheaper than the sprint booster, no brainer IMO.

 

I have no complaints with my truck, but for the money, I'm going tune all day everyday.

 

Yeah I've been reading the tune threads, too. I haven't experienced issues with gear hunting in my '21 - maybe Toyota has addressed this in their latest trucks? I'm a little hesitant to make the major changes a tune makes until I see more information about tunes designed specifically for the '21s.

I do understand that what the Sprint Booster does is to amplify the throttle signal, and nothing more. I didn't expect it to do more, like adding power, adding torque, or adding mpgs, and it doesn't. What it does is let me make the skinny pedal work just the way I want it to, and to me that's worth $300 over the life of the truck. I'm definitely not saying it would be worth it to everyone - YMMV. Just wanted to share my personal experience with the thing.

 

This 100%.

The drive by wire throttle pedals on these trucks are nothing more than simple 5v analog circuits. Putting a spirit booster / pedal commander etc inline only simulates the driver pushing on the gas pedal more or less then they actually are. It does NOTHING to change the speed at which the throttle blade can open (which is very fast unless the ecu is doing some sort of throttle management for traction control in which case a spirit booster wont do anything to change this).

You could literally put an on off switch in the circuit instead of the gas pedal and the throttle blade would only open as fast as it could / the ecu allows.

 

Ahh ye ole spirit booster demo video.... snake oil.

And before you say... BUT THIS IS ON A 3rd GEN NOT A 2ND GEN.....

2nd and 3rd gens use the EXACT SAME PART NUMBER FOR THE ACCELERATOR PEDAL.

 

However the sprint booster works it does in fact change the perceived responsiveness according to the uninitiated (myself included). I recently put one in my truck and initially felt like a giddy schoolgirl when I feathered the pedal and the gravel of my driveway careened off behind me. It wasn’t until I played through the sensitivity levels that I realized there was still something missing. The downshifting is still erratic although predictably so. The response in “race” mode when I stomped on the gas did not meet my expectation, very minor hesitation even. At the end of it the sprint booster acts as a performance adjunct, like a pair of nice running shoes on an untrained runner.

 

It’s not a race car. Get your money back. Get KDMAX tuned. If you want throttle response, get a murdercycle.