Opinions on Overland Torque Tune

I've got a slightly modified 21 TRD OR. I'm considering this to improve the response and shifting. Have you guys been happy with it? Feel it's worth $450?

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/forums/performance-and-tuning.8/

 

I don't have an ovt not an ott but it was entirely worth the dollars

 

I paid $790 for the DIY kit so I would not be tied to a tuner, his schedule and his charges for changes.
This works for me, as I started with #3 Mild/Medium then moved up to #4 Medium/Spicy.
I don't want to be tied to a tuner and his appointment schedule.

I'm old school, when houses cost $14,000, a new Chevy van was $2,700 and 22 LR cartridges were $0.50 for a box of 50.
"Worth it" is a relative term here.

I am quite happy with the OTT tune for my stock truck.
The tranny in my 2023 sucks compared to the 6 speed auto in my wife's 2016 RAV4.
Sucks badly, actually.

But the OTT tune was a huge improvement over chronic shifting and slug pedal response.
I am 100% delighted with it.

 

I seem to be in the minority in that I didn't see the massive change some folks talk about it but maybe all the hype set my expectations too high. I don't really have regrets but it wasn't as much of a change as I expected.

 

I was very much hoping the different tune levels had different shift points.
This is not the case.

The tune as I understand it, does two things:
Lowers the torque peak rpm into the range I use.
Increases the drive-by-wire pedal sensitivity.

This reduces the amount of chronic gear hunting.
For my around town driving, I use the "S" mode all the time.
I keep it in 3 between stop lights, and 4 with longer traffic intervals.

 

Having added an Anderson Engineering intake spacer seems to have helped getting the torque in a more usable range than the OTT alone and the increased pedal sensitivity and less shifting are all nice.

 

Very happy with the addition of the OTT tune to my 6MT truck. It's not that it gives a massive power boost, just that it makes it drive better overall. Much smoother and more predictable. I use the mild throttle setting and it feels exactly how I would expect any newer car to feel instead of the original slow response it had from the factory.

 

I just got the OTT tune on my '17 OR Auto. I would say it's worth it. It's a steep price. I am lucky. The tuner that I used lives literally a block away from me. He told me OTT is very professional and proactive in their tunes. I did some off-roading, street, and fully loaded mountain passes. I would say the street and light off-roading I noticed the most improvement.

 

Do you have access to making changes to the tune with the DIY? I’m used to devices such a Cobb or open tuning devices on turbo cars. I was interested if it gives you the option to make your own tweaks to the maps your tuner sends you.

 

The tunes are locked.
The DIY kit ($790) includes the OBD interface and the sofware.
Five tunes are included in the package.

@The
Do you notice a decided dead spot in throttle response from a full stop?
There is a very large push of the pedal where nothing happens, then it jumps ahead.

I don't know if this is my shitty 2023 A/T or not.
The A/T in my 2023 is FAR worse performing than the same 6 speed in my wife's 2016 RAV4.

 

What kind of increase in MPGs are people seeing on the mild tune?

 

I don't understand this: "I don't really have regrets but it wasn't as much of a change as I expected?" Just like you are contradicting yourself, what setting is your OTT Tune? Auto transmission? Tune supposed to increase throttle sensitivity.

You using "mild throttle setting" on your 6MT Tacoma? My OTT Tune set me up with "Spicy," on my 6MT Tacoma, and I luv it! Started out with Super Spicy, but was too sensitive, so I step one notch.

 

Don't expect better mpg with a tune. It's driveability focused

 

Like I can tune five vehicles with it? Or there are five different options that I can choose from.

If it's 5 vehicles I'd love a group buy. $500 to get it tuned is a lot harder to swallow than ~$175

 

One tuning kit comes with enough credits to unlock a VIN. The kit he’s talking about comes with 5 tune pack files to try on his vehicle. To unlock a new vehicle VIN, more credits must be purchased. Once a vehicle has been unlocked, it can be retuned over and over.

$500 is a somewhat typical price for a tune installed from one of the big names to meet
up with you and flash one. To do the tune yourself it’s more like $800 once you buy the hardware and then buy a file from whoever you want.

 

Not really. It's totally possible for it to not make as big a difference as I thought it would yet not regret having bought it. Yes, it's an auto trans and IIRC it's medium pedal when ECT is off. The pedal response is OK (although it might be a touch on the sensitive side).

 

There is no mileage improvement.

The more time you spend in the lower gears, the worse is your mileage.
I stay in S3 between frequent stop lights, then S4 for farther apart lights.
My intent is reducing the number of shift cycles between lights.
Don't care about mileage here.

ECT mode further erodes mileage because it raises the shift RPMs by 500 to 1000 higher.
On 15 minute rides on the freeway, I get around 22 mpg at 65 mph.
On long distance drives, I get 26 mpg.

The factory shift map gets you into the highest possible gear in the quickest possible time, at the lowest RPM.
This is specifically for mileage, and the truck drives like a slug.
More zip = more fuel consumption.

My only disappointment in the OTT tune is the very noticeable dead spot from a full stop.
I switched back and forth between the #3 and #4 tunes, with no change in dead spot.

From a full stop, pushing the pedal at first does nothing at all.
A further push past the dead spot, and the truck jumps instead of a smooth pickup.

IMO, the trans in this truck is crap.
It is truly awful compared to the same 6-sp A/T in our 2016 RAV4, which is wonderfully smooth.
I have simply learned to live with it.

I don't know if the Tacoma dead spot is inherent in the factory tune with this crap transmission or not.
The pedal response of the factory tune is such a complete slug, it took a whole lot of foot pressure to get it to move.

I own the DIY tuning kit, and would be willing to field test any fixes that OTT wants to try.

Other than the dead spot, I am delighted with the OTT tune.

 

No dead spots that I have noticed. I did the mild/med to start out with. I do a lot more city driving and I now find that I am not mashing the pedal as much as I used to, causing it to downshift 2 gears and jump to 5k rpms to get out of the way of traffic.