AEM EMS Users' experiences and comments (is it recommended?)

[Tiki2777]

I am looking at an AEM EMS for a good price. I know i can use EcuFlash, but i am still open to other options. Just let me know what you think of it and what it was like using it (do you like it etc comments...)
PREFFERABLY FIRST OR SECOND HAND EXPERIENCE (not just I HEARD it from him her etc)
Thank you

 

[ShizzySupra]

Purchased AEM for my 2G with all sensors for 600 shipped off the forums.

I come from a Supra background so it felt weird not having it on the DSM. I have access to John Reed to tune/install and would rather not have to "learn" or mess with my tune. Set it and forget it is nice.

 

[jed344]

Running ecm link v3 lite here. I will recommend it to anyone so easy to tune with. Went from stock tune to a good pulling tune in literally 15min. Real time changes while data loging at the same time. Even can change what stock gauge cluster shows my factory boost gauge is now my knock count aswell as a engine light if knock gets to high. AEM is a great standalone but just expect many more hours used in trial and error.

 

[AK Maniak]

This subject has been beaten to death. No need for people to sit here and convince you. If your asking about aem it's not for you.

Yea... you obviously didn't read anything i have said at all previously. Read it all or don't post moron. I found an AEM for $500 with a UEGO. And nothing i ever said went against an AEM EMS.
You=Wrong

Imback is right, there have been countless threads about this exact thing.
Don't ask for peoples help and then ignore their advice. You know what AEM is capable and you know what DSMlink is capable of; as well as the price of both. Don't be lazy, use the search function

 

[Tiki2777]

Actually I did, although why I posted I don't know, my post was an echo of what others said, and others said the same after I did, and its obvious you only want the advice you want to hear. you just don't like what I said, and are obviously looking to spend money you don't need to, to impress people who likely won't care. If you are looking for specific advice only, don't ask for general advice in the first post of the thread, and certainly don't discount peoples completely valid advice because it isn't what you want to hear.

No you still did not read. i asked for first hand experience with the system and what the experience is like. Shut up and get off this thread, others here are so much more helpful than you its sad. You are wasting your time.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Love to have the ability to tune my car myself with link, and its fairly simple, love it so far. Never considered aem, it was link that was my choice from reading about it and reviews on here,and reading the forums on ecmtuning.

 

[Tiki2777]

Imback is right, there have been countless threads about this exact thing.
Don't ask for peoples help and then ignore their advice. You know what AEM is capable and you know what DSMlink is capable of; as well as the price of both. Don't be lazy, use the search function

I've tried a few times, but i have been unable to get user's actual experience with it and sift through all the B.S.

 

[AK Maniak]

No you still did not read. i asked for first hand experience with the system and what the experience is like. Shut up and get off this thread, others here are so much more helpful than you its sad. You are wasting your time.

You're wasting everyone's time by being an asshole. You asked for peoples opinion and that is what you got.

 

[Tiki2777]

You're wasting everyone's time by being an asshole. You asked for peoples opinion and that is what you got.

Your wasting my time, others, and your own by posting to "use the search." Get off this thread and go bash someone else because i never asked for opinions unless the user has backup to it with hands on experience. I never bash an opinion unless it is unfounded. Users like you, Silicosys4, and Imback ruin good threads like this. Seriously, GET OFF THIS THREAD or post something that we can all use.

Others, continue with this. There is a lot of good stuff getting thrown into the mix for people.
THANK YOU

 

[97eclipseNT]

I've had AEM in two of my cars and love it. The first car was setup by a friend who tunes professionally, and after that, I retuned it myself for cams and again when I switched to E85. I currently have a series 2 box in my galant and have tuned it 100% by myself. It does take some time to learn, but it's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be...and if you can get it down, in my opinion, it makes you a better tuner.

Most of the issues you will run into will be drivability problems. To get it to start perfectly and to get it to idle smooth takes some time, but is far from impossible. A lot of the tuned cars that I have driven (either on AEM, DSMlink, or ECU flash) have had pretty horrible drivabilty. The way I see it, most tuners don't take the time to get the drivability stuff right anyway. Anyone can do a few WOT pulls and get the AFR's right. The drivability tuning is what takes skill on any platform.

DSMlink would be my second option. Sure ECUflash will do a lot of the same things, but having the nice polished user interface goes a long way in my opinion, not to mention Link probably has the best user support forum of any tuning platform.

 

[Archer Fabrications]

i have DSMLink so im partial as most people are.. BUT heres my $.02 buy the AEM try it out (you got a good deal right?) if you dont like it or its too confusing TRADE it straight across for DSMLink V3 full and an Eprom.. maybe even get some cash on top to help you with a tune.. either way you cant go wrong and then you will have tried everything. but as others are saying... DSMLink is way easier.. i know here (in washington.) a tune for DSMLink is 300 bucks at english racing.. and a tune for AEM is 1000. if that tells you anything about difficulty with the program...

 

[Tiki2777]

I've had AEM in two of my cars and love it. The first car was setup by a friend who tunes professionally, and after that, I retuned it myself for cams and again when I switched to E85. I currently have a series 2 box in my galant and have tuned it 100% by myself. It does take some time to learn, but it's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be...and if you can get it down, in my opinion, it makes you a better tuner.

Most of the issues you will run into will be drivability problems. To get it to start perfectly and to get it to idle smooth takes some time, but is far from impossible. A lot of the tuned cars that I have driven (either on AEM, DSMlink, or ECU flash) have had pretty horrible drivabilty. The way I see it, most tuners don't take the time to get the drivability stuff right anyway. Anyone can do a few WOT pulls and get the AFR's right. The drivability tuning is what takes skill on any platform.

Now that's good shit man, thanks alot. I never really thought about the driveability part of it, but that does make a lot of sense. Which map was the most difficult or irritating to tune?

 

[Bender]

AEM EMS gets my vote. It's the only thing I tune now. If people don't have it and come to me, I tell them to get it and come back.

It's not hard to setup. I'm not sure what the other people are talking about.

 

[Tiki2777]

i have DSMLink so im partial as most people are.. BUT heres my $.02 buy the AEM try it out (you got a good deal right?) if you dont like it or its too confusing TRADE it straight across for DSMLink V3 full and an Eprom.. maybe even get some cash on top to help you with a tune.. either way you cant go wrong and then you will have tried everything. but as others are saying... DSMLink is way easier.. i know here (in washington.) a tune for DSMLink is 300 bucks at english racing.. and a tune for AEM is 1000. if that tells you anything about difficulty with the program...

Yea that switch idea doesn't sound half bad honestly. Ill have to think about that one (mull it over). I didn't expect AEM tuning from a pro would be that much, i have heard that it costs about 300-400 dollars for a tune, but that is just something i heard.

AEM EMS gets my vote. It's the only thing I tune now. If people don't have it and come to me, I tell them to get it and come back.

It's not hard to setup. I'm not sure what the other people are talking about.

Thanks for the input. Which maps where the most difficult to get setup right out of all of them?


**UPDATE: New question, What is more difficult/easier to tune or less buggy etc AEM EMS Series 1 or Series 2?**

 

[Imback]

Your wasting my time, others, and your own by posting to "use the search." Get off this thread and go bash someone else because i never asked for opinions unless the user has backup to it with hands on experience. I never bash an opinion unless it is unfounded. Users like you, Silicosys4, and Imback ruin good threads like this. Seriously, GET OFF THIS THREAD or post something that we can all use.

Others, continue with this. There is a lot of good stuff getting thrown into the mix for people.
THANK YOU

Ruin this great thread huh? Do you even know the basic fundamentals on tuning a car? I would assume not there for making this useless thread. I have personal experience. And i have read countless threads about this debate. If it's over your head to understand the features that come with AEM it's not for you. But since you want to be spoon feed everything you won't get this.

 

[97eclipseNT]

The hardest thing for me was to get it to start how I wanted it to every time. Once I did 10min or so worth of reading I was able to setup the idle with probably 30min-1hr of time behind the laptop. Logging is easy...AEM will log all parameters that are desplayed, so once you have your workspace how you want it, all you do is hit F6 to start and to stop on a series 1 or F6 to start then F7 to stop on a series 2 (it will automatically save). There is also internal logging.

 

[fosforito95]

i never tuned with dsmlink, i have always had aem and must say i like however i do take it to a professional to get it tuned and since he is a good friend of mine a get a good deal but it does costs around 300-400 for the tune.

 

[AK Maniak]

AEM EMS Info

 

[snowborder714]

1. What does an AEM unit have that you can't do with either ECUFlash or ECMlink?
2. What price can you get the AEM unit for? And have you included any professional tuning costs (unless you have a lot of time to sit down and sift through every screen and troubleshoot for hours) into that when comparing it to ECMlink?
3. What do you plan to do when you have a tuning question? You can't come on here and start asking since almost no one uses it. With the other two, you can get free advice (especially ECMlink, which has it's own dedicated forum where the owners/creators give help).


Also, stop flaming other users. If you don't like their replies, either ignore them or report them.

 

[floader]

If it was me I would buy Link, that's what I have and it works great.
But for you I would say EMS..... I like the Link bored

 

[ramsack]

Another thing to consider is that it's well documented that starting the car on an AEM, even when tuned, takes quite a few cranks until you get a trigger disc. It also has more teeth, so the EMS will get more accurate data for crank position.

 

[Dert]

Go with link, with a little reading and video watching you will be able to tune yourself instead of paying somebody $400+ to do it for you. You wanna upgrade parts? Bigger turbo? Injectors? Be ready to fork over another 3-400$$ for a retune to to tune for your new parts...or get link, easy to learn, shit tons of info and help and never have to pay to tune or retune...easy choice to me...unless of course you are some
Kind of super genius that will figure out the complicated to beginners AEM systems, but then again if that were the case this thread would never have been started would it. I also bought complete link package for $600 and that's in Canada . No tuning experience at all before I got it, had my car running smooth with a decent base tune in less than an hr. Now I've had it for a couple yrs and have no problems tuning my speed density set up, it really is a no brainer

 

[ramsack]

I don't get why people keep mentioning tuning costs. The OP has stated countless times that he wishes to do it himself, on whatever platform he chooses to go with. I also don't know why people think that DSMLink is some magical thing with no learning curve/safety feature, while they bash AEM and make it seem like you will require a professional whose life is devoted to all things AEM EMS to tune the damn thing.

 

[snowborder714]

The only reason I suggested looking into tuning costs if I've read a couple people who got a standalone system and had every intention to tune it themselves and then when they couldn't, had to bring it to someone. I'm not saying the OP will follow the same path, but I'm just trying to get him to think about every scenario, whether it's his ideal one (no tuning costs) or another (i.e. he can't even get it started himself).

Some people consider link a "magical thing" because it uses the stock maps, which in essence requires no initial tune. Who knows how deep these people actually go into the program and tune, or if they just use it as a simple logger and pull a bit of fuel and they're done. It can be somewhat of a pain to use if you get too deep and realize you can't control certain parameters nearly as well as you could with a standalone.

 

[ramsack]

"Couldn't" obviously was only a measure of their devotion and mental abilities

Some things are possible with enough effort. Most things are not because of castes.

 

[snowborder714]

I've never personally worked with a standalone (although I would love to try one), but I can see some people getter overwhelmed fairly easily with the massive amount of parameters they have to take in, evaluate, and then tune. I'm sure some people do have the devotion to sit down and learn how to use it in and out, while other just get fed up and confused. It can certainly go either way