Also that would be no warranty with a T-max, V&H fuel pak, etc.

The dealers want you to believe that the SERT doesn't void the warranty so you will buy HDs product.

For instance...you have your SERT tuned by an indy and then there is some engine problems caused by the ECM or some other fuel issue. Think HD will honor the warranty.

Unfortunately dealers hold too much power over the factory warranty and they can deny anything for any reason.

 

PCIII works great and provides the same result as SEST at a fraction of the price. As for bypassing the 02 sensors it really doesn't matter. 02 sensors only measure whats happened AFTER combustion whereas the primary goal of fuel mgmt is to provide the optimum fuel/air mix before combustion.

Do the math:

PCIII $279 + indy dyno tune $200 = $479
SEST $599 + dealer dyno tune $300 = $899

In the end you've accomplished the same thing.

My .02 cents.

 

I can't really comment on an 08, as my bike is an 05, but the main benefit to having a SERT over an PCIII is flexibility. (That goes the same for the V&H FuelPak and others). The SERT has the most minute fine tuning for the fuel management. The PCIII - which I have - has excellent fine tuning, but not quite as comprehensive as the SERT.

It all comes down to how you ride. If you want to squeeze every last bit of power out of your bike (i.e. big motor, etc.) then the SERT is worth the money. If you just want your bike to run better with light mods (pipes, a/c, maybe a slight increase in cubes), but don't want to spend alot of time tuning and fine tuning it, then the PCIII or the others will do just fine.

 

I've run the fuel paks, power commanders, and the dealer "downloads."

My best experience has come from owing the TTS tuner mentioned earlier. It flashes the stock ECM, keeps the O2 sensors online, doesn't void the warrantee and you don't need to get a dyno run to tune your bike. And if you can reflash the stock ECM with the orginal map if you need to. The TTS tuner will also adapt to whatever future mods you might want to make. My bike runs perfectly though I am now thinking of doing an engine build of sorts. Good part about that is that I won't have to buy another tuner or pay for another dyno run if I do an upgrade.

IMHO it is the best tuner out there.

 

Having done tons of investigation into this subject, I'll toss in my .02 cents worth.

I went with a SERT for the following reasons:

I didn't want a third party "box" hanging on my bike as a possible single point of failure. I have 4 riding buds that had PCIII's and 3 of them have had problems and had to disconnect the PCIII alongside the road in order to get their bikes running. The SERT/SEST reprograms the ECM on the bike, thus no device to break down.

I got a heck of a deal on the SERT. 20% off at the dealer if they do the install, plus free dyno tune with the purchase of a SERT. 20% off the SE/AC too. I got the entire package done for about $550.00. Yes, this is more than a PCIII, but I spent over $22k for a motorcycle, I wasn't about to buy something just because it was cheaper than the SERT.

Excellent DYNO tuner... my dealership is known by riders in several states as being a high quality dealer that has several techs that are well trained in dyno tuning. Well worth the effort to get there, imho.

 

I also went with the SERT partly for the flexibility of using it for future upgrades, but mostly like hoosierhog88 said, I didn't want another device hanging on my bike and creating another possible point of failure. The downside of the SERT is that once its used on your bike it can't be used on any other because it marries itself to the ECU. That being said which ever you choose you can't beat the results of a good dyno tune.

 

This is the best explination about on this subject I've read. The problem I have found with these discussions are that it is hard to understand the differences between SERTs, downloads and third party boxes without seeing these things in person. As for spending the extra money because it is a $22000 bike, the way I look at it is any improvement over stock is worth the money whether that is $20 or $2000. So I think we want to understand the difference between the cheapest compared to the more expensive options. As Crypto says, it really comes down to the type of riding you want.

This has been a very imformative discussion. Thanks to all.

Beary