Ken/all - I installed the Banks Pedal Monster (I will call it the PM) today, and removed my Vitalen Pedal Controller (PC). Amazon and Vitalen graciously allowed me a refund, though I will have to pay to ship it back to Vitalen in CA. I have a lot of feedbacks, will separate them into Pro's and Con's for each (the PM; the PC; and Throttle Tuners in general).
PC - Pro's: It definitely works! I had it in Sport +1 and GOAT Sport mode, and it really woke up the car. It seriously felt like it had another 50 Hp in pretty much every driving situation. That was my most favorite aspect of this thing. It was also super easy to install - literally three minutes (though I never really mounted the control pad, just snaked it up to be in my console cubby). Changing modes very easy while driving, though I always did so with the vehicle stopped. Shut's itself off reliably - an issue for me since I already got one battery on my Sport replaced under warranty, last year. It's a viable, realistic alternative IMHO, to getting an actual tune such as Cobb or Livernois done. Avoiding the risk of a real tune was what got me started on this whole crusade. There seem to be quite a lot of happy PC owners, and it's been on the market for at least six years.
PC - Con's: Thanks to the video posted previously here, which I strongly recommend, I was able to see the subtle risks of this unit. Mainly it's about where it gets power. Pulling power from the gas pedal harness is a risk - especially the amount of amps which Banks (granted, they're a biased competitor) says the PC pulls. The core of that risk seems to be (again, according to Banks), the possibility that you end up with a dead gas pedal while driving, something that could cause a serious wreck. Second, the PC is pricey (though still half the price of a real tune), at about $300. Another issue I had was, the unit still left my car kind of laggy and limp in any level of City mode; but in Sport +1 mode, it was plenty peppy but seemed to have very little usable gas pedal travel. The instant I'd push more than 10% or so into the pedal, Blam! It was into afterburner. My Inner Teenager kept having a blast with that! But the careful driver part of me was like, 'yikes'. And it can be a little of a bother to always need to feather the heck out of your throttle inputs. (BTW - I didn't notice it lunging a lot in Reverse, but I never really tried going hard in Reverse.) Doesn't come with a cool window sticker for bragging rights. (Corny I know!)
PM - Pro's: It's solidly built. (Again - watch the video above - they had the courage to show both a PC and a PM popped open, so you could view their circuit boards). There are three advantages to plugging into both the gas pedal harness and the OBD2 port - knowing when car's in Reverse so the tune can be instantly disabled, getting 12V power from a safer place in the car, and knowing what vehicle the PM is plugged into via the CAN Bus. I also like the fact that a real human (and American!) business owner is there proudly describing and defending his product. The PM is also built in the USA (PC is built in Turkey). I drove the car today with the PM installed, and while again City mode is too blah for my tastes, Sport +3 is wow-fast like Sport 1 on the PC. So NO driving fun is lost in jumping from the PC to the PM. Plus, the throttle input curve does seem to be curvilinear on the PM, without the sharp 'knee' depicted and described for the PC (again see that video!). In Sport +3, the car feels quite responsive and powerful with the PM in place; but I also still have *some* gas pedal travel to work with. Very nice! And it comes with a very cool window sticker.
PM - Con's: I'm not a fan of phone apps. I'd rather have a little pad with buttons like the PC has. However I don't plan to be changing that a lot as time goes by so meh who cares... will just keep the app on the phone. (There is a gauge/control offered by Banks, but at another $300 - not going to happen in my case). And the PM is also pricey, like the PC, at about $300. I had to spring for another $10 for an OBD splitter cable - and BTW don't know yet if my ScanGauge will be happy sharing that port. We'll see. I depend on the ScanGauge to help me watch trans temps when I'm driving hard in hot Wx. Finally, Banks customer support makes me pretty nervous (though I have not tried to contact Vitalen, for that matter). But I was unsure which PM model # to get for my car (BTW it's their #64310, and available on Amazon). So I pinged them on Facebook (no answer), called them and waited 20 min on hold, and emailed them - no response from any of that. I hope I never need help with this thing!
BTW - Mr Banks mentions another option out there at $199, the F*** Tuned throttle controller (egads what a STUPID name!). The Fntuned site specifies one of their models is compatible with our BS's; but like Mr Banks said - it's pretty likely the F***Tuned unit is also made by Vitalen. It's $100 cheaper than the PC; so for anyone already nervous about the PC that does not bode well.
Throttle Tuner (TT) Pro's - Half the cost of a 'real' tune, but IMHO with much or most of the benefit, and much less risk than a PCM tune. Finally my Inner Teenager can go motoring again!
TT Con's - I've been driving a couple days now and measuring my MPG's in mixed driving. Pretty sure now, my average MPG is going to drop from the 20.6 of the last couple years with this car, to about 17-18. But I only drive about 7k miles a year; so it's $300-$400 more per year for quite a lot more driving fun. So I don't think that's a big drawback overall. If I wanted amazing MPG - I would have bought a Prius
PS - after a week and a tank of gas - now an update. It looks like my average MPG will be 18 not 17. Going from 20.6 to 18 MPG seems ok in my book, for the gains in punch and power.
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