2017 Patriot Tuning Reviews

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Figured I would start a thread for anyone that has been running the new Patriot tuning on their 2017's to give their opinions, issues and reviews.

Back Story To Decision-
I know there has been some negative reviews (check engine lights, lack of customer service, etc.) on S-partan for a while now on here and REALLY hesitated to give them (Patriot) a try because of this with my 2017. Ill be the first to say I have NEVER been a S-partan fan and have used just about every other tuning platform and tuner other than them over the years mostly due to their reputation. To me though, I wasnt willing to tune my truck without trans tuning like everyone else has been doing with EZ-Lynk. Seemed like everyone with EZ-lynk was just trying to be first to market with tuning, rather than release a finished product that would include trans tuning. I dont buy that you can add 150+ rear wheel HP on a stock trans cal and it will be "ok" and "safe" as most of the companies are telling everyone. That alone doesnt seem like good customer service when they are telling people that. Thats just my opinion about whats going on and not a direct bash at all towards any one company, just the market as a whole right now. Patriot started offering complete engine and trans tuning a couple weeks ago so I decided to roll the dice with them so I could make sure my trans was tuned.

I'll start by giving my opinion with Patriot tuning on my 2017. I bought the nGauge from No Limit and received the device Thursday last week. I loaded all the files to the device I received from Patriot (450, 500, 550, 600, SOTF) , but went with the 600 tune first on Sunday and have been driving it in various conditions all week. Here are some reviews so far:

Torque Management-
First thing that I noticed is the laggy torque management pedal in the 1-3 gears is now gone. Full power is available through all gears with no laggy pedal anymore. This is not the Quick Response file as those are not out yet. This is just the standard pedal file they offer, but it really wakes up the low end on these 17s. If you've driven a new 17 SRW, then you know about the lower power in the first 3 gears which this eliminates.

Shifting-
Second thing I noticed is the trans shifting. It seems to be spot on and very well dialed in. Nice crisp (not slamming or jarring) shifts and keeps the stock feeling strategy when your below roughly 60% throttle. For example if your just bumming around in it, it will wait to lock the converter in 4th gear like it did in stock form. It has a stock like feel and strategy without any aggressive shifting when easier on the throttle. Now, if you get on it 60%+ throttle the shift strategy completely changes. If you start from first gear it will lock the converter in 2nd gear and up, then it will sh*t-n-git!! It will also lock the converter in pretty much any gear that is not locked already with heavy throttle. Again with nice crisp, clean shifting even with the converter locked. Honestly, I am very impressed with the shifting and keeps getting better every time I drive it.

Power-
The power on the 600 tune is incredible to say the least. It reminds me of my old 6.4s with the high HP tunes on them. Its not as aggressive down low as a 6.4, but mid to top end definitely feels every bit as strong. The smoke output even when mashing it is very low. Barely seems to smoke at all. I do have the new S&B cold air intake that routes the intake in front of the battery, so this may be helping to reduce the smoke amount. Overall, loving all the extra ponies right now! The truck is fast as hell now!!

Customer Service-
As others have mentioned, S-partan pretty much fell off the face of the earth customer service wise for a long time now. However, I have not had the same experience since they have become Patriot. Before I purchased the tuner I asked a TON of questions from the Patriot team and Jeff Dodd. Always receiving emails and facebook messages very quickly (within an hour). Even calling them, they were available to help with the setup and answering my questions. This was the first time for me ever using their devices so I had a lot of questions from set up to loading the files. Remember, this is technically beta testing with these 2017 files, so everyone is kindve learning on these 2017s, but they always found the answer to the questions and got back to me fast which I appreciated. I even had questions at 10pm Friday night and was not expecting an answer till Monday, but Jeff got back to me within 15 minutes to clear things up with loading the stock files. I even had a question Sunday afternoon about use of a battery charger when tuning, and again responded within 15 minutes. I can not give an opinion of customer service from the old S-partan, but I can say customer service with Patriot has been top notch!! Time will tell when it comes to any issues with the tune if they can make the changes needed.

Issues:
Make sure your firmware on your device shows correctly. When I received my device from No Limit, the firmware was loaded onto it. However, how the file was named was not letting it be recognized by the nGauge. For example, the file originally read something like "Firmware - 251(1)". You have to rename the file to read something like "Firmware - 251" and would remove the (1) at the end to get the nGauge to recognize it. But honestly, I havent had a single issue so far other than that but I've only been driving it for roughly a week. No check engine lights with a cold air intake installed, weird symptoms, performance issues, shifting, or anything to report at this time. I will update in this thread if anything comes up along the way.

Overall, VERY happy with the tuning so far and would highly recommend it if anyone is on the fence about it!

*Sorry for the long post! I just wanted to be thorough with my review as of today. Be interested to see if anyone else whos been driving it longer is having any issues with their 2017 tuning. Hope others can add their reviews!
 

strokin20

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I've been running Patriot's tuning for about 2 weeks now. I've got nothing but great things to say about it. BuiltPowerStrokeTough's review is spot on as far as I'm concerned. Any time I've had a question, Jeffrey or Spade has always responded as quickly as possible. Those two are doing a great job and are great asset's to their team. I'm running the No Limit intake on mine with no codes either, so hopefully they have the MAF sensor figured out on these 17's. I've run nothing but the 600 file since I got it, even through a week of pulling around a gooseneck trailer while moving. Not so much as a single hiccup, loaded or unloaded. With my experience on Patriot, their tuning and customer service, I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone interested.


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Quigs4u

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Ok that review has me sold.....
Who do I give my money 2?


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bigrpowr

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Ok that review has me sold.....
Who do I give my money 2?


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me. call tomorrow, we have a forum discount, free shipping and free shirt, as well , we can package the discounts heavier when purchased with other stuff.

800-581-8986 , hit the sales extension , or dial mine directly at 101 .
 
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Ok that review has me sold.....
Who do I give my money 2?


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I just got mine from No Limit a couple weeks ago. Get ahold of Mike and he will get you hooked up!! Feel free to PM me if you get it and have any set up questions or making sure the firmware looks correct in it. Not sure if Mike has addressed this in the nGauges going out now. You wont regret it! Power and shifting is amazing!

me. call tomorrow, we have a forum discount, free shipping and free shirt, as well , we can package the discounts heavier when purchased with other stuff.

800-581-8986 , hit the sales extension , or dial mine directly at 101 .

Free shirt!?! Guess the mailman must have lost mine out of the box during shipping a couple weeks ago with my purchases LOL
 

AllGo'N'Show

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me. call tomorrow, we have a forum discount, free shipping and free shirt, as well , we can package the discounts heavier when purchased with other stuff.

800-581-8986 , hit the sales extension , or dial mine directly at 101 .

I have a ****** pipe from a '16, do I need some engine parts for my '17 ******? Have anything leave in place kits or atleast black parts so I can hide it from DOT?

Tnx
 

uga33

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I've been running their tuning on my 17 for about a month now. Set on the 550 for the majority of the time. Shifting is perfect. Power is great. I've always run their tuning. Always been happy with it.
 

Quigs4u

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We're are you guys mounting the ngauge? Anyone have any custom options available?


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Just an update for anyone running Patriot on their 17, theres a new update that just came out for the 2017s. It is V1.5.7. Just received it last night and will load it up tonight to see if there are any big differences. Ive now got almost 1000 miles on the V1.1 and 2000 miles on the V1.3 and no issues at all. Not sure what all they changed in this update, but I think the transmission tuning is said to be even more refined with the latest update.
 

BK39

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the shift on the fly and trans tuning have me confused. Back in the day, each trans file was specific to the motor tune if you will. So how do you program the trans to shift properly at all horse power levels? If it's programmed to shift firm or quick for the High HP tunes, wouldn't it stay shifting firm and quick at lower levels too? Being slightly annoying if trailer was in tow.
 

bigrpowr

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the shift on the fly and trans tuning have me confused. Back in the day, each trans file was specific to the motor tune if you will. So how do you program the trans to shift properly at all horse power levels? If it's programmed to shift firm or quick for the High HP tunes, wouldn't it stay shifting firm and quick at lower levels too? Being slightly annoying if trailer was in tow.

torque management adjustments with the temperature of the cac temp sensor.
 

jbair14

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I ordered a Ndash Tuesday night, it was delivered Friday, and I had the trucked tuned by Friday afternoon. I ran $partan on my '15 and was overall happy. The shifting from the patriot tunes on the '17 is very impressive. Truck has great power, and shifts better than stock if you're below 50% throttle. As noted above, if you're in the throttle the tq converter locks in 2nd gear and takes off. Factory exhaust brake seems to still function same as stock if not better, I'll know better after towing. It does seem like a little less power than my '15 but that may be the extra weight of going to a dually as well. Overall I'd definitely recommend the new Patriot '17 tuning.
 

Quigs4u

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We’re are you guys installing the actual gauge? Is everyone using the suction cup mount or?
Are there any custom mounting options?


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HeavyAssault

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Can a older "S-tan" ngauge be flashed with the Patriot tuning files? I'm sure there's a fee but asking if the hardware is still good to go.
 

FastFord

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May end up getting an nGauge. No one seems to get their **** together with an Ez-lynk for trans shifting. Not all that interested in doing an ECM.
 

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