Opinions on the ostrich

[907 Chevy]

Well, bandits made off with my aldl cable that I had left in my truck along with some other stuff and instead of just buying another one, I'd like to take this as an opportunity to upgrade. Burning endless iterations of chips was getting old and I'm thinking of upgrading to the ostrich. What're your guys' opinions of it? E.g, was it worth the money? Ease of use? Durability? Etc...

Thanks!

[EagleMark]

Don't think you'll find any cons on Ostrich.

But if your going to upgrade get a Ostrich, Burn 2 and a cable all in one unit called an AutoProm!

[dyeager535]

Can certainly vouch for the Autoprom. Nice being able to do just about everything, leave it hooked up if you want, burn chip when you get a decent bin, etc.

[907 Chevy]

The autoprom is a wee bit out of my price range unfortunately. I may have goofed up though, is the Ostrich capable of data logging? I couldn't find an overview of what it actually does, but it's not looking like it has that capability...

[Six_Shooter]

No, the Ostrich does not datalog, you still need an ALDL cable for that.

The Ostrich is an EPROM emulator, that is installed in place of an EPROM, that allows for real time changes of the bin, while the engine is running, or not.

Worth every penny. I have had one installed in my car for 4 years, when I want to tune, I just plug the USB cable into my laptop, along with a datalogging cable, and go. Alternatively, the Ostrich can be used only for tuning sessions, and then program an EEPROM to use otherwise.

I prefer the Ostrich, and ALDL cable route, for a few reasons:
- Ostrich is small, and can be installed in the dash easily, with just an USB cable hanging out, or USB port installed close by, for access to bin uploading.
- Some GM code does not like to run while being used with the AutoProm, while there is no issue when using an Ostrich and ALDL cable.
- The ALDL cable can be removed while not tuning or scanning, leaving only the Ostrich in the vehicle, hidden away.

I own an AutoProm as well, that while it is nice, especially when I'm tuning someone else's vehicle, it can prove to be finicky sometimes, something I haven't experienced when using an Ostrich, other than when used with a '7747 ECM, that is simply solved by using a Socket Booster 1.0. The finicky stuff of the AutoProm requires patching the bin, that can be troublesome, especially if there is no known patch for the code you are using.

[dave w]

What he said x2!

dave w