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Chevrolet Silverado 2007-2013: Tuner/Programmer Reviews

A tuner or programmer can really bring your truck to life. Read this review of some popular choices for the Chevy Silverado 1500.

By Pizzaman711 - June 19, 2015

This article applies to the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 (2007-2013).

From the factory, your truck comes tuned to a setting that best fits the majority of the population who will purchase the truck. But as we all know, everyone's different and everyone uses their truck for a different purpose. By getting a programmer, you can apply canned or custom tunes to your truck to help to get it to perform the way you want. In addition, heavy engine modifications like adding a supercharger require the use of a programmer to make sure your truck runs correctly after the install.

Tuners/Programmers

Black Bear Performance
Hypertech
HP Tuners
Base Price
 $240 $330 $500
Handheld
 No Yes No
Tune Type
 Custom Canned Custom
Ease of Install
 Moderate Easy Hard
Best Quality: HP Tuners

Best Value: Black Bear Performance

Black Bear Performance

Base Price – $240

Handheld – No

Tune Type – Custom

Ease of Install – Moderate

A custom tune from Black Bear Performance is considered one of the best you can get for your Silverado. Black Bear takes into account everything you use your truck for, how you drive it, etc. to write a completely custom tune specific to you. In addition, they'll go the extra mile and take data logs from your truck and base the new tune off of that as well. The drawback to one of these tunes is that they apply the tune directly to your ECU. This means your truck has down time if you don't want to pay a core charge as well as any new tunes requires the ECU to be sent back to them.

Hypertech

Base Price – $330

Handheld – Yes

Tune Type – Canned

Ease of Install – Easy

Hypertech programmers offer a plug and play solution for those who aren't technically savvy. The downside is that these come with canned tunes. Canned tunes are similar to the factory tune in your truck; it's a one size fits all kind of deal. Basically, this means while you'll see an improvement over stock, it won't be nearly the improvement you'd receive with a true custom tune. Whenever possible, it's recommended going with a custom tune.

HP Tuners

Base Price – $500

Handheld – No

Tune Type – Custom

Ease of Install – Hard

Even though this is the most expensive option on the list, it gives you the most freedom in your tune. That's because you create your own tune yourself. This may seem like a daunting task at first, but there is a huge community following for this programmer as well as a lot of tunes that people have already written that you can try out or modify to suit your needs. This allows you to keep fine tuning your tune without the downtime of waiting on someone else to write it for you. If you're technically savvy or just like to learn something new, this could be the option for you.

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