first 1 was like mine at 1st but it does star now just takes a few attempts never heard of the 2nd problem though

Very disappointed, been waiting like everybody else for simtek updated features for ages,simtek/alcatek don't seem to care about current simtek ecu owners, they expect us to pay for a whole new ecu instead. All we read on forums was that updates were in progress for current simtek owners. Ecu will loose value now a lot, nobody will want them with no updated features, thanks a lot simtek :mad:

As said above the new simtek is good value for new customers but its a shame current customers are forgotten about. Wont be buying simtek again.

It was confirmed as the Simtek after i borrowed a mates and it solved the problem, then sent it off to be fixed and sold it when it returned

The key point here is this:

SIMTEK Owners
Where you promised (by the makers of Simtek) specific functionality updates to your existing ECU FOC?

If you weren't then jog on. ;)

If you were and that has not materialised, you're probably quite right to be slightly disgruntled.

+1

I'm a little disappointed by this especially since my simtek is probably only 6 months old.

I know a lot of money will have been spent on research and development but actually producing them won't cost that much unless the supplier is screwing them over so where is the option to part ex for existing simtek customers? I'd like to see them offer say £600 off for people with an existing simtek to part ex, I'd go for that.

I can't be bothered to search the last 3 years but as an example...

https://www.scoobynet.com/showpost.p...55&postcount=7

I would like to know what updates are available for old simtek users since I bought mine back in 2008. :)

53,
Appreciate that info, but none of those stipulate these additions would be free?

I bet they didn't expect to be paying £1400 to get them though Shaun ;)

I'm not saying that mate.... I'm just trying to put all of this into perspective.

Perhaps there was a reason why it couldn't "just" be a firmware update, that wasn't discovered until later on, but my initial question I think is very very key as these things can tend to be escalate without any context. :)

Who's said anything about being free though Shaun? I'd happily pay for an upgrade to my ecu, like Chris84 mine is only about 6 months old too, and thought it would gain some extra features like knock control.

Not being free is a mile away from being a completely new ECU with non backwardly compatible functionality upgrades. What we are saying here is with the current Simtek ECU we have reached a point where it is redundant by comparison. :)

EngineMapper seems to have disappeared mid thread and isn't or can't update old simtek users what the updates options are for current users. After all this time it would be nice to know what exactly we are left with now a line seems to have been drawn with the release of a new ECU. :)

Not being agro in anyway but this is a bit of an ECU Launch fail IMHO, a bit of customer management in terms of expectations would be nice given we have a core user base on scoobynet, which seems to have been overlooked ? :)

Although I don't have a Simtek, without out a doubt in my mind the inference has been - for years - that knock and idle upgrades would be available FOC. Many many comments from mappers that it was "due soon" with no qualifying statements like "but there might be a charge" or whatever. Those comments may have been misguided, but I quite understand why existing owners were led to believe upgrades would happen.

However, neither Steve Simpson nor Andy Leech have actually said that the "old" Simtek will not be supported. Everyone is assuming that. And I have seen comments from Steve to support the view that upgrades may yet happen.

Surely everyone should wait until it is actually stated that support is withdrawn? For all you know, a release for the "old" Simtek is about to be announced!

ronjeramy,
Precisely.... but if you read some of the comments on this thread it "appears" to be that "free" was the understanding. ;)

More info here

http://bbs.22b.com/cgi-bin/ultimateb...930;p=1#000028

I'll try to be factual with what I understand to be the situation:
1.The intention was to implement specific upgrades to the Simtek range; particularly knock control, closed loop idle.
2.No promises were made as to the timing of this as with all software developments this is notoriously difficult to do.
3.Dealers should not have sold a Simtek on the basis of future upgrades; we would always assume that the purchaser was happy to buy the ECU based on its current features.If this has happened then you should PM me accordingly with details although I have to say that I wouldn't spend my money on something that currently didn't meet my needs but might do so in the future!
4.The development of the upgrades did not progress at an acceptable pace; this is very different to insinuations that it was never the intention to do them at all.This implies that I personally have misled customers in order to get them to buy a SimTek. I do plead guilty to passing on the information regarding progress that I was getting from my supplier who was responsible for writing the code for the upgrades.
5.In the light of the continued lack of development the only viable alternative to develop the Simtek range was to source an alternative supplier and implement from day one all (and more) of the features that are required on a good quality ECU.I would be open to any other suggestions as to what I should have done in this situation.
6.The current position regarding support and development of "old" Simtek is not finalised and I hope that you can appreciate the delicate situation at present.It is of utmost importance that existing customers do not feel abandoned and I am making every effort to ensure that this is not the case.
Steve

53,
That's irrelevant imo. If it was never stated by the makers of Simtec that these future enhancements would rightly be free, that's that mate.

TimH,
Inference is utterly irrelevant.... stick to actual statements from the manufacturers and you can take the topic from there.

The point is though people like myself and chris have forked out over a grand on a ecu that is now obsolete in some respects. I might have held out for new one if I'd known it was coming, there were no rumours or any thing as far as I know, it's just arrived.

From a totally unbiased view that seems pretty plausible reasoning to me.

Based on what has been released on here up to now, it may of been "commercially" handled better, but there you have it.

That's not fact currently though is it.

:thumb:

Great advice from Paul :)

Advice I should have taken back in 2008 when I unknowingly became someones R&D for a very poor Simtek mapper :rolleyes:

One more point:
Taking the upgrade issue out of the equation for a moment, I think we have to accept that sometimes progress means that something becomes obsolete.To have a situation where a supplier feels he can't develop a better product because he feels he will be attacked fordevalueing the old product would turn us into luddites.When Motec released the M800 customers with a M48 just had to accept that a better product was now available. You buy a 2000 classic but a year later out comes the bug-eye...(maybe a bad example!)

This is not meant to sound like I am saying "like it or lump it" .

I don't follow, I never said they would be ? :confused:

So far, so good :D

I will argue vehemently against the view that it is "utterly irrelevant". If you have a groundswell of opinion that a customer base has been misled - whether actually based on factual statements from the manufacturer or not - then it is very relevant, IMHO. That manufacturer should take note and react.

And you conveniently choose to ignore the main point of my post which was to say that no one yet knows that the existing customers ARE being hung out to dry!!

Having spoken today to Andy Leech of Alcatek controls, the software/firmware developer of the original Simtek, the good news is that he is hoping to be able to continue to support the original product.

It was his full time job building and maintaining these ECU's for Steve to distribute, now he has no distributor. Andy was not party to the decision to change to the new GEMS supplied ECU that Steve is now marketing as Simtek+ and pro. In fact he didn't even know about it until he read it on here.

Andy realises that for the original simtek to survive, he must now make the (partly developed) upgrades a top priority, release them free of charge and then establish a new supply chain.
For the benefit of all concerned, I for one hope this can happen. I believe there is room in the market place for an entry level ECU such as the orginal Simtek and also for the higher developed new Simtek+ and pro.

The trouble is rightly or wrongly and through the glorious Technicolour of scoobynet, this has been the situation for sometime. And now we have a shiney new simtek and no further forward in terms of functionality closure for the old simtek.

I would never attack a company for new developments, I think innovation etc should be rewarded. The perception is in simples terms 'how about fixing the old one first'. This isn't meant to sound facetious but through a combination of the dealer network and forum hype ? peoples expectations aren't being met ? :) And I accept that's not all laying at your feet :)

Cheers Andy :)

All people need is information :)

:thumb: