hypnotica003 said:
so what im getting at is...basically if i want just a chip revo is the way to go for performance, but if i want to upgrade to stage 2 and 3 then go with apr? (i heard many people say they have many problems with revo stage 2)
I think (now this is opinion mind you

) APR has a better upgrade path if your goal is a big turbo-kit. However, their fuel pump solution alone, at the time of this writing, is around a grand

.
The upgrade from stageI to stageII on the Revo was a $50 upgrade (after meeting the hardware upgrade criteria). So yeah, I miss stage II :'(, but nothing scares the crap outta ya like going to pass a big rig at WOT and have the engine starve on you. Since going back to Stage I- 0 issues. However if I wanna get busy with the REVO Select controller, I probably could come up with a Stage 1.75 ;D map.
Once again with opinion, if you do modify the the engine management software, up your maintenance schedule and keep an eye on oil (and other fluids) levels religiously. I plan on dumping my oil and filter every 5K. The more stress you put on the engine, the shorter it's lifespan. Look at how long a motor lasts in a top fuel dragster- if they tuned it down a few hundred HP- it would last a few more runs. The Lola we have as a "company" car uses an AER motor from the UK, and it puts out around 800 HP with twin Garrett turbos at 7PSI of boost. The motor has the capability to put out over 1k HP, but it's detuned for endurance racing and runs on ethanol.
Hope that helps you a bit with your decision O0