We often get asked questions about how PowerTRONIC fares in comparison to products that simply connect to the Air Intake Temperature sensor.
Short answer, you get what you pay for.
While the PowerTRONIC provides fuel and ignition control with customisable maps, these alternate products do not. You will have a fixed map which is not in your control, and more often than not, you will also see a drop in performance.
They do not provide fuel control within the closed-loop (modern ECUs aren’t fooled so easily), but then neither does the PowerTRONIC. But that is where the similarities end. The PowerTRONIC offers full control of fuelling and ignition in the open-loop, while the alternatives offer changes with a very small variance which does not lead to an improvement in performance.
If you have a specific fuelling requirement due to modifications made to your bike, or have a stock bike and are looking for added power, a product that lets you see the changes being made to the fuelling and/or ignition will always outweigh one that does not.
Some products work as a lambda eliminator. These offer partial fuel control in both open and closed-loop. However, they work only on select older models and would also generally require an additional fuel controller.