The question is if tuning at a professional shop is as effective as tuning with a hand held device

 

hell no..........

There is no one that I know that would say that having a car on the dyno where real-time data can be seen/read in order to make adjustments would be as good as a handheld tuner.

 

Kinda hoping this is tongue-in-cheek.

A hands on dyno tune is better than a hand held. The handheld email tunes are conservative as they have to make the tune for a sight unseen engine, therefore the tune is written on the safe side, so they dont get sued for blowin someones motor up.

 

as he said the handhelds are made to make general changes to the tune depending on what you have had done to the car. While it will help to make some gains in hp/tq if everything is working correctly but if everything is not working correctly then you sol. dynos are great from making more power but also for diagnosing specific areas that either need help or are not working as well as they could and this is something the hand held will never help.

Also be aware that the first tune when buying the chip can be pricey($5-700) but after that you can get it done for much cheaper once you have the chip. My tuner only charges $250 if you have the chip....