Dyno vs etune, I reckon its what your comfortable putting your car through and your lifestyle.
My experience is loaded COBB stage 2 tune on AP at HPF when I got COBB stuff on. Got marginal gains etc. Continued to custom dyno tune as more and more bits were added (prob about another 6 hours on dyno). I have ended up now with a two custom tunes, one running my e85 tune (237kw) and my custom 98 tune (222kw). I know an etune can get more out of it (HPF said I could get another 20kw easy, but I would need to sign a waiver as by their policy), but as a daily FWD car, it wheel spins enough on $600 tires (2 lol) and I have no access to straight, non pot holed roads to do 170km WOT runs. I trust etuners, but I don't fulfill the requirements. I also requested they completely reverse the tune of the k04 setup I had (I am running the corksport turbo) so the torque is made at very high rpms (4.5K and over - it has what I dub, vtec on meth) and is much kinder to the rods. On my daily drive, I never see more than 17psi and on WOT over 4.5, it hits 21 and keeps pulling with LESS torque than my k04. Yeah it doesn't have that violent pull of the k04 on stomp which destroyed my tires and ego, but boy up top it is fun and it just keeps making power till well past redline. Also, I can drive it fairly sensibly and see good fuel use (got 500km on trip computer from a tank of eblend).
I think you need to assess your road conditions and your life style. Do you care about huge power? Yes? Go and etune as they ring the shit out of your car and generally have a few more tricks up their sleeve with their experience of load tuning. Do you care about money? Yes, get and etune as it is good value. Do you care about time? Yes, get a dyno tune, as etunes can take weeks to months depending on tuner. Do you like talking to real people and get the piece of mind of knowing your car is in a controlled environment, Yes? Get a dyno tune as they have a reputation with local people. HPF blow your engine? Not on their watch, where as a yank tuner has no real care in the end over your engine life as long as you paid for your tune. No saying they don't care as they are great people, but in the end and etune, is a long distance relationship.
But out of anything, whether your go dyno OR etune, get an AccessPort. It should be your first mod always. It is so much more than a bunch or gauges. I had the cash, so I got both an AP and a dyno tune. Will I get an etune? Probably not as I might build it one day and just keep going dyno to squeeze more out of it and ride HP's waiver policy, but in the end, its a FWD and they are ****ing useless from the standstill. People are pulling 13.5's out of build motors and that is laughable. Put 300kw into an AWD or RWD with similar weight and you will pull 11-12's. I fail to see why we need huge power numbers on these cars, but each to their own.
Get and AP first and weight up your lifestyle, cash flow and what you really want out of your car. I have a mate with a 6 mps, stock block and he is currently trying to squeeze 400-440 AWhp out of it, and well, that's just a grenade, no matter the tune. 1 guy from America with a 3 has had luck with that, and I frankly don't believe his vdyno numbers.
To be honest though, i am definitely no pro and I got helped by a few guys like SarcasticOne and Lachlan who gave me great advice with no bull. Cheers again fellas
East side cruise soon?