OP: depends on your objectives. +1 on what Darth says with this additional observation. I don't have AP or Standback, so others with those tuning solutions can chime in. I just installed Hypertech and am playing with it, so my experience is limited there too.
What I can say is that Hypertech has modest goals and they seem to be realistic. I was skeptical initially and was afraid they were just going to up the boost, raise the load limits and lean out the mixture to produce some good dyno numbers that soon turned into zoom, zoom, boom on the consumer end. They did not take that approach. It looks like they did their homework and took feedback from this and other boards and did their research and development in a methodical way placing safety first. I really like that approach.
Until I can get some cooler weather and can compare some accelerometer data logging with logging I did on the stock tune in cooler weather, the jury is still out in my mind on how the tune will work from a power development standpoint with my mods.
I can say that repeated back to back 6.3-6.4 second 60-100 mph runs in 95-100 degree, 90% humidity conditions suggests to me that Hypertech is building a bit more power than I had before, and doing it in a very safe manner.
Yes, you can make more power with AP and Standback for those who are very knowledgable about tuning and/or willing to run the risk (read: $$$$$) for mistakes made by themselves or their sometimes professional tuners.
If the goal is to stay safe and make the car a lot more fun to drive and get a nice, modest step up in power, Hypertech is the real deal. If you are going for maximum power and reliability be damned, and you or your tuner know what in the hell you/they are doing, then AP or Standback may be a better choice.
HT is not a huge power builder. It does seem to be compatable with just about all bolt-on mods and seems to help them work together, while adding some nice touches like releasing the 0-60 mph restriction and making some safe headroom above 6,000 rpm, and allowing some other less important adjustments.
For a daily driver car that needs a little more zoom to its zoom, zoom, this is a good mod friendly choice.
Here's a teaser G-Tech Pro RR chart. Laugh at my crappy 60 ft of 2.4 with an obviously granny shifted 1-2 due to traction problems -- I sure did, but I was not trying to lauch perfectly. I was more concerned about what the run would show for the time intervals from 60 to 100, which came up in 6.3 seconds on that run. Not bad for the high heat and humidity. You do have to dial back the quarter mile trap speed by about 1.5 mph or so, because G-Tech measures absolute speed at the end of the quarter, while the track timer averages the mph over the last 66 feet of the quarter. The car seems to be making nice power for this mod level, once it hooks up.
But again, I caution putting too much value in a single run under very adverse conditions.
