Oh Boy! Lars, I'm prejudiced!
The easy question first: The canned Gryphon tunes are the same tunes that you find on the Edge. They were developed with a great deal of help from Bill Cohron when he worked for Edge and are "generic" tunes that will improve the performance of any f150, but, are not customized to specific models, driving styles, locations or usage patterns. I'm not really sure what percentage of the tunes is due to Bill's input, but, from his post regarding tuning the 2009 f150, I suspect he did most of the work on them.
Now, the second one. Here, I can only give you "opinions". The Livewire gives you gauges too, and, they can be set to simulate an analog gauge if that blows air up your skirt. I think you can monitor up to six things at a time vs the four that the Gryphon offers. I believe you can switch things that are monitored easily, at the touch of a button with the Livewire. With the current Gryphon, you'd better pull off the road if you want to change the display, but, Bill is thinking about some enhancements that will allow rapid switching between two sets of four PIDs.
If the Livewire tuned by Troyer costs $650, then the Gryphon custom tuned with three tunes is $489. The savings will buy a lot of scotch (or tequila)!
Mike Troyer has an incredible reputation in the tuning world, but then so does Justin Starkey at VMP and, of course, our Bill Cohron at PHP.
If you have spent as much time as I have on the "Chips, Tuners and Programming" forum in f150online as I have, you will know (and appreciate) how many times Bill has come to the rescue of someone needing information on custom tuning - and those people don't always have Edges/Gryphons either. Without casting aspersions, note the number of helpful posts by Mike and Justin.
I'm quite confident that there is not a significant difference in the quality of the tunes delivered by these three experts. Each approaches the task in a different manner, so there will be
some, but I doubt it's anything you can "feel".
Bottom line: If I'm going to put something in my truck that is going to effect how it runs and that has the potential of disabling it, I want to go with someone who I feel has MY interests at heart. Someone who maybe I could call at O-dark-thirty on the weekend who would get back to me quickly with help. I think Bill and Corey are that team, and that's why I call myself a "PHP Groupie".
Hope this helps you. I know it's a tough choice.
- Jack