not sure if you are talking to me directly or just making point(which are totally valid), but personally, i found tuning a standalone not very difficult. i have done megasquirt conversions on about 15 cars, so for me it is not very tough to dial it in. the last 16v i tuned didnt make any more horsepower on the dyno with a pro tuner. so a dyno isnt necessary if you spend enough time with a wideband an a good long hill.

for me its more about getting rid of the stock 20 some odd year old wiring and getting rid of the headache of trying to figure out a stock setup, more than making more hp.