^^You have to compare apples to apples^^ If you bought all the system for a carb front to rear at the same price levels in each, you can get something like a Sniper for very close to the same price as a carb system.
I actually am and always have been cheap. I first bought an old Holley "knob adjust" system to experiment with, and then ran across (a good deal) a 4bbl "Commander 950" system pretty cheap. Later I upgraded it to a Holley HP (the current Holley computer) with the same TB. That TB is not "junk" and if I manage to get it to port injection, I can still use the same TB by merely disconnecting or even removing the TB injectors.
I even have a basic Megasquirt II that I started assembling, that is still "down in the bunker" mostly put together. Megasquirt however, has increased in price, and they "leave a lot on the table" like no wideband O2 built in and so on
This was "the thing" that got me started..........and old Holley "pro-jection" off C/L for cheap. I still have it and it likely still works. You "program" it with 5? knobs on the case
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Then I ran across this Commander 950/. These are pretty capable, but no provision for "self learning." I did score a small add-on program from an independent party which does "some" of that
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