i purchased this:
http://www.modchipman.com/product_info.php?products_id=166
(Xecuter 3 SE)
and it looks so sexy! very nice chip, and the reviews here for this dealer were decent. (yes, i read the forums first!) i can't wait to install it. these forums look good for help, but i think i can handle it as all the tutorials and documentation i need are linked to right from the front page of this site.
team xecuter deffinately looks like they have the top products and all of their sh*t together! i will hopefully be proven this when my chip arrives.
a good friend of mine here in town has an xecuter3 in his box and i got a chance to play with it. his box was op as he was upgrading the hdd so i got to look over his install, he did the pinheader and it was an ancient xbox, v1.0 i believe, with solder-filled LPC. mine is a 1.4, i already opened it to look so i knew weather i would have to worry about the v1.6/bios/LPC rebuild. but i wont. looks that installation will be a breeze. i'm very good at soldering these tiny points. hell, i even have a small software collection of all the apps i need! once the xhip is running. and i also see they already have a software update for this chip! impressive indeed!
sorry for the long post!