Easy answer - Insurance. FEMTO wont accept your international shipment if its insured, as they then have to pay import duties/customs on it. I can insure the shipment to EPC, they fly there, and insure the shipment back. Ill pay for the peace of mind.
Ive been Stage 3 for a long time.
Version 1.4 and 1.5 really firmed up the upshifts, so much so that it was upsetting the car and I had to dial them back by about 15%. Otherwise its great.
On a pre-DME locked ECU, both BM3 and MHD can write the custom rom code, since the DME is fully unlocked. FEMTO is a partial unlock, which is why you have to send in the DME to have those parts manually flashed. Assuming this really is a full unlock, you should be able to use all 3 tuning...