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I think it depends on the gauge. I do not have a permanently mounted boost gauge. I attach a 4 inch manifold vacuum gauge when I want to check boost and the needle does vibrate quite a bit at times. (most dash mounted boost gauges are heavily damped)
A good boost guage shows that boost is on at any RPM as long as your foot is on the gas. The SC does leak a little and it doesn't make full boost until it has a few RPM under it's belt. If you have a bigger pully, full boost will show at a lower RPM. My current car is stock and it doesn't get full boost until about 3000 RPM. My previous car had a big pulley and I think it had full boost at almost 2000 RPM. (I hope my current SC is not leaking too much)
As far as "experiencing" torque, you are exactly right. You are not going to see differences in low end torque unless you can find a nice steep hill that pretty much balances your available torque.
However the torque is definately not there when using the stock ECU. I have seen dozens of dyno plots posted over the years and there is quite a jagged drop in the torque curve at lower RPMs on almost every one. At the same time I have seen dozens of dyno plots that show a nice smooth curve going all the way down to the bottom of the plot for stock boost engines.
Only some of the better tuners have more than stock boost and also a smooth torque curve all the way to the bottom.
That lost torque at low RPM does not matter on the track because you never use the low RPMs unless you are in the completely wrong gear. On the track you should never see RPM below 4000. On the other hand that lost torque does make a nice difference in around town driving and I think most of the guys who installed the Grunt Box know exactly what i am talking about.
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