Perfect Pass - is it worth $1,300

[AdeL]

Hi Guys

At the end of this season I wanted to add a GPS to my boat. This led to designing and costing out an entire new dash. I'm now considering a Perfect Pass Wake edition. This is $1,300 new. My boat is a 94 Echelon and could do with some gel coat work at the rear end, it's worn away. I wake board when ever I can, my wife drives and does a pretty good job, the problem we have is that the pitots get blocked quite frequently in the lakes we use. Is $1,300 worth it or better spent on making the boat look nicer. It's a fair chunk of change and I'm not sure it's a good buy.

Regards

Ade

[MalibuTime]

Hi Guys

At the end of this season I wanted to add a GPS to my boat. This led to designing and costing out an entire new dash. I'm now considering a Perfect Pass Wake edition. This is $1,300 new. My boat is a 94 Echelon and could do with some gel coat work at the rear end, it's worn away. I wake board when ever I can, my wife drives and does a pretty good job, the problem we have is that the pitots get blocked quite frequently in the lakes we use. Is $1,300 worth it or better spent on making the boat look nicer. It's a fair chunk of change and I'm not sure it's a good buy.

Regards

Ade

It kind of depends what is important to you. I highly doubt that you will not like a constant speed being held by PP once you have it. I liken it to things like getting heated seats, power windows or air conditioning in your car. You can live with out them forever until you have them and then it is "wow, this is pretty nice" and you really like them. I would never buy/have a watersports boat without speed control.

Edited May 17, 2011 by MalibuTime

[REW]

It kind of depends what is important to you. I highly doubt that you will not like a constant speed being held by PP once you have it. I liken it to things like getting heated seats, power windows or air conditioning in your car. You can live with out them forever until you have them and then it is "wow, this is pretty nice" and you really like them. I would never buy/have a watersports boat without speed control.

For us it was a must when we bought the Bu'. As a driver it allows you to take more care in actually dirving and watching, you wont have to worry about speed ever again.

Good luck in figuring out what you want to do. It really is just a matter of what you want.

[Levi900RR]

I am in this same situation, I am really looking at adding a Stargazer to my boat as I have pretty inconsistant drivers. Man that $1300 is gonna be hard to swallow... But I HATE when I cut out away from the wake, and my driver cuts the throttle back and I lose ALL my speed as I cut back towards the wake.

[nyryan2001]

I would argue that if you use your boats primarily for watersports, or even as little 30% of the time, it is a must to have a fuctioning and accurate speed control. You are likely to get out on the water a lot more, and that time behind the boat will be much higher quality, less frustrating and a lot less dissappointment. I just spent the last 3 yrs primarily behind a boat with no speed control. Not entirely fun.

[Levi900RR]

I would argue that if you use your boats primarily for watersports, or even as little 30% of the time, it is a must to have a fuctioning and accurate speed control. You are likely to get out on the water a lot more, and that time behind the boat will be much higher quality, less frustrating and a lot less dissappointment. I just spent the last 3 yrs primarily behind a boat with no speed control. Not entirely fun.

I agree 100% Its just freeing up that working capital and biteing the bullet.

[PUskier]

We do a lot of slalom skiing as well as trick skiing and wakeboarding. It is a must for our boat. Several of my friends have said that putting PP in their boats saved their marriage. No more arguments over getting a good pull. It is really nice for both the driver and the skier.

Adel - Post some pics of the dash redesign. I am interested in seeing what you did.

[DAC]

I bit the bullet and got PP Wake Edition last year. Absolutely worth it, especially for wakeboarding and surfing. More importantly, the wife loves it too and is much more comfortable driving.

[barefootpaul]

Unless you have a tournament quality driver available 24/7, speed control (aka PP) is worth every cent. Infinitely more valuable than a pretty hull...

[85 Barefoot]

Absolutely worth it. But your pricing is off....even off PPass's site it's less than that AND if you look around the interenet you can get stargazer wake (brand new) for less than that. Have you already redone your dash? if not, no need, the stargazer will give you GPS speed.

[Bill_AirJunky]

Depends on your driver & their ability to hold the speed. I never had a problem with my 205. The throttle had just enough stick in it that we could set it & walk away & the thing would hold speed forever. The throttle on our Malibu is not sticky in the least & will retract to neutral if your not careful. So PP is pretty nice.

You could also get Skidim's pitot tubesthat don't clog as easily. I had them on the MC & we'd see the speedos clog, then clear up within a few seconds. Definitely better than the AirGuides where you have to bump reverse to get them to clear.

[Pruis6]

Check skiertoskier.com I bought a PP stargazer system for $1100 and it's on it's way. $1100 is still pricey but this will add to the fun and enjoyment for everybody. The gel coat work would be nice to but if that is just mainly cosmetic then I say let that wait and do the perfect pass.

[Woodski]

The venturi style pitot's make a big difference on clogging, they pretty much don't and as mentioned, usually clear by themselves. A speed control is well worth the investiment, but if you do have a tourney level driver, that is a really good alternative.

[idsII]

I might have a used Perfect Pass Stargazer Wakeboard Edition GPS for sale that I put on my Centurion last year. I think I used it 6 outings. If the guy that wants my boat does not want it. Send me a private message if you are interested.

[AdeL]

Wow, so many responses so quickly. I can tell people that have the PP think highly of it before I read any of the responses. I was hoping people would tell me it’s not that good and I could save myself some money, oh well. It sounds as though you guys just pushed me over the edge. I’ll be purchasing the Stargazer Wake Edition. I’ve tried to capture every ones input and respond to all.

I did not think that the PP would be appreciated by the driver, that’s good feedback. I guess I’m always the one being pulled so gave no thought to the drivers experience.

I will take pics of the dash redesign project as I go along. I have not got far yet and will not take that on until the end of the season. The reason for waiting is that I have a Computron that does not work and so I have no engine warnings, the depth gauge, water temp, air temp etc… do not work. As a side note as I pull the computron out I’ll let the forum know so that someone could hopefully get theirs working using the parts out of mine. I do not have a tournament driver available and so the PP will suffice. Probably like a lot of Bu fans I am anal about keeping mu boat clean etc… especially as it’s a 94, I treat it like a classic car. As such the hull or a PP is a tough decision but you guys talked me into the PP. My pricing was a little off, it’s $1,195 from PP, still a lot of money for something that’s a want and not a need. One of my two pitot’s is a Skidim but it still clogs so a GPS/Stargazer is the way I’ll go.

Thank you for all the feedback

Regards

Ade

[85 Barefoot]

Wow, so many responses so quickly. I can tell people that have the PP think highly of it before I read any of the responses. I was hoping people would tell me it’s not that good and I could save myself some money, oh well. It sounds as though you guys just pushed me over the edge. I’ll be purchasing the Stargazer Wake Edition. I’ve tried to capture every ones input and respond to all.

I did not think that the PP would be appreciated by the driver, that’s good feedback. I guess I’m always the one being pulled so gave no thought to the drivers experience.

I will take pics of the dash redesign project as I go along. I have not got far yet and will not take that on until the end of the season. The reason for waiting is that I have a Computron that does not work and so I have no engine warnings, the depth gauge, water temp, air temp etc… do not work. As a side note as I pull the computron out I’ll let the forum know so that someone could hopefully get theirs working using the parts out of mine. I do not have a tournament driver available and so the PP will suffice. Probably like a lot of Bu fans I am anal about keeping mu boat clean etc… especially as it’s a 94, I treat it like a classic car. As such the hull or a PP is a tough decision but you guys talked me into the PP. My pricing was a little off, it’s $1,195 from PP, still a lot of money for something that’s a want and not a need. One of my two pitot’s is a Skidim but it still clogs so a GPS/Stargazer is the way I’ll go.

Thank you for all the feedback

Regards

Ade

You wont regret it

[Lieutenant Dan]

Check skiertoskier.com I bought a PP stargazer system for $1100 and it's on it's way. $1100 is still pricey but this will add to the fun and enjoyment for everybody. The gel coat work would be nice to but if that is just mainly cosmetic then I say let that wait and do the perfect pass.

Does skiertoskier have a malibucrew discount?

[Pruis6]

Does skiertoskier have a malibucrew discount?

I'm not sure. I didn't think to ask.

[Bu hoo]

Absolutley get it. Like someone said earlier, it saves marriages!

Seriously though, I would rather be pulled by a boat made of plywood with PP, than any boat without it. It takes 95% of the frustration out of watersports for me. Imagine perfect pulls everytime from any driver. Its also nice to be able to tweak your speed to a tenth of a mph.

You will NOT regret it.

[Simo]

Short answer. Yes

[Bill_AirJunky]

Absolutley get it. Like someone said earlier, it saves marriages!

Seriously though, I would rather be pulled by a boat made of plywood with PP, than any boat without it. It takes 95% of the frustration out of watersports for me. Imagine perfect pulls everytime from any driver. Its also nice to be able to tweak your speed to a tenth of a mph.

You will NOT regret it.

Wow, you must get pulled by some terrible drivers. We rode for years without PP & never had a problem because we had people who could hold their speed.... not that hard in most inboards, especially with a moderate amount of weight in the boat.

Now that we have PP in the boat, and most other boats we ride behind, we usually get a steadier pull. But there are plenty of other driver related issues that come up... eg; too fast/slow out of the hole, not driving in a straight line, the PP surging in the corners, etc.

I'm certainly no tournament level driver, but I can hold the boat in a relatively straight line at 25 mph..... probably at least as good as your PP equipped piece of plywood.

[Tyger]

So, yes, as the others have said. When I bought my first tournament boat, it was on the short list of things I must have and I never regretted it.

When the PP went out on my last boat, I called them (totally, totally friendly people, btw*) and they sold me a used unit for under the dash. If you are solely strapped for cash and don't find a good uned one elsewhere, ring them up and see if they have a reconditioned model you are looking for. You will save some money that way and hopefully start getting better pulls faster.

*I had several issues in my last boat and they actually told me to call them from the water... on a Saturday. They walked me through the steps and got my PP working great.

[jjackkrash]

I was skiing tournaments back in the days before speed control and I can say with confidence that learning to be a good driver without speed control takes as much skill and practice as learning to run the course. I know at a tournament I sure felt more at ease if the driver had gray hair and had been pulling skiers for longer than I had been alive. Good driving with speed control still takes skill and practice, but it is much easier when 50% of the task is done by the computer. In a way this has taken some of the fun out of driving, but it has also improved the consistency of the ride for the average skier, as the driver can concentrate on the line without worrying about the speed and having to glance down at the tach 15-30 times during a 16 second pass. Great drivers can gauge speed solely on engine sound, and know how to give gas without detrimentally affecting the skier to hold a consistent speed, but that takes a lot of practice and some drivers never quite get the feel for it, even with a lot of practice.

[Bu hoo]

Wow, you must get pulled by some terrible drivers. We rode for years without PP & never had a problem because we had people who could hold their speed.... not that hard in most inboards, especially with a moderate amount of weight in the boat.

Now that we have PP in the boat, and most other boats we ride behind, we usually get a steadier pull. But there are plenty of other driver related issues that come up... eg; too fast/slow out of the hole, not driving in a straight line, the PP surging in the corners, etc.

I'm certainly no tournament level driver, but I can hold the boat in a relatively straight line at 25 mph..... probably at least as good as your PP equipped piece of plywood.

Your luckier than I am then. The difference is that with PP, experienced drivers aren't as necessary. My passengers now have the ability to pull like veterans. It also creates a much more stress free experience for a newer driver. There is no arguing the value of PP if you have had a bad driver in the past.

If you only boat with experienced boaters then PP may not have as much value. PP simply eliminates this worry for the most part. It doesn't make up for safety, but that isn't the topic here.

Edited May 19, 2011 by Bu hoo

[ed obermeier]

Something no one else has mensioned yet. When you get a different boat you can take it with you to the new boat. Just need a similar sized gauge or plug to put in the hole in the dash. So it's basically a one time investment (updates not withstanding). Enjoy.

Ed