StarGazer GPS 2008 Malibu

[Horton]

I heard a rumor today that all the 08 Perfect Pass boats will be StarGazer GPS enabled and that all the 08 Malibu promo – tournament boats also will be SG.  Let me say it again “Rumor” from one source. I also understand that StarGazer is only a $400.00 upgrade for almost any Perfect Pass older system.

 

First of all does anyone know this to be true?

 

The only thing the worries me is that from what I have seen  Zero Off skis far different  the old PP. I would not want to train behind a Zero Off and then get a old style PP at a tournament.  On the other hand I think that skiing behind the PP in practice and ZO in a tournament would be an advantage.

 

I also wonder how different the two systems are to ski behind. I did not like ZO until I worked though the settings and realized that the hard setting is the one for me. (I forget if it is A or C but it is the one other skiers were afraid of – silly skiers)

Anyone know anything.

[skibug]

From what I understand, talking to the PP technical rep, the upgrade can be made for $400.00; but, you need a multi line display module.  If you don't have one, you will also need to buy that item ($200).  All in all, I think it is GREAT!!  I have a 2003 Response LX and I plan on getting SG when it is available.  I think that PP really understands the market and listens to what the skiers want.  As late as this fall, talking with someone who knows the ZO people, early indications are they probably won’t have a retro fit for boats that aren’t DBW, or at least it wasn’t a priority for any near term deployment.  That really limits your exposure to the market.  Especially since PP is the standard. Another tid bit I learned from talking to the PP rep is that the way SG works is that you calibrate it off of the GPS; but, it isn’t a continual speed tracking system like ZO. At least that is the way I understood the explanation.  It doesn’t rely on constant updating from a satellite.  You do have to have 2 magnets, one at both ends on the entrance gates.  So once you calibrate, the system adjusts based on RPM and not MPH.  I am not sure if I entirely understand how it works; but, it can’t defy the laws of Physics; so, it has to be based on the formula “velocity = distances * timeâ€ÂÂÂ.   

Either way, as a PP owner, I am excited to see how well it works; and, how easy (or difficult) the retro fit will be.

 

[Ed_Obermeier]

Note to those looking to upgrade to Stargazer - if you want one for next spring you'd be well advised to get on the waiting list NOW.  The people I'm talking to who are in the know tell me that they are expecting a LOT of first year demand for the upgrade and like a lot the new hot skis these days, initial availability when it is first released may be somewhat limited.  Yes, I'm on the list.

I'm told that the upgrade should be pretty simple to do.  Basically it's just replacing the old ECM with a new brain module (take the old one out and mount this one in the same place I'd assume) and mounting the GPS antenna.  If you have the old display (I do) you need to replace that with the new display.  Sounds easy enough to me.

I'm also told that the pull with Stargazer feels just like the old PP except a bit softer.  Softer is a good thing AFAIC. 

Ed

[Horton]

Softer? That makes me nervious. Good time with the one ZO I tried did feel slow but that was only after I cranked it to the "stiff" setting. Power at the right time feels slow & power at the wrong time feels fast. I would be really bummed of the two systems ski a lot differently. I want to go to a tounement and get what I expect.

[DW]

You might have seen some comments on the ZO system on another forum and some feedback from JTH here on his experience behind ZO, but here is possibly an explanation concerning the feeling behind any totally GPS based speed control system.

We are using a data acquisition system on a race car and it uses a GPS to track vehicle speed with all other sensors direct wired in the the data acqusition system.  Due to an interesting need to document vehicle data to one of the tech inspectors at a race, I discovered that there is about a .2 second lag in the GPS speed signal compared to direct sensor signals on the vehicle.  I verified my findings by comparing the GPS speed signal to longitudinal acceleration, so I am pretty confident in the findings.  Thinking about it and checking with a couple of people that deal with GPS systems, they concurred with my findings. It all has to do with pure and simple physics, the time it takes to get the signal from the object to the satellite and back which is about .2 seconds.

With that in mind, a GPS controlled speed controller will at best react to speed adjustments .2 seconds after the change unless some sort of software is built in to compensate.  I think that is probably the Stargazer approach to their system, use GPS for position, but engine data for actual speed adjustment or compensation from set point.  I am not commenting on the importance or need to correct since ZO appears not to be correcting their signal and several people think it works, just providing insight on my findings.  I feel that since the times are good for the ZO system the lag time does not hurt actual boat times.