will it be easier to drive with the zbox?

[travnews]

I am wondering if it will be easier to drive with the zbox, as far as using throttle control to engaging the system. I thought someone told me you just floor the throttle with zero off and it does all the work. Where with stargazer you throttle up to your speed and the system takes over. If the zbox made it easier for my wife to drive, I would purchase one in a heartbeat.

 

 

[jcmccavit]

I bought mine for me the skier who rides behind the boat. I can't afford a ZO boat so I wanted to be able to train for tournaments without paying an additional $15,000.00 to upgrade to ZO boat. There is a lot more that goes into driving than pushing the throttle all the way down. That doesn't always work with a ZO boat either.

[ctsmith]

jcmccavit, I'm sure Travnews understands there's more to driving a boat than pushing the throttle all the way down. I'm currently in 2004 196 with Stargazer. I previously had a 2008 190 with ZO. My wife does nearly 100% of my driving. There are worlds of difference in the throttle up with ZO and Stargazer and she much preferred ZO. If she much prefers ZO then I much prefer ZO. If zbox throttles up like ZO I'm all in. I could care less about the pull, I'm not a tournament skier.

[6balls]

Razor1 has SG on a '05 TT (throttle by wire), and also has rights to a private puddle where we use a Bu with ZO. As far as throttle engagement, acceleration, stopping exactly on speed it is identical between the boats. Given all the ballers with over-throttle issues etc on SG...I guess his SG must just be really dialed.

[501Brandon]

I only seem to notice on overspeed if you really sling the throttle up... In a gradual takeoff I dont ever see an over shoot. Maybe its just me but I really dont see the need to slam it forward even in a short set up situation. I could be totally wrong. I am running SG on an 07 Repsonse with the 383. if you power hard on the start and push the throttle very far and over shoot it will take a moment to catch and reduce power therfore giving you a hot pullout. I just figured that the driver should catch this pretty quickly and know to get the guy out of the water and only power up to whats needed to engage???

[Ed_Obermeier]

SG on a TBW boat is a non-issue, it's only an issue on the cable throttle version. With the TBW version you can dump the throttle and it settles right in no problem pretty much regardless of what you do with the throttle handle.

[travnews]

I know there is more to it than just slamming down the throttle. I can pull consistently. The question is will it be any easier to pull consistently with the zbox. If it makes it easier for my wife, or someone not that familiar with my boat, it's worth it. I have cable version. I don't have any problems, it's just for the others that drive my boat. If someone else is driving, I'm at the end of the rope. That is why I am wondering. My settings need to be lowered also, but that is different thread.

[Ed_Obermeier]

Give your drivers specific instructions and coaching on how to do it. That's what I do. If they can't seem to get it they don't drive my boat. Pretty simple.

[travnews]

If they can't seem to get it, and I don't let them drive my boat. Then I can't ski behind my boat. So not that simple, do see what I mean. Thank you for the input, but that's not really answering my question.

[Phil2360]

Think the of DBW vs Mechanically cabled is inherently more prone to this as the driver is more or less fully in control of throttle until the system kicks in.

 

Mind you the system does do some throttle roll back & I particularly noticed this in one of the earlier versions where it was very difficult to make the boat accelerate hard as the system was tending to roll the throttle back more as the pedal was applied. (And yes my system runs off a foot throttle).