ZO and PP w/StarGazer - is their noticeable latency with either or both ?

[swbca]

Haven't skied behind either, though I now have latest PP w/StarGazer on my boat in Winter storage. Some live drivers are really easy to ski behind and some not . . they anticipate the skier, not react to the skier. I asked a lot of questions but never learned if these speed control systems are in sync with the skier maintaining a near constant speed, or if there is latency causing noticeable acceleration as you approach the wake. I have only talked to one skiing friend with a ZO boat and he says you need to practice behind a ZO boat to ski in tournaments. On this forum others have said the 2 systems are similar enough - if the PP is a recent software version.

 

So the questions are about latency and boat speed fluctuation as the speed control reacts to the skier. Does the boat stay in a +/- 1 mph speed, or is it +/- 1/2 mph ? or what do you think ? (for example with a 180 pound skier 35off/34)

 

 

[Horton]

Before we start talking about the technical differences between ZO and PP let me say that the real differences become less important as the rope gets longer and the boat goes slower. Knowing your personal situation I would tell you that this is not something you need to worry about. At 30 mph and just coming back to the sport I doubt you will feel the differences.

[swbca]

@HORTON It seems pretty well settled that the two systems are fairly similar, so my question was about latency. Does the skier experience acceleration with these systems at unwanted times because the system is reacting to the skier . . rather than being in-sync with the skier.

 

The other question was about the amplitude of boat speed change ? Is the boat speed swinging within a 1 mph range for example or is it more steady than that . . With the example skier; 180 pound 35off/34.

 

Thanks

[dchristman]

http://www.usawaterski.org/speedcontrol/zerooffpresentation.pdf

[Bruce_Butterfield]

@swbca either of the speed controls will provide a significantly more consistent pull than the manual drivers of 35 years ago. Also keep in mind that compared to the 240Hp carbuerated boats of the '80's to a 350-400 Hp fuel injected computer controlled beast of today, latency is virtually non-existent.

 

Seriously, for your situation, the speed control is probably #34 on the list of things you need to think about. Get in shape as much as you can, get a decent ski and go have fun.

 

FWIW, any issues with the boat being out of sync with the skier are due to the math coded into the system. At lease with ZO you can pick your poison. I can count on 1 hand the number of manual drivers I would prefer to a speed control - and I am far from a speed control proponent. The speed control is much more consistent than the pool of even well qualified tournament drivers.

[BraceMaker]

@swbca I don't think there has been enough reverse engineering of this problem, but there also is not a market for that to be done when they're really not competing with each other any more.

 

Download a sensor app onto a smart phone, get a good phone mount and start the data logging.

 

Would be interesting to see just what sort of response there was in every boat and hull - there's still so much variety amongst the engine options, ZO options, props, and hulls that you'd probably see a difference between all the hulls.