Using zero off in a river.

[bowvan]

Whats the verdict? I know there were issues when using zero off in a river, because of the current. There was supposed to be a software update which addressed the problem. Has anyone installed the update? Does it work? How does it work, do you have to push a button each time you change direction?

I am considering buying a new boat and I primarily ride in the Sac River. The perfect pass in my current boat works perfect!

[Mikeski]

RE: Using zero off in a river.

Not sure about zero off but I was using the GPS on the sac river the other day and found the current to be running about 2.5mph. Seems that you would be riding 2.5MPH too fast when going up river and 2.5MPH slow when going down river.

[AirTool]

RE: Using zero off in a river.

Mikeski - how did you figure that out? ....drifting? or a pass each way?

[dizzyj]

RE: Using zero off in a river.

ya its sucks. I have stargazer on my pp, but I disconnect the gps and use the paddle wheel

[robertsmcfarland]

we replaced our zero off with perfect pass in our 2008 210 and works perfect with 2000 lbs extra no more porpoising but understand zero off and CC working together came up with a new antenna to replace the old that fixes the porpoising. Our perfect pass works so good we did not replace the old antenna for the new.

[xrichard]

I have the "river mode" update on my zero off (2008 210). Basically, you enter the speed of the current and then tell the Zero Off if you're headed up river or down river and it adjusts speed accordingly. You can check the speed of the current by drifting and getting the readout off the gps. It works well, but I'd rather have PP or a paddlewheel because the driver has to remember to change the setting for the direction every time you turn around. It's not a huge deal, but it's easy to forget especially for drivers unfamiliar with the boat (...or new drivers...in any event, drivers who are concetrating on other things). I'm not a new driver, and I've forgotten on occasion.

So, "river mode" is better than no river mode, but it's still inconvenient. It would be nice if you could make a pass along the section you're riding and tell the Zero Off 'up river' and 'down river' as you made your run...then it could figure out from there whether you're riding up river or down river and make the adjustment automatically. Seems like this wouldn't be difficult for Zero Off to implement...but what do I know?.

[DanielC]

I am not a hard core slalom course runner. My understanding is that for a slalom record to be valid, it is time to complete the distance, or speed over land, or GPS speed. In other words, if your course is in a river, you just have to deal with the current speed. Your actual speed over the land, at the bottom of the river has to stay at 36, or 34 miles per hour, even though your water speed may be faster or slower.

[bowvan]

Is there a paddle wheel option for Zero off, or is that a Perfect Pass thing only?

[jbwake]

We ride on a flowing river too and find the river mode pretty much useless. I agree with the post above that it is annoying to have to toggle the upstream/downstream button all the time. If the ZeroOff people had to use it for themselves on a day to day basis they would know what I mean.

Another problem is the fact that the speed of the current varies depends what part of the river you are on. ie the outside of a turn is different to the inside of a turn or shallow sections. As such if you look at the paddle wheel speedo you notice that your speed over the water is constantly varying.

DanielC - The problem is mostly for wakeboarding. If you are running the course you are right it is speed over the land (bottom of river) that counts.

[airhuck]

are these "river current" settings on just the ski boats or are they on the wake boats too? i have a 2009 SANTE and i havent found any settings to play with.

[Mikeski]

airtool,

had the gps going on the iphone and the perfect pass (paddle) going on the dash. Set at 22mph, iphone gps read 24.5 going downriver and 19.5 going upriver.

[AirTool]

airtool,

had the gps going on the iphone and the perfect pass (paddle) going on the dash. Set at 22mph, iphone gps read 24.5 going downriver and 19.5 going upriver.

Excellent...I'm glad you didn't judge it by "drifting".

AirTool

[causewayskiier]

ZO in river

Are the folks that have the "river mode" on their ZO, do they have the 3 event or Wakeboaard version of ZO. I don't think my 3 event has a river mode.

[srock]

RE: ZO in river

Since the unit already has a GPS perhaps the next version should memorize the direction of the river so up or down stream would be automatic on a 180 degree turn.

[Laptom]

Re: RE: ZO in river

Since the unit already has a GPS perhaps the next version should memorize the direction of the river so up or down stream would be automatic on a 180 degree turn.

This seems quite logic. Just calibrate the current once and the ZO will detect which way the boat direct to.
But.... The river is not always straight (180 degrees bents are normal in our rivers) and the current is not always the same in the river... In the inside /outside difference. At bridges it can be very tricky!

IMHO ZO should really add a paddle wheel to inprove river behaviour. As long as they don't have that I'll stick with Perfect Pass.