Anybody without LINC ditched their Zero Off and went with PP Stargazer

[swatguy]

Well the boat I just picked up never had the ZO upgrade done so I get some nasty inconsistencies when taking a pull. Quite frankly I can't even believe this was installed from the factory with the performance you get. After 15hrs worth it's killing the fun. I can drive by hand better than this thing pulls. Zero off seems to have very limited adjustments to dial their syatem in and navigating through all the menus is far from easy. I am fluctuating over mph each way loaded up, it also takes forever to plane will surfing. We have been just disengaging it every fall and then pushing it on as boat get to speed surfing. It's really annoying. Those familiar with pp and the kdw(pull) adjustment does ZO have anything close to that? I have talked with zero off and they say the upgrade will fix it, but I am not buying it. There is next to zero fine tubing in wakeboard mode. I can't even get it to swap to rpm mode.


I know there is the antenna and software upgrade for the Zero off but the price on the antenna and harness is around 560 these days not to mention the labor with the software upgrade. For 900 I can get PP stargazer with way more adjustments and tweaking. Just wondering how big of a project this will turn into with eliminating ZO and Installing SG. If anyone has some thoughts fire away.

[Nordicron]

Hey man not sure totally what u mean with your issues but I've upgraded my 2008 and it holds perfectly fully loaded wake speeds and surf. I know it sucks to pay for the upgrade and all but maybe check with your dealer what their cost through Nautique would be. It's well worth it. Your welcome to come up and take a pull behind my boat sometime to see how good it actually works.


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[NautiqueJeff]

Agreed. The 210 of your era is notorious for the poor performance of ZO without the upgrade. The upgrade really does fix it though. By the way, I know people who tried JUST updating the software without replacing the antenna, and I will warn you that that does NOT fix the issue.

[swatguy]

Thanks for the replies guys. Have to ponder this a bit

[markj]

I only have an 05 (not one problem) and I'd like to know if swat guy could just switch to a paddle wheel like my stock perfect pass.

[scottb7]

I did the software update and not the hardware. And it helped a ton. I personally would upgrade a few other things on my boat before I would drop 5 or 6 hundo on this.

I guess I would like to understand better what you mean by "nasty inconsistencies". I did not have any problems even before i updated the software except the porpoising. So that sounds like something is just broken. When you get the inconsistencies is the mph changing like it is loosing track of the satellite? If so maybe your puck is bad.

Also, have you tried simply using rpm mode. Frankly once you know the rpm that corresponds to the mph you want to go you don't need to use mph mode. Works great. Most skiers use rpm mode. And 0 cost.

[ronskal]

The upgraded ZO on my 2010 works great. Agree the cost to fix yours sounds pricey and well just plain unfair. Prior owner should have had it fixed under warranty?
It sounds like you do not want to throw good money after bad here but the ZO for me can do everything possible for wake and surf.
For surf, roll on the throttle or hitting it too hard results in no overshoot. If I have 9.6 set that is where it will go to. Same with wake. My interface is through the LINC Gen 1 so I cannot compare PP vs. ZO gauge type controls.
The 210 is not a ski boat so I do not slalom in it at 30MPH. I assume it works great at holding speed at 30 because it does it at 9.5, 9.6, 10, 19.5, 20, 21.5, 23 MPH by experience.

[swatguy]

The inconsistencies are just a "surge" and drop in speeds. It happens like mentioned in the threads when hitting some rollers from other boats. The boat just propises like crazy and my wife hits the hydrogate in for bit til it levels out then pulls back the gate along with little throttle adjustment. The speed also fluctuates pretty bad when weighted up. It's around .5-1 mph when weighted up. It's holds right on the money unweighted. However with only about 1/2 factory ballast for wife, and the minute I add the extra ballast for me at 24.5mph it fluctuates.

I was trying to find RPM mode on it but had no luck. The manual is pretty bare on the screen navigation for wakeboard mode and crazy detailed on the slalom and GPS plotting stuff. I am awaiting a call back from zero off to help me navigate through the menus. It has so many features and settings I can't seem to get to the simple stuff. They also mentioned adjusting the a1 b1 settings and sent me a spread sheet with the pull characteristics. Seems like those are all geared towards Slalom. Anybody adjust those and get a benefit?

I have actually skied it about 6 times already at 33mph and it seemed to hold great.

[scottb7]

Sounds to me like you either go all in and pay the big bucks for hardware/software up grade for perfect. Just do software for much better, or switch to rpm mode.

I think to get to rpm mode you just hold down select for couple seconds then it will bring up the detailed screen with coordinates, and date/time etc. then press select until backlit is on rpm instead of mph. then us up down to adjust set point. and on off for on off.

[swatguy]

Sounds to me like you either go all in and pay the big bucks for hardware/software up grade for perfect. Just do software for much better, or switch to rpm mode.

I think to get to rpm mode you just hold down select for couple seconds then it will bring up the detailed screen with coordinates, and date/time etc. then press select until backlit is on rpm instead of mph. then us up down to adjust set point. and on off for on off.

I would do that but the when I swapped back to the main screen (large view w/o all coordinates with Nautique symbol ) it would revert back to MPH every single time. Do you have to stay on that second screen with all the coordinates then to use the rpm mode rather than use that main logo screen? I just car get to my boat til Saturday to toggle through.

Thanks for the info so far guys

[scottb7]

Not sure on if you have to stay on that screen.

[xrichard]

You can save on labor by doing it yourself. The antenna is a plug-in replacement...and Zero Off used to do the software upgrade for free if you sent them your unit (...easy to do...). I don't know if they'll still do that given the amount of time that has passed.

Also, it might be worth a call to CC or Zero Off to see if they'll sell you the antenna at wholesale. Again, that's something they used to do when the boats were newer after they stopped upgrading as a warranty item.

[Nordicron]

You can save on labor by doing it yourself. The antenna is a plug-in replacement...and Zero Off used to do the software upgrade for free if you sent them your unit (...easy to do...). I don't know if they'll still do that given the amount of time that has passed.

Also, it might be worth a call to CC or Zero Off to see if they'll sell you the antenna at wholesale. Again, that's something they used to do when the boats were newer after they stopped upgrading as a warranty item.

I don't believe Zero Off does the update anymore but u can certainly install the new antenna yourself to save the money. Dealer should only charge you 1hr labor for software update it's easy install for them to do. U can check with zero off on price but can tell u they probably won't budge. Check with your dealer to see if they can get it cheaper from correct craft.


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[Bevostein]

I just had the upgrade done to my 2009 216V. It was covered by warranty of which I have about 9 months left since my boat was titled in March of 2010. It works great now. I am the second owner so only parts were covered so I did have to pay a small amount of labor. If you are out of warranty, you might see if your dealer can get CC or ZO to cover it. It is really a design defect