XStar vs SL450 vs RZX3

[Cpan13]

So I sold my 2015 G23 early this season in hopes of getting into a 2021. Dealer supply issues wrecked that idea. Then I made a deal on a 2017 G23 to get me through the season but that seller backed out. So now I have a 3 week lake side vacation coming up and I have no boat. I’m planning to buy one of these 3 boats this week. I’m not planning on keeping it long term so resale will be a large deciding factor. They are all priced within $10k of each other and they all have the 450hp versions of their respective engines. I mostly wakeboard. Planet Nautique, please tell me which boat to buy and why. Or if you’re in western Canada with a G23 you want to sell this week, let me know.

2018 Mastercraft XStar
2021 Tige RZX3
2020 Supra SL 450

[mgs917]

I have been on the Supra/Moomba forum and Facebook page for a few years. Have heard a lot of good things about the Supra”s. I’m not a huge fan of the Xstar aesthetics. Unfortunately, I haven’t ridden any of them. Supra does pull the PWT but I think they use the SA a slightly different model, but all the videos I’ve seen the wakeboard wakes look big and clean. I sold my 210 last year and hopefully getting back in a Nautique next summer. If I was unable to find one I would consider the Supra. And for resale there are people selling their boats for as much or more than what they originally paid on the forums so I wouldn’t worry about the resale.

[Tchur1]

I currently have a 2020 XStar (same hull/design as the 2018 you're looking at) and love the boat. One on my best friends has a 2019 G 23 so I have a decent grasp on the differences between the two and love both boats so Im not going to just fanboy for the MC here. That being said. we LOVE our Xstar. Wakeboard wake is really clean at just about any speed and depending on skill level can be dialed for whatever you do. We have an extra 600 pounds of lead in the boat and the surf wave is fantastic as well. I like it better than the G personally because it seems to have a smoother transition but thats all personal preference. My friends G also does not have extra lead so that makes a big difference when comparing the two.

I personally think the MC user interface is super intuitive and easy to use, getting set to ride is great and the fastfill ballast that comes standard on the xstar is really nice. Boat is full in 5 mins, so for us thats before we get to our riding spots. I think the fit and finish in the MC is better than the other two you are looking at and MC tends to maintain value well on the resale front.

The biggest cons I have for the MC is that the surf tab actuators break more often than they should, so inquire if they have been replaced on your boat or not. They have rolled out new actuators now but not all Gen 2 boats have had them replaced. Rough water ride is fantastic and dry. The auto volume gets a little annoying at slow speeds when picking up a rider because it will mute the volume. Many of the MC owners hate the Klipsch audio in the boat, we have the premium plus audio in our boat and I personally think its more that sufficient. Its not JL but I also am not an audio expert and am perfectly happy with it. We have 2 tower cans and they are fine for surfing but not super loud when wakeboarding.

I am happy to chat further about our boat if you want, but my recommendation (trying to be unbiased) would be the Xstar

[Tallredrider]

I would go Xstar all day and twice on Sunday. Boats lose the most depreciation in the first 3 years, and the MC is in the sweet spot. There will always be an MC fanboy out there willing to buy who couldn't quite stretch for a new one. Nobody knows for sure what the market is going to do, but I suspect it will drop off next spring, but I expected it to drop off sooner if you had asked me last year, so I may be wrong. It is a tough time to be buying a boat at all in terms of expecting the resale bonanza to continue. You are buying high, and expecting to sell high is something that cannot last forever. But I think the Xstar is a great boat, you hear few complaints on the MC forums, and it has already lost a portion of the depreciation relative to the other options.

[Wayward]

In that company, I wouldn’t even consider the RZX3..... I don’t know much else to say about that, except the RZX is the least impressive of those three by a long shot.

I’m biased, and I have always stuck with MC or Nautique, and currently also own a new XStar. Also have friends with a new SL and a new SE. I like them a lot as well, but not nearly as much as I’ve liked my newer XStars. (Or the G23s I had, for that matter)

[Cpan13]

Went with the SL450 strictly due to price and availability. I already don’t like it at much at my past G23. I’ll do a detailed comparison in a few weeks after I get some more water time on it.

[FireBreathingRubberDucky]

Went with the SL450 strictly due to price and availability. I already don’t like it at much at my past G23. I’ll do a detailed comparison in a few weeks after I get some more water time on it.

I demoed a 2020 SL450 after coming off a 2020 X24 an hour earlier. I asked for no lead in either as I wanted an apples to apples comparison. The X24 wave was excellent! Maybe a little soft but otherwise I had no complaints. The SL450 wasn’t good. The guy even tried blaming my board, which was quite comical considering I had just been doing airs coming from deep in the white wash on the X24 an hour before. I was very disappointed considering I had ridden behind an SE550 a few weeks earlier and the wave was good, though the boat had about 1,000lbs of lead. So I do know the Supra needs a lot of extra weight. My same friend who rides behind the SE all the time actually said he preferred the SL wave to the SE when they demoed boats, which surprised me. However, he also had a ton of extra weight for the demo on the SL. Either way, lots of extra weight is key. I then demoed a 2021 G23 a week later and it’s wave was in line with the X24 and considering the dealer support I receive, the Nautique was a done deal. I have heard several people who prefer the Xstar surf wave to the X24 but I’ve never ridden behind the new hull design is the star.

Either way, load that Supra up with weight and bring some gas cans with you to drop on a shoreline somewhere because that Indmar is thirsty.