Worth upgarding from PP Digital pro to Stargazer?

[Stevelev]

I realize search is my friend but figured the gurus will be able to give me a straight answer in a lot less time than it takes to read lots of info that won't give me the straight goods.

I havent been using magnets in the course and used a stopwatch to check the time on my old boat (also PP 6.5). My cottage is on a lake so water speed has no bearing and wind typically is also not an issue. I've nailed 28 off and hope to do the same for 32 off this coming season (still a month away up here!).

Is it worth the upgrade to Stargazer on my new rig and are magnets required ?? ... BTW, I dont plan to compete and am not interested in switching to ZO ...

Any comments and feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks!

A pic for those who may ask:

[MARK-S]

RE: Worth upgarding from PP Digital pro to Stargazer?

buy magnets and dont waste your money on SG.

[east tx skier]

You can still use the hand timer in lieu of magnets on either version of PP. But magnets or some method of timing trigger are still required for SG. If you get SG, you will need a minimum of two magnets (one for one side of each set of gates). The ball-to-ball times after that are handled virtually.

[Stevelev]

Re: RE: Worth upgarding from PP Digital pro to Stargazer?

buy magnets and dont waste your money on SG.

Care to elaborate ? Please and thanks.

[Stevelev]

You can still use the hand timer in lieu of magnets on either version of PP. But magnets or some method of timing trigger are still required for SG. If you get SG, you will need a minimum of two magnets (one for one side of each set of gates). The ball-to-ball times after that are handled virtually.

Thx. So aside from avoiding inputting crew weight etc. is there much benefit to SG?

[east tx skier]

You can still use the hand timer in lieu of magnets on either version of PP. But magnets or some method of timing trigger are still required for SG. If you get SG, you will need a minimum of two magnets (one for one side of each set of gates). The ball-to-ball times after that are handled virtually.

Thx. So aside from avoiding inputting crew weight etc. is there much benefit to SG?

Opinioins vary as to the quality of pull between PP DP and SG. With the latest update, a few of the bugs from last year's SG are no more. Also, if you don't have a paddle wheel, you no longer need it for SG. There are other settings other than crew weight. Skier weight is creeping back in in the form of about 4--6 weight ranges as of the most recent update. Our crew is all in the "Normal" range, so we never mess with that. Kx +/- is still there as well. I played with it a bit last year, but with my lesser skiing abilities, I can't say that I noticed much difference. For the most part, we don't adjust more than the crew weight. With long setups, skier weight is not critical, but if you have someone outside the "normal" range per the system, it's just a push of a button or two.

There are also some fine tuning settings for the gates, 1, and 3 balls. I'm using some settings given to me by JD. These are designed to give you better ball to ball times IIRC and to avoid the system speeding up at the 3 ball to get that perfect total course time.

For us, SG has been an improvement, if only because the system is a bit smarter by virtue of the GPS input. When we are on open water, there's no more wondering about the speedo settings (when we don't have a course to calibrate it).

Higher end skiers have more refined pallets than I do for sure and notice nuances in the system that I simply am not bothered by. That's not to say that these aren't things worth fixing (or which make the upgrade not advantageous to better skiers than I). I believe that Mark is probably skiing and driving at a much higher level than me and mine are. That said, from the driver's seat, I know what he's talking about with the hotter second segment in SG. Hopefully, my fine tuning will take care of that since I do have the opportunity to pull skiers who are working their way up the line from time to time.

In short, we've liked the upgrade to SG for what we do. YMMV. But even if you don't like it, it still comes with Digital Pro, so the only thing you have to lose is $400, which is nothing to sneeze at obviously.

[MARK-S]

PP classic will give you a great pull and it is already in your boat. If you dont compete and are not out to replicate pulls, you are doing fine with PP. But like East tex says, if you have the 400, get it. It will help resale. But for the size of my wallet and if my needs were like yours, magnets are pretty cheap.

[Stevelev]

PP classic will give you a great pull and it is already in your boat. If you dont compete and are not out to replicate pulls, you are doing fine with PP. But like East tex says, if you have the 400, get it. It will help resale. But for the size of my wallet and if my needs were like yours, magnets are pretty cheap.

Hmmm ... I'd like to "replicate pulls" to try and have some consistancy in the course but I'm not going to be anal about it. I believe I did feel a difference between ZO and PP SG behind Chet Raley's boat in December but that's a difference story. I spoke with my bud at PP and he suggested that although SG offers simplicity, its probably best to use my existing setup (I'll get magnets) then perhaps consider adding SG down the road.

Thanks again.

[MARK-S]

By replicate pulls, I mean that if you are not going to a tourney, you dont need the feel of ZO. I think you are on the right track.