Going to find a LOT of biased answers here
I went jet over outdrive for the main reason of simplicity of driveline. Just so little to go wrong on this boat (granted I have what is arguably the most simplistic boat Yamaha makes). No connext, no electric steering, Very few electronics. Just VERY VERY little to go wrong with this boat. The driveline is an engine, coupler, shaft, two bearings, and two cables. Raw water cooling is handled by the jet pump, No alternator, and a water cooled voltage regulator.
IMO, the safety aspect is a misnomer, and lures people into a false sense of security. If you're behind a boat you should be paying attention. Period. Instill that ethos in everyone that gets on your boat and you'll be plenty safe, prop or no prop. No prop boats reduce the chance of someone NOT paying attention getting hurt, but only just slightly. I've bloodied the same number of feet on my jet as I did on my prop. Kicked the prop ONE time. I've kicked the articulating keel ONE time as well. Both drew blood.
If you're in/near shallow water a lot, the lack of a lower unit is nice. We were in the Gulf last month and it was nice to just scoot across 2ft deep water without worrying about catching the prop on something. Others that were with my in propped boats had to stay to the channel more. Not a big deal, but worth mentioning.
Beaching is easier with the Jet. We back into the beach, and can get closer to the shore, with a lower swim platform than we could with our old I/O. To get in close we had to trim all the way up into "trailer mode" and then pull the boat back to shore by hand, then there was a giant prop sticking out of the water to keep an eye on. Now I just toss the anchor out, back in until the keel ALMOST touches, hop off in knee deep or less water and tie off. SUPER simple and it makes life easy to get on/off the boat that way.
There are things that jets are NOT good at though. They don't maintain speed worth a damn unless you have some electronic aids. Our old I/O would hold 2,500-2,700 rpm at 18mph no matter how hard I pulled on it with the board. I can drop the jets speed from 20 to 16 with a good hard pull on the board. You'll want some form of throttle and speed controller if you want to do serious watersports.....Speaking of watersports. Jet boats are relatively light for their length. You need lots of ballast to make a good wake, and if you don't want a wake (say for slalom skiing), then the center of the wake is washed out from the jets. If you're doing a TON of watersports, and that's your focus, a dedicated boat for that is a better option.
Hands down the WORST (and maybe the best) part of owning a modern Jet boat is addressing all of the "I looked at those, but thought they were just big waverunners" or "I've heard those don't handle big waves" or "Aren't those impossible to drive around docks?"........The constant rhetoric of poor public image gets old. It can often be entertaining if you have an open minded crowd, but more often than not you just have to grin and bear the other persons misconceptions.
SO......to answer the question.....Buy a jetboat, they're way more gooder!
