A Side by Side comparison of the 212X

Disclaimer; My review comes from the perspective of being the owner of a first generation 212X for the past 8 seasons. My family has compiled 518 hours on our boat. It is not my intention to focus on items that can be drawn from the Yamaha website and some of the opinions are purely subjective.


The reference point subject of my review is @Brian eilrich brand new 2017 212X.

I met with he and @OperationROL on the Fox River in IL late in Sept 2016 and compare against my 2008 212X.


Things that disappointed:
The $58,000 boat was not delivered clean.
The center ballast fittings leaked.
The board separating the center ballast bag from the pump had dangerously sharp edges.
The carpet in the bow storage areas became soaked as we boated. This was traced to the anchor locker drain fitting.
The available storage is significantly less than my old boat. The co-pilots chair and configurable bow seating take a toll on places to put things. Plus you lose the entire center locker due to the ballast bag.
The co-pilot seat shakes and is so high your feet dangle. You end up looking over the windshield.
The trailer vibrates excessively.



Other things that concerned me:
Boat buckles are not included. Only ratcheting straps.
Engines are required to run while filling ballast tanks.
Reverse control was not great. Perhaps with some time at the helm I would feel more comfortable taming that monster but no question I have better control with my old boat.
Tower height above the deck is only 6’-1” so watch your head.
The boat does not want to spin on axis as easily as the 2008.
The horn sounds like a car horn. Boring. I would miss my ‘adolescent Road Runner’ sounding horn if I moved up.

Things that surprised me:
I wanted to hate on the ski hook. After seeing pictures online I thought it to be too large and in the way when we prepare wakeboarders. I was pleased to find it would not distract and actually provided a nice handle to pull yourself aboard from the water.
Steering feel is a joy. There is far less effort and even with the increased lock to lock travel it was quite intuitive.
Wake crossing is night and day better. My old boat gives you NO confidence where you may end up once you start riding up the wake of another boat. This one goes right where you point it with little correction.
The ladder folds out and allows boarding from the trailer.

You guys with the newer boats have it so good. Tapping a button to increase rpm's incrementally is great. Having a swim platform close to the waters edge makes for easy surfing starts.


Things I liked:
This boat is quieter than any Yamaha boat I have been on. (But note that I won’t be completely satisfied until they make no more noise than an electric motor.)
Hinged seats.
The mirror knocks it out of the park. You could sling tubers way outside and still keep an eye on them.
The tower folds easily.
The tower rack are really nice. They pivot in for easy removal of boards by simply pulling a pin.


Wakeboarding
I wish I could give you more but my kids are gone and no one else would get in the water. But it appeared the wave at 60' out was as good if not better than mine. A picture of my 2008.


Surfing
My friends ridiculed me over the shallow river I boat in. Brian said he would be boating on the Fox further south where it is deeper. Water depth has a big influence on the wave.


We played with the ballast system in differing configurations. This required me to take breaks while they fussed with the controls.


I felt that fully ballasted had the best push. But we only had about 500 lbs in people weight at the time. (And about 4' of water.) I suspect a proper equipped boat (meaning a full crew of 10) would allow you to surf with just the rear ballast. The port jet thrust kept hitting me in the leg. It definitely needs a Wake Wedge to help shape the wave. It is equal, perhaps better, than my boat for surfing.


The 212X has evolved over the years to become a well refined joy to operate. The hinged seats, driver controls, quality interior, quietness and other features had me dreaming. I am glad @Brian eilrich considered it to be the best fit for his family because I get to play on it too.

Here are side by side specifications.

Nice writeup and review. Thanks
Good input

@buckbuck Thank you!!! This is a great side-by-side comparison, super informative!
I'll need to get a pic of the ski hook as I'm not picturing it.

Skis will fit in the center locker. However, ballast will not be able to fill completely. @Brian eilrich tells me you can program a lower shut off point for maximum fill. He also told me that last fall when we did this comparison that the rear ballast were not filling completely. The hard tanks are vented and he had to fill them to over 125% on the dash before he saw water exiting the through hull. He is trying to convince me to going surfing next weekend but I am not sure my drysuit will keep me comfortable in these northern IL March water temperatures .