Not sure on the lawsuit part, but what you state here was one huge reason I felt a letdown the first time I demo'd a new Yamaha 242 Limited-S ($$$). The boat IS advertised with several "cruise control" features, but in all honesty, it has none.
The first time I accelerated, set the "cruise", then found out all it does is hold the throttle, I couldn't believe it. News flash, all boats hold a set throttle anyway, they are not like a car with a spring-loaded throttle that returns to zero. All the Yamaha "cruise" does is let you make minute adjustments up or down to the throttle, it doesn't set, or hold a speed whatsoever. You can make minute adjustments on the throttle itself, btw. When I confronted the sales guy about the obvious miss in functionality, all he could do was sheepishly agree, and point me to the E-Series.
Given most "nice" boats have had true speed control standard now for years, I felt this was a huge miss in a boat in this price range, especially when I found out I had to move up to the "E Series" to get a true speed control, or add an aftermarket device, like I had to do 20 years ago to a ski boat. The lack of a true speed control on these boats really limits them for watersports use, IMO, especially for less advanced drivers. Not to mention it's harder to maintain steady speed with a jet at watersports speeds to begin with.
I was really hoping when the new boats came out in '17 they would make the E-series electronics standard on the smaller boats, or at least an option, but they didn't.
Yamaha is a big leader in Jet Boat sales, but hugely behind in this regard, I was very disappointed.
I think you are making several good points, but lets try to put it in perspective.
The lack of true car-like cruise control in new (non-E) Yammies is disappointing (to some) and the lack of chart plotting capability is considered a major mistake for Yamaha (according to others)... My opinion is that (and what
@Mainah said, too) the Connext already controls and displays so much -- I actually prefer speed control system, nav, etc. on a secondary display. But you can, for an extra 20k, get a real cruise control in Connext (E-series).
The Medallion system in Rotax boats seems light years ahead in design. But it costs an arm and a leg, too, an is also optional w/the highest trim. Yamaha's basic new Connext system, which I believe is built by Murphy and is based on NMEA 2000, is decidedly a step forward for them and comes standard on all 240 trims, albeit lacking navigation in general and GPS-based speed control (in non-E-series models).
I personally find the AR240 RPM based cruise control to be adequate for cruising. It is decidedly NOT good enough for serious water sports. But neither is a typical speed-based cruise control system.
For starters, most speed-based systems (like in a car comparison), not RPM based, a typical disadvantage is you cannot preset a speed for a run (you must first take the boat up to the desired speed, engage the cruise). But even that aside, a typical speed based cruise control will never keep the speed through tight turns, especially if a boat is loaded with ballast. The speed will vary wildly at slower (wake surfing) speeds, and a typical cruise control becomes useless when weighted down for wake surfing.
The problem is when the boat is weighted down its a lot harder to pull and the typical speed control/cruise module doesn't want to give the boat 100% throttle. With a dedicated system, such as the PP, there are specifically designed KDW setting that will correct this.
Yes, at the end w/basic Connext one still needs a dedicated system (such as the PP Stargazer) -- and it is an extra 1k plus install. Bad? Well, it is actually really cheap if you consider the premium cost of factory systems (any brand) with similar capabilities (if that).
Not to mention PP is well time-tested and actually better supported than some OEM systems..., too.
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