Is the E series worth the 5k upgrade

[Mainah]

And more....it will also accelerate the boat for you, in one of 3 ramp speeds (slow, medium, fast).....which I use EVERY time for all boarding behind the boat! You get the IDENTICAL acceleration curve EVERY TIME!!!! An even better marriage saver than Perfect Pass!

Good point. Acceleration curve is very important. I know that you and @ swatski have somewhat differing opinions on a couple of points on the topic and I am not trying to start anything but I can't think of two folks to better try and sell the system that they have. That said @swatski ... How does ride steady handle acceleration? Let say you set your target speed at 20 mph before you hit the throttles. Can you take us through what happens next.

 

[swatski]

@swatski ... How does ride steady handle acceleration? Let say you set your target speed at 20 mph before you hit the throttles. Can you take us through what happens next.

Well, the initial acceleration is up to the driver, however you customize the ramp and pull characteristics - to determine the manner of the system "takeover" - and set it up for 50 individual user presets.
So, it is NOT a "press the button and let the boat do its thing" thing but rather "push the throttles up and wait for the beep". It is super easy to adjust, w/ infinitely more possibilities than the three factory presets in E-series. I found the range of various "pull characteristics" impressive, and the system lets you adjust:
1. "response"
2. "active speed"
3. "overshoot"
I am still trying to figure out exactly what does what (as I had it in the water only once so far) but I think the "response" is the major parameter (which you need to adjust according to your rotator cuffs' considerations, lol).

So, in principle, the system is not unlike the Perfect Pass, but I found the Ridesteady to be massively easier to customize (in a way that you can adjust the pull, and set how aggressively the system will chase and hold the exact speed). That was never my favorite part of the PP, and the Ridesteady is light years ahead.

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[swatski]

I was set on an E-series last year. Test drove the Limited S E. I loved the throttles and the bimini top. Felt the stereo was weak and would need to upgrade. Tried the AR240 and for my use I don't miss the extras, upgraded the stereo, and am $10k below where I would be with E-Series. If next year I drop $3k on Ridesteady, seriously considering, I'm still well below the E-Series $$$. For me the AR240 just hit the sweet spot of bang for my buck.

Well, this is more or less exactly what I have gone through. To make it worse - it was totally MY decision..., as my wife basically said: "honey, get what you want, just make sure it has everything we need"... LMAO - half a year later, I was still debating a trade up to E-series, lol.

And BTW - the Ridesteady is about $1,300 w/ discounts more like $1,100. Still pretty pricey, but not quite $3k.

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[FloJet]

Sounds like a fair price to me. On scale 1-10, whats the degree of difficulty when it comes to installing the Ridesteady? This sounds like the route I want to take over PP.

 

[Julian]

@Mainah - @swatski and I are passionate about our systems....but no matter what, PP, Ridesteady or E-Series...they are all marriage savers.

 

[Mainah]

@Mainah - @swatski and I are passionate about our systems....but no matter what, PP, Ridesteady or E-Series...they are all marriage savers.

Oh I agree. I am getting ridesteady this year. I will work around its features when I get it. You had brought up a good point in the e-series having the acceleration curve and most of is have decent idea how perfect pass works so I was asking @swatski to elaborate on ridesteady as I was not sure if it had that feautee amd thought in sould be foo info for those reading this thread. Crud I have almost gotten talked into an eseries reading this thread.

 

[swatski]

Sounds like a fair price to me. On scale 1-10, whats the degree of difficulty when it comes to installing the Ridesteady? This sounds like the route I want to take over PP.

Honestly, as long as the boat has the APS modules, I have no idea why would one possibly choose the PP over the Ridesteady.

As far as difficulty level of Ridesteady install, I can tell you the most difficult part was disconnecting those m f-ers:


The rest is pretty easy, lol.

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[swatski]

It takes millimeters to go from idle to 4k.. What's up with that?

That is a good point, I always wondered about that. In my previous Yammie, a 2012 190, I "cured" the throttle response with an ECU reflash. It worked VERY nicely actually, but it does have its own limitations, including yet another expense.

It makes me wonder, however, if Yamaha went with a “curve” for their throttle response rather than linear on their ECU. That would make it more aggressive at certain throttle positions and less so at others, which I think is exacerbated with cable throttles. Hard to say, I guess it is a @Mainah question!

Regardless, with the Ridesteady cruise control you can “detune” it by reducing “response”, and that seems to work very well.

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[robert843]

Thanks for all the feed back guys. I'm still torn but will hopefully decide soon but there are a few other boats in the hunt as well. I'm going to look at a Monterey M45 to check those out as well. I went into this thinking I was going to grab a AR240 as the e serries I really just want the throttle but to upgrade to that you to get the rest and even though we don't do tow sports for resell value I'm going to buy a tower boat. I was sure I could pick up a left over AR240 for under $50k and at this time I have been unsuccessful in finding that so that is were the upgrade came in. Below are my best quoted out the door prices so far. So trying to pick from those I think if I can find a new AR240 for $49k out the door I will go that way if i don't I will upgrade.

OTD prices
2016 AR240 $51,200
2016 limited S $54,500
2016 Limted S E-serries $58,900
2016 Limited E-serries - $53,400 (I though about going this way and adding my own tower)

 

[2nazt]

@robert843 I don't know if you are trying to travel anywhere but RIVA in Pompano Beach, FL has some listed on BoatTrader but not sure if they have then in stock or not. I think they are were cheaper than you have listed, but I know OTD changes once tax's and etc are applied.

http://www.boattrader.com/listing/2016-yamaha-242-limited-s-102622056/ The listed price is different than the notes though

 

[robert843]

@robert843 I don't know if you are trying to travel anywhere but RIVA in Pompano Beach, FL has some listed on BoatTrader but not sure if they have then in stock or not. I think they are were cheaper than you have listed, but I know OTD changes once tax's and etc are applied.

http://www.boattrader.com/listing/2016-yamaha-242-limited-s-102622056/ The listed price is different than the notes though

Two of those prices are Riva's OTD price both e-serries prices are.

 

[2nazt]

Two of those prices are Riva's OTD price both e-serries prices are.

Good deal! If you pass through let me know we can head out on the water if you got time!

 

[veedubtek]

2016 Limited E-serries - $53,400

Don't show me that this weekend. plz. That's really hard to say no to.

 

[swatski]

OTD prices
2016 AR240 $51,200
2016 limited S $54,500
2016 Limted S E-serries $58,900
2016 Limited E-serries - $53,400 (I though about going this way and adding my own tower)

@robert843 Are those prices OTD as in - with taxes included? Those really are looking crazy good.

(I though about going this way and adding my own tower)

That part I'm less sure about, especially with a new boat. If you want to do it right it will likely end up being a lot of effort and/or a lot of money, been my experience.

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[captras]

The DRIVE control with the CONNEXT system actually is a true cruise control. When it is working, it will maintain a set GPS speed. It is great for towing. As you turn, you feel and hear the engines spool up to maintain the set speed. And you can adjust the speed in increments of .1 mph....so that really is some fine tuning capability! I also love the set acceleration. I have mine set up for slow accel with a cruise speed of 25MPH. It works great....doesnt throw people around as you throttle up but gets to your set speed quite quickly. It is great for cruising. I just found out today that my 2016 242 SE has FINALLY been fixed and the systems are all working. Hopefully it is a problem that will never rear its ugly head again! All things considered....the extra money for the E was well worth it!

 

[props2you]

The DRIVE control with the CONNEXT system actually is a true cruise control. When it is working, it will maintain a set GPS speed. It is great for towing. As you turn, you feel and hear the engines spool up to maintain the set speed. And you can adjust the speed in increments of .1 mph....so that really is some fine tuning capability! I also love the set acceleration. I have mine set up for slow accel with a cruise speed of 25MPH. It works great....doesnt throw people around as you throttle up but gets to your set speed quite quickly. It is great for cruising. I just found out today that my 2016 242 SE has FINALLY been fixed and the systems are all working. Hopefully it is a problem that will never rear its ugly head again! All things considered....the extra money for the E was well worth it!

So what was the final outcome/fix? Connectors? GPS not communicating with the Connext?

 

[robert843]

@robert843 Are those prices OTD as in - with taxes included? Those really are looking crazy good.


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Yes that's including taxes and all but in all fairness South Carolina sales tax is only a flat $300 and in most states I still only pay SC sales tax because we are a reciprocal state which means that state collects the tax and sends it to SC

 

[swatski]

2016 Limited E-serries - $53,400

Yeah, that is just nuts. No kidding, it is about 10k lower than what I saw here just last summer.
I guess it must be the competition finally getting to Yamaha -- that is the exact same price as advertised Scarab 255 Platinum SE.

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[robert843]

Yeah, that is just nuts. No kidding, it is about 10k lower than what I saw here just last summer.
I guess it must be the competition finally getting to Yamaha -- that is the exact same price as advertised Scarab 255 Platinum SE.

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I'm doing my best to keep the boss away from that 255 as she really wants it.

 

[captras]

So what was the final outcome/fix? Connectors? GPS not communicating with the Connext?

I dont think that they really know what the issue was. It was a GPS issue, not really a CONNEXT, I dont think. As I understand it, all the items replaced were in the GPS system....in actuality, I think the CONNEXT was working as it was designed....when it got bad or no data from the GPS, it was throttling back the engines until the signal was restored. I will try to get more specific info from the tech when I pick the boat up....hopefully Tuesday,