Which GP1800 Waverunner should I buy?

[Toby]

That being said, all of my friends that have ridden them are very impressed with the balance and power. Not too big and move around well. Hope that helps.

 

[Ronnie]

@Toby , thanks for the feedback. I am not bagging on the gP with the sound system. On the contrary that’s the one I would buy if I could justify the additional cost but I can’t given that sales tax and dealer prep already make up about $4k over the MSRP, plus they have two in stock.

I just purchased a bunch of things for my and my wife’s new wave runners, including a budget sound system for myself for less than $200.

Now I just need the Waverunner to go with it.

 

[VitaminSea]

budget sound system

Let us know how that budget sound system works out, and where you end up mounting it.

 

[Toby]

Yeah,

I would not have gotten the sound and do not recommend getting the sound for the $$. We only got it because there were no more without sound to be had. And also they made us a better deal on the 2nd ski than the first. Only a net $400 difference between the two instead of $800. The sound is cool, but definitely not $800 cool. Any idea where you would mount the onboard charger? I got two Gen5 5a Nocos and will probably be doing the install soon. Very compact.

 

[Ronnie]

I already have one mounted on my wife’s fx, where the cup holders are. The same speakers but in black will be mounted in the same location (on the dash) on my gp1800. They sound ok , but are hard to hear at wot when I only have one speaker going (my wife like to keep one location and cup holder).

for comparison yamaha offer two customized system from Ecoxgear , the first has 2.5” speakers with 15 watts each ($350 for the set) second has 4” speakers with watts each ($400 for the set only for the FX series). My DYI set has 3” speakers with 20 watts each. Not sure about the $800 system that is oem for some models but thought I read it has 5” or. 6.5” speakers with a separate amp that puts out 100w per channel.

 

[Ronnie]

Yeah,

I would not have gotten the sound and do not recommend getting the sound for the $$. We only got it because there were no more without sound to be had. And also they made us a better deal on the 2nd ski than the first. Only a net $400 difference between the two instead of $800. The sound is cool, but definitely not $800 cool. Any idea where you would mount the onboard charger? I got two Gen5 5a Nocos and will probably be doing the install soon. Very compact.

I mounted my current harbor freight charger / maintainers ($20ish) on the dividing wall between the engine and pump/battery section on my previous fx skis. My wife’s fx has the pig tails connected directly to the battery and the unit sits outside the ski but under the cover and tarp on the swim deck. I will probably mount both new chargers in the skis but outside the storage box this time around and just lead the wire out from under the rear seat.

 

[Ronnie]

The dealer that I have a deposit with just called to let me know that Yamaha has confirmed that they are not producing/shipping any more gp 1800s this year because of lack of available labor. Apparently the factory workers in TN make more money from unemployment than they do in wages. It’s a COVID thing. So my options are to buy the model they have which includes the $800 ($880 with tax) sound system OR wait until next year. I already called other dealers within 150 miles of me. They don’t have the model I want either and two confirmed what my current dealer stated about future stock. I’ve already sold my 05 fx cruiser so the choice if I can call it that is clear. I will be completing the sale later today and maybe breaking it in this weekend.

 

[Crob83]

The dealer that I have a deposit with just called to let me know that Yamaha has confirmed that they are not producing/shipping any more gp 1800s this year because of lack of available labor. Apparently the factory workers in TN make more money from unemployment than they do in wages. It’s a COVID thing. So my options are to buy the model they have which includes the $800 ($880 with tax) sound system OR wait until next year. I already called other dealers within 150 miles of me. They don’t have the model I want either and two confirmed what my current dealer stated about future stock. I’ve already sold my 05 fx cruiser so the choice if I can call it that is clear. I will be completing the sale later today and maybe breaking it in this weekend.

Interesting because the TN plant starts at $22 an hour and TN has no income tax. But people will always game the system

 

[Toby]

Ronnie, that was the decision I was faced with. I didn't want to do the audio deal for $800 but wasn't going to wait on the 2nd one until next season. It isn't bad, I just didn't think it was $800 good lol. You will enjoy it either way though.

 

[Ronnie]

I got it home, yay! Tried out the blue tooth sound system, it initially shut down, less than a minute or two into a song, during the first song played. I had to power the system back up and reconnect to it two or three times. It also shut down when I started the engine but i expected that. Still, I hope it’s just a fluke because i had no real choice but to pay for this. It was already a big pill to swallow, now it’s not working right. I will bring my wife’s spare speaker with me, just in case.

If it meets my performance expectations I doubt I will care about the sound system, for now, but at just under $18k OTD, including an $880 sound system after tax, it is not unreasonable for the sound system to work at least as well as a sub $200 diy system.

Got some prep to do before the maiden voyage tomorrow. Looking forward to spending the day on the water with my wife and to doing a lot of Waverunning this summer.

 

[Toby]

Congratulations!!! Hope the speaker performance is a fluke. Ours works just fine, we just don't use it much. Not like the boat where you can listen to it at anchor or anything. Let us know how that first ride goes! I think you will like it alot.

 

[Ronnie]

So I took it for it’s maiden voyage / break-in today.
I take back every negative thing I typed about it. This thing is the SHIT !!!

 

[captainhook]

Awesome! I’m curious as to your thoughts in how it compares to your old WaveRunners.

 

[Toby]

Told you so! That's awesome man. So glad it worked out well. Happy Easter to all!

 

[Ronnie]

Other than the fact it’s Yamaha there is no comparison between my 2006 Waverunner and the gp 1800. I have a feeling that the gP’s Speedo is intentionally misleading because last year it would keep up with my wife’s new fx at 59 mph and yesterday my wife was keeping up with me at 65 mph (I got mine to 66). The 06 did it all with shear power and would turn only as hard as the pilot could make it with a lot of effort and leaning into the turns, I rarely used the manual trim control and the single gauge with 2 multi function hard to read displays are nothing compared to the connext system in the 2021 which has all the telemetry I would ever want or need, in color.
It also out accelerated my wife’s new fx, the quite easily.

one suggested improvement would be to integrate the sound system into connext so that I could see the volume level as well as the song being played (and of course Make these things more affordable, I could have purchased a side by side razor like that seats 4 for about the same price).

I do note that after just three hours of riding and only one aggressively, I’m sore all over, especially my arms and shoulders from basically hanging on during high speed turns. It’s a wetter ride but I expected that. It also requires more active driving but again that is expected since it is smaller and lighter as my son put it, the fx allows you to put more of your butt on its seat because the seat is so much bigger/wider).