What is the Best Brand of PWC? What Should I Avoid?

[ADK_Boater]

Hey Everybody,
I'm a boat guy and I've never owned a PWC before. I don't even like calling them PWC's, I just want to call them Jet-Ski's even though I know that is a specific type of stand up PWC. Anyway from now on I'm calling it a Jet-Ski. So, who is the most reliable manufacturer of Jet-Skis. I've only ridden Yamahas. The Three man I rode in St. Thomas (the only vacation I've ever been on) ten years ago was nice. It had a governor that prevented it from doing over 50 but It was really stable, and I beat on the thing as hard as I could and it took it. No experience with other brands. Any opinions or factual stats would be appreciated.

 

[Ernest T]

Re: What is the Best Brand of PWC? What Should I Avoid?

Its like asking whats the best brand of car. You will probably get as many different opinions as there are brands. Here is my 2 cents for what its worth. If you have an unlimited budget and are buying new, then I think it is pretty simple. Get either a Yamaha or SeaDoo 4 stroke. If going super fast is not that important for you, save yourself some bucks, maintenance headaches, and lots of fuel down the road and go with a non-turbo/super-charged model. For Yamaha that would be the FX HO, VX or VXR/VXS. Both Yamaha and SeaDoo 4 strokes are reliable, but the SeaDoo super-charger has to be rebuilt every 100 hours or so. Kawasaki makes some nice riding skis, but they tend to be the least reliable brand..........here is where some Kaw owner will tell you he has never had a problem with his ski.

For a new owner, unless you are skilled mechanically and really like to tinker, avoid the old technology 2 stroke skis. They require more maintenance (carb rebuilds, oil line problems, etc.), stinky 2 stroke oil, plus they only last a fraction as long as the more modern 4 stroke skis before they need a rebuild of the engine.

Give more specifics, like what your budget is, where you will ride, will you ride alone or with passengers, do you plan to tow, looking for a cruiser, racer, etc., and its much easier to give you specific models to look at.

 

[The Rooster]

Re: What is the Best Brand of PWC? What Should I Avoid?

Hey "ADK", I think "Ernest T." hit the nail on the head. Unless you love tinkering with older 2-stroke ski's, I'd stick with newer 4-strokes, non-super/turbo charged. We've had a 2007 Seadoo GTi SE 155 hp for years and love it. We prefer the 3 seaters for stability, like the closed loop cooling water set-up, and minimum maint. required. Honda made some good ski's, but went out of business like Polaris, so I'd keep that in mind. The Kawasaki Ultra series are very nice, but they are a couple hundred pounds heavier than Yamaha, and Seadoo. The newer Yamaha, I think VXR/VXS with the 1800 cc engines are rockets. If it were in my budget, I'd look hard at those. Good luck, let us know what you get.

 

[ADK_Boater]

Re: What is the Best Brand of PWC? What Should I Avoid?

Are any Jet Skis made in the U.S.? I know BRP is Canadian, with Rotax motors made in Austria. Yamaha...well I assume they're manufactured in Japan.
Right now I'm leaning towards a SeaDoo. I really like the way some of the newer ones look. But I can't budget enough money for anything new. Performance and reliability should trump that, but where something is made and how it looks counts too.

 

[claydus]

Re: What is the Best Brand of PWC? What Should I Avoid?

Tigershark only the best! :facepalm:

 

[ADK_Boater]

Re: What is the Best Brand of PWC? What Should I Avoid?

I'm assuming that's joke from that emoticon you posted claydus. Did you ever own one, or know someone who did?

 

[JimS123]

Re: What is the Best Brand of PWC? What Should I Avoid?

"Best" is an opinion. What to avoid is anything that was owned by a kid, or any 2-stroke.

Yamis are bulletproof and easy to work on. But they are tippy and offer a somewhat wet ride at times. If you want a ski that will work all the time, buy a Yami.

Seadoos can be finniky at times, but the later models are bulletproof as well. As long as you take care of it you'll be OK. Servicing them is a bit harder - not user friendly. Doos are the sharpest looking. If you ride a Yami you'll say "Oh this is fun". After riding a Doo, you'll say OMG this is fantastic and you'll probably call in sick the next day!

Kawis are boring, but fast. Not much storage space.

Hondas are butt ugly and the dealer network is poor.

All the rest are crap - that's why they aren't in business any more.

 

[ADK_Boater]

Re: What is the Best Brand of PWC? What Should I Avoid?

Wow, thanks for the detailed reply JimS123. That was exactly what I was looking for! My young nephew, as well as other inexperienced people will be riding it, especially when I'm not looking. So, stability is a big factor. I'm not sure if I'll be pulling a tuber ever but I assume as soon as it is out of site they'll try to get away with as much as possible.
Thanks again. I'll post my ski here if I do end up getting one soon.

 

[Leardriver]

Re: What is the Best Brand of PWC? What Should I Avoid?

I have had a Honda in the past, and found it to be flawless workmanship, great performance and reliability.

Yamaha is right there with it, with better dealer support and usually a drier ride in the newer four strokes.

The Sea Doos have great styling, ok performace, and miserable reliability. Look at the for sale ads, and see how many two year old Sea Doos already have a new engine. Same with Ski Doo snowmobiles. Engine durability doesn't seem to be a consideration with those guys. Too bad, because the hull and styling are appealing.

It would be hard to beat a Yamaha or Honda. Kawasaki is a decent third choice.

 

[slag]

Re: What is the Best Brand of PWC? What Should I Avoid?

I had a tigershark 1100 that was extremely fun to ride, carved well, very stable, a great family machine. Sucks they went out of business because later on, they had some of the best hulls available in the late 90's. I've owned a ton of older 2 stroke pwc's, 92, 94, 96 seadoo, 98 tigershark, 92 polaris sl650, two 97 kawasaki 900 zxis, several X2s, several 650sxs, a 440, two 550s, a 750 sxi pro, but never a yamaha. Wish I had a superjet!

I don't think you can go wrong with anything out there right now, but i agree with the statement that Yamaha are among the best, with kawasaki and seadoo a 2nd and third, at least in the realm of 2 strokes. As with everything, maintenance is paramount.

 

[ADK_Boater]

Re: What is the Best Brand of PWC? What Should I Avoid?

So I guess that's a no on the made in the U.S. question Lol! Thanks again for the replies. I'm on the hunt right now. I do see a ton of Sea Doo's for sale on craigslist, anong other places. I suppose that might not be a good sign. You guys are swaying me towards a Yami. I might still get a SeaDoo though because I do want to learn how to rebuild them (might start a side business). The most common jet-ski around here appears to be SeaDoo, and if they do need more work on average, it might help if I learn them up and down.
I welcome more opinions.

 

[JimS123]

Re: What is the Best Brand of PWC? What Should I Avoid?

When we got our first ski 15 years ago, the statistic I heard was that SeaDoo sold more skis than all the others combined.

In my area we have 3 Doo dealers and only 1 Yami. Out on the water I see 3 Doos to each Yami. Not hard to figure out why.

In my first post I said to avoid skis owned by kids. That goes for newbies and hot dogs as well. While I agree that you see more rebuilt motors in Doos, you also find more agressive drivers.

We had good luck with our first Doo - it was a 2-stroke and had one of the more troublesome engines. But then we took care of it.

 

[slag]

Re: What is the Best Brand of PWC? What Should I Avoid?

So I guess that's a no on the made in the U.S. question Lol! Thanks again for the replies. I'm on the hunt right now. I do see a ton of Sea Doo's for sale on craigslist, anong other places. I suppose that might not be a good sign. You guys are swaying me towards a Yami. I might still get a SeaDoo though because I do want to learn how to rebuild them (might start a side business). The most common jet-ski around here appears to be SeaDoo, and if they do need more work on average, it might help if I learn them up and down.
I welcome more opinions.

You see a lot of seadoos because they are popular. They also have great hulls and ride nice. Within the 2 stroke world, they tried to equal or surpass performance of the tripe kawi or yamaha powerplants with their large twin cylinder 951 engine that just had too much power for two cylinders. There was also the issue of water leaking from an exhaust joint into the intake and causing several engines to grenade. If you can get a 96 XP or 97+ SPX, something with the X4 hull and the 787 engine (110 hp), it will be both fun and reliable as long as you keep it dry.

 

[ADK_Boater]

Re: What is the Best Brand of PWC? What Should I Avoid?

When I get my ski I'll be riding it on a large lake with heavy weekend traffic, and multiple cruise boats over 100' long. The lake can be very windy, choppy, wavy, and dangerous. I definitely need a stable ski with a good hull design. So that is a check in the SeaDoo Column. Now I'm kinda on the fence but leaning towards SeaDoo.

 

[sdride]

Re: What is the Best Brand of PWC? What Should I Avoid?

When I get my ski I'll be riding it on a large lake with heavy weekend traffic, and multiple cruise boats over 100' long. The lake can be very windy, choppy, wavy, and dangerous. I definitely need a stable ski with a good hull design. So that is a check in the SeaDoo Column. Now I'm kinda on the fence but leaning towards SeaDoo.

No chance Lake George?

 

[ADK_Boater]

Re: What is the Best Brand of PWC? What Should I Avoid?

Right on the money!

 

[sdride]

Re: What is the Best Brand of PWC? What Should I Avoid?

Right on the money!

Ha I will be in hague for Labor Day and the following week with the boat and my ski. i love that lake, grew up in Saratoga

 

[dannyual767]

Re: What is the Best Brand of PWC? What Should I Avoid?

There are skis made in the USA-Polaris. Yes, they are no longer in the PWC business but some of their skis were good machines. The earlier skis (prior to around 1997 or so) had the blue painted Fuji engines. Later skis had the red painted, USA engine. I've never owned a Polaris but the thought of a USA made ski really interests me. I've given some craigslist 1050 and 1200 SLX two seaters a good bit of consideration. It's tough to convince my wife that I need another jet ski when I've already got two of them. These two Polaris skis (along with the high performance Pro 1200 and ultra high performace Pro 785) seem to get pretty good comments on the jet ski forums but there are always people who are anti-Polaris and anti-Honda.

I do agree that there are lots of Sea Doo skis out there. I'm always on the lookout for a good deal on what some have called the all around "funnest" ski, the 1996 Sea Doo XP. The 1997 SPX is essentially the same with the same 110hp 787cc engine. Probably not the best skis for the ADK_Boater's big water, rough lake, though!

 

[Grand Larsony]

Re: What is the Best Brand of PWC? What Should I Avoid?

Good stuff above. I don't disagree with any of it, but do wish to include another comment...

Don't be so sure you really want a "stable hull" or that 50mph is "fine"... you may find yourself BORED SILLY by those characteristics. All the fastest skis have a learner mode that you can use for younger riders (e.g. speed governer).

We have a 2007 Yam VX (3-seater, non-turbo\supercharger). Family type machine. Very reliable, great for the kids, but it tops out at 51 mph with just one regular adult aboard. And it NEVER gets out of the water even on really big wakes. And it NEVER spins out. Wet ride when crossing waves

It's so damn stable it's not even very fun. Really. It's downright BORING to ride.

Just so you know.... Good luck.

 

[jjohnson120]

Re: What is the Best Brand of PWC? What Should I Avoid?

I've owned a couple of Sea-Doo's, worked on some Kawasaki's with my buddy, and ridden some very nice Yamaha's. I can tell you that I too will be buying a new Ski probably next summer to go with my Pontoon and I will for sure be looking at Yamaha's for my first choice although I will not turn down a good deal on a Sea-Doo. That being said, I'd personally try and get the fastest naturally aspirated 3-seater I could find. The newer ones, while big, still handle very good compared to the older 3-seaters, and having the room is nice as well as they are significantly more stable, especially when re-boarding in the middle of the lake.