I am the happy owner of a 2015 R20 Raptor equipped. Had I known (we get limited information in Australia) that Taps 3 was coming I might have waited however surf gates (Nauticurl) has solved the problem for me and as far as not being able to 'transfer' on the go I am not sure my (or my crew) skills are even close to trying so it is not an issue. Also in terms of touch screens the environment in the State in Australia I live in is harsh (winter lasts a day and our temps are always high and under the boat cover you could cook eggs) and rightly or wrongly I think the old style dial probably handle the heat better. Not to mention before Tige Touch on the R Series my old eyes would have struggled with the smaller screen.
Because I think about boats more than I should I have had a few musings on the R20 which in Australia retails at $82K USD (without the fun stuff like tower speakers, sub etc which I have but were expensive options) so the jump to the RZR ($104K USD) was not justifiable to me (read my wife who fortunately does not frequent the forums). So here goes:
- I am factory plumb sacked out and actually had my dealer fit RZ2 locker bags for me which he said had a little more weight (fly highs are prohibitively expensive over here if you can get them at all). So we use our 12V quite a bit if we have a small crew to add extra weight. Why did Tige delete the drink holder / 12V front pockets in the later R20's. We use these frequently if we want to throw a bow bag in or for the kids that cannot do without their phone chargers (look at the view guys not at the screen!!). Cost savings I am sure but I feel it makes the bow section of the 2015's look/feel more premium (no offence to you new R20 owners, I am jealous of your taps 3 don't get me wrong).
- The more important point. Did Tige just get the R20/RZR hull sorted from the beginning. It has not changed one little bit from what I can see (which can be said for the whole R Series Line Up) OR are Tige just focussing more on their premium boats now with no intention of throwing more R&D at the entry level. The market seems flipped to me, Malibu (Axis), Supra (Moomba), Mastercraft (NXT), Nautique (GS - sort of) realised Tige had a point on entry level boats and are now all aggressively playing in this space and Tige seem to be putting emphasis on the premium boats and short of cosmetics, screens and towers have left the R Series untouched.
- Finally why the deletion of hard tanks (flame me for being dumb on this but I do like being able to fill my hard tanks and leave my surf sacks when we just want a nice lip for us intermediate wake boarders).
We have no visibility in Australia as to what is coming and I don't think we will ever see an RZX 2 or 3 or ZX5 here (way too costly to import and the dealer network isn't great ie we have 2 in the whole country) so its the older hulls with newer fruit or bust. Will we see any hull upgrades or new R series models soon or did Tige get it so right from the start that there wont be any changes or is the lack of change more a focus on the premium boats.
Don't get me wrong I love my R20 and heck it saves me money knowing that my 2015 hull (albeit without Taps 3) will perform the same as a 2018 hull. Also if anyone from GSA is listening there is no Australian distributer and due to cost of new boats there are so many older V Drives here crying out for a surf system that they could add if there was local support.
Well enjoy the move into summer team USA!
Because I think about boats more than I should I have had a few musings on the R20 which in Australia retails at $82K USD (without the fun stuff like tower speakers, sub etc which I have but were expensive options) so the jump to the RZR ($104K USD) was not justifiable to me (read my wife who fortunately does not frequent the forums). So here goes:
- I am factory plumb sacked out and actually had my dealer fit RZ2 locker bags for me which he said had a little more weight (fly highs are prohibitively expensive over here if you can get them at all). So we use our 12V quite a bit if we have a small crew to add extra weight. Why did Tige delete the drink holder / 12V front pockets in the later R20's. We use these frequently if we want to throw a bow bag in or for the kids that cannot do without their phone chargers (look at the view guys not at the screen!!). Cost savings I am sure but I feel it makes the bow section of the 2015's look/feel more premium (no offence to you new R20 owners, I am jealous of your taps 3 don't get me wrong).
- The more important point. Did Tige just get the R20/RZR hull sorted from the beginning. It has not changed one little bit from what I can see (which can be said for the whole R Series Line Up) OR are Tige just focussing more on their premium boats now with no intention of throwing more R&D at the entry level. The market seems flipped to me, Malibu (Axis), Supra (Moomba), Mastercraft (NXT), Nautique (GS - sort of) realised Tige had a point on entry level boats and are now all aggressively playing in this space and Tige seem to be putting emphasis on the premium boats and short of cosmetics, screens and towers have left the R Series untouched.
- Finally why the deletion of hard tanks (flame me for being dumb on this but I do like being able to fill my hard tanks and leave my surf sacks when we just want a nice lip for us intermediate wake boarders).
We have no visibility in Australia as to what is coming and I don't think we will ever see an RZX 2 or 3 or ZX5 here (way too costly to import and the dealer network isn't great ie we have 2 in the whole country) so its the older hulls with newer fruit or bust. Will we see any hull upgrades or new R series models soon or did Tige get it so right from the start that there wont be any changes or is the lack of change more a focus on the premium boats.
Don't get me wrong I love my R20 and heck it saves me money knowing that my 2015 hull (albeit without Taps 3) will perform the same as a 2018 hull. Also if anyone from GSA is listening there is no Australian distributer and due to cost of new boats there are so many older V Drives here crying out for a surf system that they could add if there was local support.
Well enjoy the move into summer team USA!
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