Quote Originally Posted by Broke Pilot View Post
Paddle wheel is great, but I’ll be the devils advocate and say I’ll never not have the gps speedo again. It’s incredible. I’ve never had issues with it dropping out under a bridge. It has a river mode.
It has had a few hiccups where it loses signal (I guess that’s what happening) but it doesn’t race to the throttle. Mine actually decelerates until it catches back up. Which is always fun to watch the terror in the surfers eyes as they get sling towards the boat! Lmao

Now then, here’s the major difference, my boat being newer also has a drive by wire throttle. It’s instantaneous changes. It never lets the boat get more than .2mph off the set speed. Having an electronic throttle body just lets the motor fine tune itself so much easier. If it was a cable actuated TB, yea I’d say paddle wheel all the way.
And having a steering wheel mounted switch to make speed changes on the fly is the s@%t!
BUT, is it REALLY the GPS Measurement device that's doing your instantaneous speed control and never getting more than .2 off? I have DBW in my 2008 with my paddlewheel speed control. It sounds like what you're really describing is a more aggressive KDW (throttle pull rate). it's a setting in Perfect pass where you can determine how aggressively the throttle will seek your desired speed. And one might also speculate that the simple fact that you have a more powerful engine with an agressive prop enables you to stay on speed easier. I wouldn't think that the speed measurement device would be the key factor. In fact, we all know that there is flat out GPS lag in measurement of speed and therefore I would argue that GPS might be less accurate in some regards... Isn't there lag in the GPS measurement of your flight speed changes?

For your speed control to have "river mode" doesn't that mean that it DOES have a paddlewheel that it actually uses to suppliment (or override) that GPS?

The ones I've been on with GPS, when they lose signal it's literally like turning off the speed control and the boat defaults to wherever the throttle lever is. We all just throw down to the lever to farther than it needs to be, right? So most boats start running like a raped ape!