I just thought Id share my first seasons results and thoughts. Now that temps have dropped to freezing its time to put them up for winter. First off I have a white HO with ibr and also a orange 60hp . The 60hp was retuned with the vtech . I find the touring map having to be useless and annoying because you need to switch to the sport mode every time you start the spark. The vtech touring map has a way to long delay before full power comes on . Hopefully it will be readjusted by vtech if not already to be smoother and quicker to help with porposing from a takeoff. As it is its just way to much delay. Personally Id just rather have sport mode and be done with it.
My wifes 90hp is still bone stock and will remain that way. Its just a tad faster than my vtech tuned 109 due to her weighing 150 pounds less than me. As for durability I have rolled mine several times driven over sand bars ,hit several stumps and countless small sticks and other debris . The bottom of the hull has many scratches but no real damage. The wear ring will be changed out and used as a spare as I can tell it has lost just a tad of takeoff thrust. My bars squeaked and became harder to turn after 10 hours but lubed took care of that . Even after the recall the new bars squeaked and also needed lube. No big deal.
Both machines run great and dont use oil. I have 30+ hours and my wifes has 25 hours. Breakin oil changed at 10 hours on both with more debris in filters than Id like to see on new engines. I posted pics of the filter elements and will post the second change when I get to it.
One hot day after filling and left to sit in the sun the machines fuel vented from the caps and spilled down the side and discolored the seadoo decal on my machine. It should have a drain for this occurance somewhere other than to footwell.
I find the seats comfortable for several hours of riding. Fuel consumption was stellar between 1.5 and 3.5 gallons per hour which compared to our gas guzzling 2 strokes our sparks will pay for themselves in 3 to 5 years just in saved fuel alone. I could ride 3 times doing exactly the same run on 8 gallons of fuel where my polaris would be on fumes burning 11 gallons on just one ride. Way to go technology.
Power wise I am happy with both machines and will not throw money away on the wastefull mods that dont do much. I have most of my fun from 1 to 30 mph where this machine really shines. If I was ever into the boring all out speed I would certainly never waste money on modding spark and just buy the high powered sea cows already out there. I have snowmobiles and atvs for high speed fun. The only mod I regret is wasting a hundred bucks on the seadoo matts. I wear aqua socks and the stock footwells work better than the foam .
The one thing that made me really like the spark more than my old sl750 was removing the sponsons. This opened the door to allow the spark to do things I dont think any other machine made today can do. For safety my wife keeps hers on as she rides like most people . After many hour of practice I have been able to get my sliding and drifting skills to where I can get the machine to slide up to 100 feet sideways without having to do any aggressive tossing . A nearly empty tank of fuel seems to help with this . Getting the intake grate out of the water is the secret to a very long slide. So balancing on the just the edge of the tunnel takes a bit of time to find the sweet spot.
My wifes spark has a storage box which is plenty of room for sodas ,sandwiches for our short rides but I might buy one for my machine as I do go out with buddies and need one as well.
All in all I think the spark has been one of the best new machine investments I have ever made. Even breaking the "never buy a first year rule" worked out.
The only upgrades I would like to have seen is a slightly larger console bin and making the machine 20 to 25 percent smaller . It is a little to large for its weight and a bit to bouyant for trick riding. Even with a full tank of fuel I cannot get the front end to submerge enough to do nose stabs ,water spouts,and run underwater like my old polaris or a seadoo SPX. Of course this will never happen but we can always dream.
My wifes 90hp is still bone stock and will remain that way. Its just a tad faster than my vtech tuned 109 due to her weighing 150 pounds less than me. As for durability I have rolled mine several times driven over sand bars ,hit several stumps and countless small sticks and other debris . The bottom of the hull has many scratches but no real damage. The wear ring will be changed out and used as a spare as I can tell it has lost just a tad of takeoff thrust. My bars squeaked and became harder to turn after 10 hours but lubed took care of that . Even after the recall the new bars squeaked and also needed lube. No big deal.
Both machines run great and dont use oil. I have 30+ hours and my wifes has 25 hours. Breakin oil changed at 10 hours on both with more debris in filters than Id like to see on new engines. I posted pics of the filter elements and will post the second change when I get to it.
One hot day after filling and left to sit in the sun the machines fuel vented from the caps and spilled down the side and discolored the seadoo decal on my machine. It should have a drain for this occurance somewhere other than to footwell.
I find the seats comfortable for several hours of riding. Fuel consumption was stellar between 1.5 and 3.5 gallons per hour which compared to our gas guzzling 2 strokes our sparks will pay for themselves in 3 to 5 years just in saved fuel alone. I could ride 3 times doing exactly the same run on 8 gallons of fuel where my polaris would be on fumes burning 11 gallons on just one ride. Way to go technology.
Power wise I am happy with both machines and will not throw money away on the wastefull mods that dont do much. I have most of my fun from 1 to 30 mph where this machine really shines. If I was ever into the boring all out speed I would certainly never waste money on modding spark and just buy the high powered sea cows already out there. I have snowmobiles and atvs for high speed fun. The only mod I regret is wasting a hundred bucks on the seadoo matts. I wear aqua socks and the stock footwells work better than the foam .
The one thing that made me really like the spark more than my old sl750 was removing the sponsons. This opened the door to allow the spark to do things I dont think any other machine made today can do. For safety my wife keeps hers on as she rides like most people . After many hour of practice I have been able to get my sliding and drifting skills to where I can get the machine to slide up to 100 feet sideways without having to do any aggressive tossing . A nearly empty tank of fuel seems to help with this . Getting the intake grate out of the water is the secret to a very long slide. So balancing on the just the edge of the tunnel takes a bit of time to find the sweet spot.
My wifes spark has a storage box which is plenty of room for sodas ,sandwiches for our short rides but I might buy one for my machine as I do go out with buddies and need one as well.
All in all I think the spark has been one of the best new machine investments I have ever made. Even breaking the "never buy a first year rule" worked out.
The only upgrades I would like to have seen is a slightly larger console bin and making the machine 20 to 25 percent smaller . It is a little to large for its weight and a bit to bouyant for trick riding. Even with a full tank of fuel I cannot get the front end to submerge enough to do nose stabs ,water spouts,and run underwater like my old polaris or a seadoo SPX. Of course this will never happen but we can always dream.
