Originally Posted by
falconpilot
About 10 hours on boat so far..fished one tourney..I’ve owned a 17ft Lazer, Phoenix 20 PHX, old Skeeter, Bullet 21SST, 2-Ballistic 223’s and this boat, the 650. Spent a lot of time in my brothers Ranger 521, and my buddies Trition 21HP and his Phoenix 21 XP pro..
The 650 rides with the best of them. It lands very soft. The Ballistic and 21 XP Pro MIGHT be little better in really big water as they’ll span waves a little better. The 650 and 20 PHX IMO are about identical rides with the 650 being just a little softer overall....both are extremely dry rides in quartering waves both directions. Biggest water I’ve run in it so far has been 2ft’ers with odd 3 footer here or there. Storage on the 650, the 20phx, the 21 xp pro and Ballistic are all about the same..tons of storeage in all of them..just comes down to preference on layout..my favorite layout is the 20 PHX..just personal preference..lots of room is 650 for sure..live wells are simple and clean in 650 and work very well..really like the pump out feature. Rear compartment is huge and well laid out. I’m running two lithium batteries, 2-power pole pumps, and power steering pump...still lots of room and very clean install in back. The factory deck light and courtesy lighting is also nice touch on boat. The two lights mounted to rear of boat are a nice touch since most manufacture miss doing this..great safety feature at night/low night morning or evening takeoffs..the center storeage box between the seat is HUGE! IMO, really way to big as I’ve got a ton of crap in there and it’s truly easy to loose crap in there! It’s giant! The sliding tray in foot of passenger is great space...I store boats that I’m using for the day in there..easy to get too at any time. The cooler box under middle step is big and keeps ice all day. The seats in the boat are the most comfortable I’ve set in a bass boat. These and Ballistic are about the same, but 650’s backs are more upright as compared to Ballistic which I find much more comfortable. The storeage/glove box at right side of driver seat is big and great touch. It’s plenty big to store remotes, cell phone, gloves, tools, etc and has a positive locking latch. I really like the big drivers console..I mounted a 16” Garmin flush..still got plenty of room to mount water pressure gauge, power pole remote, Bob’s jackplate gauge, 2-Yamaha. Command link gauges, and a stereo head..The low cut windshield also works really well blocking wind from driver. The boat doesn’t have a bunch of plastic to crack or fade and I really like this..it’s a clean, sleek look..the 650 and Ballistic beat the field hands down on this issue. The front of boat with Force , Beast Fishing dual stack mount with 2 Garmin 1243’s is very clean. Still plenty of room to step into boat from front..again, not plastic covers or trim up here..The switch panel is clean simple design..I do wish that boat manufactures would use lighted labels..ie...make the label under the switch lite...that way your not hunting around trying to find right switch at night..none of the boats I’ve owned has had this feature. Performance...boat is absolutely best handling boat I’ve ever driven when it comes to turning and cornering..it’s incredible..it’ll be be right at home running Caddo Lake! It floats very level while fishing and very little side to side movement when moving around. I’m still getting use to the raised deck design which is positive in lots of ways, but makes it easy to kick a pole over the side. Raise the jackplate to the top and I think I could take off in 3 ft of water..just hops boat straight front on plane..impressed with how little water it takes to float and run the boat. It doesn’t feel or handle like a 1850lb boat. Driving the boat-I pit power steering in this one...the boat will literally drive itself, no hands on wheel up,to,around 70 or so..it starts requiring a little input above 70 but not much..doesn’t chine walk bad at at..easy to drive boat..just started prop testing so best speed yet is 80.3..this is literally with everything I own fishing gear wise in the boat. 3/4 fuel and power poles. I know the graphs on front sticking way up on double mount are costing me 1-2mph as well. Add a 250lb passenger, it’s running 75-75.5..I know there are several guys running the SHO flashed and running mid 80’s loaded..I will say the performance window on the boat is very, very small..what I mean is finding the sweet spot of jackplate height and trim..I’m having to,work hard to find that perfect spot..it’s a very small spot..one way or the other and numbers fall off fast..only boat I’ve driven that was so hard to find this spot. I’m sure with time in boat, it’ll become easier. Another great thing about the boat is it’s low speed performance. It’ll stay on plane, loaded down to 18-19mph with zero porpoising and hopping up and down..you can literally cruising around in the low 20’s..
Con’s so far- Blazer needs to step up their work on finishing out the boat. Couple of gauges were wired wrong and to be honest, the wiring in the boat can only be described as a cluster f*^#%. Rats nest. It wasn’t hard to clean it all up but a customer shouldn’t have too..maybe I’m being little unfair comparing to Ballistic(cleanest, neatest boat ever!)..I’ve talked to several other owners about their steering wheels rubbing blinker trims..requires a spacer wash or trimming blinker covers..these are things that will make a great boat, and even better boat! And they aren’t hard to do..Only knock on performance is the backwash when coming off plane..with little practice, you can minimize this problem though...so far only issues with the boats, so overall, I’m extremely pleased so far with the boat and would recommend one in a second. I can tell you the owner of Blazer, Keith Craft is hell,of a nice guy and very responsive to any concern. Chris Williams has been great all along as well..always there to help or answer questions. If you’re considering buying a Blazer, I’m also recommending seeing Steve Glenn at S2 Marine in Quitman, TX..great guys to deal with..
edit-to be fair regarding the wiring..Chris did tell me their main finish guy was has been out for several weeks and did not finish my boat..maybe other boats are better and mine is a one off...that being said, I just want to give an honest review of how I see things. I’m in no way bashing any boat here..just providing feedback so they can build an even better boat..