Customer Reviews

Sea Doo GTI Sea Scooter

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I think some may have higher expectations out of this scooter than it is designed to give. Please understand that...THIS IS NOT INTENDED FOR TECH DIVING NOR SHOULD IT BE. Also...This is not going to have you flying underwater like some movies have portrayed underwater DPV use. There are two reasons I can think of why going fast is not desirable. First, you're going to probably miss half of what is to be seen and secondly, going fast will increase the chance that you change depths too fast; this is a safety issue only inexperienced and bad divers will ignore.
As far as the build quality and power, I have to admit at first I was a bit concerned when I ordered mine and even when I got it out of the box but all doubts have since gone away. The people I dive with either have Torpedoes or the SeaDoo Explorers so I wasn't sure how well it would perform against them. It did fine!! The battery life hasn't been quite the 1.5 hours advertised but then again, none of the other scooter owners I dive with get their advertised run time either, plus I'm a pretty heavy guy (200+). You use a 12V-14 Ah battery; that should increase the run time. OK...getting to the battery involves one more step than most and yes...you need to pump some air into it with a cheap-o hand pump but it works and it takes a total of 10 seconds. This is not a bad design; this allows the external nose cone to have additional devices such as a compass or depth gauge attached. They provide a band that should be used to insure the inner nose cone sealing off the battery doesn't flying off but this must be more for liability reasons than anything else. You can easily hold your hand over it while it pops up, it won't go flying off like rocket. Oh yeah... there are a lot of warnings throughout the guide but that's a C.Y.A thing companies have to do because history has shown, people do stupid things and then try to blame it on the company that sold them the product. Not to mention, you're dealing with a lead acid battery and a device not designed to be used for technical diving. Recreational scooters should NEVER be counted on as a life saving device. Your dive plan should take into account distance....you may need to swim back with a dead scooter. That's any scooter on the market.
PROS:
- The scooter is Light
- The battery lasted more than 40 minutes (continuous w/o kicking) and it seems to be getting stronger.
- Has two speeds and has more than enough power for the average diver
- Half the price of the Explorer and 3-4 times cheaper than the other recreational scooters
- Batteries are CHEAP!! I can buy a replacement batter for less than $30 on line
- No crazy control modules on the batteries
- Two "O" rings to prevent flooding although it's designed for accidental flooding
- Nose cone can accommodate a compass or depth gauge being attached to it.
CONS:
- The build quality is not the strongest (Don't be rough with it and you'll be fine)
- You won't have the power to pull multiple people
- Both hands are needed for the 2nd gear (two triggers for speed control)
- Only rated for 100' and tested to 115'. Heck...that's 15 feet shy of the recreational dive limit.

For the price, this scooter is hard to beat!

I have two of these models and they are a hit with both kids and adults in the swimming pool as well as the lake, etc. Easy to maintain, take punishment from kids & adults with no problems. You don't need to be a skin diver to enjoy these bad boys in your backyard pool! Battery life is quite adequate to wear out even the most rambunctious kids.

Rented one of these in Mexico and bought two of them when I got home. Charging is a bit of a pain and it's not super fast but once you get the hang of it this makes snorkling soooooo much fun. I highly recommned this to any snorkler.

Sea Doo GTI Sea Scooter $319.99 + freeship July 2011

Pretty strong pulling power IMO though I have zero experience with DPV's. With just snorkel gear it was extra cool flying underwater without effort; just a flick of the wrists to pop over a big rock or turn tight around a boulder. I learned to flip it around and blast algae and silt out of rock crevasses to improve fish habitat and when I wore my long fins and kicked as well, I could shoot through the water like a torpedo.

Not as fast as I can go kicking hard with my long fins and I was soon lusting for more speed, but by holding it with my finger and thumb tips and stretching arrow-straight with the prop shroud just under my face I could really feel my speed pick up, though my view and maneuverability were impaired. Acceleration from a dead stop was slow and I found a couple kicks to get up to speed helpful; likewise getting down from the surface was difficult until I started wearing my weight belt with 10 lbs. TahoeBenchmark measured 8 lbs static thrust for their GTI but I might try measuring my own units thrust as a baseline for a different battery.

The plastic case scratches easily and mine already looks like hell from scraping rocks and sitting on the bottom but that's fine with me; looks tough.

Weighed 17.75 lbs on my 20 lb scale. The buoyancy chamber was very hard to unscrew and I found the o-ring was jammed into the threads and pinched nearly through. I just left the chamber out and found the dpv had slightly negative buoyancy which I prefer so I can leave it on the bottom when I don't want to use it.

Mine came with a 12v-12 amp/hr sla battery(BT12-12)(about 6"Lx4"Wx3.75"H). Checking internet battery companies shows that size available up to 15 amp/hr capacity-but a couple pounds heavier so when replacement time comes I'll get one and put the empty buoyancy chamber back in to counter the extra weight. The charger light turns from red to green when the charge is complete instead of blinking like the manual says. The battery arrived mostly charged and 10 minutes on the charger turned the light green. The first complete charge took 7.5 hours.

The first day the battery gave about 40 minutes cumulative run time over an hour before shutting off.
The second day the battery gave about 90 minutes cumulative run time over 2 hours before shutting off.
Same for the third day.
Fourth day I kept careful track of time, running it 10 minutes and leaving it rest 5 or 10 minutes; it was noticeably stronger for the first minute or so after a rest; and it quit after 75 minutes cumulative run time.
Fifth day; I had charged it with my old auto battery charger at 15.77 volts and it seemed to have more power but I was sharing it and didn't do much evaluating.

When the unit first shuts down I wait a few seconds and restart and start kicking as well, which lowers motor current demand, and head back to my staging area and then I putt around and use it to sweep the bottom of algae and gunk and try to get a good discharge from the battery by repeatedly running it until it stops and waiting a few seconds and running it again. If I recall correctly that's the proper way to use deep cycle, lead acid batteries.

Overall I think the GTI is a good combination of weight, power, endurance and price, but if you're built like a fireplug or want to scuba, or you're just a speed demon, you may want a more powerful model.

I used this product in my pools for days without charging it and i plan to go scuba diving with it. It is very easy to use just charge and go. Moderately fast especially when you kick. This is the coolest product I've bought off amazon.

Edit: This works great in the ocean as well it will get you moving quickly (surprisingly fast actually) I use it a lot with and without scuba gear to take me over reefs and to explore more. It is effortless and has a long battery life. I defiantly recommend this.

We are using this at the lake as well as our pool! Fun toy, always a big hit. My 9 year old loves it almost as much as the parents!

I purchased the first one and it arrived not working. I returned it for a second one which seemed to work fine. I am 250 pounds and it actually pulls me nicely while SCUBA diving. But typical of most Seadoo stuff, expect it to break soon. I have used the second one maybe 15 times and now the switches are all screwing up. SOmetimes it runs and then for no reason just cuts out.

I have 3 jet skis, two are Seadoo's and one is a Kawasaki. The Seadoo's are constantly in the shop being repaired for one thing or another while I just continually beat the crap out of the Kawasaki and it just runs and runs. I wish Kawasaki would make and underwater scooter.

Expect problems with this Seadoo product. I am now looking how to return it for repair.

I used the product for the first time today, so this is my first reaction. I will update this when/if more info and solutions are available from the manyfacturer.

First: if I knew the amount of work involved in getting up and running I wouldn't have bought this product. I hate complicated instructions. You have to read carefully a poorly designed and poorly written manual, then try a few unfamiliar and clumsy procedures on parts made of what looks like fragile plastic. Manual is full of "DANGER" warnings, don't do this, don't do that. I really expected the product to be much simpler. It isn't. You can't charge the battery inside the scooter. Removing it is a lot of work. Whoever designed the product sure did not have the casual user in mind. THIS IS TOO MUCH WORK. Be warned.

Second: It is way too slow. I used it in the ocean and, if you keep your head above the water you feel like you're not moving. Under water is goes a bit faster, but nowhere near what we see in the movies. Not much fun.

Third: As I said before, there are TOO MANY small (plastic) parts. I will lose one soon. Extracting the battery involves a multi-step, complicated procedure that requires, at one point, a rubber band (no kidding) and a very cheap looking hand-pump (no kidding either). Putting everything back together requires great eyesight as you're supposed to align almost invisible markings.

Fourth: Many, many warnings for you to recharge the battery at least every three months. You can't keep the battery inside the scooter. I cannot stop my life to babysit a battery. Also, you have to be careful of explosive gases. I did not see the word "explosive" before I bought the product.

Fifth: the bag provided is too snug a fit to the machine. Putting it in and taking it out is a struggle.

Pros: It looks good, it is light, it carries you underwater. And it's a head turner at the beach.

I may want my money back. Haven't decided yet. Let's see if the manufacturer will responde to my email.

Update on 29/dec/08: Not surprisingly, the manufacturer ignored my emails.

Update on 10/feb/09:
After receiving a lame reply from the seller and trying the product a few more times, I can attest: it's a fraud. It's TOO SLOW, NOT POWERFUL ENOUGH (will not pull a swimer or a diver, you'll need to kick), and VERY CUMBERSOME to use (lots of assembly and disassembly after each use).

Also, I got a defective product. It works for a few seconds then stops.

Amazon should stop sellin this.

I am very upset with Amazon. I purchased this Seadoo GTI for an upcoming vacation. The item was listed as used but Amazon started it was in "like new" condition meaning that it was working properly. After receiving the item and spending money on baggage fees to bring it with us, the unit failed to work. I did everything the instructions said and troubleshooted the issue but the seadoo would not turn on. It turned out that there was no way that amazon could have tested the seadoo without finding out it was not working properly.

Not only did Amazon fail to test the item before sending it to me, they then balked at reimbursing me my baggage fees for hauling the inoperable seadoo with me. I will find it hard to use Amazon ever again.