2020 Yamaha WaveRunner Good, Bad, and the Ugly

With Yamaha Waverunner releasing their 2020 line up it’s time we go over the good, the bad, and the ugly.

While there were not any huge changes in 2020, 2019 stole the show last year; there are still a few things we need to point out.

To see the full Yamaha 2020 Line Up Go here.

The Good

The best thing Yamaha has done this year is the colors.

That FX SVHO with black on black is a real show stopper. It’s crazy how good this jet ski looks!

The FX SVHO Limited has also gotten some nice upgrades this year with the Garmin Striker 4 GPS and transducer, fenders, Tube kit, and a 12-volt outlet in the watertight glovebox. Very nice!

Speaker Package

Yamaha has also made changes to the speaker package kits they offer. They’ve increased the wattage, thus making them louder and doubled the playback time too.

The speakers do feel like an afterthought, but they beat Kawasaki and Sea-Doo in portability. You can remove the Yamaha speakers and carry them to the dock or when you beach the WaveRunner.

EX Storage

All I’ve got to say is that Yamaha is listening!

The EX now has a storage accessory add-on that increases the front storage and makes it waterproof.

While the Yamaha EX does have more storage than the Sea-Doo Spark, the storage is more spread out, which makes it less useful. On a Spark you can store big items like a life jacket, which you could not do on the EX.

Now, this new bigger storage option has fixed much of this issue. Not only that but it’s gone a whole step further and made it waterproof which the Sea-Doo Spark lacks.

The Bad

VXR Name Change

I’m a little biased; my favorite Yamaha Waverunner is the VXR. Yamaha has always done it right and beats the Sea-Doo GTR on many levels.

But they’ve changed the name of it!

I know a name change is not a massive deal to some, but they changed it to a model they already have.

VXR is now the GP1800R HO.

It’s bigger brother is the GP1800R SVHO.

VXR was simple and easy to say. Now we have a longer name and a lot more confusion on which is which.

I can just imagine the calls with customers getting confused thinking they’re getting the SVHO but instead getting the HO. This is almost as bad as Sea-Doo having turn signals on their PWC gauges.

The Ugly

The Stern Storage and Cooler is not a solution to the Fish Pro.

The Stern Storage and Cooler is an attempt at the fishing market where they give you a nice size cooler with a place to put your fishing rods.

In all honesty its a joke in comparison to the Sea-Doo Fish Pro. Though it’s not a fully fair comparison.

If we remove the fishing aspect of it and consider it as a cooler, it’s not that bad. No drilling is required to install it, and it’s out of the way on the rear. The cooler is soft but still sturdy and can be used as extra storage instead. From this point of view, it’s a total win – it’s just the attempt at the fishing rod holders that give it the bad taste.

Sea-Doo releasing the Fish Pro last year took the market by surprise. I fully expect Yamaha to come back hard as they’re the most popular brand for modifying a jet ski for fishing. This cooler with a fishing rod holder is not what I was expecting to see and I’m sure I’m not the only one feeling this way too. I guess I was expecting more from Yamaha. Who knows, maybe 2021 Yamaha WaveRunner has something up their sleeve?

That’s About It

No big changes from Yamaha this year like last year. The FX stole the show last year, especially with the touch screen and wider body.

2020 seems to be the year of fine-tuning, especially on the EX with the new accessories.

If you want to read more about the 2020 Yamaha WaveRunner line up the Watercraft Journal has a great write up on it here.

I’m curious to hear what you think? How do you like the new colors from Yamaha this year? Am I wrong about the new Fishing accessories?