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I have been playing with a new Dauntless 180 I purchased on behalf of my father-in-law. Its got most of the options, including the Merc 150. What a nice boat! Its really strange going from stop to full....bow lifts way up, it feels sluggish for just a moment, then before you can say Whats up with that....its on the plane and you better be holding on to something! Its like a rocket.
The only thing I dont like about it so far are the guages and displays. Sorry, but LCDs suck. And the way I drive, to find the Mode button and press it repeatedly while trying to read the LCD....just to find out how much gas i got left or what the tilt position is....well, basically you have to stop the boat to read the gas guage, etc. Too much junk. Shouldnt need a manual and eyeshade to read a gas guage.
Other than that, its fantastic. Makes my little Montauk 17 seem pretty puny.
I had the same experience with my 17' Outrage. Took awhile to get used to the transition from lifting to full skate on plane. Now I throttle up and back off a little just as I get on plane. That sudden acceleration was a little unnerving at first. Have fun!
I also have the smart gauges on my 190 Nantucket. I usually keep the LCD set on a specific page unless I want to check other accurately display information.
At first the gauges were a pain to use but I since found them to be priceless.
