I've been looking at new 21 footers for a while. I've done a few spreadsheets looking at resale and depreciation overtime just for grins. I had an opportunity to test driven the z521, FX 21 and zx 225 recently. My brother and a buddy of mine both have Nitros. In the end I'm really leaning toward the Skeeter fx 21. Say what you want but the Skeeter and Ranger are like Lexus and Mercedes... just pick your brand and go. It seems to me that the Nitro is less expensive until you add in quality stuff, i.e. minn kota vs. motor guide, cheap tires and steel wheels with hub caps on the trailer vs. radial tires and aluminum wheels. If you take the Nitro and remove the cheap stuff and add on the good stuff like Ranger and Skeeter to start with then the boats are fairly closely matched with regard to purchase price. The difference in my mind is depreciation and the ability to sell the boat timely in a few years. Factor in Ranger is 6 or 7 hours from Texas and Skeeter is in Kilgore and for me at least the choice is easy. I like the idea of supporting a Texas business. Even though Yamaha owns Skeeter... A guy in Texas is feeding his family this week off the sale of a Skeeter.
Just my 2 cents.

I dunno that anyone has a beef, bro, Your'e in Ranger, Skeeter, BassCat and Legend country is all. Take any negative comments with a grain of salt.

It may just be some trying justify why they paid 25,000 more for a boat the same size with the same performance. If your happy that's all that matters. Up here in OK all the guys I fish with absolute hate Skeeters. It's just all opinions and yours is the only one that counts when your paying for it.

Nitros have great storage. I know it only one of many greater considerations, I'm just saying. The price for the overall purchase is more inline with the economy without sacrifacing quality. Its a nice boat, but as far as resale, someone else said it best when directing you towards second ownership.

this is what scared me about nitro
before i bought my skeeter i went into a bps and was looking at the z-9 and a saleman came up to me i asked him to sell me on a nitro boat and u know what he talked about...
the freakin trailer! no b.s. about two minutes in me and my wife looked at each other and were like lets get outta here.
made my decision easy though. this was only about a year ago

Skeeter has em all beat on stable fishing platform.. Other than that it's ford vs chevy.

You bought a great boat. Enjoy it. Get your mind back where it needs to be on fishing!

Guess I would have ask for this kind of input before I made the purchase but bottom line is its all in what makes you happy in a boat. The input you get on here will contain little to no facts but will be each individuals opinion. You will never settle which boat rides the best, which one fishes the best etc etc. Everyone tends to look at it differently.

Best thing is you have a boat (hopefully the one you wanted), so now all you have to do is get it to the lake and teach it how to find and catch fish......

As long as you got what you wanted its a win win for you. I have 2010 Z8 they are good boats and they can find fish. So fish on you made good choice

Anyone with a Yamaha SHO will have a better hole shot then you.

The resale is what made me stay away. The whole reason to buy Nitro is to save money but that is not even the case anymore. I bought my 2010 Triton TR18 with a 150 Opti new for $2k cheaper than I could find a Z7 with a 150 Opti.
Even though I saved $2k up front, I guarantee If both these boats were put up for $18k used, EVERYONE would choose to buy the triton.

...ok

You must not have read his original post. He said " And I would challenge anyone to show me a boat that gets on plane as fast as thing does."

That's my other one on the short list because I know some guys from the Skeeter plant. My only other choice next time around would be another Triton. I love my boat but it will eventually need to be replaced, I love a Skeeter because it's very stable and made locally, and lastly I really liked the front deck of the Nitro Z8 because it had room to land an EMS helicopter on it but I haven't fished out of one so I can't say more.