Suzuki – Garmin National Promotion September 2011

The most popular question at boat show when talking about engines is “how many litres per hour will it use?”.  It is the hardest question to answer accurately because there are so many variables e.g. What type of hull, mono or catamaran? What length? What weight? Planing or displacement? Fibreglass, Aluminium or Poly? Variable deadrise or deep vee? How were you driving during that hour? What were the sea conditions like?  As such Suzuki staff will always direct you to a web site or some printed tests so you can see how the engines performed on similar vessels… but just as a guide only.

The 2011 boat shows saw an extremely popular promotion run by Suzuki Marine rewarding the purchase of a Suzuki Outboard at the show with an upgrade from a standard rigging kit to Garmin interfaced electronics.  The interfaced electronics communicate directly with the engine and report in real time on fuel usage and other crucial engine data.

Not wanting to restrict a good idea this promotion has now gone national for Australia and New Zealand and is available at any Suzuki Marine dealership during the month of September (see below for full terms and conditions).  

The beauty of the Garmin electronics is that they answer the ‘litres per hour’ question with total accuracy.  Better than that they also answer the really important question of ‘nautical miles per hour’ by combining fuel usage with GPS speed.  This shows your boats efficiency at covering distance rather than time.  Therefore as time goes on the database is getting bigger and personal experience of the incredible fuel consumption (or lack of it) is more wide spread.

One of the water based emergency services in QLD has been running Suzuki/Garmin and have been amazed at the accuracy.  It is necessary for these services to know the exact running costs and range of their vessels at any point in time so they accurately monitor fuel usage outside of the claims of the electronics.  A Suzuki technician was challenged by a skipper who claimed the Garmin system was a litre out, after a short scratch of the head it was realised that the fuel filter had been emptied during routine maintenance, so yes the figures actually are that accurate.

As well as the benefits of knowing how little fuel you are using there are important safety benefits from having an accurate fuel reading.  Many boaties suffer the inaccurate gauges and base decisions on guesstimates based on the litres per hour question, their experience with the engine and how many litres they put in at the servo that morning.  Not too much of a drama if you are skiing on a dam in circles but probably more of a concern if you are heading off shore for the day.  The Suzuki can deliver your range based on how you are driving, your average litres per hour and much more including water temperature, depth and position (with relevant sensors).  All from a full colour display.  Suzuki really are the world’s most technologically advanced outboard engines and the Garmin upgrade is one step further toward creating a better boating experience.

So what does the customer get?

–       Suzuki DF40A to DF60A rigging kit upgrades to 1x Garmin GMI10 & 1x GPS17

–       Suzuki DF70A to DF140 rigging kit upgrades to 2x Garmin GMI10 & 1x GPS17

Note: Standard rig kit must be purchased with the engine in order to qualify for the upgrade.

How do you claim the upgrade?

The upgrade will automatically apply to all orders for DF40A to DF140 placed in the promotional period.  Orders can be placed from Monday 29^th August 2011.

What about if you are waiting for a boat to be built?

Orders including future dated orders just need to be placed in our system before the end of September to qualify for the upgrade.

Terms and conditions

The upgrade value is based on the difference in retail price from a standard rig kit. A rig kit must be purchased with the new engine to qualify for this offer. No cash alternative or discount can be offered. This promotion only applies to new EFI Suzuki outboard engines from 40HP to 140HP purchased between 29^th August 2011 and 30^th September 2011 at a participating dealership. The promoter reserves the right to verify the validity of entries. The Promoter accepts no responsibility for any late, lost, incomplete, incorrectly submitted, delayed, illegible, corrupted or misdirected claims or correspondence whether due to error, omission, alteration, tampering, deletion, theft, destruction, transmission interruption, communications failure or otherwise. The specified upgrade will be supplied with the engine or within a reasonable time thereafter. This offer must be taken as offered and cannot be varied. The offer or any unused portion of it is non-transferable, non-refundable and non-redeemable for other goods or services and cannot be taken as cash. The Promoter is The Haines Group Pty Ltd, 140 Viking Drive, Wacol, QLD 4133 ABN 62115792848.

For full details of the promotion or to find out more on the Suzuki range just go to www.thehainesgroup.com