Its very simple I've ridden all three motors and both XS1200 and the polaris 1200 were at my buddy's shop. I've owned the xs1200 too. The 1200DASA felt a bit better than my old XS1000, while my XS1200 felt scary different! The Polaris is very similar to the xs1200, but I'm not sure which one of those 2 motors are best.
On another note my friend owns both the DASA1200 and XS1200 in similar set ups...so apples to apples and he is completely on board with the XS1200 making more power!
Having invested easily $100K into equipment over the years, I am not a bandwagon jumper nor a "hater;" just callin' it like it is! Every company does something well and when a similar product is out there from a different company that means someone might be able to do it better...so with that being said and no disrespect to DASA, but this is what I know through my experience.
Remember my buddy's shop also had the XS1000 and DASA1000 exact same set up both in a Q8 hull...can you guess which one was light years above the other?...trust me you don't want to hear the review
The best DASA products ever were their cast cylinders (I had 2 of those DASA motors built in 2006 and '07, BEST motors EVER!...Gus Andros built both of them for me and my 5mil 828 DASA hit equally to my XS1000 on the bottom)...these were the motors your engine builder had to set up the porting, cases, etc... so you could end up with a beast or junk!...Gus was my secret. Now billet DASA, XS, & Powerhouse Cylinders they come CNCed to the manufacturers specs (polaris still uses cast cyls w/ a billet bottom)
