Agree with this on multiple points. It's a different look, I am partial to the windscreen than the windshield look, though both of these prob serve same purpose.

I LOVED the 25, great looks, timeless offshore look. The checkmate is a nice boat, but it's a different look.
Had the 25ol for 4 years and then stepped up to the 33Outlaw, though was really looking for a Baja 302.
Same look, but bigger and HUGE dance floor/cockpit.

My personal opininion is checkmates are built well but don't look as "sporty" as the Baja, Baj's typically have a more functiona l/ roomy cockpit. As far as build quailty from personal experience, Bajas are cheaply built, IE: 40 ft wire harness stapled back and forth acrossed the transom on 25/ 27 ft version, screws that missed anything solid in floor, seats barely bolted in, screws ran thru gelcoat without predrilling, spongy floors even new. I prob spent 100+ hours re-rigging, re-inforcing and fixing all the corners that were cut when my Baja was assembled. Checkmate, a solid, better built boat, dont likethe looks as much but definately have a more solid feel than most Bajas, FWIW, Smitty

owned both checkmate 1 step up from baja on the quality scale both handled the rough surprisingly decent

I would think it depends on how fast you want to go. I think the Baja will do 64 on a good day and the Check might do 58 on a good day... MIGHT

Chris

I'm not sure the Baja is that much faster with equal power. My best GPS run with a mildly tweaked 454MAG (461 Crankshaft HP) was 72mph. However I did make a pass in the 2009 LOTO Shootout and only ran 65mph on their radar. I lost to a 25 Outlaw in the class who made a pass of 67mph with a 496MAG HO. That driver did have some kind of reflection device on his bow to get a better read on the radar. I went in blind and made a pass just for fun. As far as looks are concerned I think they are both cool looking boats.

There is not a 6mph difference between equal power/equal length in this size range with these two brands more like 2-3 at most. The Baja will be heavier with a little more free board and usually the slower of the two.

I don't have any data to back it up but I would be very surprised if a Baja would be faster than a Checkmate.

Padraig

I have had two baja's and one checkmate. Plus being around and in a bunch more. The checkmate is better built boat. The baja's look good and ride good but if you start tearing into the stuff you can't see, the construction is pretty disappointing. Neither of them are great as far as rigging, but checkmate is better there too.

+1 vote for the Checkmate, spent some time on a friends 270 with 454 mag - it was a low 60 mph boat and will do everything the outlaw will and then some. Only way I'd choose the Baja is if it was noticeably in better shape.

The checkmate he's asking about will run 68 on GPS everyday