Ya, the Exciters are a hoot. Im not sure what the weight difference is between the Ex and vmax but I never had a problem walking away from any Vmax 600 on any of my exciters. With the vmax being around 95hp you would think it would give an Exciter SX or a piped std Exciter a run for the money, but its not the case.
The pto side always runs a bit rich and thats why they have a leaner main on that side.