200 HP 2 stroke Optimax DI vrs 200 HP Honda 4 stroke

[Mike]

Which motor to chose? The fuel efficency is about the same. The Merc will run at lower RPMs for trolling. The Merc is lighter. I don't know which is quieter but probably the Honda. Honda is a solid motor. I wonder about the Merc. Any suggestions?

[johnp034]

Yes, the Honda is 91 lbs. heavier, it also has 212 cubic inches vs. 185 for the Merc. Both have 60 amp alternators, Honda has 1:86 gear ratio, Merc has 1:75. What does all this mean? I don't know except that I'd buy the Honda in a heartbeat over the Merc. Honda's customer service dept. is a pleasure to work with. Try calling Fondulac, Wi. and see how many days it takes for them to call you back. How about 3-4 days!

Top speed would probably go to the Opti, but I believe fuel economy and obviously the wonderful "no-smoke & sounds of silence" would have to go with the big silver motor.

Plus, as someone else said not to long ago, not too many problems have been posted about Hondas on this site. Can't say the same for the Opti-Max.

Gosh, I wish I was having a dilemma about which $14,000 motor to buy!

[johnp034]

Don't know where the heck that smiley face came from, but the Mercs gear ratio is 1:75.

See if that works.

[johnp034]

I give up!

[Cossgrove]

Giving up, write to France they have a heckuva a deal on white flags they keep on hand for situations such as these.

[Stevie B]

With-out a doubt in my mind go with the Merc.

I wouldn't trust a honda for a ride in the bay. I worked at a fishing lodge for a few years and we had 16 brand new honda's. By the end of the summer we had only one running right. We had cracked fuel pumps, broken recoils, and had a heck of a time getting them started every morning. The one thing that happened to every motor and I mean every motor was something that we called the "Choke and Puke". You would be going across the lake at full throttle and all of a sudden the motor would loose rpm, sputter and spit out a huge cloud of blue smoke, then it would gain rpm and off you would go again. This happened with every motor.

The next year we got in Mercs and it was smooth sailing!!

Fish ON!!

[johnp034]

I tell you what, if 15 out of 16 Honda's were inoperable by the end of one season, I'd check the loose nut on the end of the throttle! I don't believe I've ever heard of not only those kind of percentages, but those kind of problems with Honda's. And then all of a sudden the Black Magic appears and the problems are over? What was the name of the fishing camp? Maybe no one told them that the mix on a 4-stroke is 100:0!

[lundman]

The fishing camp story sounds fishy also.....

There are lots of stories on walleye central about problems with the optimax.

I wouldn't limit yourself to just the two choices.

consider...

Honda 200hp 4stroke.
Yamaha 200hp 4stroke.
Yamaha 200hp HPDI
Yamaha 200hp OX66 EFI (gass guzzler)
Evinrude 200hp Ficht
Mercury 200hp Opti
Mercury 200hp EFI (gas guzzler)

Seems if you want a straight story about 4stroke vs DI, you go to Yamaha and ask the question since they're the only ones who can sell you either machine. Then, once you've decided on what you want (4stroke or DI), then you can decide on which manufacturer you want to buy from.....

[Stevie B]

We were just as shocked as the next guy. We were really looking foward to those motors. Now I'm not saying that there is a prefect motor out there. We couldn't beleive it either, but it did happen. I really don't know what happened to them. The next year we had the Merc's it wasn't problem free (this is a fishing lodge after all) but it was a way smoother summer for us. The next time you end up at a sports show, see if you can find the Dogskin Lake Lodge booth and ask them about the summer with the Honda's. Tell them that Steve Berg sent you. :)

Fish ON!!

P.S. Can't wait till there is open water. We're still sitting on 48" of solid ice.

[johnp034]

I guess the last question I would have is, what was Honda's response to a 93.75% failure rate? (15 of 16) I would think they would dispatch a team of 4-stroke engineers to that camp to figure out what went wrong. Did Mercury Marine take the broken Honda's in trade or did they just eat the cost of 15 new motors, (don't know the horsepower)? If they can afford to do that, I'd hate to see the rates they charge up there!

[wingnut]

Check the August 2002 issue of Boating Magazine. They ran the 225 Opti, 225 Ficht, 225 4str Yamaha, & 225 Honda.
Top Speed -Evinrude, Honda, Merc, Yamaha
Acceleration-Evinrude, Merc, Yamaha, Honda
Mid Range-Honda, Evinrude, Merc, Yamaha
Fuel-Honda, Yamaha, Evinrude, Merc
Price-Mercury, Evinrude, Yam/Hon

Overall Best Pick was Honda

[johnp034]

Thank you Wingnut! I may sound a little pro Honda, but its a great product, and talk about hindsight, I think about it every time I try to start that black thing on the back of my boat, that I bought four years ago. I say try to start it because it first coughs, then it smokes a bit, then it coughs again, then it loads up if you choke it a tad too much, then it starts and you have to run it at 1500 R's for ten minutes before you dare try to move it. Yes, I've had it in, tuned it, plugged it, filtered it, mechaniced it, the only thing I haven't tried is anchoring it! That might be next, then I can get one of those Big, Silver, Overweight, BadBoyz!

[Stevie B]

I don't know if the owner of the lodge ever did try to get anything from honda. But if my memory is correct I recall something about the motors being sent directly to honda, after that summer. But what happened I don't know. Fortunatly for him all the motors were on lease. So there was no skin of his back. At Dogskin they got new motors in every year. One reason that I have a little bit of a thing against honda is the particual dealership that they went through. No surpirse that they lost there dealership for honda. I'm not sure on the exact details of that. Don't get me wrong I really think that Honda makes great products, but it would take me a while to re-gain some trust in their marine products.:)

Fish ON!!

[FlyinOnH2o]

The orginal post was asking for a comparrison for the 200hp motor.
Two years ago there was an article on 200hp motors>>
If your looking @ gas consumption comparisons take a look at In-fisherman Dec/Jan 2000 issue page 14. There is a article concerning performance of 7 - 200 hp motors all rigged on the same type of boat. In a nutshell Merc stats are as follows for 1999 motors:
_________________________________________________
Merc best/MPG most effecient/Max motor speed speed
_________________________________________________
200 4.5/44/67.8
200 EFI 4.5/31/69.6
200 Opti 6.1/36/70.1
Evinrude 200 FICHT
5.8/34/72.6

Granted the results are for the 1999 models but it wasn't as skewed as one might want to believe. Really don't care what type of motor anyone buys, it's like buying anything else, it's up to the individual. Companies can twist info many way to justify you buying their product and not the competition.
Which is better Chevy/Ford/Dodge???Lund/Ranger/Crestliner/Triton/Tracker????
Warranty, service, reliability/dependability and resale should be the determining factors for any purchase not a "name".

[cbohn]

maybe one of the reasons that you hear more horror stories for mercs than hondas is because mercury occupies like 45% of the outboard marketshare. now that is alot of motors out there compared to 55% that all the other companies occupy. take that into account also. there are probably more guys out there who have nothing but good things to say about merc than you would immagine.

[Stevie B]

Good point!

Fish ON!!