Posts: 433
Location: Cedarburg, Wisconsin | Had them both and ran them for literally thousands of hours over the years.
Comparing them for noise, it just depends on how tight they are made. After a bunch of hours everything loosens up and rattles, vibrates, humms, or whatever. I'd give the 4 stroke a small advantage in being quiet.
For running well at slow speeds, I'd take the 4 stroke. They seem to hold speed better in the hands off mode for trolling salmon and run a little smoother at very low rpms like you'd use to pull spinners with bait for walleyes.
For trolling muskies where you get on the motor on sharp turns, run fast or faster, the two strokes blow the fours out of the water. Same 15 HP rating and my 2 stroke gave me almost 2 mph better top end.
For gas mileage, not much difference if they are tuned right, maybe a slight edge to the four strokes, but not much.
Mixing gas for the two strokes is definitely a factor as is having a seperate tank if you don't run mixed gas to the big motor.
They both work fine but if they came out with an injected two stroke in a realistic weight it would be the best by far. |