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Location: Middleton, WI | Merc vs. Honda. Honda 4 stroke is in a different league. Its a quantum leap forward - far superior based on my experience. After you have a Merc for 12 months - my experience is that you are on your own. "Customer service" no longer applies, it doesn't apply after midnight 12 months later. Honda in the past year has replaced their EFI injectors and some parts because they were seeing a trend of problems in their 115 & 130's for their engines operated in saltwater environments for 2-3 years. What did they do? (Merc would have most likely pretended that they knew nothing of the problem and denied it all.) As I understand it, Honda chose to inform all its owners of its self-imposed, voluntary recall - they fixed the parts for all their motors(at Honda expense), then placed a five year warranty on the entire motor from that point. That is C-U-S-T-O-M-E-R S-E-R-V-I-C-E!!!!! Customers do get respect at Honda. Merc places high priority on earnings per share and profitability to the detrement of their customers - so it appears. I had a problem with my 2 stroke 60 hp Merc and contacted the CEO/senior management at Merc to get some satisfaction and they wrote me back offered nothing and basically said - please understand that you're on your own after the warranty runs out, we have no legal responsibility, etc...
I advised them that I live in Wisconsin,would like to keep my money in this state supporting Merc jobs here in the USA & WI and gave them a chance to show me the "great" customer service they advertise so broadly. They failed miserably - they were non-responsive.
I bought a new Honda 50 this spring. There is no comparison. Like Castmaster above - I agree with him totally, quiet,extremely improved fuel efficiency,uses no oil (obviously),clean,smooth,strong running is actually lighter than the Merc 60! I like the manual choke. The Honda lawnmower I bought in 1984 still runs like new (never had it in the shop) it made me wonder what their outboards were like. I figured if they anywhere near as good as that ole' lawnmower I would be in for an excellent,excellent piece of machinery. By the way, I have never worked for Honda, Mercury nor have I ever been in the business - I'm just a basic muskie fisherman who likes to keep the boat afloat,motor running and chasing muskies. I was talking to a Honda shop when I was getting my oil and fluids changed and he told me that Honda is doing modle changes on their 130-150's and removing significant weight out of their upcoming models. You might check into that. He said that they are going to redesign some of their motors and will offer a new tiller on their 50's that is longer and has the gear lever built in. They are also going to offer a 50 & 60hp (now its only 50-75) with the redesigned tiller. I've heard Opti-max's disintegrating, blowing up - apparently the oil pumps are a weak link and have been known to malfunction - resulting in an immediate catastrophic failure of the powerhead. Darn good thing Boeing aircraft have things figured out better than that. Whatever you do get a sealed oil cavity i.e., 4 stroke, the engineering is absolutely superior and far more reliable, it's a night and day difference! Good luck on your decision | |
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