Outboards: 2 stroke vs. 4 stroke

And here we go!


Optimax FTMFW

I'm a four stroke fan.

We've always had two strokes. Really and truly it's about what you're trying to do with the motor. We use ours to get up in shallow water and the two stroke obviously is better at that. Unless you are really using a two stroke and the difference would make a differnce in what youre doing id say the 4 stroke is better. Whatever you do don't get a noisy arse rattletrap mercury.

just get a bigger 4 stroke yamaha

quote:

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The 4 strokes seem easier to use and much quieter.

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they are

My yammy f250 runs like a fricking dream. Hole shot isn't as great as a 2 stroke, but I still get just as shallow as I would with a 2 stroke

To anyone:

Is there a particular motor known to avoid?

In my opinion, and I'm speaking from a freshwater perspective, if you're going with a four stroke get the Yamaha. They've had a much better track record than Mercury (Verado and its 2,000 moving parts) when it comes to higher horsepower 4 stroke engines. I'm admittedly a Yamaha guy (had an '04 150 and now a '09 200 - both bulletproof) but Mercury makes a very good 2 stroke engine and I wouldn't hesitate to buy one depending upon the boat/deal. If I was going to rank 2 strokes it would be 1a. Yam 1b. Merc d. Evinrude. To my knowledge Yamaha doesn't make 2 stroke engines above 175hp. 200hp and up are 4 stroke (SHO).