150 Merc Optimax vs. 150 Carb. Yamaha Vmax

[Danny]

bac,

I don't know a single thing about the vmaxx, but I am sure many on here do.

I do have an opti 225 hp, and I'm telling you, the gas milage is unbelievable. I get over twice the mileage with my 225 opti over what I got on my 150 Evenrude Intruder.... now granted, all technology is better. BTW, to compare boats, I now have a 21 foot triton, before I had a 17'9" Stratos.

Both boats are nice, but twice the mileage... man... gotta tell you it is nice to know when I'm running up and down the lake looking for bass because I can't find them.

Now here's what the salesman told me when I bought my boat..... "If you are going to fish big lakes, and expect to make long runs, the opti is better for mileage, if fishing smaller lakes mostly, and very short runs, you do better with the carb, as it costs less, and you won't need the extra mileage."

I hope that helps you like it did me.

Tight lines and God Bless

Danny

[mhall]

Granted my opinion is biased, but Yammy, Yammy, Yammy. When that Merc is dead that Yammy will still be running. Don't want to start a brawl here but ask marine mechanics which ones they work on the most. I'll leave it at that and say no more, cause I'm sure I'm fixin to get blasted. :o

[Danny]

Mark,

I sure hope you don't get blasted....LOL. It's a sad thing if a person can't express their opinions. I've had a lot of people tell me any motors over 75 hp are a lot of trouble, regardless of who the manufacturer is. Something about the fact that the motors are set to run at such a high performance level and they often fail.

Knock on wood, but so far... after 4 years, my opti hasn't failed me yet. I know that is the jinx of all jinxes to ever type something like that. Better carry a rabbit's foot on my next trip for sure now.

I honestly think at this point they all must be pretty darn good to have stayed in business, and that it becomes personal choice.

But a carburated motor does have less things that can go wrong than does an opti, and that alone is an advantage.

Tight lines and God Bless

Danny

[Trex]

There's an article on just this subject in the latest issue of Bass and Walleye Boats comparing an optu vs. carb. motor. You might be surprised????????

[CTFSHWHISKER]

i do know about the yammi it's all my uncle has ran since 1988.even the yammi carb motors are pretty stingy on gas his 150 pro v was great the 175hpdi was awesome.i am not sayong you aren't right but my 150 intruder that came on my 96 295 pro was great on gas,i fish with a fellow who has a 2003 520vx with an optimax,well it's on its 3rd power head and he has less than 100 hours total.i doubt that the 225 gets twice the gas milage if you put a flow meter on it,your new triton has a bigger tank therefore it seems you get alot better mileage that 1/2 tank in the stratos was only 12 gallon in the triton it's 25 gallon.bass and walleye has done lots of test since all the green peace came about and there is a difference in mileage,but most of the great mileage comes on the lighter bullets allisons and strokers,heavy hulls need power and it takes fuel to make power.depending on the boat you may get 1.5 miles per gallon more with the optimax at crusing speed,put your foot,hand in it and it won't be much different on top end.just my thought

[Dave Stewart]

You never know about any engine...at least that has been my experience and I have a lot of that. My first Opti blew the powerhead last year...it had 2634 hours on it. Hard for anyone to beat that I would say. The replacement powerhead blew this year...had about 400 hours on it but it was a 2002 225 which was one of the famous "opti pop" engines and I knew I was taking a chance when I bought it. I should explain that...there were basically two bad years and hp for the opti's...01's and 02's 225 and 250. There was a class action suit that extended the warranties on these engines. Have a new powerhead now and just got thru break in. As far as how great the Yammies are? I towed a boat in last week with a nice new Yammie blown up....and Cpt Kirk here just replaced his powerhead on his 05 Yammie...they are not any better and I am sure not any worse...they all have their problems.

[mattplapp]

The Optimax should have about 25-35 % better gas mileage at certain RPM's. At wide open throttle you narrow the gap. For a good example of this go to this months Bass & Walleye Magazine. They have a really good article on this subject. They even have a chart talking about different speeds and rpms in relation to fuel consumption.

Matt Plapp

[SpotBoy]

>Granted my opinion is biased, but Yammy, Yammy, Yammy. When
>that Merc is dead that Yammy will still be running. Don't want
>to start a brawl here but ask marine mechanics which ones they
>work on the most. I'll leave it at that and say no more, cause
>I'm sure I'm fixin to get blasted. :o
They are both good engines. I just bought a new optimax and I traded a carb engine in for it. Both are 200 hp. The optimax gets about 2 times the fuel milage as the 200L did.
As for working on more Mercury than Yammaha There are approximately 3 times more mercury's on the market than yamaha's so I guess that may happen!!!!!!!!!!

[bac]

Any idea what the title of the article was? I went to the Bass & Walleye website and could not find it.

[mattplapp]

No I'll have to find it and look.

Matt

[mfishyboy]

I HAVE RAN AN OPTIMAX AND NOW HAVE A VMAX HANDS DOWN GO WITH THE YAMAHA

[mfishyboy]

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