Evinrude Etec vs. Merc Opti Thread

[dezlpwr]

I keep hearing from a few Etec guys on here about how their Etecs are more fuel efficient than the Merc Optis but in all of the online tests that I have come across, the Opti beats the Etec in fuel economy, top speed, and acceleration. I also find it very suspect that the marketing guys at Evinrude brag about results from comparing the Etec vs. a Merc 4 stroke. This is an apples to oranges comparison at best. Furthermore, when you look on the Evinrude website for boat tests with their engines, there are maybe 20 or so and they are mostly tests on pontoon boats. You go on the Merc website and there are tons of both in house and independent comprehensive boat tests on all different kinds of boats covering virtually every engine that Merc sells. Does Evinrude have something to hide, or is Merc's R&D dept that much better or??? Would someone please direct me to an "apples to apples" Etec vs Opti test that shows an Etec outperforming the Opti in any way?? (Top speed, fuel economy, or acceleration)

 

[BADBK]

or maybe you're reading wayyy too much into it whilst simultaneously pissing a bunch of folks off??????

Relax. Enjoy what you have, let others enjoy what they have. It's all pretty nice stuff.

 

[dezlpwr]

or maybe you're reading wayyy too much into it whilst simultaneously pissing a bunch of folks off??????

Relax. Enjoy what you have, let others enjoy what they have. It's all pretty nice stuff.

I do very much enjoy what I have. I took the boat out the other day, unheard of here in Washington state. What is wrong with a good debate? People who get pissed off about what engine is perceived to be better need to get a life and relax and maybe not participate in online forums. I seriously considered an Etec before I bought my Opti. I just didn't see enough hard evidence that the Etec was a better engine. Obviously some guys think to the contrary since they own them and I was curious as to what made them decide on the Etec. No different than Ford vs Chevy etc. Don't post in this thread if you can't keep your emotions in check or you are going to get pissed off. We are all adults, I hope....

 

[BADBK]

Nothing in the appropriate place, in someone's for sale thread then linking this pile of garbage to it is ridiculous. IMO, of course....

Debate, there is none. My 300XS is the cat's meow, hands down...

 

[dezlpwr]

Nothing in the appropriate place, in someone's for sale thread then linking this pile of garbage to it is ridiculous. IMO, of course....

Debate, there is none. My 300XS is the cat's meow, hands down...

You are correct there. That was not cool. I deleted the link. Quit posting in this "pile of garbage" then and move on...

 

[keith4216]

Fuel efficient !

 

[john lamon]

Here's what I know from first hand experience, I've spend a lot of time on e-tec powered boats, I can first give you a run down of known problems I've seen, this is the FIL's boat I'm referring to, the 2009 90 we had had one coil and one injector go bad, it had around 180 hours when the coil went down, injector a little later, it also had the lower unit let go but I firmly believe it got water in it and then froze over the winter, there was zero oil in it when I went to see what was wrong, sold it with 300 hours

Neighbours 2008 60 has had one injector go bad since new.

The 2011 150 he has now has around 225 hours on it and so far just a low oil sensor has failed, it was showing no oil when there actually was oil.

2008 175 on 1850 BR that the PO of my boat has has had zero issues, it pulls hard and I got 63 gps out of it the one time he tossed me the keys and told me to take it for a spin, I never fooled with the JP as I didn't want to push my luck with his boat.

Some positives with the e-tec is winterizing, it fogs itself and your done, if you want to use it again no big deal, just do it again next time you shut it off, it's quiet and throttle response is great, another plus is you can start and run a e-tec with a dead battery or even no battery, I myself started the 150 with a rope just to see if I could do it, and about 3 years ago we were on the other side of the lake 7 miles from home and the battery in my checkmate was completely dead, we took the battery from the 90 and put it in my boat so I could run home and the 90 ran home with no battery at all! Ran perfect. Which my Merc will not.

The fuel and oil consumption is very good, all this said I've spent very little time around new Merc stuff so I don't know what they are like, there are two 2100's on my lake with 300 Etecs that look like they run good, faster than anything I've got lol, but I've never been on them.

My dealer is the Mercury racing dealer for Saskatchewan, his slogan is or was I should say "call the Merc man" and now he sells almost all etec, so they must be doing something right.

I understand where your coming from with them always doing test with the 4 strokes and not opti's, I would like to see that to.

Like everything I think it comes down to preference, some guys like one some the other.

Here's another vid showing a etec on a pontoon and not a real boat

The father in laws 23ft aqua patio, it runs 47 GPS with a 150 etec

http://youtu.be/8liZliasLjg

 

[dezlpwr]

Great info! Thanks for sharing. . That's pretty cool that they fog/winterize themselves and that you can run them without a battery. I did not know that.

 

[karzrus]

So I have a 2008 250 XS on mine, I bought it used last year on the boat with 30 hrs on it. I switched from I/O power because I wanted easy maintenance and winterization. I think I got what I wanted, but it has not been all roses. Motor has had one coil replaced under warranty before I purchased it and I've read that these coils can be an issue at least in my year or for a few years, so I'm expecting some repair costs as other coils go out, and they will not be covered as my engine is out of warranty now.

I'm just getting use to having a nanny nag me with this thing. I do think it's great that they put all this protection on it. But I've had it yell at me a bunch since I've owned it and I'm just getting up to speed on what it all is.

First time I had an issue, driving the boat pulling tubes, thing starts beeping. (4 short beeps). Look it up, low oil? OK, buy a few jugs of the right stuff @ $75 ea. holly crap pricey. Put 2 in the onboard tank(spill some of the gold when the second one does not quite all fit) then bleed air out of the on motor tank. Still beeping, what the heck? Re-bleed a couple of times and run it a while in between, beeping goes away. Whew.

Couple week later 4 beeps again? Check, lots of oil in both tanks? bleed the motor tank a few times still beeping? Look it up? OH, 4 beeps can also be water in fuel? (Brilliant! what happened, Merc run out of ideas on how many beeps to differentiate the various issues) Try to drain the water, took three attempts and you need an allen key(my Duramax is not this hard to get water out of the fuel). I know, I'm still learning and now that I've done it once it will go better the next time.

But I'm going to spend the money for a Smartcraft gauge too, in an effort to take some of the mystery out of this thing. Interestingly, my very old I/O did not complain so much, check fluids before the start of each day add gas if required and go. I changed the leg oil often and winterizing is more work, but that's once a year.

I wanted Merc power because in the big sizes, they are more common around here and that means it's easier to find parts and get someone to fix or get help with it.

I'm sure the E-tech is better in some ways and not quite as good in others but very equal in the end. If they are less money or about the same I bet they make their owners very happy.

 

[RNGRDVE]

The battle of the egg beaters. This ought to be entertaining.

 

[dezlpwr]

Thanks Karzus. I ponied up the extra $900 for the GPS Smartcraft gauges and I absolutely love them, but I am a gauge freak. Gives me tons of info including fuel burn, total fuel burned, range etc etc. It also takes the guesswork of troubleshooting like you dealt with out of the equation because it displays exactly what is wrong. My buddy has a 2008 250 Pro XS and he has had a helluva time blowing lower units. Wonder if 2008 was a problematic year?? hmm

 

[dezlpwr]

The battle of the egg beaters. This ought to be entertaining.

Shouldn't be any battles in this thread. Every engine has it pluses and minuses. I was just hoping to see some hard facts on fuel economy, top speed etc. on Etecs vs. Optis. Strangely, there doesn't seem to be any info out there. As I stated before, Evinrude's website is not very informative in terms of actual boat tests, internal or external, compared to Merc's site. They have only a fraction of the boat tests that Merc does. My 115XS burns 10.6 gal/hr at WOT according to my Smartcraft gauge. I did find a 115HO Etec boat test on youtube that showed a burn rate of 11.5 gal/hr at WOT on a bass boat I believe. Is .9 gal/hr negligible? I think so. I do think the Etecs have a cool sound to them...

 

[karzrus]

I don't think it's just the 2008's with the coil issue.
You just reminded me about the noise factor. Mine is way too loud at mid throttle, even Idling it's louder then it should be. In my opinion even though they are performance types of engines the XS series should shut up till they are opened up. I like to talk to the other people in the boat if I'm only doing 25-35mph or less. Well forget it, unless you plan to shout.

I've read that the newer 300xs are actually a little quieter then the 250's while anything would help, I bet it's not enough.

 

[RNGRDVE]

Shouldn't be any battles in this thread.

These threads never stay calm. Just like the Chevrolet>ford>ram threads.

 

[keith4216]

This thread cracks me up. I don't think we've ever had a thread comparing which motor is quieter or gets better milage. I had to check that I hadn't come across a sailboat forum.

 

[atc250r]

Real world questions when fuel is $5 a gallon on the water. Plus, less time at the pump means more timehhaving fun on the water.

 

[john lamon]

This thread cracks me up. I don't think we've ever had a thread comparing which motor is quieter or gets better milage. I had to check that I hadn't come across a sailboat forum.

Not all of is have your money Keith, it matters to me of I can save a few bucks at the pump.

 

[keith4216]

I'm all about quiet and milage on my toon. Just doesn't seem to go with peformance power boating.

 

[dezlpwr]

300xs are garbage in saltwater according to my merc mechanic, so the Pro XS wins hands down. 300xs in freshwater kick ass

 

[atc250r]

If you can have an 80mph boat that's good on fuel or the same one that sucks it down like crazy why on earth would you choose the latter?