Mercury or Etec Evinrude

mikewright3747

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Jan 8, 2010
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3
Have been a Merc man all my life but am really impressed with Evinrudes Etec
Have never owned a new outboard and want to be sure to make the right choice for my money - looking for 25 - 30 hp mainly for fishing and duckhunting on small to medium sized waters
 

JB

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Re: Mercury or Etec Evinrude

Etec
 

steelespike

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Re: Mercury or Etec Evinrude

Etec; lighter,faster,and fewer less complicated service intervals.
 

Texasmark

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Re: Mercury or Etec Evinrude

Sorry, I may get disbarred for this, but I just can't resist.

Before you take stock in Mr. JB's answer look at what is hanging on the back of his Whaler in his Avatar.....doesn't look like a Merc to me......Har, Har. Sorry just like the dog barking, it just came out.....please forgive me boss man. Grin

I don't know what Steelspike runs.

Naw, prior to and up to the early '70's I was an OMC guy but I got tired of getting smacked by Mercs. So I changed sides.....been there ever since.

The Merc 2 cycle is the Optimax in the bigger engines, don't know what they call the smaller ones. You hear good reports about them; never had one so I can't comment.

No doubt the E-tech is a well thought out, well designed, competitor to the 4 cycle crowd and if I were in the market today, it would certainly include looking into the rude offering.

All do respect to the 4 cycle inputs, they are just not my baileywick.

Since this advice is free you can't come back on the warranty. Grin again.

Good luck and I hope whatever you choose, it satisfies your wildest dreams.

Mark
 

cleve

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Sep 18, 2008
Messages
156
Re: Mercury or Etec Evinrude

Have Heard Mixed Reviews On The Etec's. I'd Say If You Want Power Go With Old School Thought And Go With Mercury. Say What You Want, But With The Exception Of A Few Year Model Mercuries, They Are Proven Power Plants. The Mechanic At Our Local Marine Dealership Said That You Couldn't Give Him An E-tec. Nuff Said, He's Been There 20 Years.
 

trendsetter240

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Jun 22, 2009
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1,458
Re: Mercury or Etec Evinrude

Wow, a lot of these posts keep popping up lately. I guess people are shopping now for spring!

If you really want to do your research then try searching this forum for Etec or E-Tec and you will see a bunch of recent posts and replies on the subject. You will also see a poll where the majority of board members that responded chose E-tec as the best new outboard on the market. (more than 50% of the 35 people responding chose e-tec.)


My personal choice would be to go with the E-Tec. They have an excellent warranty and I have heard excellent reviews from happy owners. They cost more up front then say a merc or a tohatsu but they make up for it in fewer service requirements over the first 6 years. i.e. Ready to go WOT out of the box and no dealer service required for 3 years. Then another 3 years after that before your next service.

All of the motors available brand new are excellent motors. The ETEC line just beats the others in enough ways for it to be my choice.

Cheers!
 

RotaryRacer

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Jul 18, 2004
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1,361
Re: Mercury or Etec Evinrude

I'd Say If You Want Power Go With Old School Thought And Go With Mercury.

There is nothing old school about the currently available Mercury's...that is a good thing. To compete they need to be just as technologically advanced as their competitors....let alone they need to meet EPA and CARB emissions standards.

Optimax = Direct injected two stroke, computer controlled, high tech, 75hp-250hp.

Four Stroke = anything but old school....20 HP and down are carbureted (and built by Tohatsu). Above 20HP they are fuel injected. 25HP and 30HP are also built by Tohatsu. Over that they are Mercury built. The full range of Four Strokes is 2.5HP-115HP

Verado = supercharged four strokes...basically the newest technology on the market. 150hp-300hp


Before anyone states I'm biased since I currently run an Evinrude...yeah I might be.

The Evinrude E-tec is a direct injected two stroke....it has been on the market since 2004. It was preceeded by the Direct Injection series which was what BRP renamed the FICHT technology. By all accounts the E-Tec series has taken care of all of the issues that OMC had with the FICHT line of motors. The E-Tec is currently available from 25hp-300hp.

For the original poster looking for a 25-30HP motor I would say that E-Tec is the way to go if you have the budget to swing it. If you are on a tight budget look at buying a Tohatsu instead of a Mercury.
 

Texasmark

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Re: Mercury or Etec Evinrude

...... It was preceeded by the Direct Injection series which was what BRP renamed the FICHT technology. The E-Tec is currently available from 25hp-300hp.

Ohhhhhh. I thought OMC (er ah BRP as you say) divorced themselves from the name FICHT....to much, too soon, too many problems. Management had their way over their engineering staff.....get it on the market.

Open to criticism, just relaying the rumors.

Mark
 
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trendsetter240

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Re: Mercury or Etec Evinrude

The Evinrude E-tec is a direct injected two stroke....it has been on the market since 2004. It was preceeded by the Direct Injection series which was what BRP renamed the FICHT technology.

Everything you said I agree with, Merc has excellent motors available in their 2010 lineup. Just want to add that BRP didn't rename the DI series FICHT, FICHT is the name of the company (FICHT GmbH & Co) that they bought the design from in the 1990's.

The E-TECs use a redisigned version of the FICHT DI system, engineered by BRP.
 

RotaryRacer

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Re: Mercury or Etec Evinrude

Ohhhhhh. I thought OMC (er ah BRP as you say) divorced themselves from the name FICHT....to much, too soon, too many problems. Management had their way over their engineering staff.....get it on the market.

Open to criticism, just relaying the rumors.

Mark

OMC "renamed" it to FICHT Ram for 1999, there were actually a lot of changes and upgrades for the 1999-2000 model years that got the motors to a somewhat reliable level. OMC went bankrupt in 2000...BRP bought Johnson and Evinrude in 2001...the FICHT name remained through 2002-2003...after that they just called them "Direct Injection"...and then E-Tec was introduced. The E-Tec line of motors is a complete redesign from FICHT.
 

RotaryRacer

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Re: Mercury or Etec Evinrude

Everything you said I agree with, Merc has excellent motors available in their 2010 lineup. Just want to add that BRP didn't rename the DI series FICHT, FICHT is the name of the company (FICHT GmbH & Co) that they bought the design from in the 1990's.

The E-TECs use a redisigned version of the FICHT DI system, engineered by BRP.

A little tidbit from a third source (wikipedia):

"In the early 1990s, Ficht GmbH of Kirchseeon, Germany developed a high-pressure direct injector for use with two stroke engines. Outboard Marine Corporation (OMC) licensed the technology in 1995 and introduced it on a production outboard engine in 1996.[36][37] OMC purchased a controlling interest in Ficht in 1998.[38] Beset by extensive warranty claims for its Ficht outboards and prior and concurrent management-financial problems, OMC declared bankruptcy in December 2000 and the engine manufacturing portion and brands (Evinrude Outboard Motors and Johnson Outboards), including the Ficht technology, were purchased by BRP in 2001.[39][40]

Evinrude introduced the E-Tec system, an improvement to the Ficht fuel injection, in 2003, based on U.S. patent 6,398,511. In 2004, Evinrude received the EPA Clean Air Excellence Award for their outboards utilizing the E-Tec system.[41] The E-Tec system has recently also been adapted for use in performance two-stroke snowmobiles."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline_direct_injection#In_two-stroke_engines
 

RotaryRacer

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Re: Mercury or Etec Evinrude

We're all saying basically the same thing.

For the original poster:

25-30HP Mercury = EFI Four Stroke built by Tohatsu.

25-30HP Evinrude = E-Tec Direct Injection Two Stroke.

They would both probably serve your purposes well. There are plenty of pros/cons for four strokes vs. two strokes. It basically comes down to this...Four strokes will require a bit more maintenance (oil changes etc.) A two stroke will require oil to be added to a tank regularly to be injected into the combustion chamber....the oil isn't cheap.
 
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