I put 250-300 hours a year on my Mercury no problems. Last Mercury I sold in 2019 had 970 hours and they run it often and that motor has not been touched top or bottom. Only service stuff.

I would never run another Yamaha due to a issue I had years ago.

I had a Yamaha Motor that had warranty and a injector stopped up and they would not fix it under warranty .

Said that it look like a dirt dobber had tried to start a nest under the cowling and they assumed it sucked in dirt and stopped the injector open.

I said you can assume anything but it has warranty. I also said if a dirt dobber can get under the cowling then you have a problem.

I spoke to 2 different Rep's who refused to fix it.

I run my boats 3-5 days a week, so that don't leave much time to build a nest.

Needless to say I had to PAY to FIX it and I have never ran another Yamaha since.

Oh and I had a Yamaha blow up on me with only 170 hours, but they fixed that one.

Just bought a 2024 xpress with a 115 sho. I got 6 year warranty on it. Had a 250 sho on a fx 20 before and loved it.

Had good luck with both. I fished with a guide in Galveston that had twin Yam 300 four strokes on a Contender that had 3,300 hrs on both of them. He said all he had ever done to them was change the lower unit grease and water pump impeller every year

I had a vmax blowup on.me 1 month past warranty. Yamaha and Plano marine told me I was chit out of luck. Won't buy another Yamaha. Plano marine did All the service. Yamaha is a probably as a good a motor as any. But Plano marine, beware.

Buy a leash and be careful with lower units on the Merc if you are rough on your stuff.

Sounds like you need something strong like a anvil lol

I had a SHO that I put 900+ hours on it was a first gen, had a few issues but overall a really good motor. Had a Mercury 4S on my last boat and it was a good motor and I ran it almost 2 years.

Both good motors

I have a 1st gen SHO and it’s still running strong. About 5years ago I got a letter from Yamaha that said “this is not a recall” and then said based on some information that they would replace my power head at no charge. There was nothing wrong with my power head at the time. I reached out to a friend who is a former race car mechanic and he said anytime someone offers you new power to take it, The offer was good for 12 months, so I waited until the 12th month and had the power head replaced. Still going strong…. I’d take a SHO because of that experience….

got a 2010 yamaha 25 hp that has run 4227 GPS documented miles mostly wide open down the Mississippi,Missouri,tombigbee,chattahoochee,flint,Tennessee and Ohio rivers plus 12 duck seasons....got 2002 Merc EFI 175 still running strong....

I see a Skeeter on Fork every once in a while; a newer one with a 250 SHO, that blows by me like I'm chained to a stump. I've only got a 200 SHO on a 19.5 footer and most folks running 250 will either be real close to my top end or slightly faster. I figure it's had the Niz Pro thing done to it.
There was a video on You Tube a while back of a guy running a ZX200 nearly identical to mine on the Red River and running GPS speeds from the low to mid 80's; probably had the Niz Pro thing too. I've talked to someone about it that has a 20 foot Skeeter that has done it and even with a 30 inch pitch prop his boat would still limit out on RPM's.
I kicked around the idea of doing it to my boat and taking everything off it and bracket racing it when the SDBA comes to Paris.

It makes most of the power in the mid to upper RPMs. The lower RPMs are not much different. This creates an issue with propping the boat. It just doesn’t have enough power to twist a stiff prop fast enough to jump out of the hole. It’s kinda a dog trying to get on pad. But! When it does…..hang on. The power to weight ratio becomes insane from about 3800-6600 rpm. It will literally make you slide back into the seat. Haha.

You also have to read the rules on the tourney you plan on entering. Some won’t allow boats to have power in excess of its spec decal. Some word the rules to say the MOTOR must not have been rated for more than the sticker<<<in this case, you’re ok. The motor IS still RATED for the horsepower on the cowling…it just makes about 50% more. Some limit HP to 250….so depending on the motor/computer, it may make 250 or less.

It is nice having the flash software and the hardware…this allows you to flash the motor, and back to factory tune whenever you want. The only issue is having multiple props. I have 3 right now. I have a summer prop, winter prop, and a giddyup prop! …a 22, 23, and 26. The 26 is heavily vented to allow the motor to get to 3800 rpm really fast.

The total cost is about $3500….buying the equipment, software, and props.

Both have been good to me but the last Yamaha I had was 17 years old and ran like a top when I sold it.

I don't think any major individual tournaments allow 300+ motors.

Thanks for all the input guys.

I'd still be running an Evinrude if they still made them much faster then d Merc I have now but I've had d Merc 4 years with no problems yet. I see that most of d Pros use Mercs and I always heard that d Sho shows up in d shop more.