They're telling me to stay away from Honda!

[jay_merrill]

Re: They're telling me to stay away from Honda!

Whether you're talking about generators or outboards, Honda makes an excellent product. The problem is the price - I just don't think that they are worth it, given the alternatives.



???

 

[4JawChuck]

Re: They're telling me to stay away from Honda!

The large HP Hondas have a reputation for bottom end failure, seems they lose the prop shaft when the engines are run at high transom heights in a surfacing application such as flat boats. They are two piece friction welded assemblies and can't handle the vibration.

The common failure is the prop shaft shears off completely and you lose the prop at the same time. In general the feeling is Honda lower ends are fragile compared to the other mfg's amongst people that use them for making a living on the water or use them in a high performance application. The other fact which many people point out is they are very heavy for their HP rating which limits the transom rating on some boats.

I wouldn't hesitate to buy a 2-10HP kicker from them but I wouldn't buy a 150-225HP outboard from Honda, Yamaha and Merc are the top picks in that category for some very good reasons.

 

[Whoopbass]

Re: They're telling me to stay away from Honda!

Edit: Unnecessary political twist

I like Honda but if you have a 10-15 hp Honda mounted on an aluminum boat being pulled by a Toyota your seen as a poacher in these parts.

 

[gss036]

Re: They're telling me to stay away from Honda!

[The large HP Hondas have a reputation for bottom end failure] Honda use to buy the lower ends from Mercury, don't know if that is still the case. I have never heard that from the Coast Guard people who have hundreds, if not thousands of Hondas in service around the world.

 

[Cricket Too]

Re: They're telling me to stay away from Honda!

Edit: Unnecessary political twist

I like Honda but if you have a 10-15 hp Honda mounted on an aluminum boat being pulled by a Toyota your seen as a poacher in these parts.

Hahaha, well if you have a Merc on your boat and you are pulling it with a Chevy or Ford, chances are you're gonna need to be towed in by an OMC or a Yami and then get your truck towed by a Toyota or Nissan.

Seriously though, the only reasons I wouldn't buy a Honda is because of the lack of dealer support, the weight and price, quality wouldn't play into it at all. Hell if we're gonna talk quality, I'd buy anything over a Merc..

 

[sprintst]

Re: They're telling me to stay away from Honda!

How about the new ETEC's from BRP (Evinrude).

It seems this is where the innovation is. I'm looking at them at some point as a kicker. I have an i/o or I would have went with one of these.

I've heard nothing but good things so far.

 

[Cricket Too]

Re: They're telling me to stay away from Honda!

Best DI 2 stroke made, period.

 

[bktheking]

Re: They're telling me to stay away from Honda!

I guess he has a point but he needs to get over it.

Yes he does, we wouldn't have half the technology we have today without Japanese influence Edit: Unnecessary political twist

 

[wbeaton]

Re: They're telling me to stay away from Honda!

Seriously though, the only reasons I wouldn't buy a Honda is because of the lack of dealer support, the weight and price, quality wouldn't play into it at all. Hell if we're gonna talk quality, I'd buy anything over a Merc..

Funny you mention that. I'm outfitting two boats at work and chose to buy two new Yamaha's instead of using two FREE (2004) Mercury's.