I wish merc well and I hope they hang in there with better products and customer service managers. I had a bullet proff 83 black max 150 for 11 years that I am sure is still going strong but the last few years have been a slippery slope for Merc and you can count on one thing if you blow one up...you are on your own..even if its under warranty they will try to make it look like you were neglectful. If I had not had a good friend who is a major dealer go to bat for me I would of really been screwed..They knew from the get go that the early opti's were trouble but rather that recall them they let hundreds of guys blow them up and only made good on the ones who were in the one year warranty and screwed everyone else. Frank