Yes thats very true . No question the evinrude fitch was what the early opti max was to merc ( CRAP) but because of the $$$$$$$$$ problems with both a lot of guys myself included wont touch another one even though they may have sorted out the problems by now . When you pay $14 to 16 K for a motor you expect it to last at least a year. Most of this in my humble opinion is the manufacturers deliberately dragging their feet and failing to recognize the problem and trying to weasel out of a genuine warranty claim until they expired. I know merc dealers that did everything they could to right the problem and they were dealt a bad hand by the Merc reps and told to back off and not support the customers..Even the famous Yamahahahas are now blowing power heads on the HPDI big blocks ( if you run the 250 dry it blows up) but the difference is they are standing behind their product and trying to be part of the solution. My neighbor up the creek just had a free 250 replacement with no questions asked...An old retired mountie friend of mine runs a fish camp over a thousand miles from the nearest canadian city and the cargo work horses of his fleet which ferry 20 or so fisherman from camp to camp every day in big heavy wooden boats are a bunch of mid 70's and early 80's Merc tower of power 90's and 90 v 4 johnnyrudes with a few 55 bearcats and old chrysler 115's thrown in. These motors have never been serviced by a real mechanic. I cant understand how these old motors have managed to survive that harsh envrionment with drunk eskimos working on them that cant read or write and they go 4 thousand or more hours on crappy gas and cheap canadian tire oil which sometimes is diluted with chain saw oil or what ever they have on hand and they never seem to blow up. they may stink a little when you start them and make a little noise but they dont blow up like their high strung modern day $$$$$$$$counterparts which in my opinion is nothing but a big marketing scam and no one is comfortable working on them. Frank