Verado experiences, Grady and Angler...

[reelapeelin]

Don't know the long-term down-sides to Verado yet, but right now I gotta tell ya this 250's SWEET as 10x sugar ;) 8) ...

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

[reelapeelin]

Frank, there are several ''truths'' in what you said, most important being having the right dealer in your corner...My buddy in Charleston has two 1999 Opti-Max 200s on his boat since new...for the most part they have been GREAT motors, although several issues have come up and been resolved in my friend's favor BECAUSE of his dealer...

When buyin' a new outboard, there's just no way to over-stress the importance of WHO you get it from...probably more important than who MADE it...when I got my motor in '04 we had a time w/ proppin' it...our 1st try had great numbers, but caused a ''rattle'' in the lower unit...not knowing what caused it at the time, my dealer had a Honda Tech in Spartanburg and hangin' off my transom goin' across the lake w/ in 3 days...yeah, I was impressed...but the DEALER is the guy who made it happen... ;) ...

I can think of several mercury techs that I would like to see hanging off my transom....Frank

[reelapeelin]

Betcha some would like to see some Merc dealers in same way!! ;) ...

[willy]

From what I am seeing around my area the Suzuki's have become what the Yamaha's were 15 years ago, knocking out the competition in a heads up comparison and standing by their product. Best warranty and everyone I know that has one is tickled pink by them. I got to tell you though everyone is jumping on them now with their new 4 strokes I have a 9.9 Suzuki from 1986. It has never skipped a beat, is built hell for stout and after being on three tin boats with me it is now serving back up trolling duties on Old School. And that little sucker pushes that V around like it is on steroids. One of the guys in town that just sold his boat had twin Zuki 250 two strokes on his 26 foot WA and he said even though he had over 900 hrs on them in the salt he had never had to do anything to them besides change the plugs and thermostats.