Mercury Pro XS

[Kajundave]

I think tonka had 800 plus hrs on his 225 opti... with no repairs made many offshore trips, awesome on fuel and oil

[Tonka337]

Originally Posted by Kajundave

I think tonka had 800 plus hrs on his 225 opti... with no repairs made many offshore trips, awesome on fuel and oil

Ran it for 4 years, no issues. Very good on fuel and I would recommend the Optimax to anyone.

[Tonka337]

Originally Posted by jldsc

thats a 300 verado fuel hog!! I hadnt heard anything bad about the 250proxs at all untill now...hopefully thats all squared up by now..Its hard to go for 5 more mph and lose 3 years of warranty

I run a 300 Verado. Zero complaints. It burns close to the same amount of fuel as my old 225 Optimax, just don't have to purchase oil anymore. The way I see it, when you hit the key and she fires up every single time, you got yourself a damn good engine no matter what the brand! Maybe I got lucky but, my Verado is sweet as hell!

[Wide Open]

Originally Posted by Tonka337

I run a 300 Verado. Zero complaints. It burns close to the same amount of fuel as my old 225 Optimax, just don't have to purchase oil anymore. The way I see it, when you hit the key and she fires up every single time, you got yourself a damn good engine no matter what the brand! Maybe I got lucky but, my Verado is sweet as hell!

Tonk hows that 300 V rod push the SW? is it a 22ft, or 24?

[Tonka337]

Originally Posted by Wide Open

Tonk hows that 300 V rod push the SW? is it a 22ft, or 24?

It does not have that hole shot power that my Optimax did but it pushes my Shearwater 25TE with ease. At 4,000rpm, I run about 35-36mph, 4,500rpm/40-41mph. My top speed is close to 6,300rpm/60mph. As long as I keep it under 4,500rpm's the fuel consumption is somewhere around 3-4 miles per gallon (calculated). My prop is a 19P Tempest plus. I've been playing around with a few different props and haven't found that magic prop yet. The shearwater runs different from my Triton as well. On my triton I would just trim the boat up to get on the pad and roll with it. The shearwater runs and drives like a bass boat more than a bay boat. It likes the boat to run more level than trimmed up on a pad. When running my in the sweet spot I keep the trim at .4-.6, other wise she will porpuse a little. I guess this is due to the weight of the 300 Verado. Though, when running wide open I can trim her up to 4.5, haulin azz. So far, I have only great things to say about the Verado 300. This thing is a beast.

[Jadams]

Dont u have to run premium in verado?

[Kajundave]

[SIZE=3]I went on line last night the Opti is the most fuel efficient motor believe it or not! I was stunned to find the Yamaha 250 sho burns more fuel than the 250 pro XS [/SIZE]

[Montauk17]

Originally Posted by Jadams

Dont u have to run premium in verado?

Not with the regular verado.....on the pro model if you don't run premium you actually loose horsepower and warranty. Not a huge fan of them but I must admit the power steering is bad to the bone.

[Jadams]

Yea I've drove one but that thing drank fuel

[Tonka337]

Originally Posted by Jadams

Dont u have to run premium in verado?

I run ethanol free premium fuel.

[Gater]

Originally Posted by bigrich74

How many of y'all are running a Pro XS on an haynie or any other boat? How well do they hold up? And why a Pro XS over a yamaha four stroke.

I have talked to three different mechanics about this and all three work on Yamaha, Suzuki, Mercury, and Evinrude. The opinions of these mechanics is that they all have issues at some point. All of them pointed out that the Etec was the worst as far as breakdowns and in fact one of these mechanics is a dealer that sells all four brands and he did away with the Etec lineup just because of this and unsatisfactory company support.

The 4 stroke lineup from Yamaha and Suzuki are both having some issues and the Yamaha 300 HPDI had major issues (it and the 250 HPDI are no longer in production).

The overwhelming opinion of these three mechanics was that the best engine as far has least amount of shop time is the Mercury Optimax. The jury is still out on the new Mercury 150 4 stroke as it is still fairly new.
As one mechanic mentioned, even though no motor is immuned to problems, the Mercury outboards are by far the cheapest to work on and parts are readily available, and as one guy said you can even buy some of them at Walmart (LOL).

The SHO's seemed to be a good motor with the only major issues being prop shafts snapping but from what I understand this is coming from running oversized props that the prop shaft can't handle. The throwaway powerhead would be a little concerning but I have not heard of any major issues with them so far.

I run a 2007 Yamaha 200 HPDI and have had no issues (knock on wood) but I would not hesitate putting one of the Opti's or and Opti Pro XS on my boat. The only thing I can complain about on the Mercury is the engine noise. Hands down, the Opti Pro XS gets the best fuel economy of any of them, 4 strokes included.

I am not partial to any brand right now and I wanted this info if I was to repower a larger offshore boat. I felt like it was good honest info because these guys service all the different engines.

Hope this info helps your decision making easier.

Gater

[Big Ridge]

Got a Pro XS 225 on my Haynie no problems...yet. 250's had all the problems

[bigrich74]

I ended up buying a Blue Wave with a 300 Suzuki with the digital controls.

[SaltyShaw]

Originally Posted by bigrich74

I ended up buying a Blue Wave with a 300 Suzuki with the digital controls.

Smart decesion . . . . . If i was to get another 4 stroke it would be a Suzuki!
But i love my ProXS definately the only 2 Stroke I will own until they do away with them.

Any pics of the rig?

[coastalobsession]

If you want to be stuck on the water or at the repair shop then go with a merc. There is only two choices.....Yamaha or Suzuki

[RedXCross]

LMAO, yep Ford, Chevy, Dodge. There ya have it. Merc 250 Po XS on an Extreme. No issues at all, 2 guide friends same deal, 300 plus hours 1 year old no issues.