seasicknes wrote:The etec would be quieter than the optimax.
Both deliver good miles per gallon compared to the older carburated engines.
The etec and optimax are two stroke motors and you get alot of torque with these motors compared to 4 strokes. Four strokes are slow getting out of the hole (hole shot) and are heavier motors.
The etec is still new on the market. Basically a up to date ficht motor. The older generation ficht motors were problematic with the 150/175hp V6 motors. All other fichts were ok. But, due to extensive out in the field upgrades trying to repair these problematic motors the company (OMC) went bankrupt.
The optimax had problems early on also, but faired better. There problem motor was the 200/225hp range. All other optis were ok.
Ken (90hp 4 stroke / 225hp etec / 15hp honda 4 stroke / 6hp merc 4 stroke)
I realize this is a older post but what years had the problems with Optimax. I'll be on the market for used boat late this winter. I've been window shopping and found several Triton TR 19 with 200 Optimax. TR 19 or TR196 seem to be reasonable priced these days.
