Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Trying to decide between Yamaha 250 Vmax SHO and Mercury Verado 250 PRO. Will be rigged on Bennington 2375GCW tritoon. Looking for advise/opinions. Pro and cons and why. Thanks!

This is the old Ford, Chevy debate. That having been said. Mercury has had it's problems over the years although from what I'm reading the Verodo series look fairly solid. Yamaha, on the other hand, has consistently made long lasting, reliable outboards and even made Mercury's mid horsepower engines for a few years from 2003 to 2007 I think. Also, Mercury Big Foot series were made in China for what that's worth. That Vmax is a great OB in my opinion.

X2 for the Yamaha!

You have obviously decided on a 20" transom to be considering the SHO.

The Mercury is ~130 lbs heavier yet the Yamaha is a 60 percent larger displacement engine.
I believe the power steering pump and cylinder are included in the Mercury's weight so the "real world" difference might only be ~80lbs.
The Mercury steering system is probably a nicer looking, functioning arrangement.

The weight issue alone is pretty significant if you know much about pontoons but the Cubic Inch / HP issue, (specific output) is the big deal for me. The Mercury is a highly stressed, octane dependent engine by comparison - requiring boost and substantial RPM to make the power. (89 octane vs 92 Recommended)

5800 is the MINIMUM full throttle rpm on the Merc vs 5K on the Yamaha.

I think the Yamaha will be durability winner in the long run and that's the way I voted with my $.

I had a 250 Verado and it was a great engine . Super quiet at idle speeds, smooth and fast. They are known for the fuel float problems , but not a huge deal to fix yourself, and be prepared if it happens on the water. Can be issues with the battery's and the power steering pump but I never experienced that either and I ran a one battery system . That said, I would look hard at the yamaha but would not hesitate to get another verado. They just look cool too.

I have a 225 VRod and really like it. Had an issue with pencil coils earlier this year but mercury replaced them all under warranty.

With that said, I would have no issues going with the Yamaha either. It is a great motor.

Your decision may best be made on price point and/or dealer service.

It's a tossup on delivered price between Merc and Verado.

The Verado engine itself can be bought cheaper, however setup with fly by wire controls and the SmartCraft gauges will run you about $4,500. And I think the power steering is standard on the 250 motor, however.

On the Yamaha, you don't necessarily have to use the fly by wire controls and you can get by with regular analog gauges. (I personally don't need all the highly electronic gauges on a 16 mile long lake.) And you'll need to order the $2300 MSRP power steering assist for the SeaStar hydraulic steering.

The large Verado engines were really designed for multiple engine usage in offshore fishing boats, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's much heavier than Mercury admits. Especially on pontoon boats, lighter is better.

The Yamaha VMax SHO 4 strokes have had some serious durability problems with what they call "making oil." The engines run very cool, and the piston rings don't always seat correctly upon break in. When this happens, some unburned gas gets past the rings and gets in the crankcase and you can see a high oil level on the dipstick. Dealers and Yamaha are very quiet on this subject due to high potential liabilities, but they've had to replace a bunch of engines under warranty. Their fix is to change oil (at your cost), get the engine warm, and run the living stew out of the motor. Sometimes doing this properly seats the rings, and sometimes it doesn't.

The SHO is really, really strong in mid range and higher rpm's. People that have them seem to really love'm and would buy another. There again, the Verado 250 hp is also a very strong engine due to being supercharged. There again, I don't think there's anything wrong with a regular F250 that's a torque monster.

I'd certainly hate to have to buy a $5K supercharger sometimes in a Verado's lifespan. Sometimes, a little lower technology is better in the long run, and I don't plan on trading very often.

Maybe Bryan can come into this subject since he's running a big Verado on his Premier.

I compared both head to head before I bought my Bennington and have absolutely no regrets on the Verado 250 Pro. It is smoother, much quieter, and from what I can tell mine is slightly faster than most @51mph top end, with plenty of punch left for skiing. Completely delivered from my dealer who sold both brands, so no local service concerns, there was less than $250 difference in price out the door, so the Verado was an easy choice. The dealer also comp'd me to a 5 year warranty, which I extended to 7 years platinum. This has me feeling secure for warranty needs. There is no doubt both are modern very high tech outboards so that may bring some issues as mentioned, but the Verado has been around a very long time, in Gen II form now, so many on water hours to work the bugs out. Good luck!

We have a HPDI Vmax, 150 hp, it takes the sweetwater up to 43 mph, its been a great engine. We used to have a Big Foot on the last pontoon...and it was less than reliable. Other than that we have had mostly mercury engines and never had any major problems until they were well over 25 years old.

I'll take a naturally aspirated engine over a boosted engine rated at the same HP ANY day of the week. Boosted is like a 2 stroke, go lean for ANY reason and it usually doesn't end up pretty........... Trust me, I've owned many boosted toys and love to see how far I can take them

Every brand has flaws, Its just a case on getting a lemon or not..IMO...I've never owned either engine or even a 4 stroke for that case but if I had my pick of either engine I'd go with the verado, not because it's a better or worse engine it's just the one I like. As far as price wise the vrod has also been the cheapest also (around here) in the big HP category. I just sold my toon and I'm looking at another chassis right now, it has a 300hp transom so I'm wanting to power it with a 300 verado pro but I'm still a ways off from that!

Mrtoler wrote:Every brand has flaws, Its just a case on getting a lemon or not..IMO...I've never owned either engine or even a 4 stroke for that case but if I had my pick of either engine I'd go with the verado, not because it's a better or worse engine it's just the one I like. As far as price wise the vrod has also been the cheapest also (around here) in the big HP category. I just sold my toon and I'm looking at another chassis right now, it has a 300hp transom so I'm wanting to power it with a 300 verado pro but I'm still a ways off from that!

Just in case you're buying the Verado used and out of warranty, you can buy a 225 and Simon Motorsports can just upgrade the ECM to 310hp for under a grand like Bryan did.

A couple of highlights from the tests:

Note the Yamaha is FULL of fuel

Yamaha is ~.5 seconds faster 0-30
Yamaha gets ~25% better fuel economy @ wot
Yamaha runs ~ 1.5 mph faster even with 29 more gallons on board.

Sorry guys and gals, trying to get the size right.

I think you got it.