Sergio,
Do a little research...
Check your cost of replacement parts, like water pumps, prop shafts, things
that break on a motor. You'll be quite suprised.
Your dealer is giving you a straight story, the EFI is much preferred over a
carb engine.

Now, if he didn't tell you, the Mercury 4-stroke is built by Yamaha. Why
don't you just go to the original source and get a Yamaha?


"Sergio Ramirez" wrote in message
...
Hello all:

I tell a dealer that I want to get a 50hp honda (obviously 4-stroke),
and
he swears by a Mercury 4-stroke EFI, at basically the same price. I lean
towards the Honda but he tells me EFI is way better than carburated. I'm
thinking that carburated may be really a disadvantage on 2-stroke engines,
where gas is mixed with oil, but is the difference important in 4-strokes?

My main goal is reliability. Honda makes very reliable, hiqh-quality
machinery (not only outboard engines, but lanwmowers, cars, motorcycles,
etc), and they've been doing 4-stroke engines forever. EFI sounds great
for
the sake of fuel consumption, optimal speed, etc, plus the fact that
Mercury
is a brand sold and repaired everywhere, but IF the Merc would leave me
stranded at the lake more than a Honda would, then I'd consider it a bad
decision to go with the Merc regardless of the other plusses. So the big
question in my mind is reliability -- Is the Merc 4-stroke EFI as
realiable
as the Honda?

Thanks in advance for your opinion.

Sergio