I have had tow different mercs, two different hondas, and a yamaha. All good engines The mercs seem to be a little tempermental to start but run great once you learn how to get them up and going both seemed like they would flood easy , hondas start no matter what run all day but they were also 4 strokes, They yamaha starts like a champ runs great its a 25 hp and will die two or three times a day trolling with it but allways starts right back up I been using it for the last 12 years and would guess about 1200 hours on it just change the lower unit oil and spark plugs every year it is a oil injected 2 stroke so no mixing. I have a 200 merc on my big boat and it idles all day long if need be.