Chinese outboard engines

[C08]

Some of these have been around a while now. General impressions I have gathered in the past are that they are noisy, badly made and have all the issues of ancient outboards i.e. starting difficulty & running smoothly etc but I wonder if this is still the case.
Apart from the many unbadged adaptations of strimmers etc are any of the other contenders any good now e.g. Parsun, Hidea and Hangkai etc and worth a punt?

 

[steve66]

Some of these have been around a while now. General impressions I have gathered in the past are that they are noisy, badly made and have all the issues of ancient outboards i.e. starting difficulty & running smoothly etc but I wonder if this is still the case.
Apart from the many unbadged adaptations of strimmers etc are any of the other contenders any good now e.g. Parsun, Hidea and Hangkai etc and worth a punt?

Parsun are the best of the bunch

 

[CLB]

Parsun are the best of the bunch

And unless they have improved beyond all regognition in the last 3-4 years, are still a million miles away from the established brands in terms of quality and reliability. I would rather buy a used high end motor, than a new bottom end one.

 

[steve66]

And unless they have improved beyond all regognition in the last 3-4 years, are still a million miles away from the established brands in terms of quality and reliability. I would rather buy a used high end motor, than a new bottom end one.

I said they were the best of the bunch, didnt say they were anywhere near established manufacturers

 

[Capt. Clueless]

I was warned well away from strimmer engined outboards on here not so long ago. I heeded the advice and got a Yamaha 2.5 four stroke.

 

[ghostlymoron]

I'm very happy with my used Honda 2.3 especially now the fixings have been replaced with 316 stainless. Only concern is the float chamber.

 

[steve66]

I'm very happy with my used Honda 2.3 especially now the fixings have been replaced with 316 stainless. Only concern is the float chamber.

Dont worry. Have plenty of new anodized Honda 2 and 2.3 float chambers in stock!!!

 

[TQA]

One of the chandlers in the Eastern Carib is selling the Seanovo 2.5. At a little over 1/2 the price of a similar Yamaha or Tohatsu they are a cheap back up.

They seem to be well made and to run well and be reliable. How they will do in 5 or 10 yars who knows. There are a lot of 10 year old Yamahas or Tohatsus still soldiering on the transoms of cruisers dinks.

 

[steve66]

A Seanovo 2.5 is a rebadged Parsun, which is a Yamaha 2.5 clone

 

[JohnDL]

My tenders outboard, which is as old as the boat, starts 1st or 2nd pull every time

But having written that will probably not next time and it is very loud.

 

[vyv_cox]

I do have a Chinese-engined strimmer. It has always taken many pulls to start, ten being just about the minimum, but once going it runs well for at least an hour.