Ok I promised a thorough and factual review, and here it is.
I love this motor. What I have to compare to is (1) my 2000 model F25 that I just sold and (2) the old 3 cylinder 25 Yamaha that I've got out in the shed that is not broken in yet, the old F20 that I had briefly, a 2006 F15 that was a "flip" motor (buy/resell), and a pair of Tohatsu/Mercury 4 stroke 25hp motors that I've rented/run a few times at the river. The 3 cylinder 25hp Yamaha (98 model) that I have gets used seldom and honestly at some point it'll probably find a new owner (brother wants it).
First thing's first. It is actually possible to tilt it from inside the boat! Lightweight it is for sure. That part I absolutely LOVE. At least compared to my other two Yamaha's. It's still not PT&T though
Upon the push of the button, the engine fires (purrs) to life, idles up immediately to about 1400 RPM then settles within seconds down to exactly 900 (within a few RPM of course). The trolling speed is adjustable via switch on the side of the tiller handle, which is easily accessible. It will troll DOWN to 750 RPM with 3 clicks of the down switch; and then 3 "clicks" up, it will troll up to 1050 RPM. I like that part but don't know how much I'll actually use it. With my prop and boat, I'm seeing 2.0 mph at 750, and 4.1 mph at 1050 just for reference-for those who may want to use it for trolling. The throttle grip is perfectly shaped, very comfortable and easy to use. The tiller handle is longer than the old Yamaha's were-which is nice, but the best part is that it's angled toward the starboard side (toward the operator) and it is just really natural. It's not a steep angle, but it doesn't stick straight out of the front of the motor like the old ones did, either. Shifter. Mind you, this thing has 0.5 hours on it so it's still new...it's a little notchy to shift forward-neutral-reverse but nothing I would complain about. Shifter is mounted up on the tiller handle about mid ways fore and aft, very easy to access it. Running. At low speeds it does shake more than my old F25 did. The old 3 cylinder 2 stroke is smoother, but again, it's basically a brand new motor that gets used about twice a year to keep everything lubricated. The Yamaha rep says the shake will subside with hours. I hope so. It's not severe but it's not silky smooth like the Merc/Tohatsu/Nissan 25's are (they are 3 cylinder engines). The shake goes away at about 1400-1500 RPM. Quiet. Man is it quiet-much less noise than my old 2000 F25 was, and I thought it was quiet. It had a very slight noise from the foot (gear noise)...this 2018, the foot is SILENT. Speaking of the foot, the prop shaft is identical to the old 2 stroke and 4 stroke 25's so your props (if you have one) will retrofit. I'll get to propping in a minute. The tilt lock-it's no longer on the starboard side like they were for many years, which wasn't a problem for me (I got used to it)-Yamaha moved it to the FRONT, down kinda low, and I wasn't sure how I'd like that...but it's real easy to get to, easy to use, real ergonomically shaped, everything about it is an improvement over the old style. And for the hunters, it's now out off the way so that brush can't get into it. I've had that happen a couple times with my 3 cylinder.
The EFI. It's SILKY smooth transitioning from idle to part throttle to full throttle, and I mean it's absolutely linear all the way through. Yamaha did an excellent job there for sure. Cold starting? Effortless. Hot start? Effortless. It doesn't sweat either one. The backup recoil starter does take more of a harder pull than my old F25 did, BUT that motor was carbureted with auto-choke, and I had it idling slightly rich for better starting in cool waters (which is where I fish a lot). It took maybe 7-10 lbs pull to get that one started, this one takes closer to 20 lbs, and you can't just easily pull it because the stator has to generate enough electricity to power the EFI system, so you have to pull with some authority. It is still not hard to pull though, and NOWHERE near the effort to start my dad's 9.9 Evinrude (1986) or my 25 3 cylinder Yamaha, which is about the same as the 9.9 is as far as pull starting effort.
Now everyone wants to know by now how fast it is. I tried the factory white 9 7/8" x 11 1/4" aluminum prop on my War Eagle 548 which is rated for 40hp. The hull is 348 lbs, motor's 133, battery's mounted in the back and it's 43 lbs, I'm 200, the trolling motor is about 30, my tackle box is at least 30 (probably 35-ish), 5 fishing rods, cooler, and 10 lbs anchor. So I'm guessing maybe 850 lbs total. That should be pretty close. I'm seeing 29.0 mph on decent water at 6000 RPM with the white prop that it comes with. "Decent" meaning about 4" chop with some wake from other boaters on the water. So out of curiousity I stuck my Turbo SS 10x11 on it, which is typically about 1.0-1.5 mph faster with the old motor, and sure enough, I'm on the fuel cut (rev limiter) at 30.1mph steady, 6190 showing on the tach. So I really need either some cupping put into the prop or step into a 12" and hope for the best. I think cupping will do it; and may be the best option based on the fact that I was running "light" today, usually the GF goes with me so that will bring the RPM down a couple hundred. But I was surprised to see the fuel cut at 6200. My old F25? It went into limit at about 100 RPM higher (right around 6300) which worked good with this prop. Acceleration...it does accelerate a little faster than my old F25 did, but it's splitting hairs here. Old one was idle to plane in 2.3 seconds, this one is 1.9 as best I can tell. I have the motor mounted 2 1/4" up over the transom but I think I can stand to go another 1/2" or so...but I'm out of clamping space (just clamped on for the time being). If the Garage was bigger, I'd put a mini-jacker or a CMC (panther?) PT&T on it and try that, but it won't fit in the garage with either one....as it is, I have about 3/4" inch to spare at the very most, so adding 5.5" of setback ain't gonna work. I've read where folks have claimed to have 2, 3, 4 guys and a thousand lbs of "stuff" in the boat and still run 35mph....ain't happening, unless you have a 10mph current at your stern with a 25mph tail wind on a fast hull like an Ambush, Havoc, Edge, etc.
One neat feature is that you can buy an adapter that plugs into the outboard's ECU, then you can download a free app for your smartphone and watch your ECU data on the fly in realtime...WIRELESSLY. Pretty neat feature but I haven't explored it yet. Also, I believe that the ECU can connect to a Lowrance unit somehow but I have also not explored that yet. I don't even have a unit in my boat; don't have a use for it honestly other than depth and maybe GPS. These new Yamaha's also have the option for an immobilizer (YCOP I think they call it). This is a wireless feature that enables one to "lock" the engine, thus it can't be started, sorta like a security feature. I don't know much about it, or how functional it'd be on a 25hp engine, but it's there for those who might need it.
All in all I love most things about it, but again it's still brand new, tight, and I'm gonna give it a few hours of use before I start complaining about the idle shake, which again isn't severe, but I don't like it. What an almost perfect end to a warm, humid productive day at work. I left work at 1730 and was in the water by 1930 hr, rode around getting used to the motor, adjusting the torque tab, adjusting the trim pin, and just boat riding at different speeds. I leisurely headed over to my favorite spot, which is a sunken treetop over about 30' of water about 3 miles from the ramp, dropped a jig over the side not expecting anything and pulled a few smaller crappies out, while watching the sun setting to the West, the sky turning orange, then red, and right about the time the red faded seen a pair of bald eagles fly directly overhead; one of them was a juvenile-the other adult. Great evening, wish I could've stayed and fished a while after dark but I have to be up bright & early tomorrow so I called it an evening.
