Decisions help fellow Basscaters!

I am familiar with the SHO only, however, I have a friend that fishes a lot!!! And competitively, he repowered with a SHO a couple of years ago from a Pro XS. He had no complaints with the XS. He has had no complaints with the SHO. He did say however, he has saved an absolute ton in oil money. My SHO pushes my loaded Jag 74.9.Britt

The SHO gets my vote. I have a 250 SHO on my Eyra and have not been passed by a Mercury yet. (Not saying that it wont happen but they better be doing over 82+) Another thing that you do not hear a lot about is hole shot with a SHO…..I have a couple friends that have to play with props, vents, jack plates and have to settle on a great hole shot or top end with a Merc. You can also find thousands of threads about this but very few where it concerns a SHO. With the SHO I just threw the ventless prop on and 3-4 second holeshot and great top end. I did change props because I was hitting the limiter. The torque of the 4.2 liter SHO is incredible. The 2013 powerhead and up have been pretty stabile after some mods from Yamaha, in their first couple years they went through some powerheads. The XS is also being discontinued in the near future so that could hurt when it comes time to sale the boat. Just a couple extra things to throw in the decision making process.

Ill add to what BCB noted, what does your local dealer or repair shop that YOU trust specialize in? If its Mercury, service on the SHO could be an issue and vice versa. Having access to good mechanics who are factory trained and keep up with their training is extremely important. Something to keep in mind.