I don't think sound alone is proof. More evidence would be parts interchanging, even if part numbers are different. Compare the physical specs, dimensions, etc. Could be a single piston motor or small dual piston is just gonna sound the same regardless.

My Nissan Frontier sounds just like my buddy’s Toyota Tacoma…. must be the same truck.

If i was a blind person and did not have access to specs such as bore, stroke, displacement, and HP rating, then sound of the motors might be a fair comparison.

They have different bore, stroke and displacement. How is that the exact same engine?

As stated somewhere in the comments, tohatsu makes many of the smaller HP outboards for mercury, Nissan, and at one point Evinrude too. I would not be surprised if many of the smaller outboards are incredibly similar mechanically.

I've had both and both have done well or given me a little trouble. Now I have a boat with a 2019 40 horse Mercury and another boat with a 2021 90 horse tohatsu.

brand of motor matters less now than in the past. Tohatsu makes a lot of these for various brands, built to the specs they are given. If your motor runs, has a good warranty, and is reliable when taken care of, who cares about the decal. Judging the minutiae of engine performance on small engines like these is dumb, there isn't a big enough difference to worry about.

Mike I would like to see a comparison in the 25 HP range including a Suzuki Engine

This is per Wikipedia, -Mercury Outboards, 30 Hp and less, are made by Tohatsu in Japan. Mercury Marine builds 40, 50 and 60 horsepower outboard motors in Suzhou, China. Mercury also manufactures engines over 75 horsepower at its facility in Fond du Lac in Wisconsin. It seems that Yamaha builds their own engines, go figure

My whole family uses Mercury and they all work perfectly. One is a 1990 25hp 4stroke mine is a 50hp 1980 2 stroke my uncle's is a 1980 115hp 2 stroke my other uncle has a 2017 90hp 4 stroke.

It's odd that you'd pick the sound to draw your conclusions from... couldn't you just take the covers off both motors and look at them to see if they're the same? like the same castings, or same size, same carbs, same heads? They're single cylinder motors... there is only one arrangement for a single cylinder motor and the only way they sound different is by how muffled the exhaust could be.

Mercury has through the prop exhaust and a longer tiller handle which I like better, but the Yamaha has another click or two for the shallow water drive trim. Mercury has just one setting. I own a 2020 Mercury 6hp and I wish the shallow water drive would tilt a little higher. Other than that I really like it. I can get up to 18mph on my 12ft inflatable kaboat. I thought it was funny you thought the Yamaha looked like an alien head because that is exactly why I went with the Mercury. Alien head is the only thing I could see when I looked at the Yamaha. I think they are definitely two different motors. Yamaha 6hp is 139cc and the Mercury 6hp is 123cc. The Yamaha can be stored on more than one side too.

I've had a Nissan 6hp, and a mercury 5hp. With small differences they are the same motors, I put the 6hp carb an intake on the 5hp and got the exact same results. End of day results for me were both lower units were trash after about 20 hours of use,

I see a lot of Yamahas on saltwater dingys. I think the reason people like Yamaha is that they don't break down as often. It's not the sound or look of the motor. A real test would be a long term test on a boat with many hours on the water.

It looks like the Merc might have better fuel economy given how long it ran once the gas supply was cut off. But a true comparison would have to be done at speed on the water.

My 2000 Merc 90hp has a Yamaha power head says it on the ID tag for the motor.

Yamaha makes their own outboards and the parts are not interchangeable. Mercury under 30 hp are actually made by Tohatsu. The fuel connector on the mercury is slightly longer where it plugs in. On a boat at 1/2-wot throttle the Mercury vibrates a ton compared to the Yamaha. The Yamaha is 100% better than the Mercury in my opinion

foist?

If they were both given to me but can only take one, I'm grabbing the yamaha

Order parts for mercury and they arrive in tohotsu packaging the covers are interchanble so yes they are the same

Thanks for the honest review and I agree with you

Whatever 30hp and below should be Tohatsu. Its their specialty and they earned the competitive advantage.

The big difference is that the Yamaha can be stored on one of three sides laying down. The others have to rest on the side of the tiller to avoid flooding from the sump. Yamaha is different but on the low end Tohatsu provides a lot of other brands with OEM motors that the brand as their own. When they still were built Johnson and Evinrude were rumored to be the same thing - both owned by Bombarbier - BRP they also happen to own Rotax

I thought we all knew that Mercury outboards under 25hp were really Tohatsus...

i DO totally AGREE--I just saw a video on a boat--the yamaha is QUIETER--it pushed the boat a little faster A N D every little detail on the yamaha showed more quality even the the throttle A R M looked so much nicer not cheap looking--come on man.

Compair a 2yrold Moyer to a new one. Do a comparison for the same year model

Your logic is insane. And that’s an understatement.

you may be on to something here, though I do agree with some of the others, a comparison of physical specs may tell the tale.

Show the power heads side by side and see if the outsides are the same like the bolt placement on the motor cases, head bolts, oil dip stick, etc... You will know if they are manufactured by the same company. You can`t go on sound. Even if the engine block and head outside dimensions appear to be the same these engine manufacturers will use a bit longer stroke crank and a bit larger piston bore to make a higher HP model but the outside dimensions would be the same (some 8hp & 9.8hp or 6hp & 8hp engines). In fact the older Johnson and Evinrude 2-stroke 9.9 and 15hp shared the same motor with the same engine displacement and the only thing that was different was a smaller carb and more restrictive exhaust pipe in the foot housing. I believe there was a series of 4-stroke outboards where a restrictor plate was placed between the carb and intake manifold to make the 9.8 or 9.9 an 8hp model. So, the people that knew this would buy the 8 HP for less money and then remove the restrictor plate to gain the increase in power. Also note that for many many years all Mercury outboards under 30hp or 25hp were manufactured by Tohatsu, so they were basically rebranded Tohatsu outboards with Mercury designed bells and whistles added (aka - forward / reserve integrated into the throttle control vs a separate lever on some models). I had a Mariner 9.9hp four stroke that was made by Yamaha and it had the Yamaha symbol cast in metal block housing but it was branded as a Mariner.

Those two motors are not the same however the mercury is made in Japan by Tohatsu. I’m sure all these small motors sound the same since they are all 4 strokes now. Yamaha also made a lot of the early 4 stroke Mercurys in the early 2000’s.

Honda 15hp tiller, e-start.. i love it

I believe any Mercury outboard 30 hp or less is made by Tohatsu to merc spec. I've owned around 100 merc motors.

Why not throw a Honda motor in the mix? I bought a Honda BF 20 outboard new 15 years ago and have had zero issues with it other than the normal oil and impeller changes. They are more expensive than the mercury motors for sure but are as good as any outboard out there in my opinion.

As someone else said, get a few parts for each engine and compare. Simple.

Mercury has never let me and my family down!!

I believe most portable (20hp and under) outboards are made by tahatsu now a days

Really scientific… good job

Mercury = Tohatsu? Honda have a vibration damper, dont remember what hp.

You have convinced me to buy a Yamaha thank you

To me the brands only come into play when you are talking saltwater use, while the design could be the same the metal blends can be different just like car manufacturers. Some will take better saltwater abuse without proper flushing and cleaning than others. It is funny that my neighbor and I talk about this everytime we go fishing and we notice that in freshwater you see a lot more mercury but saltwater in the intracoastal and such you see only yamaha and suzuki in a far outweighing percentage.

I have a Mercury 3.5 4 stroke. It sounds identical to the Mercury 5 hp 4 stroke even though it is half of the size. Basing the comparison off of sound is just plain stupid

I know the mercury is the same as tohatsu in 4-5-6 hp

I have two friends with Tracker 165's, one has a Yamaha 25 4 - stroke and the other a Mercury 25. 4 - stroke. The on the water performance is the same. The biggest difference was the Yamaha's higher cost.

It’s simple...when you can pull a head and put it on another..they are same

Yamaha still number 1

Small, single-cylinder engines are going to sound the same. That doesn’t say much.

They sound different

Dude, seriously using sound through a KZfaq video to determine if a motor is from the same manufacturer? wow

Tohatsu = Mercury for sub 9.9 HP…..zzzz. Well known….

Small mercury are made by Tohatsu.

I think Suzuki is going to take over the water.

I have the same 5hp mercury outboard on my 1036 tracker topper and that Yamaha is ugly and not a fan of the color as well

Because they sound alike they are the same? Really? They don't have the same displacement or bore and stroke. Where do you get the idea that they have the same internals?

nissan and tohatsu are themsame as the murcury

Tohatsu makes Mercury motors up to 30hp and all nessan outboards. Yamaha? They are all Japanese.

Yamaha makes motorcyles 😆 🤣 not boat motors sillys

team coleman lol

Yamaha all day long with Suzuki #2!

Guy gets rid of the engine cuz its ugly not for reliability lmfao. Wait till the merc steering tensioner goes out on plane and he falls out and runs himself over

The merc sounds better

The mercury is made by tohatsu every one knows that

Sure this is what's better Canon or Nikon? Yes they are siblings because they both have a propeller :-) silly test that shows nothing!

All metal comes from the earth, so yea, its the same parts.

That’s the worst comparative I’ve ever seen. Look at the engine under the cowling on both motors. Don’t even start it. That’s the only way to tell. This guy should not do ANY MORE comparisons.

What a bad comparison, it are not the same Motors. 0% of the engine parts are the same😂

Yamaha all the way

That was the worst comparison ever. If you think the engines are the same, you could just show the engines without the covers on. Suzuki/Yamaha is far better than mercury imperial crap.

pefer yama

is this a joke for youtbe? lol

This is NOTHING NEW, YAMAHA, MAKES THE MARINER LINE FOR MERCURY, OVER PROBABLY OVER 40 + years 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Its simple Yamahas are better period. There wouldn’t be the reputation of yamahas never leaving you stranded and mercs screwing up for nothing