With the throttle punched, the Honda is quieter than the Yamaha by four decibels: 94.5 dB vs. 90.5 dB.

A few years back, there was large void in the four-stroke outboard market. You could get smaller engines (up to 130 hp), or big engines (200- and 225 hp), but nothing in between. Missing were engines from 140 to 175 hp. But the Japanese plugged the hole. Suzuki started that plugging in 2002 with its 140-hp engine, and Yamaha came out with its 150-hp four-stroke last year. Now Honda has 135- and 150-hp models. All that’s missing now is 175 hp. …