i had a 150 verado on my last boat and found it excellent had no problems at all my thoughts if you can go the extra 4k do it 4stroke is better than any 2stroke ,,,,are you able to have engine of other brands if so id be going the f150 yamaha that motor is one of the sweetest out there 

How old is the OPti?
And what are you pushing with it?
I believe the later ones have really been sorted and are great motors. I still can't get my head around the technology that is required to get a 4 stroke to produce (not quite) as much power as a 2 stroke. Yes the verado i s more modern, smoother, but no more economical. Save the 4k and just get out in the boat as often as you can.

Then i'd spend the 4k on upgrading to a 200 - If you are buying new rig: don't even listen to the boat salesman - he's on commission and wants to sell you an underpowered boat so you will come back and buy a bigger motor later on

I would take an opti over verado everday. Well I wouldn't actually own a verado but personal prefferance.

Ive got a 2010 150 opti pushing a 6m glass hardtop, does it easy. I reckon a 135 opti would do the job for me. There are more cons than pros to going bigger sometimes, there is such a thing as too much hp.

The opti is louder, especially with the hardtop. The biggest difference is at idle, (compared with my mates 150 honda which is nearly silent at idle) but there is not much noise difference on the plane. Not like the old 2 strokes though, easy to hold a conversation. 

Do they release hp graphs? You could work out the torque from those. And if you had the actual data (rather than a picture of the graph) you could plot the torque curve against HP.

[QUOTE=Unclejake] Sirpartyman -  If it was possible, a sea trial of both motors on similar boats would be much better than facts, figures and other peoples opinions. We were forced to choose between a fourstroke and a more powerful two stroke a while ago and we went for the fourstroke. I think it was the right choice but we didn't have the chance to compare the engines in real life so we will never know how the two stroke felt.

think you hit the nail on the head UJ compare both motors at sea ,im not familiar with the new optimax but hear they are good ,,,im a fourstroke fan so maybe little biased but im sure you made the right choice on your rig ,we have a 175 opti on a haines signature at work and have had no problems as yet done around 160hrs ,its one of the boats im yet to take out ,as i said i had no problems with the verado when i had one but was concerned by a recent thread on which a fellow chap on here blew his up after 50hrs supercharger went boom ,they are not as quiet as the yamaha, honda motors
I personally wouldnt be putting either on as there is better brands but maybe this chap has no option if he wants this boat ,i also would regard a four stroke a better selling point than the 2 stroke even when its clear fuel consumption is little these days between the engines , warranty structures also has to be considered on engines as well

Unclejake wrote: Sirpartyman -  If it was possible, a sea trial of both motors on similar boats would be much better than facts, figures and other peoples opinions. We were forced to choose between a fourstroke and a more powerful two stroke a while ago and we went for the fourstroke. I think it was the right choice but we didn't have the chance to compare the engines in real life so we will never know how the two stroke felt. Moki Marko wrote: don't even listen to the boat salesman - he's on commission and wants to sell you an underpowered boat so you will come back and buy a bigger motor later on Do you have any evidence this is a widespread behaviour, or are you just so attracted to big horsepower that you think marine sales staff are wrong about what is adequate?

yes - the evidence is all around - almost without exception eveyone I know with a boat has either gone thru the expensive exercise of repowering with a bigger motor or wishes they had gone for the bigger motor at time of purchase. You wouldn't put 1300cc engine in a falcon wagon? you could get it up to100kph - the engine would be working hard but it would do it. The average family car in NZ will do twice the speed limit yet we don't consider them over powered, why do we do it in boats? A good example is the popular Surtees 5.5 mostly sold with a 90 on the back, yet you only have to look at the surtees threads to see most owners recommend a 115.
It's not all the boat shops fault - boat designers know they will sell more boats if they can convince people their hull is 'easily pushed' or 'planes with minimal power' - and when the shop takes the demo out with a small motor and only two people on board, no gear, minimal gas, the boat seems to go OK and the sale is made.