Honda 2.3 HP review

[Big Cliff]

Well, we've had 4 trips out with this new 2019 Honda 2.3 air cooled and I have got to say I'm impressed!

First of all I got an excellent deal on it, just under $1000.00 all in and a 5 year warranty, RL Sports in Verner were wonderful to deal with! When I picked up the motor it had been fully serviced, tested, and was ready to go fishing. That's service you don't get from the big box stores!

Weighing only 29 lbs it's easy to transport which makes it ideal for getting into those little back lakes. It fits easily into a cargo bag on the back of our ATV's, no need for special brackets or mounts and being stored in the cargo bag keeps it clean when running some of those bush trails we use.

I was a little worried about how noisy it might be especially after reading some reviews, I'm not sure if they have changed something on the newer models but this thing is much quieter than I expected it to be. At an idle you can hardly even hear it (mind you I am a little deaf)

Fuel economy is crazy good, a combination of trolling, running, idling, we got over 9 hours on one tank (about a liter) of gas.

East to start: in most cases you hardly have to crank it over, a short easy pull and it's running!

I really like the centrifugal clutch system, no shifting required, troll, idle, full speed, it all just flows together. Want reverse, just spin the motor.

Being air cooled means you can run this thing into shallow, weedy, muddy, bays that would make you cringe with a water cooled motor.

It has plenty of power for what we do with it, two men in a 12' boat and it moves along surprising fast, where we would have spent hours paddling to cover  some of the areas we fish we can now be fishing in a few minutes and you're not exhausted at the end of the day.

All in all I'd give this motor a 5 out of 5 star rating!

 

[misfish]

I stopped in to have a look at one of these motors here at the Barrie Honda dealer. NO STOCK.

Thanks for the review Cliff.

 

 

[Joeytier]

Its definitely nice not having to worry about sucking crap into the impeller housing in shallow water!

[porkpie]

Good that your happy with it!  They seem like a really nice motor!  I was pretty happy with the Honda outboard I had, I don’t think you can go wrong!

Edited July 3, 2019 by porkpie

[misfish]

10 hours ago, Big Cliff said:

Weighing only 29 lbs

Weighs 2/3 of what my battery weighs. Plus I have the trolling motor.  If I go to a bigger toon,the Honda has to be part of the package. Cliff, any idea at what your top speed was ?

Edited July 2, 2019 by misfish

[Big Cliff]

Well, it would be a guess but two of us in a 12' fiberglass dingy covered about a mile (and that's just an estimate) in under 5 minutes (again, I didn't measure the time) so roughly 12 mph. I'll try to get something a little more accurate for you next time out. I know we were both surprised at how well it moved the boat!

[cheaptackle]

3 hours ago, misfish said:

Weighs 2/3 of what my battery weighs. Plus I have the trolling motor.  If I go to a bigger toon,the Honda has to be part of the package. Cliff, any idea at what your top speed was ?

You'll be able to water ski Brian  

[akaShag]

Many moons ago I had a Honda 2 horse.  It was a fabulous motor, and saw yeoman service pushing heavy boats across a lake into our deer camp.  I was just thinking the other day it might be fun to get a small boat into some of the lakes around here............

Now to see if the local dealer has any or can find one!

Doug

[Fisherman]

Green Canoe eh?

[akaShag]

1 hour ago, Fisherman said:

Green Canoe eh?

Yep.  Beat the snot out of rowing those tired old hulks back and forth across the lake!

[pics]

I was considering one as well but I found a good deal in a water cooled 2.5 Suzuki four stroke.. it's an awesome motor that is super quiet. I don't run in super shallow water so debris intake isn't a problem.  It was under a grand before taxes..

[Sinker]

Glad your getting lots of use out of it Cliff! 

S.