Long Term Review: Hangkai 4hp 4 stroke: Based on proven designs, but is it any good?

Long Term Review: Hangkai 4hp 4 stroke: Based on proven designs, but is it any good?

   March 18, 2026       editor

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There are people who like to stick with a certain manufacturer and will pay over $1000 for a 2 hp Honda, Tohatsu, Yamaha, or whatever type of engine that has the right name on the side, and they will not consider anything else. It doesn't matter how many data points they have, they are all about brand loyalty.

Meanwhile, there are about a thousand of these small, air cooled outboard engines on eBay, Amazon, Walmart.com, etc. They seem too good to be true if you're in the market for a small outboard as I was. I didn't want something to set out and cross the Great Lakes...I just wanted something to allow me to hit the local reservoirs with my Sun Dolphin Sportsman 8, which I no longer have. 

But I still have the Hangkai, if that tells you anything. 

INSTANT VERDICT SUBJECT TO CHANGE:

The Good: Inexpensive. Easy to start. Based on proven designs.

The Bad: Have to learn maintenance/operation/servicing on the fly due to poor/wrong/absent documentation. Noisy. 

Verdict: Four years of not so light use says it's good to go.

After agonizing over the little there is on the Internet and watching video after video (specifically, Youtube user Gurra has a great long-term series on this motor) I finally decided to pull the trigger.  Now, there are subtle variations of this motor, but they are all basically the same. A Chinese Honda GXV50 4 stroke clone sitting atop what is said to be a Yamaha clone lower unit. Some are top exhaust, some are side (mine is side). Some are Hangkai branded, some are generic. But they are all built on the same platform. The genetics are good, but as we all know, anything from China can kind of get lost in the translation. 

I got the motor from Walmart.com, but the same motor is available from Amazon here, here, and here. They have minor differences, but all function alike.

Be careful...they also make a jet version of this motor. While it is an intriguing idea for shallow water and rivers, it's performance isn't nearly that of the propeller version. It's usually also cheaper as well.

The total cost was just shy of $350 with tax, free shipping, and extended warranty. Now, the motor can be had for $259 shipped, not including tax. It arrived in 3 days from a warehouse in New Jersey via FedEx, which was surprisingly good for them. Opening the box, it appeared to be in excellent shape. There was a motor, a tool kit, some spares (shear pin, cotter pin, etc), but no manual. From what I understand, this is not a big loss because the manual that ships with some is not helpful, and sometimes outright wrong. 

Unboxing. You get a tool kit, but no manual.

My motor looked completely generic. Not one word of English on the outside. Lots of Chinese. Everything else in pictograms...choke, a flaming triangle on the gas tank, etc. No horsepower markings anywhere on it. A curious thing...the gas cap has a pictogram for gas and oil...please be careful and realize that these are 4 stroke engines and you do not mix the gas with the oil. TBH, I have run mine on 50:1 in an emergency and it suffered no ill effects.

One of the issues that people have with this motor is that some ship with oil in the lower unit, and some do not. Also, some have a port in the lower that allows you to check, and some do not. Mine had no port, so the only option was to pull the prop and shear pin, pull the two bolts holding the gearbox cover in place, and pull that cover off. Luckily, mine had oil in it. Unluckily, I didn't realize that there was some compression within the gearbox that kept the gearbox cover from sitting flush. So, I put the first bolt in place and tightened it down, not realizing that the other side of the cover was not flush. So, when I started the bolt, it wasn't lining up correctly in the lower unit...and it stripped, the lower being aluminum. I tried several methods to fix it before I finally drilled it out, tapped it for a larger bolt, put that bolt in place and cut it off flush. I was then able to centerpunch and drill the new bolt hole to the correct size and replace the bolt. A moment of carelessness that cost me several hours time and a lot of headache. 

So, it was the next day before I was able to proceed any further. I filled the engine with 5W-30. It takes almost exactly 1/4 of a quart to get to the top of the full range on the dipstick. From what I've read, those that ship with manuals are completely wrong on this, leading people to over-fill the engine oil, which causes a lot of smoke in the best case scenario, or fouls the plug and possibly damages the engine in the worst. I had no such problems. These engines require high octane gas. I bought exactly $5 worth of 91 octane and plan to use that for the remainder of summer so I'll probably put some stabilizer in it. Of course, everyone recommends that you use ethanol free gas, but I've found that if you don't leave gas sitting in the tank or carb, you rarely have any issues running small engines on ethanol. 

Mounted on the Sun Dolphin Sportsman 8

Since these engines are air cooled, you can do some testing with them on dry land. I put a splash of gas in the tank. Hit the primer bulb until I saw gas returning from the carb. Turned the choke on. The engine roared to life on the third pull. In less than 30 seconds, I was able to turn the choke off and let the engine settle into a nice idle. The drive system is clutched, so at low engine RPM, the prop does not turn. I varied the speeds to allow for a break in. Really, I need to run it under a load for a bit as well during break-in, so I didn't have it running for a long time. But, it ran. 

It wasn't the quietest thing I've ever heard, either. Other users extend and re-route the exhaust to quiet it somewhat, and I'll be doing the same. 

Some things to consider...the throttle does NOT stay where you put it on this one. When you release the handle, the throttle returns to idle. Not super handy if you want to use the motor to troll while fishing, or if you want to reverse by spinning the engine around backward (there is no reverse gear). It really needs a weaker throttle spring, but it's also a safety feature, because if I should fall off the boat, the motor will go to idle and the prop (and the boat) will stop completely. Another thing, because of the side exhaust and the wiring/cabling, it is very difficult to pivot the handle over to use the motor in reverse. 

Once going, every hot start was effortless, choke-less, and on the first pull. It really is an easy engine to start. 

After the first test of the Hangkai in the water, I still did not regretting my purchase. I put the Hangkai on the back of my Sun Dolphin Sportsman 8 and took it over 3 miles upstream in my local river. The only reason I stopped was because I hit a set of shoals and I didn't feel like walking the boat up them. Otherwise, I could have kept going. 

The Hangkai performed as I would expect any outboard. Choke on the first start, single pull for every start after that. It does not use much gas. Yes, it's kinda loud, but it makes up for it by being slow. Honestly, this is not a four horsepower engine. The Honda GXV50 is only rated at two, and I'm sure there's no magic in this Chinese design that doubles the horsepower. But, I was aware of that going in. The Hangkai would push the little Sun Dolphin up the river at 4-5 mph, according to GPS. I'm sure it went faster coming back down, but I didn't take a measurement.

Since that day, I've used the Hangkai quite extensively. Many times, if I don't have a motor on my boat and I want to do a quick fishing trip, I'll throw the Hangkai on it and head for the river, rather than trying to lug my Johnson 9.9 out.  It moves my 1542 at about 5 mph, just like the Sun Dolphin. In fact, every boat I put it on seems to go 5 mph with it. The slow speed is offset by the fact that I only have to lift 29 lbs to put it on the boat. Easy.

And on one occasion, the Hangkai saved me from a lot of rowing. My 15 hp conked out 7 miles up the lake. I brought the Hangkai with me just in case of some kind of problems, and I was able to fire it up and it got us back to the boat ramp. 

So, if I had it to do over, would I buy it again? Yes, I would. No brainer considering how the price has dropped and how reliable it's been. If you're in the market for a small outboard to run a Pond Prowler, or a backup for your main outboard, you can't go wrong with a Hangkai 4 HP 4 stroke. 

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