This is a great motor for cartopping a small boat like my 2023 Esquif Mallard XL or using with a small sailboat. With this motor in the trunk, there is no gas, and there is nothing to stink up your car or leak. Since the motor breaks down into 3 parts, it takes up much less space inside my vehicle compared to my small gas motor. Although you could buy a gas-powered Honda BF2.3 for about $900 less (once you buy a gas tank, etc.)--If you budget $50-100 for carb maintenance and fuel on Honda each year--long term, I expect the two motors to be comparable in cost. The Honda is loud (which my wife hates), but with a few gallons of gas, you could go full throttle all day.
My 2023 Mallard XL has a length of length of 12’4”. With this motor, I was able to hit 6.1 mph in ideal conditions, but a max speed of 5.5-5.8 mph is more realistic in weather with a load. I can travel much further by reducing the throttle, and expect a range of 8-9 miles with the included 915 watt hour battery while traveling at 4.5 mph. 2 hours is about as long as I'd want to travel in a small canoe like this--so this battery isn't very limiting to my range.
I loved the free battery bag more than expected. It looks great, has space for my ID cards, as space for basic spare parts (including an extra prop) and tools.
It's great to see the price of these motors dropping. In 2022 I paid a similar amount for the travel 603 motor which is only 2HP and has half the battery life (500 watts). I'll likely keep that one on my sailboat.