There's no reason they couldn't put an hour meter on every small engine made today. I think they should. I don't think there's any demand for it, though, so it wont happen. It would be ridiculously useful though. forums like this would gather real data from members about the lifespan of different brands and models.
...then the horrible freight brands might just fudge their meters to run fast.
I have hour meters on my trucks even.
I found that doing service intervals by mileage was WAY wrong. Fair amount of low speed driving, idling, backing, etc.
Like right now, I have about 125 hours into an oil change. Only about 2000 miles. They say 1 hr = around 40 miles of wear roughly.
I change oil every 250hrs... should be around 10,000 miles. If I went by miles at that rate, I'd have around 735hrs!
Got the idea from slope trucks. They are in teh auctions all the time and you have to find the hour meter (if it's still in place). I've seen trucks with 85,000 miles but have 15,000 hours.
I learned too that even on an oil burner, changing the oil is a good idea.
I figured it was always getting fresh oil, should be fine. I'd change the filter every year or so.
Well started loosing oil pressure. Changed the oil (it was knarly) and fixed.