Best 15hp outboard these days?

[mncruiser]

Wouldn’t count out Suzuki. Don’t have extensive experience beyond using the ding as the daily driver while living aboard for 8 years.
Yammies get stolen first in the Caribbean. Good side-parts available and fairly bulletproof. Down side fairly heavy, parts expensive doesn’t make electricity you can use.
Suzuki- bulletproof. Never had any issues with it, parts slightly cheaper, a few lbs less, makes enough electricity so you can use it for other stuff. Better fuel economy.
My personal list for 9.9 -15hps I’ve owned.
Merc made outboards are the bottom of the barrel. Even with external filters thing is way too sensitive to quality of fuel. A constant hassle. Plastic parts inside that break.
Tohatsu-very decent motor. Some pot metal or Al that can bend in linkages. Less money than Yamaha
Suzuki- excellent no fail ever motor with great hole shot and fuel economy. Easy ergonomics in use.Less money. We bought new never used but one model year old and paid 2/3rds of what the Yamaha would have costed.

Mercury and Tohatsu are essentially the same outboard, made out of the same parts, likely in the same factory.The controls are the major difference.

I’m not sure the “plastic parts” are going to be much different between Tohatsu and Mercury.

I was also going to go with Tohatsu, but the superior controls on the Mercury made the Mercury the better choice.

 

[Mako]

Whatever you decide upon, check out GLODOK MARINE ENGINE before you purchase. I believe they carry Honda, Mercury and Suzuki.

Yes I’ve also always seen them advertising with great prices but they are in Indonesia.

 

[rslifkin]

Mercury and Tohatsu are essentially the same outboard, made out of the same parts, likely in the same factory.The controls are the major difference.

I’m not sure the “plastic parts” are going to be much different between Tohatsu and Mercury.

I was also going to go with Tohatsu, but the superior controls on the Mercury made the Mercury the better choice.

For the modern small Mercs, yes. But they weren't always Tohatsus, so Merc may have earned some reputation from previous engines or ones over 30hp (only the small ones are Tohatsus).

 

[Hippocampus]

The throttle linkage in the merc broke repetitively. Ended up duck taping spares inside the cowling it was so frequent. Little piece of plastic. The tohatsu never did. What year and HP did they become the same?. Having no choke to pull out/push in independent of the twist grip on the merc was a PIA. Must of cleaned the carb on the merc twice a month. Tohatsu was fine. These were small engines (9.9) but I don’t think the same. Suzuki was a 15 of 2019. Now have a 40hp Yamaha. So far so good with it.

 

[rslifkin]

The throttle linkage in the merc broke repetitively. Ended up duck taping spares inside the cowling it was so frequent. Little piece of plastic. The tohatsu never did. What year and HP did they become the same?. Having no choke to pull out/push in independent of the twist grip on the merc was a PIA. Must of cleaned the carb on the merc twice a month. Tohatsu was fine. These were small engines (9.9) but I don’t think the same. Suzuki was a 15 of 2019. Now have a 40hp Yamaha. So far so good with it.

The Mercs up to 30hp are Tohatsus, the bigger ones are not. I think they started re-badging Tohatsus some time in the mid 2000s. However, on the units with the shifter on the tiller handle, that shifter is a Merc design (the Tohatsu shifters are all on the front of the engine).

 

[Hippocampus]

Well the handle shifter design sucks.
Donated mine to a guy who subsidized a school in Haiti. He had a one man pirate show he ran in North Sound BVI at a resort but went to Haiti with donations. We got the d-mn thing working then gave it away. Otherwise it was going to be repurposed as a anchor.

 

[Osprey69]

Well the handle shifter design sucks.

My 15 Merc handle still seems stiff and clunky even after judicious lubricating. Any secrets as to where I still need to lubricate?

Guess I am old school and like the simplicity of separate controls.

 

[mncruiser]

For my uses, the handle shifter design proves very useful at slow speeds.

The traditional tiller stalk/shifter on the side design involves either use of two hands- one on tiller, one to shift and turning your entire body aft to do so.

One- handed it is removing your hand completely from the tiller to shift.

All this is fine and how it’s always been and for sure works.

The design of the Mercury shifter allows me to shift and steer with one hand at the same time. Yes, slow speed only. I’m always facing forward. In and out of gear no issue. Little blast of reverse to slow or turn? All one-handed. My other hand is free. Holding a beer or a line ready to throw, or to give a friendly wave.

Much like many things, never thought about it until I saw one used (video in post above) and then trying one myself sealed the deal for me.

The new Mercurys are EFI and are just as quiet as the magical Honda and Yamaha models.

My boat came with the dink and a 4stroke Yamaha 9.9. Super clean, if I were to guess it had barely been used. I was excited about it, and it even had similar (but older) controls to what I’m describing above. It ran great, I felt a little superior because Yamaha has a better reputation. But it was a 9.9. Put the family in it and would not plane. I had the Merc 20 on my old dinghy, was an easy decision to swap to the 20. Sold the Yamaha 9.9 to a buddy.

Much of this is what works for you and what you like. I try to take the “what I’ve heard” comments lightly.

When I was shopping for the Mercury 20 efi a few years ago I went into it nearly sure I’d buy a Yamaha or Honda, based on nothing more than reputation comments and anecdotal things people say. When started researching that’s when I spotted the differences.

They don’t write country songs about Yamaha and Honda outboards, that has to count for something too right? Haha!