Haven't done any homework yet... anyone have any thoughts or preference?

I have a mercury 60hp on my boat, it’s decent

20 years ago I would have said Mercury. Not up to date on outboards now. Have you considered Yamaha, which are excellent.

Not sure what HP your after, I have some experience with small outboards. The smaller Mercury's are made by Tohatsu and are ok. I do prefer Suzuki over them. IMO, the Suzuki's are better made and run like a top. A buddy bought a new Suzuki 9.9 a few years back and it's a great motor as well. Here's my little 2.5, best motor I've ever had.

what size HP and use

Most smaller outboards are made by the same manufacturer just rebadged to the orders they get to build them.

Tohatsu Builds a lot of engines kind of like MTD build lawn mowers.

I have run 4 cycle Hondas, Yamahas and Suzukis. All are decent...my next one will be another Yamaha though.

Had a friend that had a Suzuki on a big off shore boat, always made it home. Didn’t burn a lot of fuel, was a great motor. I have a 20 Suzuki on a Jon boat it runs great. I would have rather had a 25 on it but bought it used.

wws

GCPete... I have a 02' 60 Merc I bought new... been a great motor. I'm gonna need new controls and power trim soon. I can get a new 60HP Suzuki w/ controls, SS prop, tach, and cables all installed out-the-door for $7690.
I have it on a 19' Lowe Big Jon CC. Inshore fishing, crab trot lining and setting pots mainly.

I've had 60 HP Merc 4-strokes since 2001. I've put hundreds of hours on them and never had a single problem.

I know guys that ran big Suzuki on charter boats. They all had problems and finding good techs was difficult. They took them off and put Yamaha's on...a very costly endeavor.

The bigger Suzuki's got a bad reputation early on due to how sensitive they were to propellers and how few techs there were that knew them well. Now guys have had them long enough that they know how to set them up for the best performance. A lot more techs around for them now too.

I have owned them all, and if I had to buy an outboard of any brand tomorrow it would be a Suzuki closely followed by a Yamaha.

I wouldn't even mention Mercury in the conversation

What dealers do you have near you.... I run Hondas commercially, excellent motors but you pay a premium, Suzukis are good, but a pain to do routine maintenance on, at least the older ones, you needed to remove the bottom cowl to change the oil filter. Yamaha also has a good following. Don't discount Tohatsu if you have a dealer nearby, very good motors and much less expensive than the big three.....Mercury?, eh, not a fan, especially the big ones, the small ones are most likely rebadged Tohatsus....
This is for mid size motors, no experience with the little ones.

I have a 2023 Suzuki 25hp with power tilt/trim, electric start, etc. Runs great, maintenance is easy in mine, I did have to make a plastic funnel to drain the oil to keep it from running down the leg. Not a big deal. I would recommend.

Mercury outboards 30hp and below are made by Tohatsu in Japan and are very reliable.

I don't know what is better / best I like my 2 Yamahas but they are 2 stroke , Dad and brother both have Yamahas brother has a 2 stroke 150 and dad has a 4 stroke 225

I have a 15 Johnson 2 stroke

and all I really know is , my next motor is going to have power tilt I don't mind a tiller at all , but power tilt is getting to be something I really want.

the rpm up down fine adjust on the new Yamaha's is really nice , and would be perfect for finding that trolling speed

that came out just after Dad's Yamaha and moving the throttle to try and get 650-750 rpm is very hard and that is where it trolls about perfect.
not sure if everyone has that feature now but for trolling would be really nice.

My 60 Honda has that "fine tune " rpm thingee but I've never used it...It has a tiller and electric start of course and trim and tilt, which I highly recommend!
Cool thing about it is if you go overboard and can't get back into the boat, you can use the motor mounted tilt switch to power you up out of the water enough to get back in....Don't ask how I know this...lol

have had merc's for 60 years but the next one will be yamaha.

how is the 60 merc for power on the 19 foot when you have it loaded down?

is that a 2 stroke or 4 ?

just wondering because it is the minimum recommended motor for the 1860cc lowe now , they seemed to have dropped the 19' and the 20' they suggest a 90HP minimum

Suzuki

GCP... very seldom have it loaded, usually 3 max people and a couple of coolers, plus 1200' trotline gear. I've never felt under powered and seldom run over 3/4 throttle.
I got 2 quotes from fairly local dealers... one was $7690 and the other $10,345, $2655 difference for the exact same thing... both long time dealers. Shouldn't be that much difference IMO. Both quotes were for the Suzuki 60.
4 stroke