All the outboard engine joystick piloting systems compared

Several different versions are now on the market, all slightly different to each other in both their application and range of abilities.

Which inboard or outboard engine you have fitted to your boat will dictate which system you ultimately go for.

In some instances, too, these systems can be retrofitted to a boat, meaning that even if yours is not new out of the yard, if the engine is fitted with digital shift and throttle controls and steering, there’s every chance you can have it fitted.

The systems are slowly becoming more sophisticated, and some can now even link with bow and stern thrusters to give even more precise control at the push of a button and push, pull or twist of a joystick.

We even noticed that in some marinas, staff are not allowed to use the throttle controls if a boat is fitted with a joystick.

What options for joystick controllers are available to you? Let’s go through them.

Yamaha is the only outboard engine maker to offer a joystick controller option for both boats using single engines, and those using multiple engines.

Yamaha Helm Master EX was launched in 2020 as a world-first joystick control system for outboard engines. At launch, it was designed to operate on boats with two or more outboard engines installed.

Skippers who could split the sticks to dock a boat with multiple engines were all of a sudden being outdone by skippers who could extract even finer control.

Key to this is Helm Master EX’s ability to throttle and turn each engine independently of the other. This ability to control individual engines suddenly gave skippers to a new suite of tools such as the ability to crab sideways.

But even more handy was the ability to tap into satellite-based GPS that could give the boat a sense of where it was. This introduced the ability to shuffle in any direction in small measures, hold a heading against current and tide, and over time automatically cover ground while the skipper left the helm to fish.

It also gave boaters the option of pushing a single button to hold station, handy if a panic attack ever takes hold in the middle of a difficult docking operation.

In 2022 Yamaha Helm Master EX added single-engine control to its suite of abilities. While some functions were not available, such as crabbing sideways or holding a heading at station, it still offered enough ability to take a lot of stress away from the skipper.

Helm Master EX has recently been expanded to allow users to install a second joystick on the boat, a handy feature for the cockpit that will make docking or backing up on a fish much easier. It also introduced the ability to do a Williamson turn, otherwise known as the man overboard turn, and a pattern search that’s handy for marine rescue services.

The system has now evolved so you can tap the joystick to move in small increments rather than large jumps. This is handy when you want to hold the boat against a jetty – just tap to set and forget without having to run any lines out.

Yamaha Helm Master EX is available across all Yamaha outboard engines fitted with Digital Electronic Control, ranging from the F150 to the flagship F450.

Mercury first launched the Zeus joystick system for pod drives in the late 2000s. While revolutionary, it wasn’t perfect, but built the base for the next generation of controllers including the Axius joystick system for sterndrives.

The revolution, though, was Joystick Piloting for Outboards, introduced in 2013 and built for multiple engine installs. Over time the system has been honed to make it easier to use in a wider range of applications.

Two versions are available, a basic installation for Mercury FourStroke, Pro XS or SeaPro engines, and a premium one for the Verado range. That extends the range of engines it can cover from 175hp to 600hp, as long as they have Mercury’s Digital Throttle and Shift fly-by-wire controls.

The difference between the basic and premium is that the basic application uses hydraulic steering, while the premium uses fully electric steering.

Mercury’s function that holds the boat at station is called Skyhook. It uses GPS to lock the boat’s position and heading against wind or current, and at the push of a single button – handy if you are in a stressful situation and need some time out.

When in Skyhook or the fishing-friendly Drifthook mode that will let the boat drift but hold its heading, the skipper has some pretty fine control over the boat. Depending on how quickly you twist the joystick, you can move the boat around its axis in one- or 10-degree increments.

If you have a larger boat, you can upgrade the Mercury JPO system so that it works with a bow thruster. On smaller boats, it is only designed to work with some pontoon boats fitted with a bow thruster.

Otherwise, Mercury does not offer JPO for single-engine applications, arguing that its digital throttle and steering controls are so well tuned to offer assistance at lower speeds, such as dulling the throttle and speeding up the steering, that these boat owners don’t need it.

If you have an engine from Suzuki or Honda, or even diesel outboard specialist Oxe, and want the versatility of a joystick controller, your only option is to look to the global electronics group Dometic for a solution.

That solution is the Dometic Optimus 360 Joystick. 

This joystick also comes with a boost mode that will automatically increase the engine revs generated by a push, pull or twist of the lever, handy in places where windage or hard current are a problem.

There are limitations, though. The main one is that this system will only work with between two and four outboard engines, so anyone wanting to rack up more than 1400hp in combined performance will have a bit of an issue – not that there’d be many boaters running into this problem.

Dometic’s joystick control system is a bit like a Lego set. First, you’ll want the Optimus EPS 500 Series electric steering system made up of a pump control module, hydraulic pump, electric helm, a colour display to monitor everything and, of course, the electric steering cylinder to turn the engines. Once you have that, plug the joystick in on top.

Dometic’s system will allow users to install up to four helms, which means adding multiple joysticks to a boat will also be easy.

The system is fairly basic, allowing the skipper to shuffle forwards, sideways and laterally as well as rotate on the spot. It does this by patching into the outboard engine’s digital shift and throttle control system.

There’s no capacity to hook the system into your GPS and add virtual anchors or pre-set running modes.

This is a system built exclusively for making low-speed manoeuvres, so it can’t match the other joystick systems for features. However, it can patch into some autopilot systems.