My husband and I decided to upgrade our kayaks this year. I had an Eddyline Merlin LT and he had an Wilderness Systems EPIC. Someone on paddling.net recommended the Impex Mystic as I am a smaller paddler. Prior to buying the boat, I emailed some questions to Danny (the GM at Impex) and he was extremely responsive and helpful. We went to Atlantic Kayak sat in the kayak, and bought it on the spot. It was well made, had some great features and fit perfectly. My husband had ordered a Wilderness Systems Tempest Pro 165 as he had his heart set on this boat for quite awhile. However, the process was a nightmare. WS refused to talk with us when we called and said we must go through the dealer. The dealer said they had previous poor experience dealing with WS. It was a special order and it came in wrong after waiting for 4 weeks. My husband liked the features so much on the Mystic that he tried a Currituck and really liked the fit, the way it was made and the safety deck rigging. We were so impressed with the responsiveness of Danny from the Mystic questions we had, the dealer was very happy with Danny's responsiveness that we knew we had to buy another Impex and bought the Currituck on the spot today.
Danny - keep up the good work! Your customer service is excellent. The quality of the kayak is very important but so is the responsiveness of the dealer and your willingness to listen and respond to our questions. Thanks again!
A Slow Kiss Of Death…
the kind of “customer service” that is being described for WS is a guaranteed slide into that “dark night…” Unless you’re NDK, of course. 
Yo! Flatpick, the pressure is on you to make up for these assertions of indifference to customer relations.
Danny answers a lot of good questions over at the Impex forum. I don’t participate because of the “limited” scope but you got to respect a company that wants to deal with their customers head on.
sing
I dunno
Flatpick is a dealer. I kind of like the idea of having someone in the area to help meet my needs and to deal with the company for me. Yeah, sometimes there are reasons to go direct, if your local paddle shop isn’t treating you right, but a good one will make sure the company treats you right too.
I bought my boat from a dealer who was going out of business, and that was fine, but I was taking the risk of not having them around later (and the closest paddle shop to me is about 2 1/2 hours drive).
mdh7768, why did you upgrade?
I’m just curious about your reason to upgrade from the Merlin. Was it too wide for you? I initially thought I wanted a Merlin, because I was looking for a boat under 50# that I could load myself. I thought I wanted a 14’ or so. I sat in the Merlin and liked it, but when I got into a Nighthawk 16’ I fell in love. I really liked the narrower profile, and although it felt “tippy” at first, I got over it after just a few minutes. I’m glad I bought the Nighthawk because I don’t think I’ll ever be wanting to upgrade from there.
Paula
question
Can a thin (150 lbs) but tall (6’) man fit in a Mystic? Due to storage issues I can’t keep a boat longer than 14’6". I have a Percetion Sonoma right now and it’s a great boat, but if I ever decided to upgrade I might try the Mystic.
probably
I’ve been in our Sea Breeze, which is a plain Jane version of the Mystic, and I’m 5’10" and 220 pounds.
Merlin upgrade
I really liked my Merlin. However, I ran into some elbow and wrist problems and had to make some meodfication. One was a bent shaft paddle. The other was a small boat with a skeg. The Merlin is a rudderless design and can be a little more work on the arms. Of course, we all know good torso rotation is the key which I keep working on as well The mystic has a different build than the Merlin. There is a pretty good indepth discussion on the Impex Kayak forum site about the differences. Overall they are both good boats to accomodate my size which is 5’3" and about 110 lbs.
Mystic size
Yes. My husband is 5’9 and 150 lbs. He fits in the boat but bought the Impex Currituck because he wanted a longer boat. In fact we have them side by side right now and the cockpit is the same size. If you go on the Impex Kayak forum and post mesages to other users, Danny, teh GM will answer any questions you hae on it.
Impex!
yeah, Danny is the man! I have asked questions on the Impex forum all winter and he has patiently answered them, as well as a lot of help from this forum. I finally got a chance to meet him at paddlesport and bought a yellow Mystic on the spot. I do appreciate customer service and Danny is a great person to deal with. It’s nice having confidence in the company you spent a whole wad of hard earned cash that they will 1) Stand behind their product 2) go the extra mile to help you.
I could not buy a sprayskirt at the show and Danny offered to send me one and to return it when I see him next. Thought that was a nice gesture.
Jay
Impex
I am glad you found the Impex Mystic worked for you. My wife Bonnie has one and she loves it. She is slightly under 5 feet tall and this is her first kayak. Danny was extremely helpful to me in choosing an appropriate paddle for her too. The dealer said that Impex service to both the dealer and end-user are second to none. This dealer has several good brands and it is interesting to note that his guides are all slowly switching to Impex. These guides can have any boat they want.
Good luck with your new boats!
Regards,
Bill
Impex
Impex sounds great! Except that I live in North Alabaama and there isn’t anywhere close to try them. Dealers sound great, but the closest kayak dealer is two hours away in Birmingham. Or two hours away in Chatanooga.
Danny ROCKS!
He’s a good friend and cohort of mine and an outstanding paddler, to boot!
I’m sorry about the lack of service you recieved from WS. They are going thru some BZ times, swapping/ disposing of personel, etc. which I know is NO excuse, but…
I try as hard as I can to address issues people have w/ 'em, from my dealership and beyond. I have helped a number of folks FAR outside my dealership responsibilities.
Wildy is making some strides at bringing the company up to speed, CS-wise. We’ll see a new website anyday now and many of their customer service issues should be a thing of the past. (Don’t hold me to this one, tho!) =:-0)
Key dealers should be able to do the interface and take care of most issues.
steve
Trying going to the Impex website
I would post a message and see if there is anything they can do to get you near a boat to demo.
http://www.impexkayak.com/wwwboard_tr/wwwboard.html
hey redmond
I see a new never used Impex Diamante for sale in my little local paper. Location is Rutherfordton, NC
Called the susquehanna now
so that might be part of the reason.