I recently become the new owner of a Neris Smart Pro Kayak; I will be using this inflatable kayak for my next Adventure in the Amazon river. I normally use an Ally canoe and loved every thing about it except when its very windy and unfortunately there is no way to be safe with it in coastal travel. My last canoe trip was from Vegas to the Mexican border on the Colorado river.
I didn’t want to write a review before I could test it long enough to know what I was talking about .
The material look like very good quality and the inner alloy frame is very easy to mount, in fact you can built the kayak in 15 mn without breaking a sweat. The kayak came into a large backpack, everything you need fit in it, this includes in my case the ruder and skirt too. The total weight was 25 KG.
Now after over 100 miles with it I am even more satisfied with the kayak, great stability and tracking and even with 15 miles/H wind the boat was not dancing in front of me (even without using the rudder. I did few 20 miles/day without fatigue thanks to the good inflatable seat. The adverse weather condition stopped me to try rolling it or doing a self-rescue but with the inflated side it should not be any problem to get back inside.
I also did some try out fully loaded with 2 cone bags (Neris) and a 110 L ortlieb duffle, totaling about 60 kg of gears and still no stability or tracking issue. Most of my kayaking was done on the lake Provo, Jordan river and Provo river in Utah.
If you have any question asked me and if you want to look at it, I am in Lehi Utah.
This is great timing, I actually just posted asking for opinions on the Neris Smart Pro Tandem Expedition, the Advanced Elements AdvancedFrame Elite, and the Sea Eagle Explorer 380x Pro Package. I’m looking for a good general purpose kayak that I can travel with to Europe, kayaking rivers, lakes, and coastal waters.
Couple of questions about your Neris:
How’s the tracking and stability, especially with a full load? I’m willing to sacrifice speed for stability, as long as the kayak can track well.
Do you think it’s worth the extra money over the Sea Eagle and AdvancedFrame? It’s about $300-$800 more, depending on what package it’s compared to.
Hi StakedPlainExplorer
I used mine fully loaded with 60 Kg /130 pounds of gears plus myself about 200 pounds , the kayak track very well ,even without the rudder . I used it in river cat 2 and windy lakes without any problem. I looked in person at he Advance frame and the quality was not there for me , I tried the Sea eagle 380 and it a good boat but too wide for me to be comfortable for paddle for long day after days, I think it is more river boat than a long distance one and no rudder with it , plus they do not have a skirt for it . The Neris Smart Pro have a very good skirt and when you carry a lot of gears during rainy or very sunny situation this a big plus.
I understand the difference in price but quality comfort and performance are worth it.
I saw a similar comment about the Sea Eagle, that it paddles more like a raft than a kayak.
I’m probably going to go with the Neris. After adding the single and double decks ($100 each) and rudder ($300), the AdvancedFrame Elite is only $300 less than the Neris. I’ve seen some negative reviews of the AF, but nothing but good reports on the Neris.
How easy is it to clean and maintain your Neris? Seems like there’s a lot of parts to that boat.
Hello
The Neris frame have very little part , the floor is only 3 parts and the all assembly is very easy to clean.If the terrain is not muddy I basically only wipe the all kayak after its use , if you are in very muddy area what I recommend is to inflate it at home without the frame and clean it with a hose or a big sponge. if you are in Utah I can show you the kayak in person but if you need specific pictures of any part or how I load it with all my gears let me know. The distributor of Neris in the USA is a very nice guy and can answer any question directly , before getting mine I had a ton of it too and always received prompt responses.
If the boat did not come with it, be sure to always carry a repair kit. Neris sells one. You don’t want to be miles from a takeout and have a compartment go flat.
Actually the kayak came with a full repair kit so no worries there , they also have some cone shape dry bag that fit any good kayak , I have them and can recommend them as far quality size and price.
The paddlers on the foldingkayaks.org forum would probably also appreciate seeing your review of the Neris over there. I’ve yet to see any posts by owners of the brand yet and it’s always helpful to know what options are available in the market for portable watercraft.
I think you’ve sold me on the Neris lol. I’m in Los Angeles, let me know if you’re ever in this area. There’s not much besides ocean kayaking down here, but lots of good spots in Central CA.
Of course, if you are in LA, we can always do the Ports of Los Angeles & Long Beach. It’s pretty great, paddling next to the big ships and cranes. Smelly though, we call it the “sewer tour!”
Are you mainly in flat water or will you be doing some white water paddling. If you are flat water, go for the SE Fast Tracks. Very stable, plus faster paddling than the Explorers, but only good up to Class II or III rapids. White water paddling, go with Explorer.
I paddle mostly Florida water, so I have one SE Razor Lite and two Fast Tracks and love them.
