Anyone know anything about the quality/durability etc. of the Peregrine wing paddles? Both the touring and the wing models look an lot like Epics to me (hard to tell from the photos). If you’ve held one, was the shaft oval at the hand grip area?
http://www.peregrinekayaks.com/
Thanks!
All day and no one to answer???
Discussing paddling naked on the other forum I guess takes priority -
Or may be Peregrine is so new no one really knows anything…
questionable
I suspect these people are selling stuff they are getting built elsewhere. Their description of the wing is a joke and it’s very obvious whoever wrote it has absolutely no idea what a wing paddle does. “cups the water” yeah right.
Bill H.
My guess is no one has one or
you would have had a reply.
I know I have never heard of them
Jack L
Kind of sketchy …
Yup, not much on the net for them. A couple of articles and that’s it. Nothing on the actual equipment they sell that I could see from independent sources. Their web site is not great either and no direct contact information either. Makes me wonder… They had what seemed to me like a good deal on a wing paddle in my size on eBay and that got me interested…
Epic copy
I suspect the paddles are rip-off’s of Epic’s, probably from the Chinese company that got their molds when they had work being done there and wouldn’t return them. Someone dishonest enough to steal someone else’s work would be highly suspect to have any customer service let alone use quality material in it’s construction.
Bill H.
well
These might be Chinese paddles, but are they copies of Epics?
Peregrine - 750 cm2, 18’’ long, 6.5’’ wide
Epic - 750 cm2, 19.7’’ long, 6.5’’ wide
They both look different - downturn is not quite the same.
More wing paddle shapes can be found here http://www.fastkayak.com/wing.html
Update …
I did end-up buying the Peregrine mid-wing paddle. It arrived today (fast shipping and no damage). I can’t find any obvious problems with the craftsmanship - the layup is clean and I see no defects. The blades are smooth and shiny with perfect finish. The only part that looks iffy is the locking mechanism - looks flimsy but at least seems to work well for now (no slippage of the two halves when locked).
I will have my new carbon Epic small-mid to compare to in a few days so I’m reserving final judgement about whether these are knock-offs until then. I sold my Epic signature hybrid small-mid wing a couple of weeks back to fund my carbon version of the same so nothing at hand to compare. The shafts on the Peregrine and the Epic signature look identical to me - the green smooth shaft with oval hand grip area. I’ll check the blade shapes when my new paddle arrives.
fastkayak
Yeah I own one of the ones from fastkayak.
It’s just the info on the website basically says to me that these guys know absolutely nothing about what it is they are selling.
Bill H.
Paddled it today …
… and, as expected, paddles just fine. Feel is the same as on the Epics (does not mean it is the same paddle, just same feel in the water and in the hand).
Light is good - there is definitely less swing weight with the carbon blades on this one (despite being slightly larger) than my “hybrid signature” Epic. The tiny plastic lever for the ferule is operable with gloves and works a lot better than the twist screw version (hope it stays in one piece though, looks very fragile). The overall feel is of a somewhat stiff paddle, so good to put some power to the water…
Follow-up - It is an Epic “clone”
– Last Updated: May-16-11 1:50 PM EST –
Had it side by side with the Epics and it is identical down to the flimsy feeling lock.
Everything is the same (including the layup and apparent quality of the carbon blades), except the plastic locking lever on mine is red and on the Epics is black. And of course, mine has the green shaft that on Epics only comes with their lower-end "Signature Hybrid" version as standard (but I have seen it as custom paddles sold by Epic reps).
The Epic rep on-site that also looked at the paddle mentioned than the shafts could be bought from a third-party that makes shafts. He was surprised that the lock was copied though. He was not surprised or terribly concerned about the blade being copied. His suggestion was that these might have been sold by Epic at some time as samples/blems and Peregrine must have stamped their logo on the blades. So not necessarily a copy - it might actually be a re-branded Epic...
I'm not going to pass any judgement on Peregrine Kayaks for selling these without any explanation about the "similarities" with Epics as I have no facts as to how they obtained the parts or why is their logo stamped on blades that are obviously the same as the Epic's. They do come from the same mould and use the same materials so some explanation would have been good to post on the Peregrine web site. Afterall, these folks are in the US and if they care about how people perceive them they should make the effort... Conspicuously, Peregrine is "sold out" on all their paddles ...