Just for grins , look this up.
Pelicans, Feel Free, WalMart ,ad nauseum. No wonder we get so many questions from people who are interested in a first boat.
They see all these alleged kayaks starting at $200 and then they get advice from here on boats that cost more.
Who knew?
Looks like I’ve wasted many thousands of dollars on lower rated boats.
Yes, but did your boats come with selfie sticks?
I had a selfie stick but lent it to someone who fell off a cliff with it.
I just never replaced it…
Mine sank along with a guy In an 8’ Dick’s special kayak while running the Colorado.
No, but it’s close.
“Based on recreational kayak reviews on Amazon” (in the Sea Kayaker article) pretty much says it all. “Cheap and plentiful = popular” doesn’t equate to quality or best function. “Top 10” simply means volume of sales. The common “10 out 0f 10” reviews from new rec kayak owners who have never sat in another boat are risibly useless.
“I’ve gone barefoot my whole life but these 99 cent plastic flip flops I just got are the best shoes EVER. I can’t wait to climb Mount Everest in them. 10 out of 10…”
(perhaps not a fair equivalency, since flip-flops don’t have cup-holders…)
@Overstreet said:
Is this the rating list you refer to?
https://www.seakayakermag.com/best-recreational-kayaks/
That knockoff sure is an insult to the original “Sea Kayaker.” https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8loX5zpNWPCMl9hTUIxeDFGTXc/edit
@willowleaf said:
“Based on recreational kayak reviews on Amazon” (in the Sea Kayaker article) pretty much says it all. “Cheap and plentiful = popular” doesn’t equate to quality or best function. “Top 10” simply means volume of sales. The common “10 out 0f 10” reviews from new rec kayak owners who have never sat in another boat are risibly useless.“I’ve gone barefoot my whole life but these 99 cent plastic flip flops I just got are the best shoes EVER. I can’t wait to climb Mount Everest in them. 10 out of 10…”
Saw one “10” review from someone who just got the kayak home but hasn’t had it in the water yet.
Sun Dolphin is King in my Hood!
@grayhawk said:
Saw one “10” review from someone who just got the kayak home but hasn’t had it in the water yet.
I find this increasingly frequent. The credibility of online reviews has decreased significantly.
@Overstreet said:
Is this the rating list you refer to?
https://www.seakayakermag.com/best-recreational-kayaks/
What I find interesting is that an “Oru” was listed with this group of kayaks. Must have been done by marketing or sales figures… However either might indicate more sales of Oru than I ever thought possible.
Oru evidently has a massive marketing budget. And they are pretty promiscuous with who they’ll sell to wholesale as well as direct. Considering how weak the folding kayak market has been in the past decade (with two of the premiere makers, Feathercraft and Folbot, going under 2 years ago) I find it hard to believe Oru has that much market penetration, unless the novelty effect is that strong.
The hell of it is that these reviews are potentially correct - FOR THE INTENDED ENVIRONMENT. That is the part that messes it up. And too many paddlers don’t understand the environment part…
Case in point - was at a potluck fundraiser at a house overlooking Moscongus Bay in July. Sitting with a couple who have a place on a lake about 12 miles inland from there. They had been coming for their adult lifetimes each summer. It was a fairly calm day and we had been talking about paddling after a couple of folks went by in sea kayaks. One of the couple asked me about taking their rec boat out on the bay. Because it “seemed so calm”. And it was a stunning day, sunny and blue water.
I asked how they would feel if things whipped up and they were dealing with 2-3 ft waves and a wind gusts to 20 knots, pretty typical stuff if you something comes thru there on a summer afternoon. Happily the person said they would be scared, so likely they won’t try it. But had we not happened to have that conversation, she may have tried it. .
Problem with the majority of “user product reviews” of all kinds is that they are functionally useless to anyone trying to make a decision. I often review products I’ve purchased on line and I try to think of what I wanted to know when considering them myself. For instance in clothing I will describe my own height and measurements and body type and explain how a specific size M or L fit me, also report how it held up in the wash and how the color compared with what was illustrated on the catalog site.
But if you look at most reviews (of clothing or any product) they will be along the lines of “This is so cute and I really love it. It looks great on me.” Gee, so glad for you but that tells me squat that would help make a buying decision. Waste of effort that they wrote it and I bothered to read it. I have also noticed that many reviews are obviously for a different product than they are posted under. Merchant sites do a poor job of vetting the reviews for the most part.
This is the case with most paddlecraft reviews on vendor sites as well. Though there have traditionally been pretty comprehensive and objectively useful reviews on P.net/P.com for touring kayaks and canoes, a lot of those for the more common rec boats have been of that useless subjective ilk. All enthusiasm with little constructive justification or useful detail.
I often get review requests before I’ve had occasion to use the product.
I think the more useful kayak reviews are by experienced third party reviewers. the kind Sea Kayak magazine used to do.
Not surprising, really - when you take into account the glowing reviews we’ve seen here for Coleman and Pelican boats. OT’s Penobscot gets a lower average user rating here than some of their low end stuff. And this is supposed to be an enthusiast site. Think of how it would look if there were fewer skilled paddlers here.