Who makes a better sit on top kayak, Pelican or Lifetime? Thx
Wilderness Systems
1 Like
What String said ^^^ Also, Perception and Riot.
Both Lifetime and Pelican are pretty low end mass market junk. Pelican’s cheapest models are probably the worst, but the comparable models between Lifetime and Pelican look pretty much equally poorly designed, made and equipped to me.
1 Like
It depends on if you like to shop at Tractor Supply or Wal-Mart.
The question is a toss up if it was a real question to start with. Both have a range of products and it would depend on where in the range you were looking.
I was looking for a rec-kayak a couple years ago and none of this category met our weight requirement let alone our safety requirement in the cheap models and when you go up in price companies like Old Town made much better rec-kayaks for not much more money although they still fall short on safety IMO but that can be fixed.
If you want something for just fooling around on with kids or lighter adults I see 100s of these you mentioned going down our river doing 10 mile river floats. Unfortunately our river runs between 12’ and 3” deep and 99% of the people don’t see the need for a PFD being worn. Cheap boat IMO is ok but don’t go cheap on the PFD.
Are you bored?
Lifetime is built in Utah, Pelican in Canada, so they both have decent quality control.
By the way, Pelican owns Perception.
I would say that it depends on what strikes your fancy. Pelican has put a lot of effort into their fishing barges, Lifetime seems to have more paddle friendly offerings, longer and narrower.
Lifetime Kayaks are now mostly made in Xiamen China not Clearfield Utah. If you check the statements about being exclusively US made on the internet date to about 2012. I grew up in Utah and our highschool football team used to slaughter Clearfield High every year. If you know anything about Clearfield you know it is i the Armpit of the Wasatch Front and it fits the nickname their team used “Clearfield - Home of Mediocrity” pretty well. Quality and Clearfield two words you don’t every hear used together.
be nice, be nice, be nice, be nice, be nice…
1 Like
This is the correct approach (Tractor Supply or Walmart). Buy whichever one is more convenient, get a comfortable coast guard approved PFD and wear it, and be aware of the limitations of the type of boat chosen. Don’t waste time you could use floating down creeks trying to figure out which one is better. I have seen that the paddles from Lifetime are worse, so that is a point in favor of Pelican. The cheap lifetime paddle has ribs running lengthwise parallel to the spine of the blades, which increase drag, increase splashes into the boat, and do nothing useful for the structure of the blade.
2 Likes