Sundance 9.5

We’ve owned a fair few kayaks over the years; singles, doubles, very slow and stable ones, very fast and tippy ones, but we love the Perception Sundance the best! Suze and I are now in our mid-60s and are not so agile as we once were, so the big cockpit is a huge plus for us, and the extra large Riot spraydeck works fine on the Sundance. The Sundance’s light weight makes it easy to load and unload on to a car. Performance-wise, it’s great; at 9.5ft it’s not going to win any races buts it’s quite nippy for all that. It’s very stable, but not so stable that it’s a slug. Thoroughly recommend if you can get hold of one. - Geoff

I've paddled lots of kayaks and I think this design is very stable and fast compared to other yaks of similar size. The seat is comfy and fully adjustable in the one I got, foot room is a little cramped so I would say shorter people will be more comfy. I have always stayed away from yaks that have tunnels in the bottom, I thought this slowed them down but I must say that is not the case with this model and it improves the tracking immensely.

I highly recommend this kayak for recreational lake and creek paddling. I see no reason it won't do fine in a river but since I have not taken it in one yet I won't comment on its suitability. I bought this new this month but it was manufactured in Sept. of 2010, the material is not the flimsily plastic you find used in a lot of newer models.

I just got the boat today an i love it. Its very smooth in the water even when its chopy it is very hard to flip it will go to this one point but it wont flip the seat was nice and the foot pegs where just right for my feet an i was out there for 3 hours and if i didn't need to leave i would be out there all day. The only down side is it don't have a hatch but there is a lot of room behind the seat for a 9.5 it is a really good boat and i think it will last me a long time im very happy with it this is the boat to buy for lakes and rivers all in all it is the perfect boat for beginners or experienced people

This boat rocks! It is my first kayak and I had only kayaked twice prior to buying this. I use it every day in the ocean and on lakes. I have NEVER flipped it. Whoever said it flipped easily is not a very good paddler. I have gone through waves and boat wakes and never had a problem.

This boat is so fun there are no words. I would really have liked a small hatch and a cup holder but I make do. There is enough room for a large dry bag as well as my kayak cart. I could want no more for a little

My wife has one & has never had any issues keeping it right-side up... and, no, neither she or I work for Perception. This kayak is very stable (in the three years that my wife has been paddling this kayak, she has flipped it only once) & it tracks reasonably well. We have six kayaks, of which three are Perceptions. Unless we're doing class III or higher, my wife always uses her Sundance 9.5.

Just got back from my first outing with the Sundance 9.5. All I have to say is that its an AWESOME little 'yak!! Turns great, handles mildly choppy *2ft chop* waters extremely well, staying stable the entire time! Tracks well and with the good amount of leg room/cockpit space, you can easily pull an overnighter with this kayak. For $300, I'd have to say that its probably one of the most versatile kayaks that you'll find!!

I purchased the Perception Sundance 9.5 a few weeks ago and I love it. It's my first kayak, so I'm not experienced, but so far it has worked out great. I've paddled in San Francisco Bay a few times with it, as well as several times along some smoother areas of the American river, and it has performed just fine. My only complaint so far it that sometimes it tends to not track as well as I'd like, drifting off to the right. I would recommend to any first time kayak buyer!

I have had one of these since March of 2006 and have no complaints. I have paddled in lakes, rivers, ponds, and the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds. the latter not in the best of weather and still felt safe. I highly recommend the Sundance 9.5

Bought my Sundance 9.5 in 2003 and just love it. I'm 6ft 230 lbs and I rip this thing all over up to class 3 with a Dagger approach skirt! Plenty of room behind the seat for overnight trips and responsive handling make this little rec boat slap the S#$T out of similar models. And no it's not an upgraded Swifty. Entirely different hull design for the guy who obviously knows very little about hull design.

I purchased my Sundance about 2 months ago --$350. This kayak does everything I want it to do very well. I live on a Class1--Class2 river and this boat handles it with a lot of stability, control, and maneuverability. I can easily, at the last minute, skirt around hidden rocks and avoid rough waters. Never felt out of control or on the verge of tipping. On medium size lakes it tracks very straight and with pretty good speed.

It is a fun boat to be in especially with the large cockpit and adjustable foot-pegs. I still have not purchased a skirt yet and don't think I will. Great boat!!

I am a novice kayaker and this is the first kayak (besides an inflatable) that I have purchased. I purchased the Sundance 9.5 for two reasons. The first reason was size. I need something small and light because I'm a small woman. I also wanted something that could fit into my Honda CRV without the need to put it on the roof rack. The second reason I purchased this was because it looked to be well made and it was a Perception. The seat felt really comfortable and it was fully adjustable.

Getting into it wasn't really difficult although it was mostly grounded in the shallow water when I stepped in. I just pushed off with my hand to get moving. I was a little nervous about the tippyness being that I have never been in a real hard shell kayak before but after awhile I realized I wasn't going to tip over.

The speed was a little on the slow side but I'm not a fast paddler (not yet anyway). Also I felt that it didn't track perfectly straight unless I put an effort into a good paddling technique. But by no means did I get off course at all, it was more of a slight tracking offset (less than a foot either way) without using a good paddling technique.

This kayak was very easy to handle and turn which I liked. I'm more interested in maneuverability than speed. I would have liked some more convenience features with this kayak though. The water bottle holder is in an ok spot. It's not too difficult to reach. But it would have been nice to have a paddle holder already attached to it.

My first impression of this kayak is a good one. I'm only planning on using it on lakes and it should fit my needs well.

I don't understand why Perception mentions only lakes and ponds for the Sundance 9.5 while they also list calmer rivers for the swifty. We now have two Sundance kayaks and love them. They handle so well, even around winds, waves, and boats. We have had them in some really rough weather and never been in danger of flipping. I'm totally satisfied.

I started this year in a whitewater kayak, Dagger GT 8.1. I could never get it to go straight, and it was always spinning. I had trouble lining it up. I was about to give up on kayaking.

I bought a Sundance 9.5 (it's really an upgraded Swifty). I really like it. It tracks well, turns well, and is very stable. Sundance is a great little boat. I recommend it.

I purchased 9.5 because of storage concern. It tracks pretty well. The hull is a bit shallower than I thought. The cockpit is very wide so splash comes in more easily, so I recommend a longer paddle. It becomes a good thing when paddling in a warm/hot day. The seat is very comfortable. I feel I can sit for hours without a problem. The speed is good for its length.

I have another short yak, OT Rush. Sundance is lighter than Rush, and is much lighter when car topping. I don't play in river or long distance, and don't fish on it, either. Therefore, this kayak is perfect for my situation.

Great boat for the weekend paddler. Nice to fish out of and tracks very nicely.

It is a great boat for just paddling around and having calm fun on the lake. I however was looking for a boat that I could paddle on a lake, flip/roll, play in large wakes, and so forth. This is not it due to the HUGE cockpit. I do use a skirt that fits well with a tension/implosion bar ... it doesn't work if you want to try to roll. Anyway, I wish someone would make a boat for crazy fun on the lake ... and under 10 feet.

What a boat!!! I'd rented the Sundance 12.0 several times and knew it was a great model. Went with the 9.5 b/c it is easier for me to store and transport. Honestly, the only compromise is the lack of a hatch but there is plenty of deck rigging and cockpit space. Have had it out twice so far, once in pretty choppy water. It tracks amazingly well for a small boat and turns pretty easily too. Definitely recommend the Sundance 9.5.

I have a Sundance 9.5 and a Sundance 12. The Sundance 12 is faster but I really don’t think it tracts a whole lot better than the 9.5. I used the 12 on a river that I’ve only done with the 9.5 and had trouble in some tight spots that I was able to breeze through with the 9.5. After using the 12 for awhile a realized how easy it was to get around with the 9.5 and I also realized that I would rather use the 9.5. I guess I’m saying that the 12 ft. isn’t doing anything that the 9.5 didn’t do, except for speed.

Love mine. Tracks well. handles big waves, shallow rivers and turns well. Great for small streams and tight areas. Light weight, stable and cofortable seating.

I love my Sundance 9.5. I have taken mine all over and it does surprisingly well in all kinds of conditions. Most of my paddling is Midwest lakes and rivers, but I have had it out in the ocean (on a REALLY calm day) in OBX. It tracks amazingly well for a short boat. It's a little slow due to it's width but that just gives you more of a workout when you are paddling with friends in longer boats. The only time I've had qualms with it was when I had it out of it's element, it got to be quite a handful in the Pamlico Sound at OBX on a windy day with 2-3ft chop but still it was very stable, it was just difficult to make much headway, turned into quite the epic 2mile paddle. I also tested the Dagger Blackwater 10.5 and thought the Sundance tracked better and was more enjoyable than the Dagger. One note on the Sundance, the stock flotation is only enough to float the boat by itself, if you swamp it, it becomes a submarine if you try to re-enter it. If you are going to paddle it anywhere where a capsize will put you in distress then add more or replace the stock flotation with something that will keep you and your boat afloat, and test it out thoroughly before you need to depend on it.

My daughter (8 yrs) uses this boat and absolutely loves it. Great small boat, easy for pond, river and creek paddling. It is a good bridge between the "rec yak" and a starting touring yak. Plus it is light enough that she can pull it if she has to.

I'm rating this a 10 compared to like sized kayaks. The only thing better than this kayak is two of them. My wife was somewhat against kayaking but after her first time out she was ready for me to get her one too! My wife was very reassured by the amount of stability.

I love this size because it's so easy to carry, put on top of the car, and to store. At 9'5", I'm able to store them vertically in the garage which takes up very little space compared to having a larger kayak that I would have to store horizontally. I know that a larger kayak would probably track better but I was really surprised by how well they do track.

Size-wise, I'm able to put my 6-year old in front of me and take her too and we're very comfortable for around an hour, then out legs start getting cramped. We even take a fishing pole and small tacklebox for fishing.

Overall, I wish I had bought my boats years ago and I can't recommend them enough. I looked at the Dagger Zydeco and the cheaper Perception Swifty but the Sundance 9.5 was better made, cheaper than the Zydeco, and in my opinion had better styling than the other boats. It also has deeper, longer grooves in the bottom which I would think help it to track better.

A good little kayak that seems to handle well on smooth water. tracks well and turns well to. with a easily adjustable seat that is padded a very nice ride.