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This boat is FAST!!! If you are into adventure racing or local races on small rivers with nothing more than class 2 or 3 rapids it will be a great boat for you and its plastic so you don't have to worry about beating and banging it on rocks. Warning to new paddlers, this boat is very tippy. If a racing surf ski or K1 racing kayak is 10 on the scale of tippyness than this is at least an 8. For this reason I wish it was a sit on top because it is going to dump you eventually. Only other negative I can give on it is I wish the seat was more comfortable. The back lip of the seat digs into your backside. Don't plan on spending a day in this boat. Maybe a couple of hours at the most is all you will tolerate in this boat.

I will give this boat a rating of 8 since the comfort is not there, but I guess a fast tippy boat does not need the comfort if you are passing everyone on the river, of course as long as you can keep it from dumping you.

The sprinter is a great all around boat in my opinion. I read some reviews that say it is tippy. Trust me, far from it. Maybe if you have never paddled a kayak before and this was your first kayak then yeah maybe you would think it is a little tippy. I think a newbie would feel comfortable in a few short paddles. I fish from this boat constantly. So you know if I can fish from it, the boat is fairly stable.

As far as the speed goes, maybe not the fastest sit on top but you are sacrificing stability when you gain speed. So yeah there are faster SOT out there but they are not as stable as this boat.

I would consider this a great boat for fitness and general everyday paddling. If you a racer this boat will hold its on to most kayaks but if there is a tippier boat out there the same length it will probably be faster as long as the person paddling it is a great paddler. I give this boat a 9 for the all around comfort, speed, and stability this boat has. If you find one for sale I would not hesitate to buy it. You will enjoy it.

I bought a used Necky Looksha III this past winter. Got to take it out on the lake and give it a test.

First of all it is not as heavy as one would think for the length of the boat. Stability I would rate a 7 out of 10 with 10 being the most stable. You should feel comfortable within the first 30mins to an hour in this boat.

Using the GPS the top max speed I could get with my paddling ability was 7.9mph but I could not hold it there for very long. Cruising speed I would say is between 5.5 to 6.5 mph depending on the person paddling. This is without much effort.

I give it an 8 out of 10 for the reason of having to use the rudder to hold a straight line. With a 19ft boat this is understandable. Overall I am a happy owner of the Looksha III.