Profile

The Flex is an excellent day or overnight paddling boat. It's greatest attributes are its great handling and responsiveness along with great stablitly. Along with this is it surprisingly fast for such a short boat. It comes with a ratcheted seat and knee braces which make it very comfortable for either casual paddling or for some more focused traveling. Its skeg and hull design make it track well while also being very responsive and nimble. It has a very functional and useful day hatch that fits under the deck chords and keeps gear close at hand and dry. Its is fairly light weight for what it is and so it is fairly easy for one person to transport or roof top.

All and all its a good solid entry level or intermediate kayak

The Advanced Elements Advanced Frame is an acceptable kayak with the huge advantage that it can be carried in the trunk of your car. It inflates in 10 minutes or less once you are experienced with setting it up. Once set up and inflated it paddles well if a bit sluggishly which you would expect from an inflatable. It of course has amazing stability. Its big pluses are portability, ease of set up and extreme comfort for lazing around on a lake or pond in calm weather - but it also is an acceptable kayaking experience when you want to do some real paddling.

The Necky Manitou 13 is a good entry level kayak for day paddling with easy entry, great stability and acceptable handling and speed for a 13 foot boat. Its comfortable for a day trip and for casual paddles on lakes and calm streams. Its seat is very comfortable and adjustable. Its a good entry level kayak.

The Delphin 155 is a superior all purpose kayak whose one drawback is its weight. Weighing in at 62 lbs it is a bit of a challenge to car top and transport but once on the water it is very stable agile boat that excels at surfing, ocean play and is a very functional multiday touring boat. The cockpit size and volume are perfect - I feel wedged in comfortably and become one with the kayak which makes ocean play or surfing easy and joyful. Its easy to roll. A great boat if you are into surfing and ocean play and also want to do some touring.

The Werner Camano paddle is an excellent step up from an entry level paddle. It is a great balance of light weight, stiffness, design and price. For the price it is the best paddle out there.