Glide

The seat is very comfortable for daylong paddles, and there is adequate storage for a dry bag in the bow. I suspect this would not be the case if I was taller with longer legs!! I do wish for amenities such as a cup holder and a sealed hatch - but this was an inexpensive yak and there are trade offs. It has held up well considering that most of our paddling is in rocky-bottomed rivers, and I have scraped and banged over ledges and rocks with little more than scratches on the hull. My Glide is light enough for me to lift into our truck on my own, although it is much easier with two of us!

Bottom line - this was a great value boat and I am still very pleased with it.

The Kayaks are very stable and I feel safe having the kids out in them. However my son and I found that we can really get the kayaks gliding as advertised. There is some getting used to the smaller yaks but they will track straight after a few initial paddles to get the speed up. The seats are padded and unlike most kayaks in this class come with knee pads and a drain plug. The other benefit is that when I go with my daughter the kayaks are light enough that I can get them on and off my SUV without the need for another adult.

I researched kayaks for months before this purchase and I am very pleased with my decision. Just added another glide to our fleet and have a lot of friends that are getting in line to try out kayaking! Would like to thank Emotion for delivering a good product at a price I can afford.

Emotion kayaks is proud of the numerous awards and achievements of both our roto-molded product and our blow-molded product. As with any material and production method, there will always be trade-offs in benefits. I think that you make a good point that a lot of the confusion resides with same model names to two processes and this has been brought into our planning for 2012. We have also had customers that prefer the blow-molded glide because of the slightly different seat. In the end, we don't want people to be confused and will make adjustments going into 2012.

We feel that we should weigh in on some of the assertions that you have picked up in your interactions with staff and with the Glides you purchased.

The advent of blow-molding in kayaks has been around for some time and some of the burliest expeditions to the arctic and tropics have been done in blow-molded touring boats from another manufacturer. Emotion has been one of the firsts to create a line of recreational kayaks using this process while we continue to roto-mold for more color options (one of the reasons why independent retailers continue to get roto-molded glides). The plastic that is used in blow-molding is called HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) and it actually carries many traits that make for very strong and long lasting boats. Roto-molded plastic uses LDPE (Low Density Polyethylene) Take a peek at this chart:

Blow-molded boats are actually quite strong! The blow-mold equipment and mold is much more expensive than roto-molding but the efficiency is in the very low blemish rate, running efficiency and longevity of the mold. We feel that these manufacturing efficiencies should be passed right on to the customer. But, to say that blow-molded HDPE is of lower quality than roto-molded LDPE is not correct. They do have a different "look" and "feel" and subjectively we know everyone has their favorite but the lower priced boats from Emotion are not lower quality. In fact, our Spitfire has features like the "no hole" pad eyes that hold the bungee cords in the tank well and seat back assembly. Blow-molding makes it possible to actually cool the plastic around the screws that hold the pad eyes in place making for a stronger and more water tight fitting than conventional rivets. Innovation can come in affordable packages!

The issue with the glides warping (according to an REI staff member) might have more to do with logistics and the larger qty of Glides that go to the REI via our Factory/REI Distribution Center/Warehouse at REI DC/Shipped to Store (a lot of travel). We have been investigating this but also know that we ship a lot of Blow Molded Glides and do not have shipping warpage in every instance. Especially when qtys are smaller.

Like any issue, there are a lot of factors at play. Here is just one example:

The numbers that you see in the chart above might promote the argument that a blow-molded Glide might have more elasticity than a roto-molded glide. There are strength benefits to that but if in the heat of the summer with a lot of boats shipped in a closed container there may be a larger chance of deformation from these traits. Small boats like the glide are a bit too long to be shipped vertically but small enough that a lot of boats can fit per shipping container. There have been manufacturers in years past that ship their kayaks in air controlled containers but we have found that a little sunshine and time to "breathe" does bring any dent back to shape. Often times, independent retailers have a bit more time to let boats recover from a long trip. If you go down to the local shop and speak with the owner I think they would tell you that even "pancaked" kayaks will come back to shape after a 1/2 hour in a lot of sun. This "elasticity" is what makes Poly boats so tough when they knock into a rock. It is always a trade-off to balance a paddler's need for a light weight craft and their need for rigid stiffness in high heat. Poly is tough when bumped, bounced and impacted but the trade-off compared to composite boats is that 130 degree surface temperature can cause heat distortion. If you put pressure into that equation the forming temperature decreases dramatically (on your rack with strap pressure or bow and stern lines).

If a dent that mostly reshaped is still noticeable, a little boiling water and pressure safely applied to the remaining dent does the trick. It should also be mentioned that a dark boat is going to heat up more in the sun than a lighter colored boat so the blue Glide may be more prone to heat distortion than an orange or yellow boat. Heat distortion is a common occurrence in the lifespan of any poly boat. Even our friends at Hobie have made a video that admits that poly boats sometimes have to be "coaxed" back to shape http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpuIJzMotDg.

In 2010, the Roto-molded glides were sold out beginning in early summer. For 2011, Emotion invested heavily in a new blow-mold to greatly add to the production of the glide "model". We replicated the blow-molded glide features as close as we possibly could so that two exact same hulls did not need different names but your review brings up a valid argument that this might cause confusion in the market place. The price savings are not because it is a "cheaper product" but because it is a more efficiently manufactured product. However, both of our Glides are suggested to sell at the same price--$349. The costs of blow-mold development and the blow-molded glide was everything but "cheap"! We will continue to offer a roto-molded version so that we can make all the fun colors our customers love but we also know that a lot of folks wouldn't have Glides if we didn't also blow-mold versions in select colors. You might not feel this way but we have had a lot of customers who sought after the features in the blue glide you purchased compared to the roto-molded glide. Everyone is a little different in the features they value. That is why autos have so many versions within model. The dealer network would not let us retire all those fun other colors we make but perhaps a more clarified sub-model name is the way to go.

I'm sending you a care package for your input if you would email us with your contact information at info@emotionkayaks.com.

Happy Paddlin'
Tom Strauss
President, Emotion Kayaks

At this point I was exasperated and didn't really feel like driving yet again to REI to return it and wait for another. I contacted Emotion and they said that the kayaks warp from leaving them out in the sun and probably that had happened somewhere from the time it left the factory until it arrived at the store. They said the solution was to let it warm up and then the plastic's "memory" would return it to shape, and if the warp was bad enough I could "mold" it back into shape with my hands. This did not work. The REI manager said that for every 5 kayaks they receive from Emotion, 4 are warped. He said that the Glide's materials are of very thin density and he could not really recommend this kayak at all. That said, better made kayaks are about $100 more, and that is beyond my budget, so I stuck with the Emotion.

We took the kayaks out yesterday to (finally!) to Daniels Dam in Ellicott City in MD and the water was extremely shallow and like glass. So, I can't say I got to "test" the kayak because under those conditions paddling was effortless. That said, the kayak tracked nicely and with some speed. I'll be interested to see how it does in deep lakes with some wind, which is what we'll mostly be faced with when we bring the kayak to Maine. Interestingly, we met a lady who was trying out her Emotion Comet at the same time, and she was miserable because the Comet tracked so poorly; she said she felt she had to expend a lot of effort and was more tired than after a day of rock climbing!

I bought the Emotion Glide because of price, short size, and weight. Overall I thought it was a nice ride, but the quality control (or lack thereof) made me give it a lower rating.

I would recommend this Kayak to anyone who fits my size (5'11" 190 lbs). I did not give it a 10 because a 10 is perfect.