Five Reasons WHY your Hobie Kayak SUCKS

DON'T FORGET TO LIKE THE VID I also hope you watched the full video before commenting 😊 1.5 speed works great on my voice 😅😅

Bought my 2013 Outback brand new for $1,800 and I thought I was crazy for spending that much for a kayak glad I have it now . I would never pay what they want for them now , heck the car I drive daily I only paid $2.700 for three yrs ago . Thanks for your honest reviews and videos.

ThNks for that Aliex. I’m hoping you’ll do a video on the Titan X in the future because that’s one I’m really interested in.

I've seen the fragility of the Mirage drive several times in recent years when a friend's PA14 drive had cable breaks. The worst thing about it is that the PAs are tanks and a massive chore to paddle back to the launch! I did have a couple of issues with my Propel drive over the 7 1/2 years that I've owned my Slayer Propel 13. I love the fact that I was able to paddle it back to the truck very easily. Heck, my drive was being repaired by the Native folks and I took a 5 mile fishing trip with my paddle alone... couldn't think of doing that with either the PA12 or PA14.

I'm gonna purchase my first fishing kayak soon. I really appreciate all the opinions on the kayaks you see and use.

My first yak was a lifetime tamarack I paid under $300 for, I fished out of it for over 4 years and I had such a great time. Best $300 I probably ever spent, fishing that long out of it I learned what I didn't like and so I made the upgrade to the Old Town Sportsman 106 PDL. Quite a jump in price but having fished out of it now close to 30 times it was such a great investment. My biggest gripe is the plastic rudder which I intend to upgrade this winter.

Alice, I completely agree with everything you said regarding mobile kayaks. My personal opinion is go with a Native , Bona fide or Old Town.

I agree with some of what you said, disagree with others. Context - I own 2 Outbacks ('17 and '19) and have probably close to 2000 miles of inshore fishing on them and several thousand hours. I fish saltwater out of Florida. - Hobie Quality / Warranty - I developed a crack in the seating area of the hull in my '19 in first 2 years. Hobie replaced it under warranty. My buddy has a Pro Angler and is on his 3rd hull as both developed cracks around the skeg. Verdict - Warranty team supported us, replacement process was time consuming, shouldn't have cracked in the first place. In general, the Mirage Drive has been reliable and parts readily accessible (most common parts are on Amazon). While not cheap to repair, the modular design makes repairs usually pretty reasonable (<$100). - Hobie Stability - Personally I think your tests were nonsense flipping the pro angler. You took the mirage drive out and put up the skeg and rudder. Who is going to stand up their kayak dancing around in open water with none of those 3 things down? They collectively work as a keel and provide incredible stability to the kayak. I can throw a cast net out my outback and have gone fishing in 25+ mph winds (inshore of course) and never felt like I was going to flip - Mirage Drive vs. Pedal Drive - This is borderline religious territory. Pros and cons on both side of the aisle. While there are benefits in immediate reverse in pedal drives, my personal experience shows the Mirage drive to be faster and more efficient (at least when I've gone out with Old Town PDLs). Further, the Mirage Drive handles weeds/emergent vegetation and shallow water better. The kick-up fins are also a great benefit in reliability on the water, reducing risk of obstacles causing break downs. I may be impartial, but I prefer the Mirage Drive - Cost / Value - I don't disagree that $3500 for a kayak is a ton of money. That said, everything has gotten more expensive. I got mine for $2800 and $2900 new at time of purchase. I also have a $50K bay boat and I catch 100X more fish out of my Hobie vs. my boat given the versatility and stealth for inshore fishing. Net, value is a personal preference and I don't have experience with other brands to compare. For me, it's an incredible value as I use it multiple times a week and it delivers against all my needs. - Kayak Design - I will speak only for the Outback ('19+ specifically), but the location of rod holders, storage, H-rails and hull design are top notch. It's a fishing machine and it's layout would probably be the hardest thing for me to move on from if I ever chose another brand. There's inherent value in design. My verdict - I personally feel your "Hobie SUCKS" title is just click bait, but hey, you're a YouTuber. Clearly Hobie doesn't suck. Do they have flaws (quality, cost, warranty) that people experience? Of course. That said, you got me to spend time out of my day to provide a more comprehensive analysis to augment your work with my years of real-life, on-the-water experience, so kudos to you. Carry on.

My old hobie had the most uncomfortable seat . Also , very hard to paddle . And very bad cusomer service when I called . So, went ahead and ordered a feelfree lure 11.5 like my friend’s kayak . The seat was amazing and was very easy to paddle . Perfect kayak for me . I have seen some of the new seats and made me curious . But , I will stick to the feelfree lure . I am to happy with it and have done a lot of customizing to make it near perfect for me . I even did some customizing to the seat doubled the padding and extended it to the end of the seat behind my knees . It is like relaxing in a nice chair at home . And the customer service has been great with feelfree . They sent me some free parts I needed after i had already had the kayak for 2 years .

i loved my 2017 hobie outback.. i used my brothers 2022 hobie outback and wasnt a big fan of the rudder being on the bottom of the kayak. today im picking up an old town predator pdl and cannot wait to get it in the water

ok so can you recommend something better than hobie ?

I just "got" an ooold 09' Hobie Mirage Pro Angler. FOR FREE (Spent $200 in gas) Now that was a great deal! It has the known problems of cracks developing below the water line. The owner was about to chop it up and throw it in a dumpster because he couldn't get it to stop leaking. I SAVED IT!! I have a lot of experience repairing kayaks (Owned 100+) and welcomed the challenge. It took me about 12 hours off/on (Rainy day) but I filled it with water and not a drop came out after my permanent repairs of HOT PLASTIC STUCK TO HOT PLASTIC REINFORCED WITH STAINLESS WIRE MESH. (Hobie scraps from a kayak shop) Do not use patches, putties, bondo, JB Weld etc. on a PLASTIC kayak. I do cover my tested patches with rubber backed aluminum AC tape just as an extra precaution. Alex, I get a kick out of your videos... Even the silly ones have great info. I don't know if I'm allowed to share links but I posted a quick video overview of my Pro Angler 14 Repairs on my channel if you're interested. Thanks for your info!

Best all around speed and stability kayak. Jackson big rig with the mk4. Hands down. Granted, I haven’t been in the titan x yet but soon. You just can’t beat the big rig for storage though. Those sides where you can put stuff are awesome

Just bought my Native Titan X 12.5 for $3599. It is the size of my Hobie PA14. But the Native is already prepared for motors and wiring.

Agree with everything you said. I have owned several hobies. Now I have one Hobie and I have to say I love it! Hobie adventure island . I just wish with the amount of $$$ spent you wouldn't or shouldn't have to worry about water getting into hull through the compartments. Seals do not work!! Thanks for video!

Stability wise the Nucanoe Unlimited is far beyond the proangler. Slightly softer hull, but I liked mine. I had an elevated seat base and a bow mount motorguide, and still could bring my 100lb dog and gear, or another passenger.

Hello Aliex, this is one straight up video just the facts but the ending is spot on you be your own judge👊🎣👍

Upgraded from a vibe seaghost 110 to a hobie compass and it was pretty much night and day. I had a motor setup on my seaghost that still translates to the hobie well but the 180 drive has been incredible. Found a solid sale during the season change and feel like I got my moneys worth. One thing I am disappointed in - the finishing of final product, why keep a circle hatch in a 2022 compass when they know everyone upgrades to square? Why no deck padding? Why no car loader included? Ultimately those weren’t enough to take me away from the compass because it fit my needs for car-topping + pedal drive + standing + motor.

Great vid

I recently got a used 22 PA14 360 for a little over 2k. I couldnt be happier with it. Imo its the best kayak on the market