re: The Official Kayak Thread

That’s No8’s Reel. He’ll be here soon to respond

I got to cast the new Origin TX this weekend and liked it pretty good. Probably the best $100 reel I’ve fooled with, I think I’m going to pick one up next.


And I got to spend a day in the Jackson Cruise FD. Total disappointment in that drive system. That boat was on my list of potential purchases and got scratched quickly.

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Origin TX

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was really torn on that reel or the Z they both felt really good but they only had it in left handed so went with the Z I don't think you will be disappointed with the purchase

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Jackson Cruise FD. Total disappointment in that drive system

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what didn't ya like? I demoed one and remember thinking "damn this prop is small"

What’s new about the TX? It has bearings huh?

Short answer: it’s a completely inefficient piece of shite.

What I mean by that is you have to work harder for less when compared to the Hobie drive, and the difference is far too much of a gap to overcome for me to consider it. Want to know how bad it was? If asked to fish tomorrow in my Cuda or fish in a FD id pick paddling. It’s “harder” to pedal if that makes sense, we covered 5 miles and my legs killed me for 2 days, compared to when I used the Compass, I did ~8 miles on Saturday and fished a tournament on Sunday and did about 7 or 8 and felt great. Any current killed it, we were attempting to go through the shrimp nets and my buddy in an outback shot right through, I pedaled all I had for 30 seconds and gave up, never moved a foot forward. It was also noisy at times and not smooth.

The hull design didn’t bother me at all, infact I had decided the boat would infact work for me with some adjustments to my gear. Stable, paddled very well, similar to my Cuda, seat was great, standing was fine. I pedaled away from the launch and decided within 100 yards that it wouldn’t work out. Hull design is fine, the drive is a huge, disappointing miss.

ETA it’s slow too. My buddy and I were fishing the same hole and I left him behind to hustle in and weigh fish. It took me right at an hour to get in and I was exhausted. He stayed behind, fished and drank beer and made it back in 45 minutes, we were 2 miles from the launch. That’s a HUGE difference, especially when you’re doing tournaments. That’s supposed to be the faster of the FD hulls too.

The Native Titan 10.5 looks interesting. I'll stick with my Outback for now.

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Short answer: it’s a completely inefficient piece of shite.

What I mean by that is you have to work harder for less when compared to the Hobie drive, and the difference is far too much of a gap to overcome for me to consider it. Want to know how bad it was? If asked to fish tomorrow in my Cuda or fish in a FD id pick paddling. It’s “harder” to pedal if that makes sense, we covered 5 miles and my legs killed me for 2 days, compared to when I used the Compass, I did ~8 miles on Saturday and fished a tournament on Sunday and did about 7 or 8 and felt great. Any current killed it, we were attempting to go through the shrimp nets and my buddy in an outback shot right through, I pedaled all I had for 30 seconds and gave up, never moved a foot forward. It was also noisy at times and not smooth.

The hull design didn’t bother me at all, infact I had decided the boat would infact work for me with some adjustments to my gear. Stable, paddled very well, similar to my Cuda, seat was great, standing was fine. I pedaled away from the launch and decided within 100 yards that it wouldn’t work out. Hull design is fine, the drive is a huge, disappointing miss.

ETA it’s slow too. My buddy and I were fishing the same hole and I left him behind to hustle in and weigh fish. It took me right at an hour to get in and I was exhausted. He stayed behind, fished and drank beer and made it back in 45 minutes, we were 2 miles from the launch. That’s a HUGE difference, especially when you’re doing tournaments. That’s supposed to be the faster of the FD hulls too.

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Pretty much everyone I know who has one and talks them up is on the Jackson fishing team so it's interesting hearing an unbiased review. I only got to demo one for about 10 minutes but I had a similar experience in that I found it hard on my legs to pedal...it really seemed like it needed lubrication or something.

The Natives have had their share of issues too. Just like the Hobies do with the 180 drive.

Native is the only drive I would consider right now.

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Just like the Hobies do with the 180 drive.

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What issues are there with Hobie's drive? I'm probably going to be shopping for my 1st pedal yak in the next few months and was leaning pretty strong towards Hobie.