re: The Official Kayak Thread

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The pull tabs tend to break

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Thats been fixed on gen2 180s. And I’m pretty sure dealers will send your gen1 off and hobie is doing the upgrades to them need be.

I heard it was still an issue

Also bending the fin masts is very common on Hobie’s when striking things underwater, sometimes to the point where the drive is unusable. I have yet to even break a Native prop in 2-3 years that I’ve been having one and I’ve had some pretty hard impacts.

I fished Toledo bend a year ago with 3 hobies, all three mirage drives were tore up from hitting submerged stumps and my ol Native Propel drive was still pushing along like brand new.

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10' sun dolphin

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You plan on fishing out of it or just paddling around in a pond?

I liked it alot, right now I still want to try a Slayer Propel 13 but it's currently at the top of my list with the Ouback in second.


Here's a review I posted about it that's on pg. 80. Since the review I've downsized my crate so my crate/fishbag should now fit in the back with no problems. Also word is Hobie is developing a fish bag to fit in the front area.

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Thoughts on the Compass...

I'll be upgrading to something pedal driven in the spring and aside from a PA12 with the 180 drive, the Compass is the only pedal-driven kayak I've tried. I also want to check out the Outback, Cruise FD, and Slayer Propel 13 before pulling the trigger. I fished PAC on Saturday and Cypremort Point on Sunday with it.

First, I loved the open layout, tons of flat space. The rear tankwell is pretty large but even still my crate/fish bag both wouldn't fit in the rear so I put my AO36 sitting on the front nose but it was too big to be my permanent solution if I get one. The front section was narrower than I expected so I think one of the Hobie bags or even one of the triangular shaped Native bags would work best mounted on the front. I did like the no-frills, add what you want concept, and aside from the drive there's not really much to snag a line on. As far as the seat goes, it was decently comfortable, I'd say not as good as the Native seat from my Slayer, but better than the seat in my Cuda. It's not height adjustable which isn't a huge deal breaker to me, I'd never use my seat up high in either of my paddle kayaks but I think I'd still like to see it about 1" higher up. I saw people online complaining about the seat wanting to move when you push the drive but didn't find that at all, and I made sure to watch for it as it was a concern.

It feels quick and quiet, faster than the PA12 I had used before. It was dead even with my buddy's 2015 Outback with turbo fins, I'd imagine putting a set of turbo fins on the Compass and it would pull away. I think I was able to get it up over 4mph and a comfortable pace was around 3mph. The pointed front seemed to get rid of the hull slap that the Outback had. Sunday at Cypremort Point had 30mph winds and a 12"-18" chop in some areas and I found the ride to be wet, or atleast moreso than I recall my Slayer or Cuda being. A few times the front had ~6" of water come over, enough to get my arse wet, had it not been for waterproof pants I'd have had to go in. I don't find myself in open waters very often and never once felt in danger but it is something to keep in mind, I wouldn't want to cross much open water in the cold.

It's very stable, standing and fishing will be no problem, I stood in conditions confidently that would have been questionable in the Cuda or Slayer. Paddling and poling standing wasn't bad either, we didn't dedicate any time to sight casting but I did it for a few minutes with no issues or complaints. Paddled it for about 100 yards or so and didn't see any issue with having to paddle it in the rare occurrences that you'd have to do so.

It comes with the old-style(G2?) forward-only drive, I'm still undecided if the lack of reverse is a dealbreaker or not. It's no big deal in open water but there was a couple times in PAC where the lack of reverse forced me to break out the paddle. Though I'd blame a couple of those instances on not being familiar with how to maneuver, and the fact that the rudder cables were backwards, right = left, left = right. This apparently is not supposed to be that way and I guess was incorrectly installed at the factory. Even still it mindfricked me all day on Saturday. When I used the PA with the 180 I didn't really care for it much, it felt clunky when switching from forward to reverse, wasn't hands free, and there was a couple times when engaging one direction to the other the drive wouldn't lock in all the way and was still in the wrong direction.

It's light too, with only the seat in it it was just as easy to handle as my Cuda 14, maybe even a little easier since it was 2' shorter. This is a big factor for me, and might be the thing I appreciate most, on some tournaments I load/unload 2-3 times a day and do plan to roof rack it sometimes on a lifted F250.

TLDR Version: I like the Compass

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Sorry to make you go back and find it. I was looking through the thread last night for a review but I must have been looking too far back.

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I still want to try a Slayer Propel 13

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THE fishing kayak.

Then I wouldn’t go shorter than 12’.

I agree with Alx, search for a used kayak from a better company.

I know what you're getting at and plan to do so. For a while I thought lack of reverse would suck but now I don't view it as important as before, after a couple days in the Compass I adapted my fishing style where it didn't really matter.

For the money, I don't think you can beat Ascend with that layout and seat.