Hi, not really. I'm an instinctive archer, meaning I go by feeling. Maybe it takes longer to learn, but is way more rewarding.

Even if filled with water it doesn't sink, as far as I remember.

@@HaraldHofer cool thx

With this I don't have to find and adjust the the position of the pegs everytime when I set up the kayak. Given that the length of your legs is pretty constant, it makes it quicker.

Hi, am Motorrad stell ich mir das "schwer" vor - das Teil hat schon etwas Gewicht. Ich sag mal so: für WW ist das ohnehin nur bedingt sinnvoll, ergo kannst du dir einen Helm mE sparen. Dünnes Neopren könnte man vielleicht noch reinquetschen.

Hi, I'm 6'6 and it's definitely on the limit. Depending on the size of your feet (in my case EU48) it could be hard on your knees. Last year we did an eight hour trip and it got painful at the end. Other then that it was fine. May buy somewhere where you can return it or test it beforehand.

2890PLN

What a shame! Sad to hear so, thanks for the information though. Don't worry about the strings: there are plenty of tutorials online on how to make one. It's not very complicated. The bow itself and the arms are almost indescribable I reckon.

🤣 Max depth of this lake is around 180cm and I'm 198cm tall so no worries...

Servus, Bei den Temperaturen, Respekt! Wir machen das so: 1. Raus aus dem Wasser 2. Säubern mit einem Schwamm und Ventile auf. Ich Pumpe keine Luft raus. 3. Ich hab mit einem permanent Marker am Kiel kurze Striche (ca. 5cm) dort gemacht, wo ich falten möchte. Also: in der Mitte einen zB rechts, vorne und hinten jeweils einen links. Ich Falte damit immer an der selben Stelle in die selbe Richtung (ich sehe den Strich außen an der Faltstelle). Dadurch "bockt" es nicht zu arg. 4. Im Sommer Bau ich uU zu Hause noch mal auf, damit es ganz trocknen kann, sollte ich mir beim Ausstieg nicht genug Zeit genommen haben. Weiterhin viel Spaß!

No issues so far with the material. It is defiantly not as stable as other kayaks or rubber boots. However it's quicker and runs quite well in quiet water. A couple of weeks ago a 20k trip included some class 1-2 whitewater and it was doable. Was it enjoyable? Maybe not soo much. Did I play around? No. :)

Good news: you can! Unplug you speakers or headphones or simply mute your device. Doesn't it feel good to have the power to do so?

@@HaraldHofer Too late, I already mutilated myself by poking my eardrums...

AFAIK: yes.

IMHO it should be possible to use any spray deck as long as it has the necessary dimensions...

I would say yes, as it's not too heavy. For longer passages I would recommend a trolley. When my wife and I have to carry it over a lock we would have one boat in each hand, one person in the front, one in the rear - paddles in the cockpits...

I'm 198 and I do fit. Could it be a little bit longer or roomier where the feet are? Sure. But then again: it's "soft" compared to the hardshells I used to drive...

Hi, when we bought it, there was no double available, but we would have gone with two singles anyway. Our reasons were: 1. If one overturns, the other one is able to help climb back in if necessary. 2. More storage space than in one double. 3. Side by side they are very stable if you want to have a break. 4. Better weight distribution if you have to carry them. You see, basically we took two for safety reasons...

@@HaraldHofer Thank you very much. This reasons is nessesary and you help me😊. Good Luck and have nice trip😁

I would say it's as rock solid as it can be based on the used technology. It's as hard as any SUP board. It's definitely not as hard as a white water kayak with an poly* shell. It can't be.

As a fyi, the AE Airfusion EVO is not discontinued. It's a much better kayak performing than this iTiwit x500. This kayak has no pressure relief valve and in the event of heat expansion, it blows and the whole kayak is disposable. Poor design.

@@gloppy101 That looks lovely but ouch - that price! The cockpit combing doesn't look like it would grip a spray skirt as well as the x500 one but that may just be the lack of close up pictures of it. I would also be above its max weight before I even bring any equipment with me but I would still love to give one a go, if I ever win the lottery. I always pump my x500 to exactly 10 psi and it has survived over two years of reckless abuse and many 6+ hour trips including in very sunny weather. I don't see how it could easily 'blow' as the few punctures I have had and repaired have remained tiny under pressure and even the one huge one I caused by removing a badly-fitted PVC patch showed a layer of tough cloth material beneath the rubberised top layer, which I assume is what the dropstitching attaches to. These days I dont even bother with PVC patches and just bond a thin film of flexible polymorph plastic over punctures using a hair dryer while deflated. It has even survived me fitting one by pouring very hot water on the polymorph from a kettle without any kayak seams giving way once reinfated. Based on my experiences I would certainly not call the x500 disposale. The construction quality has really impressed me. I always try to store it in a shed away from sunlight and occasionallly apply UV protection spray though as I expect sustained UV would weaken this kayak as easily as any other inflatable. Not taken it to sea yet so I can't comment on how well it withstands saltwater. Maybe you were unlucky and got a dodgy one but I am still over the moon with mine years later and it still sees use at least once a week.

Great you like it. Exactly the water bottle and some snacks were the reason for us to make this adjustment. And we love it.. 😁

@@HaraldHofer Got an X500 last week via Decathlon Second Use. I must say, I am loving it. Quick and easy to set up and nice to paddle. The spray skirt hack useful: drive.google.com/file/d/10FJwDA6BGWD-z24_Er1xtnA_BmTmHbyX/view?usp=sharing

Even if you don't carry anything and it was just for scratching yourself it would still be a useful addition!

Mute it... 😁

@@HaraldHofer I did- it was just a light hearted joke.....

@@hayhay8347 No problem bro. I'm hardly to offend...😂

The video was made at the Neusiedlersee in Austria.

@@HaraldHofer beautiful, so many windboards too... Is it a lake or ocean?

@@RafaelFrancoCosta it's a lake. And here is the funny thing: It's nowhere deeper than 150-170cm. 😁. So basically you can stand everywhere... en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Neusiedl

Hi, here is my background: some 15 years ago I was doing some white water kayaking. Nothing too hard, but up to level 3. Last year a 2-3 again, but all with white water kayaks. We bought 2 of these boats for recreational kayaking on rivers and lakes. There is no sea here, so I have no idea how they would do - furthermore as I have never tried sea kayaking. However: we did have waves up to 50cm on our lakes and it was no problem. Is it as stable as a white water kayak? I guess not. But you buy speed with a slightly increased instability. If you are used to kayaking at all, it should be no problem to stay in. My wife had no experience, never fell out (except when fooling around). An old lady (75 years) tried it on a lake, she had no problem as well. She did river kayaking some 55 years ago. So, I don't get any money from Decathlon, most certainly they don't even know I exist. Still I would recommend it if you want to buy an inflatable kayak. Compared to other inflatables it's light, fast set up and has a good speed. I hope this helps. I don't think I have a cognitive dissonance and am trying to justify the investment "post hoc" 🤣 What ever you do: let us know!

This was my 2nd kayak after buying and destroying one of those cheap Intex monstrosities. Desite no prior experience with decked kayaks, it only took a few minutes of balance practice whilst holding onto the dock followed by an hour or so of easy paddling before I was comfortable enough with the balance to try edging and sculling it. Entry and exit for portage took a lot longer to get used to but my flexibility isn't what it once was. I would use the 5 psi hack if you expect to encounter fast moving water and fallen trees but even at 10 psi it is easy to get used to the balance and noticably faster to paddle that way. It's still my favourite inflatable kayak over 2 years later despite having tried many different kinds by now. So far I have not seen any that would tempt me to upgrade. Even the much more expensive aluminium-framed folding kayaks don't look as sleek, though I haven't tried the performance of any of those myself. If I had one wish it would be for slightly worse tracking as the x500 is a bit of a pig to turn compared to the whitewater hardshell kayaks I have been using at my local club.

Doesn´t need one. It´s easy to keep track.

Servus Lucas. Seriöserweise kann ich zur Langzeithaltbarkeit (noch) nichts sagen. Ich kann mir aber nicht vorstellen, dass die Technologie selber nur 3-5 Jahre hält - ich denke da an die vielen Verleiher von SUPs. Dessen ungeachtet ist es sicherlich nicht gut, wenn das Kajak über lange Zeiträume (Wochen?) voll aufgeblasen in der prallen Sonne liegt - wer macht das aber schon...? Was das Material betrifft: Ich bin letztes Wochenende 10km in den Donau-Auen unterwegs gewesen und hab mich einige Male über Schotter schieben (also ich blieb im Boot sitzen) müssen, weil das Wasser zu seicht (oder ich zu schwer) war. Beim Zusammenlegen der des Bootes waren keinerlei Spuren davon am Kiel zu entdecken. Meine Frau hatte ein paar sehr oberflächliche Kratzer, die sind aber nicht mal der Rede wert. Wir sind noch immer begeistert und planen schon die nächsten - etwas längeren - Trips...

Hi, sorry for my late reply. My wife is a little bit taller an about the same weight. She can ride it easily. Someone pointed out that a little bit less pressure (maybe 7 or 8 psi) lets you get a little bit deeper and therefore will provide more stability.

Harald Hofer i bought it actually at its perfect ... i have no issues with stability at all at 10 psi . I found it very easy to use and it is very fast .

@@isabellaxx3587 Great to hear that you are happy with it! Have sate trips and a lot of fun with it!!

They seem to be durable enough. I definitely put some force on them while paddling and I definitely "touched" ground every once in a while. No problems so far. But I'm a purely recreational paddler... 😁

Drilling out the riser wasn't a problem. I'm still using the bow several times a week without any incidents. In fact I prefer the screws to the old ones as they are very low profile. I would have loved to avoid drilling out the riser though - if I would have got the screws I ordered: "fully threaded" it said at the web shop... Where I live we have the metric system. We can not just go in any random hardware store and buy some imperial screws, we very often have to order this stuff from UK or US, this takes time and is costly. So, this was a 99% solution and it worked out just fine. Thanks for your comment though!

No problems so far. For what I do: durable...

I have no affiliation to PGU. I ordered 3 times and it all arrived in reasonable time, considering that I'm in Europe... Same applies to a friend of mine.

Apparently they went bankrupt. I was going to order the 50lb bow but did some online research and found a lot of people are suffering the same fate.

Bill, that's to annoy you. I did it just for you. 😜