I agree! Gili makes very underrated boards that are well thoughtout, functional, lightweight while blending a good amount of stiffness to their mid and higher priced models. Have fun on you Blackfin XL! I'd be interested to see what your thoughts are on it compared to the Gili boards.

Yup! It has great stability thanks to its width and shape :)

Solid analysis my friend! Yeah it is very nice how light these boards are. For my test in this lake we had to walk with them for like a solid 10 mintues down a hill and it was pretty easy. I shutter to think what a 30 lb paddle board would have been like!

Unfortunetly not as I had other boards I had to test and Sea Gods needed the board back. With a normal paddle I'd imagine the board would be nice to paddle for recreational outings.

It really depends what you are looking to get out of the paddle board! I've always liked Nixy as they do make good boards and feature great customer service. I just wish this model has the accessories of the G4 series included.

I think ultimatly those two choices you listed are pretty good picks but it depends what activity you would do the most or what the priority would be. You can certainly do yoga on the Blackfin CX Ultra or 11 Ultra but they won't be the best suited boards as usually the characteristic of a good yoga board is a wider shape and wider width. For a pure yoga board I do like the Diatom Ten6 by Sea Gods or the Gili Komodo. The Meno 11'6" is also good for that as well as the Pioneer Pro although the Pioneer may be out of your budget range. If you prefer to have a more lightweight manueverable board The Blackfin Ultra CX is a good pick. I found the Ultra 11 to be a decent Jack of All Trades board but my 2021 board is not the most stable. Later models are reported to have better stability however. If Stability is important to you I do like the Meno 11'6" as it actually had decent manueverability and tracking for a board of its size and it has a lot of well thought out onboard features and good quality accessories. It's not too heavy either. I'm just throwing out ideas here as finding a board that is good at all cruise, yoga, surf, longer distance paddles and back country rivers is a bit difficult as all of those things require different characteristics from boards. Like I said in the begining if one or two of those activities takes priority I may be able to narrow the list down a bit haha. Cheers!

If portability is your priority then the Ultra Series may be your best bet. Just had to add that haha

I really appreciate the thoughtful reply! Portability, efficiency/speed/tracking, ability to handle some light chop, yoga (but ok not having very stable board - I like the challenge! Ha), anddd least important- surfing. Those are my priorities in order from most to least important. I actually ended up getting the CX Ultra from myself, AND a Cruiser 10 6 Ultra for the girlfriend (beginner). Mine was on sale for Labor Day for 499. Hers was 399. Comes with electric pump, paddle, bag, etc. Both boards seem to have great reviews and the price was 50% off which seemed great. Given the other options I was looking at, this seemed to be highly rated and great middle ground price. Hopefully I made good choices. Do you think I did? Eek.

Another thing about the Ultra line: They only have the 9in dual fins they come with.. I often do shallow water paddles in rivers and am worried about this being a problem. Do you think I’ll be ok? Talked to CS yesterday and they said they have different replaceable fin options in productions, and should be avail sometime in Oct. so that that’s good.

@@david243121 After telling me your prioritt list I think you made a good choice. You getting the Cruiser for your girlfriend was also a good move because if you wanted the slightly more stable board for yoga you can use hers. I think you chose well :)

Thank you for the kind comments :) It always makes my day! I'm happy you are enjoying your Waterwalker 126!

Glad it was helpful! Happy SUPing! :)

Appreciate you :)

Recommendations for PDFs btw?? I always have a huge one, but it’s kind of annoying to carry around

For something somewhat affordable I like using the Onyx Movent PFDs. If you want to spend a bit more Mustang Survival has great PFDs

@@inflatablesupauthority Awesome, thanks so much!

I do have these on my written reviews and written round ups in the bio but I appreciate the feedback! It's a good suggestion! 🙂

New to the sport which would you recommend this or the bluefin carbon cruise 10.8? Thank you for your time.

@@ammatarph It depends what you are looking for. If you want a board that is more stability focused I would go for the Isle Pioneer Pro. The Cruise Carbon will be a board that is quicker in the water and therefore better for longer paddling trips. Overall if I looked at the two packages I believe the Pioneer Pro gives you more value and is a better thought-out package, both with its on-board accessories and its kayak kit because of the Isle Link system. Don't get me wrong the Cruise Carbon is a good board but I don't think it's worth as much of the hype and at least to me it certainly didn't feel like THAT much of an improvement to the regular Bluefin Cruise board which is cheaper. Hope this helps.

Dang! That's a great deal! Good scouting! 👍🏼

Solid tip! as soon as paddle boarding becomes a hobby a good paddle is one of the first upgrades you want to get.

Thanks for watching! Much appreciation

Ahh good catch! In this case I used the Touring Fin (the longest one) as these are the fins that are standard with most Gili models. So from a comparison point of view it made sense to use this one. I also think its the one people will most likely use in most instances, but its cool that they give you the choice in this package.

Yeah as a rule of thumb learning on a touring board won't be the most stable experience ever but it does challenge you and helps you adapt quicker :). It helps that this one is 32" wide too!

That's fair, everyone has different ways to go about it. For me personally I'm a bit taller and I have suffered back injuries in the past so I personally try to avoid them because the manual pumps that come with the packages are often a little to short for me which causes me to bend over more than I'd like. My motto is everyone has their personal preferences and that's great! Do what works for you! :)

I prefer it manually, quicker and good warm up.

Plus, isn't exercise part of the activity?

@@inflatablesupauthorityi have luck sitting down and pumping for the first half then standing up for the rest

I actually just tested the Blackfin XL 6.0 a few days ago. I would say it depends on what you are using the board for. This years BOTE HD Aero comes with more accessories compared to the Blackfin XL. I found both to be very stable although I would give a very slight edge to the BOTE HD Aero for pure stability. In terms of paddling, I found the Blackfin XL 6.0 tracked better and definitely handled wind/ tide better than the HD Aero. In my mind, HD Aero is better for those calm lake conditions where it's relatively calm out while the Blackfin Ultra CX is a board that better suits paddling further distances and being in coastal areas.

Sorry, Blackfin XL 6.0 not Ultra CX lol

Thank you for the comment! Yeah a lot of people underestimate the transition from hard board to inflatables. You just gotta have patience with it and it will come 🙂

I have a few electric pumps haha. The ones I own which I like the best are iRocker' Electric pump, Outdoor Master Shark II. I've also heard a lot of good things about Sea Gods electric pump and the Nixy Ventus.

Thanks for the comment! The reality of the situation is 80% of paddlers will appreciate the Waterwalker 132 over the Expedition 138 due to the reasons you mentioned. I havent tested the 138 yet so I can't speak too much on it but the reason why folks would get those Expedition board lines is for better glide/ speed who have had a good amount of experience with paddle boarding in the past. I do have a video on the Waterwalker 132 you can check out! When I tested both out on the same day the Waterwalker definetly felt like the more stable pick compared to the Expedition 150. You can definetly put a cooler on and still feel pretty stable when standing on the board.

Thank you for your comment! Let me know how it goes! :D

Awesome to hear! Let me know what your thoughts are when you try it!

Awesome! Let me know how it goes!

For this specific video I did not record the time. I find it's dependant on how much the pump is used in that session as well as how warm/ cold it is. I will be recording a video about this soon testing different pumps and their times so stay tuned!

Great question! First you have to ask yourself what style of PFD you want. Belt? Vest? Suspender type PFDs? Realistically you CAN get away with getting one of the cheaper vest PFD's as long as its US Coast Guard or Transport Canada (or what ever water governing body you are in). However if you find yourself paddling for longer periods they can be bulky and kind of annoying. I personally use the Onyx Move Vent for a few years and I've been happy with it as it doesn't get in my way and my go pro rests well ontop of it. The Move Vent is in and around the $60 to $100 range depending where you live.

Hey! Always happy to help ;) The Gii Meno 11'6" would be a good board for you if you want to find that initial stability. I don't think the boards width/ your height will disrupt your paddling stroke too much. My friend is about your height and paddled the board with a full adult passenger onboard no problem! He still tells me that this is his favorite board he's paddled to date! Gili also has the new Komodo 11which comes with a kayak hybrid set-up. It's like an inbetween of the 2 boards in this video but its not as stable as the Meno 11'6". Check out my bio as I just released a video review and onboard of it :)

Thanks dude! I try 😂feel free to subscribe we got a bunch more content/ boards coming in hot!

Thanks man! Always happy to help :)

To me they felt fairly similar from a stability standpoint. While the Meno touring board is a tad thinner it is also 6" longer which helps with stability. However I have had a few beginners ride the Adventure 12 and they liked the way the board felt.

If I were you I would look at another pump. If you use the board a lot I would get an electric pump (Outdoor Master Shark II, iRocker, Gili, Nixy all good picks). In terms of manual pumps the dual-chambered pump from Nixy usually does the job for me. In this case, I didn't use the manual pump for the Serenelife board, I used one of the electric pumps I had. I have back issues that flare up when I use manual pumps so I personally avoid them.

Thanks for watching! I can't speak too much on the Pioneer 2.0 as I havent tested it yet (working on it haha). But everyone who has tried the Gili Meno 11'6" has loved it. Speaking from the Gili meno 11'6" though I have had a lot of people test this board throughout my travels lately and they all have had high praise. It also has been one of the most stable SUPs i've tested so if stability is super important to you it's an awesome pick. Especially if you are taller/ have a larger frame :)

thanks yes my needs are more a preference for stability. 5'7 210lbs but would want to bring along my 4 year old and spouse on occasion. I saw your review for 12'6 is up and will be checking that out. thinking 11'6 meno should be enough

@@shnukms Based one what you described I think the Meno 11'6" would be the best bet. Especially if you wanted to use it as a tandem with your 4 year old and spouse. When I travelled to Kaslo a few weeks ago this was our go to tandem board and it did the job pretty well. I think we had it up to 320 lbs between 2 people once and my friend was able to stand up paddle the entire time with the other passenger seated.

Thanks for the review. I’m looking at this board for next year. I’m. 6’ 3” - 230lb - Stability is key for me. Would you recommend this….everything points to a yes. Mostly coastal paddling, but I’d like the option to add one of my kids to the deck for days out. I think this will take 2 kayak seats, so thinking of adding one to the front and I can SUP from behind.

Damn my Canadian accent! 😂

Yup, my friend who owns the All Around 11 classic bought it August 2020. It's still going strong today!

The 1.0 Ultras have a slightly smaller width by about an inch to inch and a half compared to the 2.0's which are accurate to what the width specs say. The 1.0's are also the 2022 boards while the 2.0's are the 2023 boards. Hope that helps! :)

Thanks! I hope you have fun out there!

It gets better with experience! I promise you! This coming from a rather balance challenged individual myself! haha

Glad to hear you had such a great experience on the Atoll 11! It definetly is one of the easier paddle boards to stand on and its speed is pretty decent too!

I'm sorry to hear about that. I've had a few Nixy's over the years and the only complaint I have is that the glue from the deck pad on my Newport is starting to peel a bit in certain spots. Have you contacted Nixy about these problems? I ususally found their customer service is pretty good for their SUPs. I have found that Nixy can house iRocker accessores as well as I've used my friends iRocker Cup holder before. What accessories were you trying to mount on there and from where?

Nice! Its a great SUP depending on what you use it for but I would say overall it did surprise me and had pretty good stability for a SUP of its price range. I'll definetly be hitting up Buntzen and Sasamat lake this summer! See you out there! :)