Intex Explorer K2 Kayak

Not owned anything like this before. My wife has a paddleboard which is a real work-out to pump up, but having bought Intex airbeds previously, I know the pump they supply is really good. It inflates both on pulling up and pushing down, and this pump was exactly the same.Taking inflatable/ foldable products out of their bags for the first time (tents, looking at you) is always worrying as you feel there's no way it'll go back in. But, Intex have you covered- the bag is very spacious so even after deflating it poorly, you can still get it in the bag (but best to deflate as well as you can). Tent manufacturers could take some notes here, they always provide bags that are just sightly too small!Easy to inflate, instructions are clear, and the fact it can hold 180KG/ 400lbs is great. There is nothing that is a pain with the inflation and clipping the seats in- 5 different things to pump up (2 seats, the floor, 2 sides) but it's so quick and easy. Even my 6 yr old was mucking in and making good progress.My only minor quibble is the the seats could use a bigger plug as they're not the easiest to deflate, as squeezing the nozzle to let the air out doesn't do the greatest job. Still, this isn't that big of a deal and frankly I'm nit-picking.In summary, at the price (£95 at time of writing), this is a solid, great fun and well made piece of kit. And the yellow/black looks great.

I lay the blame firmly at Amazon for making purchases like this too easy, but one day a few weeks back I was living my normal, non-watersport partaking life, the next day I had a two person kayak on my doorstep. I drive a Skoda Citigo (tiny!) so it had never crossed my mind that a kayak would be a practical purchase, but this one was inflatable, relatively cheap (£80) and had hundreds of excellent reviews. I’ve never stepped foot in a kayak, but this one would fit in my car, so…The River Avon is only a 10 minute drive away and in a lovely part of the world (Bradford-on-Avon) so we put the kayak, a couple of buoyancy aids and a dry bag in the boot (it all fit!) and headed over. Everything comes in a single –heavy- bag that feels like it will disintegrate at any minute. Included is the kayak, two sets of paddles, an excellent pump, two seats and a shark fin thing that is fun to hold in the water and scare your 4 year old child with. Within 15 minutes everything was assembled, inflated and ready to go, it’s incredibly easy to put together and basically fool proof. The main air compartments go up in no time with the included pump, but weirdly the tiny end pieces (which are not structurally critical) are a nightmare to inflate, they deflate quicker than it seems possible to inflate and shut the valve.I’m not sure if it was mentioned in the instructions (of course I’ve not read them) but there is what looks like another valve at the back at floor level, this is presumably to aid drainage once back on dry land. Yeah I didn’t plug that first time out, despite taking on water the kayak never felt unstable or at risk of sinking. Fool proof, eh? The kayak comfortably held several inches of water, me (6ft) and my 4 year old with plenty of room left for our things and the bag, pump etc. You could probably even stand up in it quite comfortably but I’m not about to try. It’s easy to steer and will move along at a pretty reasonable pace, I’ve been out in it on my own a few times as well and it’s perfectly usable as a one-person kayak.Deflation is easy, open the valves and it’s pretty much down in two minutes. Unlike every tent ever, it actually fits back in the bag without needing a PhD in origami as well, a huge bonus when you’ve had a long day on the water.We love it, a genuine bargain for what appears to be a very well made and thought out piece of kit.

I got this for the bargain price off £66. Yes it's made on a budget but it seems to be well made and worked very well on my first outing on the West Coast of Scotland at Arisaig.The only bad bit is the seat but otherwise it performed well and was very stable in slightly choppy waters.

The media could not be loaded. Bought this last year but did not have the opportunity to use it until recenty. It's been great! It's very easy to inflate and doesn't take much time at all, about 5-10 minutes I'd say, and it's fun to go out into the water and paddle around. I've used it solo by leaving one seat out and using the space where it would have been to store belongings, and I've used it properly as a 2-person kayak, both times it performed really well, never felt like it was going to deflate or capsize. I would rate this as a decent kayak for casual use on rivers, lakes, or relatively calm seas.I've dropped a star because the carry bag is very poor quality and the handle has snapped on the second use. It's not really a good bag for the weight it's meant to carry and I think I will try to get a better one because it's difficult to transport in the one that comes with it.