ADVANCED ELEMENTS Advanced Frame Inflatable Kayak with Duffle Bag and Repair Kit

I bought my Advanced Elements Sport in 2014 and have been using it ever since without any problems. It's an amazing kayak. It's been paddled by me, our children, our grandchildren and friends. Everyone loves it without exception. It's easy to inflate and deflate, and is safe, stable and tracks well on lakes, rivers and the sea (off the beach only for me). More than that, it looks good as well. People have offered to buy it, but I'm not selling. One tip (if you prefer to keep fairly dry, like me) - put a towel across the seat, because any water in the kayak (from wet feet when getting in, usually) will collect at this lowest point. Worth every penny.

I have been using my kayak for 3 years now. The kayak has been used on a lake in calm, but also in more windy and challenging conditions. I use the back-bone with the kayak, and would recommend this. Where i kayak the weather can change very quickly from very calm conditions to very windy conditions which creates waves. Without the back-bone the bottom of the kayak moves a lot in these conditions, but with the back-bone the kayak just slices through the waves with ease and there is no movement to the bottom. The kayak is extremely stable and a joy to use, it only takes about 10 minutes to set the kayak up. Recently i bough a rechargeable pump which i use to blow the kayak up, and then get to the correct pressure with the normal pump with gauge, I would also recommend this. There is a bit of leakage of water into the boat were the zip ends (in choppy conditions), but most of this has been solved by stuffing a latex glove in the hole at the end of the zip. I wish i had bought the kayak 10 years ago! Highly recommended.

It is compact and stable but not suitable for sea

A great kayak. I have bought this to enable me to get out on the water without having to roof-top a hard touring kayak. The performance is good - it tracks well, is easy to manoeuvre and copes well with chop. Given the large open cockpit I personally wouldn't take this out in rough water because I think it would be easily swamped, but for trips of a more sedate nature this is ideal. It only takes minutes to inflate and is light enough for me to carry it single-handed, which means solo trips are now feasible. My first outing on the River Dart in Devon was a real delight.

Okay it won't win a race, but it's a propper little workhorse! I took it on the Danube on a small tour and carried it there in a big rucksack (105L), heavy load to carry but doable for the athletically minded, then it carried me plus all camping gear quite happily. Excellent stability, even with the motorboats. Highly recommend to beginners, like myself :D

love this kayak, better than i could have dreamed. opened up so many opportunities, it handles well (obviously not as good as hard kayak, but not far off). I had to raise my seating position to get a better paddling action but apart from that I'm very very happy with it. inflates very quick and easy (much easier than a paddle board)

Great little kayak. Glides great in the water. But mine unfortunately arrived clearly used and dirty and marks and with damage on the bottom stern. Repair could only work temporary cos inbetween hard casing on inside so not could repair from outside. Which came undone after it dried after first test on water. It managed to stay afloat and almost dry for a couple hours though. But will be returning it given the damage and fact it was clearly used already when it came. Seems too fragile. So trying the next one up elite expedition,to see how that fairs. I’ll review once it arrives. Awaiting delivery date. Pending. I can’t wait. I’m hooked on these boats. They glide so well in the water. Super easy to paddle. But cos of damage it only got 3 stars. Otherwise it would have been 5 stars.

Great boat but I went for the bigger one

This is an excellent recreational Kayak: Pros - Easy to manœuvre, glides, seat comfortable - Once you get watch the Youtube video for Advanced Elements it's easy to open and inflate and simple to put away - Rigid once inflated - Great carrying case - Fits in the trunk of virtually any car Cons: - Included instructions are terrible search for the YouTube video on how to setup - Getting in the kayak is great, getting out can be tricky - Doesn't include air pump or the two adapters you need to inflate - Need to purchase an oar, get one that breaks into four sections and fits in the bag

Zunächst muss man sagen, dass das Konzept aufgeht. Das ist kein Badeboot, sondern ein echtes Sportgerät. Aufbau ist gut erklärt, geht flott vonstatten. Warum Frame Sport? Ich wollte das beste Aufblaskajak, dass man auch noch alleine tragen kann. Unaufgeblasen über der Schulter mit der festen Tasche, aufgeblasen dito, mit dem Süllrand. So habe ich nun mühsam meinen Namen mit dem Edding draufgepinselt und war im Spreewald. Meine Vergleichsboote: altes Faltboot (RZ 85), Festrumpf Tourenkajak mit Lenkung vom Verleiher, und ein preiswertes Einsteiger-Aufblaskajak für ca. 130€. Also erstmal generell, nur ein Festrumpfkajak fährt sich wie ein Festrumpfkajak. Punkt. Aber das Frame Sport fährt sich für ein kompaktes Aufblaskajak sehr gut. Bug und Kiel schneiden durch das Wasser, und man kann auch mal Tempo machen. Letzteres ging mit dem 130€-Aufblaskajak nicht, und schwerer war der Griepel auch noch. Einsteigen und Sitzkomfort gehen in Ordnung. Ich würde nichts zusätzlich unter den Sitz legen, das verändert nur den Schwerpunkt ungünstig. Durch die große Öffnung gelangt man sehr bequem rein und raus, aber muss damit leben, dass der Spritzschutz dadurch vermindert ist und dieser Wasserschutz,den man von anderen Kajaks kennt, lässt sich nicht befestigen. Wie man das bei Starkregen handelt, überlege ich mir auch grad noch. Beinfreiheit und überhaupt Körpergröße/Gewicht: die Angaben von AE sind da etwas optimistisch. Bin 1,81 m groß bei geschätzten 85 kg, schlanke Figur. Das würde ich mal als Limit ansehen und höchstens noch, gut verteilt, 10kg Zuladung. Sonst ist das Freibord weg. Das heißt, Mehrtagestouren gehen nur mit konsequenter Ultralight Ausrüstung! Stauraum im Boot ist sehr knapp, eigentlich nur hinter dem Sitz. Da habe ich gerade so die Pumpe quer hineingefummelt. Vorne stossen meine Füße schon an, gibt zwar Halt, aber Platz ist da keiner mehr. Man muss also alles in Drybags verteilen und oben auf schnallen. Paddeln: funktioniert für mich, die Neoprenverstärkungen tun ihren Job, um das Deckmaterial zu schonen. Nützlich sind die Paddelschlaufen, fürs Umtragen. Geradeauslauf kommt natürlich nicht an Tourenkajak/Faltboot heran, war zu erwarten, aber die Wendigkeit ist dafür ausgezeichnet. Abbauen/Reinigung: geht in Ordnung, man sollte aber ein gescheites Wischtuch dabeihaben. Dann kommt das Kajak auch recht trocken in die Tasche. Nun eine generelle Anmerkung. AE hat eine Marketingstrategie wie der Möbelschwede. Man bekommt nur das nackte Kajak. Alles andere sind Zukäufe. Paddel und Pumpe - ohne geht es gar nicht. Reparaturkleber muss zugekauft werden, Flicken sind dabei. In der Basisausführung, wie gekauft, hängt doch der Hintern etwas durch. Also muss man mindestens noch den Preis vom Backbone dazurechnen, damit das Kajak noch formstabiler wird. Bringt auch noch einen Knoten, sagen die Kajakfans in den Videos. Oder man will auch mal über eine Steinsohle rutschen, dann schaut man ganz schnell zum Dropstitchboden. Der aber fast ein Drittel vom Boot kostet. Hm. Fazit: Für mich der optimale Arbeitspunkt aus Gewicht, Verstaubarkeit, Fahreigenschaften und Einsatzbereichen. Macht Spaß, auch für Anfänger, gutmütiges Handling, stabil im Wasser, und schnell wieder in der Tasche, wo der ganze andere Kram auch noch reinpasst. So kann man auch mal in der Woche eine Stunde auf dem Haussee paddeln, ohne eine Expedition vorbereiten zu müssen. Nachtrag: war jetzt auf einem unreguliertem, stark mäanderndem Fluß mit vielen Baumhindernissen unterwegs. Dafür ist das Kajak gemacht! Wendig und gutmütig im Handling. Rutscht auch über ein Steinwehr (aufgeschütteter Natursteindamm) hinweg, als wäre das nichts weiter. Eine andere Tour auf einem großen Fluß, eine Bundeswasserstraße, hat auch sehr viel Spaß gemacht, aber bei reichlich 3m Länge wird das Tempo eher gemütlich. Vergleich: Fetstoffkajaks haben gerne mal 5m Länge. Dropstitchboden: Achtung, das Kajak wird zwar steifer, aber kippeliger! Nichts für Leichtgewichte. Probiere demnächst den Backbone aus, mal sehen. Ein echter Transportrucksack ist sehr nützlich für längere Märsche zur Einsatzstelle, die Tasche ist selbst bei kurzen Wegen schwer zu tragen.

I looked at a lot of kayaks before buying this one and am very happy with my purchase. I had some experience in a hard shell kayak, but they were all out of my price range (especially the tandems). I wanted a kayak that would allow me to paddle solo or with a another person, I wanted a kayak that tracked well, and I wanted something that would break down in fit in the back of my car. This kayak is all those things. Obviously the biggest drawback to this kayak is having to assemble and disassemble after every use (and every time you clean it). It only takes 5-10 minutes to inflate (even with a cheap hand pump) and even less to deflate. Taking it apart and cleaning it after every use has been the only downside. I mainly kayak in the ocean and also live in the Pacific Northwest, so I need to make sure everything is clean and dry when I pack it up. It is important to fully inflate all chambers for ideal performance, but you dont want to over inflate or you might damage the kayak. This is why I ordered the Advanced Frame Dual Action Pump with Pressure Gauge, however, cheaper pumps work too. When I've gone solo in this kayak I noticed it sags a bit in the center (to be expected for an inflatable) and the sides of the fabric bow out and can start to collect water. I'm sure with the addition of a spray deck and the backbone this wont be an issue anymore. I noticed a lot of people complaining about how heavy this kayak is and it is heavy (around 55 pounds) but it is just as heavy as a most hard shell kayaks. Another thing people said in reviews is that they were unable to get the kayak back in the duffel bag. I got mine back in just fine, all you have to do is make sure you get all the air out first. To sum things up, the Advanced Elements AdvancedFrame Convertable Kayak is an awesome kayak. It is ideal for people who dont want to spend the big bucks on a hard shell kayak and want something that they can fold up and stick in a duffel bag, while still getting the performance you would expect from a hard shell kayak. Pros: Great price for a convertible kayak Can easily fit in the backseat of your car Made from high quality materials Great tracking, cuts right through the water Very stable on the water, even in choppy and windy conditions. Cons: Inflating, deflating, and cleanup can be a chore Spray decks and backbone needed for best performance (but not required)

We have a small lake just 10 minutes from our home so there are many days that I would love to just do a quick kayaking workout but it’s always been difficult to pull off by myself (loading a hardbody kayak up on a rooftop car rack, etc). I decided to try this and it’s great! It’s lightweight so I can carry it myself and it’s simple to assemble/inflate by myself. Once in the water, it tracks well and feels like a hardbody. I am so happy with it that we bought one for my husband for days he can join me. I think our days of hassling with a roof rack are pretty much over. Now we are talking about bringing them along on trips so we can include kayaking in our adventures.

Je connaissait déjà le modèle, c'est la nouvelle version avec quelques menues améliorations et un tissus un peu différent (tramé), c'est un très bon kayak pour sorties en mer ou sur lac. Bonne glisse, robuste. Le seul inconvénient il est long à sécher.