I’m looking hard at the new seat for the Ride. Read all the pre-release buzz and seen the videos. I like the adjustability and getting my calves off of the hump. Looks good to me other than the price. $350! [:0]
I missed the $150 voucher period so it looks like the price is fixed for all suppliers, though I do have a 15% coupon to ACK.
Anyone here have one? Real world ■■■■■■■■? Found a better price or coupon?
I don’t see any discounts coming any time soon. Right now that seat is selling about as fast as Wildy can produce them.
Pretty sure that you can head by Time Out Sports and check it out on the Ride in the showroom.
Boat drinks, Waitress I need 2 more boat drinks!
I have rented the Ride 115x with the new air pro max seat a couple times from Time Out Sports. It’s a pretty nice seat. I think the reclined position is a little ridiculous. Not comfortable at all to me. Considering what they charge to rent a kayak for a day, it might be a worth while investment to make sure you like it.
Thanks guys. I’m in the Upstate so it’s a little far to hit that particular shop but we have some dealers up here. I definitely think for that price I have to put my butt in the seat to see if it is worth it. My girlfriend wants to get it for me for Christmas so I have some time. Maybe ACK or someone will have a sweet Holiday or Black Friday/Monday sale at that time.
BTW the recline position didn’t look as great as the guy in the video made it out to be to me either…but we’ll see.
Cpt. Practical:
I should have asked you if you have any seat time in the other (low or elevated AirPro non-MAX) seats? In your opinion, do you consider the MAX to be a big improvement? Loss of stability?
I’ve only used the low AirPro that came in my 2014 Ride 135 and I experienced a little numbness in my legs and interference with the hump on my calves. I expect a higher position would help that.
I have only used a non air pro max seat once and it was quite a while ago. With the max seat I found that I kept it in the high position most of the time. I have been renting different kayaks most of this year trying to decide on one to buy, and I find that I spend most of my time with seats in the high position or standing. The low seat position just doesn’t work for me. If I were you I would look for a non max high seat. That’s my 2 cents.
Thanks for the reply. I thought about that, too. It would certainly be cheaper but I would have to store 2 seats.
My local WS dealer is supposed to get their shipment Wednesday so hopefully I can check it out in person then.
So, I bit the bullet, plunked down $300 (ACK with 15% off coupon) and bought the new Phase 3 AirPro MAX seat and thought I would share my impressions after using it for a few hours in both my Ride 135 and 115.
One of my boats originally came with the AirPro Freedom Elite low seat version and the other has the AirPro Freedom Elite high seat version.
This is the Phase 3 AirPro MAX, note that it is more of the lawn chair-style that is becoming popular in fishing kayaks:
The construction of the seat is top notch. I have no complaints with the build quality. The materials all feel good and look durable: one piece aluminum seat frame, breathable fabric, and hard plastic mounting frame. It has adjustable cover straps to make the bottom seat and seatback tighter or looser to fit your style of comfort. It really is worth experimenting with these settings because it does make a difference.
The whole assembly slides into the original seat channels on the boat. It was a tight fit in my 2014 135 but fit much easier in my 2014 115. Differences in the mold I suppose. Still- a good fit overall and the fore and aft adjustment slides very easily- even when sitting in it.
One of the supposed benefits of this seat is that you can use it off the boat, on the ground, when you are kayak camping. Uhh–no, I don’t think so. For one thing, it is very low even in the raised position.
The other reason I don’t think I will ever use it that way is the hard plastic frame would be in the dirt in this scenario. Breaking or chipping the frame on this expensive seat would be disastrous. I think a $20 camp chair is a better idea- especially with all the storage capabilities of the Ride series! Plus, who wants to sit in the same seat you’ve been sitting in all day?
This seat has three positions: reclined, high, and low.
As Cpt. Practical stated earlier, the reclined position is ridiculous. It is not comfortable because, unless you are a very t