Perception Kayaks Tribe 9.5 | Sit on Top Kayak | Recreational Kayak | 9' 5"

Best kayak for the money. I am 6 ft tall 190 lbs and I sit comfortably in this kayak. I even put my 5'4 daughter on it with me and we jokingly rode it around a few laps and it stayed up right. Quality product

SO many factors led me to choose this boat, and I’m so glad I did. I wanted something that would fit inside my Honda CRV. This does, with about an inch to spare. It had to be light enough to lift and carry. At 46 pounds, this is, though I have since gotten an sit-on-top cart that works great. It looks great, handles well, does well in wind and current. Great storage. I would knock it down a half-star for seat design. The straps rub my arms on every stroke. I had to zip-tie them to the frame, which works fine and keeps them low enough they don’t bother me. My boat came without the dry well cover, but Perception sent one right away. Love it.

Excellent value for the money. Easy to maneuver and very stable on the water. Handles on the side make it easy to move or pick up. But it is heavy.

I’ve had this for a year and it’s great. I paid a little more on Amazon but I needed it delivered which is what I got

*This will be a long, thorough review. Strap in, maybe grab a snack.* First off, it’s a beauty. Exactly as pictured. You’d be hard pressed to find a more gorgeous boat. Ordered it Aug 25th, received it on Sept. 2nd. Not an insane shipping time for such a massive item. (I live in the southwest U.S.) Now, I received it just a few minutes prior to 6:30 A.M., and I don’t know about you all, but I wouldn’t get up before 7:30 A.M. on purpose for even the sake of Christ himself, so be more on top of it than I was and pay attention to the app so you can choose your delivery window. I’ll start off with what I like about it. The side handles and the bow/stern holds are solid. Not all kayaks have carrying features that convenient, so I really appreciate those features. The chair is adjustable and more solid than 90% of kayaks I’ve seen and used. I saw some reviews about the straps getting in the way, I didn’t have anything even resembling that issue, I think the design of the seat is damn near flawless. Cargo hold areas have really solid elastic cord, so even if the boat tips a little (and all sit on tops do) what you have under the cord is staying put. What really sold me on this kayak in particular over other options was the high weight rating. 300 lbs gives you A LOT of ability to carry cargo, and if you plan on doing a day trip or lake shore camping, every pound counts. Most all other kayaks that are capable of carrying that kind of cargo aren’t under 10 ft. long like this one is, that’s for sure. Personally, I like as little bow and stern hanging off my car roof as possible. However, that high weight rating also means this kayak is heavy, which leads me into what I don’t like as much about it. When I say it’s heavy, I mean it. I’m a petite woman but I weight train and am significantly stronger than an average female. Still, I don’t stand a snowball’s chance of moving this by myself. Because I’ve got a partner who can help me move it, that’s not an issue, but if you’re planning on going it solo, this is NOT the kayak for you. Likely even if you’re a stronger man. You need two people to really do it right, period. It’s too unwieldy for a single person to handle in my opinion. The center of gravity on this kayak is higher than most sit on tops. Now, you get the comfort of that awesome adjustable seat back, but that does make it less stable than an average kayak. Something to consider if you’re less experienced and afraid to tip your boat. It’s a trade off, but for what I wanted this for, longer trips in the boat, I was okay to sacrifice a little stability. This isn’t the fastest kayak in the world. My partner in his sit in was doing laps around me. That’s okay, I wasn’t after speed. I wanted comfort and weight capacity. If you do want speed and you don’t want to get wet, this also might not be the boat for you. Obviously the self bailing feature is awesome, and it’s why I prefer sit on top kayaks to sit ins. In my opinion, if you’re afraid to get wet, kayaking is the wrong hobby for you. And if you tip your boat, it’s a lot more difficult to get out from underneath if you panic with a sit in. (as an aside, PLEASE invest in a good life jacket specifically designed for paddling, your safety is priceless) However, some of the scupper holes aren’t in totally obvious places, like under the seat, so if you’re planning to put scupper plugs in to stay dry-er, be mindful of that. Basically the only major flaw I wasn’t anticipating of this boat in how pathetic their ‘dry bag storage area’ is. I wouldn’t trust that to not take on water. It’s also tiny. If you plan on taking anything on with you, I highly recommend getting your own dry bags, preferably ones that come with straps that can get clipped to the cargo hold area. Also, a *floating* dry phone case. My phone is one thing I don’t want to take chances with. The only other thing I would change about this in an ideal world is price, but especially with kayaks, you get what you pay for. And in terms of quality and aesthetics, this baby delivers, big time. Overall, totally happy with my purchase. This boat has everything I really wanted out of a watercraft.

Lots of scrapes and yellow marks! For the price you'd think it would be shipped in something besides paper and plastic. There were scrapes in areas that the wrapping material wasn't even tore up. It looks like it was painted and carelessly at that. Where the yellow stuff came from is beyond me, but it won't wash off or scrape off with my fingernails. Debating returning it! Oh, there are also tons of tiny holes where like air bubbles popped or something. You're better off finding something in store that you can inspect for damage before purchasing!

The Kayak is not that bad. It was fine in the water. Easy to maneuver. My partner also got a new kayak but a different brand that was $150 cheaper from Dicks Sporting goods. We took the time to also use each other’s kayaks to compare them. Although my kayak was adequate, the seat wasn’t nearly as comfortable as my friends. The Perception seat has a thin layer of material between the butt and the plastic canoe itself. The other kayak was MUCH more Comfortable. I will keep the kayak but will try to upgrade the seat.

I'm newer to kayaking and always have used sit on top kayaks (mostly ocean brand). I needed to get a kayak that was lighter and smaller and hoped for a good looking one, too. I find this to be not quite as stable as the ocean sit-on-tops that I've used, but it is comfortably stable and I find it easy to maneuver around. It is more sleek in my opinion than the ocean kayaks but maybe just slightly less sturdy in overall feel (still feels sturdy to me, though). I love this Perception Tribe, and I plan to buy a couple more since the length, weight, color and ease of use are all more than satisfactory.