$399 VS $649 What's The Difference? Budget Kayak Comparison

what's up everybody welcome back to the channel i'm hanging out in redding california today at headwaters adventure company and behind me i have two different boats one is the lifetime tamarack pro you guys seen me review this a few months back this one goes for 3.99 so really good value and you can find it at box stores like dick sporting goods walmart etc and then to my right i have the feel free moken 10 v2 which goes for around 649 and you can find these at more independent kayak shops like headwaters adventure so what i wanted to do is talk to you about the two different boats compare and contrast show you what you get when you spend 400 show you what you get when you spend a couple hundred more for the feel free and kind of let you guys make the decision yourselves of what might work best for your needs i'd love to know your thoughts on the two boats and kind of uh you know tell me why you'd pick one or the other if you have time leave that in the comments below so i'd like to start off just by talking about stats to my left we've got the lifetime tamarack pro it's 10 foot 3 inches long 31 inches wide and has a 300 pound total capacity hauling this thing around off the water you're looking at about 57 pounds so pretty lightweight and i definitely noticed that when i was putting them on the racks here today to the right you have the feel free mokin 10 version 2 which means this is the newest the latest and greatest from feel free features the high low chair standing platform wheel and the keel this one's 10 foot long 33 inches wide has a whopping 440 pound capacity 65 pounds with the chair out that's what they say on their website realistically that chair probably adds i don't know four or five pounds so we'll call it a rough 70. both boats are a similar size similar paddler fit i'm actually kind of surprised at the 140 pound additional capacity on this one but when i look at it it definitely has more volume on the side the cockpit sits a little deeper it's definitely a stout little boat i think this one is 13 inches tall and the lifetime tamarack is 12 inches tall but it does seem to have substantially more volume now that's not to say a 300 pound person could paddle either of these boats really that's not the intended thing it's how much weight will this kayak hold before the water starts coming up into the cockpit realistically i've seen 250 270 pound guys in this boat and in this boat and that's really at the max any bigger than that and you're really going to start getting top heavy chances are you're going to get wet so if you're a bigger guy and you're looking for a kayak you know there's a kayak like the lifetime yukon which is a little bit higher volume a little bit longer a little bit better suited for larger paddlers or actually this kayak right here if you're looking at the feel free moken but maybe it's a little bit too small for you this one actually has a little bit higher capacity uh this is the big fish 105. one of the biggest differences between these two kayaks is how they're made the lifetime to the left is blow molded which means there's a tube of plastic that comes down to the ceiling they inject air into it and it pops into a mold and out pops a kayak so this is all about an efficient process to build a kayak now it's not say it's a bad way to do it it makes a pretty durable affordable kayak in a timely fashion but when you do rotomolding you can get a lot more details and a lot more you know curves and contours and features but it is a more time consuming process and with time comes additional cost so although the kayaks are molded differently they're actually made out of the same stuff polyethylene plastic the additional weight on the mochan mostly comes from the additional features so let's just get into that let's jump straight into it we'll compare apples to apples on what you get for 3.99 versus what you get for 6.49 so we'll start in the front you see the carry handles on the live time here it's just a simple carry handle you see it's a molded end they drill a hole they add a they add a handle um if this ever were to break loose you know that's you're gonna have a hole in your boat something you'd have to weld and attach a new handle whereas over here you've got a big molded end piece really nothing can go wrong with this it's just a solid place a good place to tie to a place to lock up to on the front you have a tank well area this is actually a well with scuppers that you can put a dry bag you can put a dog think of it like the trunk your car it's just space to bring extra stuff over here you kind of have a concave deck would do the same thing if you were just trying to transport a dry bag but no actually like well to hold the stuff in place besides just the bungee so if you're just bringing a dry bag no problem or if you wanted to throw a bath mat down and bring a dog really either one would work but the well definitely is going to keep stuff in the boat as we move back to the cockpit here you see adjustable foot braces on the lifetime remember when i reviewed that i actually really like the contour of these foot braces and they do feel a little bit chinsy with the plastic but they work pretty pretty well in my demo review you see tracks up here with a five screws holding them in place those are just drilled straight into the bow and again cheaper plastics but it works for you know light trolling it comes with this little rod holder and if you're trolling for trout and things like that you know it'll hold up for that but light use it features this measuring tape on the floor which i thought was kind of a cool idea might as well if you're going to mold it anyway that's an easy way to measure your fish in the cockpit you also have this little hatch which you can open up access the interior of the boat it's got a little bucket under the bucket you open this up and you actually see directly into the kayak so there you go the little bucket pops out that just goes into the inside of the kayak and they're hollow because they're set on tops this has a little spot that says pop that out if you want a place to store your pliers so if we look at the feel free cockpit similar but different you know you have your adjustable foot pedals these are a twist lock feature so you flip the lever move to where you want to go lock them in place the plastic's a little bit stouter a little bit burlier on this foot pedal system the tracks they feature are metal although they are proprietary to feel free so if you want to use a traditional you know scotty yak attack rail blazer ram mount you will need an adapter which is about a four dollar part i don't know why feel free does that they do sell uni track adapters for around 20 bucks um but it is proprietary to their boat so kind of a unique thing they do other features in the cockpit instead of having that round hatch they actually have this flip up console where you can keep your stuff in between your legs now there's no seal on this console so i don't think it's going to be super watertight but it is between your legs and it does close so you have plenty of room for things you want easy access to throughout the day other things you're really going to notice in the floor this one here on the measuring tape this one here has a reinforced standing platform so what that means is there's a piece of plexiglas i don't know if you can kind of see it down there piece of small piece of plexiglass that's attached to the boat very secure standing platform that reinforces the whole deck area so when you're getting in and out or if you are wanting to stand up and fish you do have that feature this little guy right here works as your stand assist leash i'll cut that over and show you guys how it works there you go so standard sicilies if you need to pull yourself up in the cockpit you can use that little leash there another thing we'll touch on later is these little guys these are tubes that run all the way to the back if you wanted to add a rudder system to this boat it's pre-plumbed ready to go for that so one thing the moken doesn't come with is a rod holder this one comes with the rod holder i like i said before it's is it's a little basic but it does come with it the feel free does not that's an accessory you'd have to add on moving back we're going to talk about the seat we'll talk about the handles paddle storage this one has a frame chair a mesh seat you can watch my whole overview video and i'll tell you what i think about that all in all the foundation very comfortable uh the attachment points to the boat was something i touched on that were a little bit chintzy like that's pretty cheesy plastic i think over time that's something that you may see fail got this little bungee underneath which i think could be for a tackle but i don't know how you would get a tackle box underneath there so i kind of feel like that's just for added features but i'm not sure how functionally practical it is because this is a that's a very small tight clearance to get something underneath there and there's no high seat option you strictly have this one seating position carry handles on the side here just your typical kayak carry handles that are screwed directly into the plastic and that's where you pick your boat up from paddle clip on the side this is one thing i i lifetime if you watch the videos this is something we gotta address you know that's where your paddle goes it would just bungee along the side here but that goes straight into the in the whole of the boat it's like a they put the bungee and it's got like a little flip that that keeps it from popping out but uh it also allows water to just come right in the side of your kayak it'll be a slow leak all day but at the end of the day you can kind of expect that you're going to have some water inside this kayak where again on the feel free over here they do the molded inside handles a big solid place to grab onto the boat again that's going to add a little bit of weight that's something you can only do in roto molding but it adds a lot of durability and longevity to the boat they upgraded to this seat system i think it was 2020 and has been very very popular you see it on a lot of the feel free bran c stream johnny boats all are featuring the same chair it's a steel frame chair definitely a burly setup see how it's woven underneath there to keep everything nice and tight if it loosens up it's all adjustable it also has a high low position so you see it low here and then you can just pick it up lift it and then set it down there in the high position so this is a strap that attaches it into the boat and you can see it's a nice metal cam buckle it's really hard to do one-handed so that is a very solid and secure way to attach your boat the other thing is if you ever need to replace this this is a standard thing in the kayak industry every strap is made from one of these buckles so an easy part to replace versus a little plastic clips over there i mean lifetime may have that this year but in five years it's probably gonna be a completely different kayak so you know a little bit more longevity over here with the way the seat attaches you've got tackle storage on either side of the seat so on both sides you could fit like a little plano box there and overall it's just a much bigger better chair on this one it's more breathable wider more support over here is a little bit smaller again i found this the contour of the seat to be very comfortable but just a little bit smaller more simplified you see the strap adjustments underneath here it's got three strap adjustments this way three straps of adjustments and that keeps the tension on the seat so not a bad seat and for 400 bucks i would say it's a really really good seat and compared to what we've seen on other lower end models the seat is a huge improvement so i'm not trying to knock this seat but definitely just saying like 400 bucks you're going to get a basic seat for 649 you're going to get something that's a lot more refined let's move to the back of the boats kind of the business end of the boat here this is like the pickup truck into the boat for kayak fishermen this is where you're going to store your tackle so we're going to transport your rods your nets maybe your fish is going to go back there maybe we're going to use a catch bag when we're comparing these two boats a lot of ways they're similar you've got two flush mount rod holders behind the seat these have built-in rod leashes that come with the boat you also see a gasket that they have on there to keep the water out of the boat over here a little bit smaller rod holders and again three screws drilled directly into the boat i don't know what kind of sealant that they're using but i don't see a whole lot of sealant on there on the lifetime you have the paddle holder along the side and on the feel for you see how they moved it back here right behind your hip the tank well itself is fairly similar in size this one's a little bit deeper you see how they will have little square notches so if you're using a milk crate a milk carry would fit right in there this one's a pretty good size tank well not quite as deep you know the whole boat isn't quite as deep but it still has plenty of room and milk crate would fit back there as well the lifetime attaches in four places the bungees kind of come off here so if you wanted to attach something you know it's doable the feel free over here has a little bit more adjustment because it unclips in the center so if you wanted to hook up a black pack or you know maybe a little nicer crate you can definitely do that and just have a little bit more adjustment in your bungee here or if you just wanted to get the bungee out of the way you can just unhook it from the center and have room for your dog or your kid to ride back there this one also features tracks on the back same uni tracks but additional tracks so if you wanted to add flags if you wanted to have more rod holders if you wanted to add an over the shoulder camera mount it has that ability this does not but it does have flat spots so you could add additional accessories to the boat and then the last couple of things rear handles again simple toggle drain plug this thing is attached to the boat oh so you definitely can't lose it as easy but you also can't use it as easy either pop that thing out but yeah so drain plug if you needed to drain water out of the inside of the boat this is the plug you'd use it with and i think they do that so you you don't lose it and one of the things that happens a lot of time with these is you unscrew it unscrew it to drain the water out and then you leave this on the side of the beach so definitely not a bad idea to order an extra one of these because that does happen now i will say you're a lot less likely to get water in this boat but still it has something to to consider these are replaceable and feel free sells them on their website um you know if you wanted to get an extra drain plug same thing with lifetime any of the parts on the lifetime they're actually pretty good about replacing them if you were to break it or had an issue with it other things on this boat is you got the built-in carry handle in the back and you've got all these little spots those are all pre-plumbed lines this is the up haul down haul for your rudder this is for your left control for your right control so you can add a rudder to this boat and have a boat that you can do a lot of the steering with your feet so if you're fishing you can get to your spot you can paddle in and do a lot of the control work with your feet just means more time with your hands on the rod feel free patented wheel in the keel they use a nice big wide wheel makes it really easy to pick up the front of the boat and drag this thing down to the ramp now lifetime does feature a wheel on the keel on some other boats however their tamarack pro does not have that wheel on the keel and from experience the wheel on the keel on the lifetime is a little bit tinty in fact let me just show you one this is another boat that i'll be reviewing shortly here in the future this is the lifetime yukon which is 5.99 but this one does have a wheel on the keel but when you're talking wheel on the keel you know this is an added part that's screwed onto the boat and then just a simple narrow wheel so when you're dragging it around you know it's got to roll right on that wheel otherwise you're scratching up the boat whereas with the feel for you have a lot more surface area and the other thing is if anything were to break on this it's just an allen bolt right there in the side pop it out put a new wheel in and most of the time that will fall under field for his warranty and honestly you know we usually use a ton of the rental fleet we do not have a lot of issues with our wheel on the keel it's one of the more robust things on the kayak and because i did this on another video and you guys seem to really enjoy it i'm going to flip them over and show you guys the whole of the boat similar in the fact that you can see they sort of have this tri-hole design right you have a center line that's your keel and then you have these big buoyant edges they kind of dub you out if you will and that provides a lot of secondary stability in my review of this kayak i found it to be very stable for how small of a kayak it was when you look at the feel free it's just got a little bit more so the feel free in a lot of ways is everything this boat is but they just do a little bit more a little bit more volume a little bit more stability a little more features so you can see it has a very defined keel very defined edges maybe not be as fast in the water as the lifetime but definitely going to feel a lot more stable but i'm actually surprised just how similar they are i don't think i've ever had these two side by side very cool you see you got two four six scuppers over here on the lifetime two four six eight ten twelve fourteen scuppers so again that's gonna have some weight but it means that boat is gonna drain out immediately if you get water over the deck it also is going to add a lot of support and structure to the hole some ways it might be overkill like i said i didn't have any problems with this but you know you look where the scuppers are placed in the standing platform you know here's a seat there's your standing platform you flip it over underneath that standing platform you know you have scuppers so that's going to provide even additional support to give you a nice solid standing platform whereas this one not really meant for standing it's got two scuppers in the cockpit but if you were standing up in here it definitely is going to have a little bit more squish to it so there you have it you guys i just wanted to compare these two boats show you what you're getting for the price differences i know a lot of times when you're looking at boats online you can kind of say like man this one's got almost all the same features but when you see them side by side you really go through the features you understand why there's a little bit of a price discrepancy hopefully that helps you guys make your buying decision i'm curious to hear your thoughts after you've watched this video which one would you pick would you go for the less expensive lighter weight quicker option of the lifetime tamarack pro for four or 399 or would you go for the feel free mokin 10 for 649 and a lot more features or maybe there's something else that i'm just completely missing the mark on maybe there's some other boat that i should be reviewing leave those for me in the comment section below i'd love to hear your thoughts so thank you guys so much for watching we hope you found the video entertaining if you did consider giving it a thumbs up sharing it with your friends and until next time this is dan wishing you happy paddling we'll see on the next one

Channel: Headwaters Kayak

Views: 326,153

Rating: 4.9134808 out of 5

Keywords: lifetime, tamarack Pro, feelfree Moken, moken, feelfree, budget, comparison, chair seat, fishing kayak, walmart kayak, tamarak, fishing, buyers guide, guide, overview, how to

Id: owC0fJciPWk

Length: 17min 39sec (1059 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 12 2020