Lifetime Tamarack Pro: On Water Review

what's up everybody dan here from the headwaters kayak shop and i'm road tripping through oregon today and i have this brand new boat behind me lifetime was awesome enough to send me out the tamarack pro i actually got an email a few weeks back to say they had watched my videos and were appreciative of my reviews and basically like hey would you mind doing another one so i'm like yeah sure if you're willing to send me a boat out i'll paddle it and i'm going to give people honest feedback as long as you guys don't mind me being honest because let's face it you know it's a 350 dollar boat it's gonna have its flaws but they said they were cool with it they sent it out and uh so i've got it and the deal with this one you guys they took the tamarack and there was things that you guys as consumers wanted to see changed and i got to give kudos to them as they listened to you guys and they tried to implement these things into the new boat so all in all it actually came to me in pretty good shape here i was disappointed that it was just kind of one layer of cellophane because if i flip this over you'll see we got a little bit of road rash along the way you know so you buy a new boat you expect it to be perfect they could do a little bit more for the packaging i think but you're definitely better off to pick it up at a local store you know these are going to be sold through box stores walmart places like that you're better off to pick it up locally if you can so they ship in a batch maybe instead of one at a time but if you have one of these frayed to your door you can expect you're not getting a perfect boat so just setting some expectations here so definitely pop those out if yours are still stuck in there they're supposed to be out but you know we'll little klingons lay this fish real quick you got to be careful when you cut it open you don't catch your bungees stay down what do i do i touch the bungee and cut it i just sharpened my knife and it's razor sharp i just touched it dang it here's how it comes looks like you've got a rod holder that zip tied in there that's pretty cool it's a track mounted deal you know it's pretty simple it's definitely a lot chintzier than say a scottie but whatever i mean this is a 350 boat so anything we talk about we have to talk about it through a filter of will it work for that price like that's cheap is it worth buying is it worth using and i mean hard to say it seems doubt enough it's track mounted you know maybe see if it fits on the track see how solid it is we'll bring that with us for the review i mean it's a little wobbly but i would say it's suitable for maybe trolling for trout you know smaller fish so it's not going to take a ton of torque but small fish fishing for trout would probably be just fine this is the paddle it came with you know they've been doing this paddle they're nice enough to give you guys a paddle and say hey your kayak comes with the paddle but let me tell you if even if you're buying this boat even if it's a 350 dollar boat do yourself a favor and buy yourself a decent paddle that's my review of these is we're not going to use them even if you're buying a 350 boat spend 100 bucks spend 150 on a paddle and you'll never ever regret it if you go out the first time with that stock paddle and you're like man i like this get a good paddle and you'll like it 10 times more because it really makes that much of a difference you guys so this is how the seat comes pretty simple you just flip it over there's a couple of straps that i got to do here on the bottom to get the tension there and set up these three straps under the seat tighten them to give yourself the support you want underneath and then this guy flips back and then you have another strap you got this strap down here that goes through these buckles that'll hold the stern in and then up front you have this little piece and then this plastic clip i'll be honest with you that plastic clip feels pretty cheap like you definitely got to watch it on that because that'll be something that probably breaks but here's the deal you guys even if something breaks lifetime's website's really good they have all their pieces and parts available on their website so it's pretty chill they also have these little bungees in the back that i think clip off to here i didn't read any instructions but that's logical holds the seat back all right that's it we're all set up you guys let's get this thing down to the water i'm a little bummed i forgot my car because even this one it's relatively light at 57 pounds by the time you get some stuff loaded up on it and uh i've got a pretty good schlep today cart makes it way easier just watch out for those cheap like 59 amazon carts if they're too good to be true guys i hate to say it but they are we're gonna do the old-fashioned way brute strength all right here we go there we go not ideal but it'll get us there okay that actually did not work out good at all but what i'm noticing is these little lines in the dirt i bet i'm not the first one to drag their new kayak across the dirt i'm just going to drag this one sorry lifetime but it'll be a good wear test right you still don't want to drag it on asphalt and things like that but it's dirt should be totally fine so we made it to the water and i thought it would be a good time to go over what makes the tamarack pro different than the regular tamarack as you guys have seen in my previous videos i've done a under 500 review of the tamarack ethan and i hooked up and took it on the callouts river float in southern washington last month we've had a great time with the original it's one of the best boats it's one of my easiest boats to recommend under 500 bucks for a well-balanced sit on top well lifetime's been listening to their customers and their customers had certain things they wanted on kind of the next generation you know how do you improve on a cult classic this is their answer up in the ball you notice it looks really similar it's got sort of that little concave spot where you can stick a dry bag or something under there as you move into the cockpit you'll notice a big improvement they went away from their molded foot pedals now you have an actual adjusted foot pedal that's adjustable from the cockpit just by pulling it forward or backwards and then it kind of tells you how many inches or just a kind of a point of reference on how long you need to be if you're swapping between users they also added accessory tracks right here on the deck and they included this rod holder if you're not fishing one day this whole thing can just slide right off there you go moving back you got the center hatch but a lot of times if you throw something in the center hands it goes all through the boat so what they did here is they put a bucket that just pops right in there so you can throw items you want easy at hand now this isn't going to be waterproof if you want to put some waterproof in there it still needs to go in a dryback but at least you have a cool access point right between your legs little rubberized hatch it kind of seals when you press it down i don't know how watertight i can't speak to that as far as handles and bungees it kind of went standard one thing i don't love that they do is they do this bungee that just goes straight into the hole which means if you get water here it drains right into the hole of the boat so one thing i got to say about lifetimes they're not a very dry ride if you're getting water over the deck or you're going in any sort of big waves and chop this isn't the boat this is a close to shore kind of easy flat water like we're here today one of the biggest upgrades was the seat they went to a frame chair seat which i think is a huge improvement everyone i talked about the old tamarack the first thing i would say is go to costco get the 20 stadium seat it fits right in there well they did you one better they went ahead and put this nice frame chair and the materials feel pretty soft pretty decent i mean it doesn't seem overly cheap compared to other kayaks i've seen on the market if it was i would be honest with you guys like about these things that feels cheap the materials on the seat actually feel pretty good i'm sure if that's not the case long term you guys will leave it in the comments so helping everyone out helping everyone know like long-term review there's no better reviewers than the people that are actually out using these things so this is me saying here's the initial thing but let's be honest there's thousands of people that'll own these things and live with them for years and really put them to the test so i always encourage those people that have that experience join our comment section tell us your experience okay behind the scene you'll see two flush mount rod holders a roomy tank well which is actually perfect i brought my little day pack that i'll just stick there underneath the bungees one day i'll go over what i keep my day pack just for fun but just basic stuff change of clothes extra batteries headlamp you know odds and ends i'll do a separate video on that someday for now we're running a daylight we got to go hit this water step down into it because that's about as awkward flop my butt down in the seat here all right all right one thing i can say i already absolutely love is how dry it is that's my first thoughts as i sit down in a it's a relatively small kayak it's not tiny but for a guy i'm six to 220 pounds or so i'm not wet you know a lot of times water splashes up in the deck when i'm in like a a smaller recreational sit on top not this one my butt feels up off the ground but i still feel really stable oh it feels like a tamarack it's probably the same hole design just with an updated deck i should look into that and know that but uh just going off field and looks i think it's just about the same so by no means do i want to turn this into a forward stroke video but i always want to lead in with a little bit of talk about foundational skills because there's not a lot of good information out there so if you're watching this i'm going to assume either you're just a headwaters fan and you watch all the videos or i'm going to assume that you're looking at buying an entry level kayak so here's the couple thing i want you guys to think about when you're doing your forward stroke it's not an arm thing it's not like i'm chilling back in this lawn chair paddle is my arm this is what i see out here all the time look around there's nothing wrong with this it's beautiful but if you want to get that thing to move or you really want to if you really want to cover some ground and see some things you got to get adjusted right it's like anything it's like playing baseball but instead of being an aggressive like ready to catch position you're sort of sitting here like this no you want to be up you want to be engaged it is a sport folks the next thing is is rotation it's not just pulling farms it's pushing with my top hand and what that does is it engages my whole cord with my whole floor rotating even all the way down to my feet if i paddle on the right side i'm driving through the right foot pedal left side left foot now if i want to turn say i want to go around the corner i can sweep out a little bit see that right leg straighten out and it's like a nice big sweep stroke this arching stroke that just pushes the pack away from paddles the paddle really isn't even moving that much it's a boat that's moving let's get back to the boat though did what you wanted it to do it goes fairly straight it runs fairly easy it's got a good initial stability a good secondary stability and for most of the general public it's under 220 240 pounds easy breezy as you start getting up to 260 whatever you know your volume your weight to volume ratio gets a little high and gets a little more tippy but i mean i know i'll have people in the comments say well i'm 275 and i paddle that thing okay the rating is at 300 and yes you can fit 300 pounds before the stain starts taking on water or the water starts coming into the floor but it's not going to be easy to paddle if you're 300 plus pounds you definitely should be looking for something a little bit longer a little bit wider a little bit more volume typically unfortunately how the market works is that's going to mean a little bit more expensive too in most cases i'm able to move around the boat i mean i can even stand up in this thing they made the deck just flat enough that i could even stand up now i'm not going to lie to you and say everyone can do this it's not super duper stable but if you're somewhat physically active and you're agile if you're a smaller person or kids for sure you'll be able to pop right up and paddle this thing or standing cast or whatever you want to do it's pretty darn stable you guys don't laugh at my budget camera set up you're watching a 350 kayak video all balling on a budget over here i'm underpaddling one of the most beautiful places in oregon enjoying myself watching the sun go down in a 350 kayak like that's what it's all about man could i be enjoying this more in a 4 000 kayak maybe like that much but like if the enjoyment is that much having a really expensive kayak maybe makes it like that much better but like this is the mean potato the meat and potatoes of the sport first and foremost is getting out here and seeing this stuff and then eventually maybe you want longer maybe you want faster maybe you want better turning or better for fishing whatever the case might be but the most important thing is getting your butt out here so in conclusion you guys i'm a huge fan of the little tamarack it does everything you say would do the pieces and parts you know they're cheap but it's a 350 kayak and what you're getting for the money is really really good i love the stability i love the back support the lumbar support on the chair the rod holder may not be burly but it would definitely work for a recreational trout fisherman like if i had a spinning reel right now i would be completely happy all in all i give this thing two thumbs up knowing the limitations important this is a skinny water kayak close to shore kayak it is sit on top so you know you can venture out a little bit more because it's not going to swamp with water but still it's a 10 foot kayak so slow moving rivers great class 1 creeks stuff like that awesome boat light fishing places like i'm on right now absolutely great tool for the job you'll love it for the money the only thing i would suggest is get a better paddle i said that last time i'll stick with it if you spend even 65 bucks on a bendy branch's whisper you'll like this boat so much more i highly recommend looking at like an aquabound manta ray stingray it's 150 but it's got a carbon shaft a really nice blade it's light and it just feels good in your hands you know i just had a really interesting talk with the homeowner that lives out here full time and to hear his perspective of how much this place has changed just by community people using this water and people just want to come see it but don't necessarily want to protect it or love it or you know the leaving their trash or their you know stepping in the springs or defecating on the shore it's really got to be a mutual respect for the places you go and the place you explore we have that responsibility as paddlers to take care of these places so our kids and their kids can come out here and have these same kind of experiences and if we don't take care of places like this they get shut down they get privatized they get permits only so it was a really good perspective you know sometimes even i get a little lackadaisical but his reminder caused me to remember and just kind of think about things in a different light so anyway you guys thanks so much for watching love the kayak love to being out here and i love hanging out with you guys so if you haven't already subscribe to the channel and until next time this is dan wishing you happy paddling we'll see on the next one

Channel: Headwaters Kayak

Views: 130,163

Rating: 4.9362102 out of 5

Keywords: lifetime tamarack pro, unboxing, on water review, review, walkthrough, lifetime, tamarack, walmart, kayak, kayaking, paddling, stroke, how to paddle, teton angler, pelican, sun dolphin, box store

Id: 0ugRmroqwBA

Length: 13min 45sec (825 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 22 2020