I suppose many of you have seen the release of the new Hobie, Compass, I think is its name . . . that will be available in September. It is a 12 footer, 34" wide, 68 lbs. fitted weight with a 400 lbs. capacity. It is a pretty stripped down kayak, that, and it apparently isn't using the new 180 drive unit. Nonetheless, it looks like a solid offering with the intent of bringing a light kayak in under $2,000.

This would be a great "finesse" rigging candidate, I think. At that weight with that drive, I bet the thing is very fast. And, it looks like it might be a good paddler, too.

It sort of looks like the new Bonafide kayak to me with its hard chines, its general shape, how it sits in the water.

Brad

Should be an awesome kayak for many.

My concern (considering the low weight of the kayak) would be the durability and ruggedness of the Mirage housing.

When you hit a stump going at speed in a Hobie with the Mirage drive, there's an incredible amount of force/torque transmitted to the front part of the hull.

Oh, I like that very much

A quick review and comparison and it appears to compare favorably with the venerable Outback...minus a couple of things including the 180 drive...but honestly, this is a very competitive price for a mirage drive Hobie and it would seem like it might even compete with Outback sales as it is lighter, wider, 1" shorter and has the same capacity as the Outback but, most importantly, is $550 less expensive. Unless it is absolutely terrible to fish out of...which I would find very hard to believe...I think this will be a big seller for Hobie.

How easy it to retract the Mirage drive? I saw is not the stowNgo type

The Mirage drive is held in place with what is called a Click N Go. These are latches that hold the main shaft down on either side. To release, just snap them backward and the drive can be extracted directly. Mounting is easy also. Just drop the drive in place and the Click N Gos lock the drive smartly down in place.
The advantage to the Hobie Mirage drive fins over any propeller system is that they can be "feathered" in shallow water. Just hold either pedal down and the fins will fold up against the hull. You can flutter kick, just moving the fins slightly to propel until you reach deeper water.
I don't have a Hobie kayak but I do have the Mirage drive.

Agreed on the Hobie Drive system. I fished with an angler a few months ago and he managed shallow water,other conditions, and the heavy vegetation on Lake Athens really well. I was sort of surprised.

There is an old video posted somewhere showing a Hobie and a Native tied stern to stern, then an "on your mark, get set, go" . . . and the Hobie has much more starting power pulling the Native back easily. The manner in which the big flappers push on water create less cavitation, that is for sure and I think the size of the flappers really help it, too, over a tiny prop. Another video showed a Hobie tethered stern to stern against a tandem row kayak with two experienced competitive rowers. It won the tug of war in that video, too.

Hobie will never move off of its drive system. I think we'll likely see an improvement in how Hobie engineers improve the reverse feature. If so, look out.

Good to see lots of competition!

Brad

Great price point. Will be interesting to demo.