I have an all carbon werner corryvreckyn. Nice paddle no doubt but only saves like an oz of weight over the same paddle with glass blades. Imo,,,werner is hands down best production paddle made and carbon shaft with glass blades is best buy.

Pretty pricey for a pretty paddle you'd be afraid of wrecking.

I've used an all carbon paddle since 2007; the same paddle. That sucker has been abused. Pushing off barnacle encrusted oil platforms 5+ miles offshore, using it as a push pole on oyster beds at the coast, to digging it into limestone rocks while running flutes of hill country rivers. It's certainly not factory fresh, but I don't expect failure anytime soon.

With paddle blades as you go from plastic to fiberglass to carbon you're producing a blade which is getting lighter and stiffer. Lightness is the obvious characteristic everyone knows and can see, but the stiffness of the blade is just as important as well as they are more efficient. When a blade flexes there is energy loss and you're not getting all the forward propulsion from your power input. Don't equate stiffness as more brittle, because it's not the case.

Generally there are 7 configurations of kayak paddles: aluminum shaft/fiberglass nylon blades, fiberglass shaft/fiberglass nylon blades, carbon shaft/fiberglass nylon blades, carbon shaft/carbon nylon blades, fiberglass shaft/fiberglass blades, carbon shaft/fiberglass blades, and carbon shaft/carbon blades.

IMO, the carbon fiber shaft with fiberglass blades are in the sweet point for price and performance.

I'm on my second Bending Branches Navigator. The best paddle I've ever used for how I paddle. I babied it for about a week and then started using it like all my others, pushing off bridge pilings. digging through the pads, and jabbing it into the rocks. It held up great for 5 years of heavy use until the night I left it at a ramp on Fork late one night. Ordered another one right away through Mariner Sales as they had them in stock. It is just the right weight, not too light that it blows out of my lap when I'm not using it. What I like best about it is how quiet it is, especially when pushing off of oyster beds... the only way they could make it better to me is if they had applied the rock guard all the way around it... just never did like the feel and sound of carbon fiber blades scraping against anything hard. Especially like how it doesn't wobble on reverse strokes.

I have the all carbon Werner Camano. Have had 2 of them for about 8 years. I like the low angle blade shape better than the broader high angle blade. I mostly stand in my Commander and use the paddle while standing, the more narrow blade is easier to not bang the sides of the kayak. The all carbon light weight makes using it one handed easier. Stalking fish in the shallow marsh, sometimes with a rod in one hand, paddle in the other, you don�t want a heavy paddle. I did have a Werner all fiberglass paddle for years. From the late 1980�s. If you wanted a makeshift weapon to defend yourself or to build up awesome deltoids, that was your paddle. That paddle was well built, but super heavy. I think someone stole that paddle from the truck bed. No worries, I think the carbon ones are way better in every other respect.