I trusted my Vibe inflatable kayaks so much I ran them over with truck, threw them off roof of my house, and went shark fishing just to prove the point in my confidence of the watercraft. I caught and landed a massive spinner shark on Vibe Uptown and fought it for 2hrs. Could shark bite the kayak….absolutely, but overall this kayak is amazing. It survived my tests and performed well. The kayak has great maneuverability.

DISCLAIMER: vibe sent me the kayaks for testing. However, I couldn’t fake the tests and it showed impressive performance and durability. Video is online via YouTube at KAYAKDIY channel.

I’ve had the Uptown Elite on the water 8 times and this is my assessment.

I would have liked a fishing kayak, but at 55 years old I did not want to unload a 100-lb kayak out of my truck by myself. The Uptown is very light. I have it inflated with the seat installed and can easily carry it with one hand from my truck to the water using the handle in front of the seat.

I fish for 4 hours at a time and have no complaints about seat comfort. The angle of the backrest is adjustable so I’m not locked into 1 position. I’ve stood up on the board and it's quite stable. The pedal drive is smooth and locks nicely into place so there’s no lateral movement when pedaling. The prop drive allows for easy forward and reverse movements.

Accessory tracks are a requirement for fishing. Four are supplied, which is awesome. I’ve used two to hold a rod and net.

Now for some minor negatives, none of which are deal-breakers.

1.,The supplied tip on the pump did not fit into the inflation valve on the board. The tip from my wife’s SUP did fit, as did the tip from our electric pump. I saw someone had posted the same complaint in their review on the Vibe USA website, so this is obviously not a one-off issue. Hopefully Vibe will fix this. It would be terribly upsetting for someone to pay this amount of money for a board and not be able to inflate it for such a silly reason.

2.,The steering handle that is mounted on the side of the seat is only secured with one bolt. This allows for some slop in the handle assembly when steering. It doesn’t affect the steering itself, but it would be nice if it could be secured more firmly in place.

3.,The supplied instructions are text only. This was not a problem for most of the assembly. The only problem I encountered was when trying to figure out how to assemble the retention mount and bars to the drive pod. I had to find a third-party video online to figure it out. This problem can easily be solved by providing one or two pictures in the supplied instructions and/or online at Vibe’s website.

Finally, Vibe was very quick to respond via email to all my pre-purchase and post-purchase questions. I appreciate that I received prompt answers to my questions, although the pump tip issue has still not been resolved.

Overall, I’ll give 4.5 out of 5 stars to the Uptown Elite and would highly recommend it to anyone.

I’ve had the Uptown 100 Elite on the water 8 times now so I feel I can provide a fair initial assessment.

The primary use for me is fishing. As much as I would have liked a fishing kayak, at 55 years old I did not want to load and unload a 100 pound kayak into and out of my truck by myself. The Uptown is very light. I have it inflated with the seat installed when I travel with it and can easily carry it with one hand from my truck to the water using the handle located in front of the seat.

The seat is comfortable. I normally fish for about four hours at a time and have no complaints about its comfort. The angle of the backrest is adjustable which allows me to have multiple seating positions, so I’m not locked into a single position. I’ve stood up on the board without any issues. It’s quite stable. The pedal drive is smooth and locks nicely into place so there’s no lateral movement when pedaling. The prop drive allows for easy forward and reverse movements.

Accessory tracks are a requirement for fishing. Four have been supplied. I’ve used two out of the four tracks to hold a rod and net.

I’ve not used the supplied bag so I can’t comment on it.

Now for some minor negatives, none of which are deal-breakers.

1. The supplied tip on the pump did not fit into the inflation valve on the board. The tip from my wife’s SUP did fit, as did the tip from our electric pump. I saw someone had posted the same complaint in their review on the Vibe USA website, so this is obviously not a one-off issue. Hopefully Vibe will fix this. It would be terribly upsetting for someone to pay this amount of money for a board and not be able to inflate it for such a silly reason.

2. The steering handle that is mounted on the side of the seat is only secured with one bolt. This allows for some slop in the handle assembly when steering. It doesn’t affect the steering itself, but it would be nice if it could be secured more firmly in place.

3. The supplied instructions are text only. The only problem I encountered was when trying to figure out how to assemble the retention mount and bars to the drive pod. I had to find a third-party video online to figure it out. This problem can easily be solved by providing one or two pictures in the supplied instructions and/or online at Vibe’s website.

Finally, Vibe was very quick to respond via email to all my pre-purchase and post-purchase questions. I appreciate that I received prompt answers to my questions, although the pump tip issue has still not been resolved.

Overall, I’ll give 4.5 out of 5 stars to the Uptown Elite and would...

I’ve had the Uptown 100 Elite on the water 8 times now so I feel I can provide a fair initial assessment.

The primary use for me is fishing. As much as I would have liked a fishing kayak, at 55 years old I did not want to load and unload a 100 pound kayak into and out of my truck by myself. The Uptown is very light. I have it inflated with the seat installed when I travel with it and can easily carry it with one hand from my truck to the water using the handle located in front of the seat.

The seat is comfortable. I normally fish for about four hours at a time and have no complaints about its comfort. The angle of the backrest is adjustable which allows me to have multiple seating positions, so I’m not locked into a single position. I’ve stood up on the board without any issues. It’s quite stable. The pedal drive is smooth and locks nicely into place so there’s no lateral movement when pedaling. The prop drive allows for easy forward and reverse movements.

Accessory tracks are a requirement for fishing. Four have been supplied. I’ve used two out of the four tracks to hold a rod and net.

I’ve not used the supplied bag so I can’t comment on it.

Now for some minor negatives, none of which are deal-breakers.

1. The supplied tip on the pump did not fit into the inflation valve on the board. The tip from my wife’s SUP did fit, as did the tip from our electric pump. I saw someone had posted the same complaint in their review on the Vibe USA website, so this is obviously not a one-off issue. Hopefully Vibe will fix this. It would be terribly upsetting for someone to pay this amount of money for a board and not be able to inflate it for such a silly reason.

2. The steering handle that is mounted on the side of the seat is only secured with one bolt. This allows for some slop in the handle assembly when steering. It doesn’t affect the steering itself, but it would be nice if it could be secured more firmly in place.

3. The supplied instructions are text only. This was not a problem for most of the assembly. The only problem I encountered was when trying to figure out how to assemble the retention mount and bars to the drive pod. I had to find a third-party video online to figure it out. This problem can easily be solved by providing one or two pictures in the supplied instructions and/or online at Vibe’s website.

Finally, Vibe was very quick to respond via email to all my pre-purchase and post-purchase questions. I appreciate that I received prompt answers to my questions, although the pump tip issue has still not been resolved.

Overall, I’ll give 4.5 out of 5 stars to the Uptown Elite and would highly recommend it to anyone.