Decathlon Itiwit Touring Kayak
Summary
Price At Time Of Writing | £219.99
Our Overall Rating | 67 out of 100
Pros - Stable, comfortable
Cons - Wider, so harder to paddle, slow drying, poor tracking
Overall - Beginner friendly and comfortable, just hard to dry
Technical Specifications
Open Size - 300x95cm
Weight - 11kg
Load Capacity - 100kg
Packed Size - 62x44x27cm
Our Analysis & Ratings
This kayak really does have positives and you definitely shouldn’t rule it out, but here’s the thing: it is noticeably bulky, and that does affect its performance. It took some wrestling to get it to move in a straight line and was hard to handle probably because of the heavy material it is built with, but that also makes it durable.
To us it feels a bit more like paddling a dingy and if you can afford it we suggest spending a bit more to get something that's more pleasant to paddle.
Performance - The bulkiness of this kayak can be a nuisance with the big side tubes taking up a lot of space and making it hard to position the paddles. The size could also be the reason it is hard to maintain a continuous straight movement.
Construction - Built with strong polyvinyl and polyester covering, it’s a sturdy design and shouldn’t easily puncture. However, we are not huge fans of the massive side tubes and consider it a drawback in the design. The drop-stitch floor added in the newer models is certainly a step in the right direction.
Setup/Pack down - There are no problems with setup because it has only four matching inflation points that aren’t hard to pump. What we find a bit time-consuming is the drying process. The cover can soak up water and it takes a while to dry up completely, which is a must (as it is for most inflatables) to avoid mould growth.
Portability - It is the lightest in terms of weight. The 11-kg kayak is indeed easy to carry but we think a little more weight wouldn’t hurt if better quality materials were used. Even though it’s extremely portable we’ve marked it down in this area because the sacrifice in material quality is a major minus for us.
Comfort - Given the massive side tubes, there’s not a lot of room in the cockpit for the paddler. It's not terribly uncomfortable but we did find it annoying.
Overall - Feels more like a dingy than a kayak - we didn’t love the experience of paddling in it.
