Sea Eagle 393 vs Decathlon Itiwit X500 | Which Kayak is Best?

Ken Whiting with PaddleTV with yet another gear review. Although this isn't the normal type of gear review, this is more of a gear comparison. I am comparing two of the highest performing inflatable kayaks on the market. This is the Decathlon Ittuit X500 and this is the Seagull 393 Razor Light. Now, I did full reviews of both of these kayaks already and I'll leave a link in the description box down below. You know, what I can tell you is I really liked both of these kayaks and they share a lot of similarities. These are both what I would call inflatable touring kayaks. What makes them a touring kayak? Well, a lot of inflatable kayaks are designed to be for stability first. These kayaks aren't designed for stability first. These kayaks actually give up some stability for performance. And when I say performance, what do I mean? What I mean is that they give up some stability to travel through the water more efficiently. They go faster. They're more fun to paddle. And you can cover real distance with these things. If you want to go for a paddling mission, a paddling adventure, both of these kayaks are great choices. But despite the fact that they share a lot of similarities, there are some key differences. And this video isn't really about which is better, because they're both great kayaks. I can tell you that from the outset. I really think these kayaks are both fantastic. The question is, what is the right kayak for you if you're in the market for an inflatable touring kayak? And so let's start by telling you, I'll tell you a bit more about each of these kayaks. The Decathlon Ittuit X500 retails for $1,300. It's 12 feet 6 inches long. It's 25 inches wide. It weighs 35 pounds, or 16 kilos. And it has a capacity of 275 pounds, or 125 kilos. Now the Sea Eagle 393 Razor Lite retails for $1,100. And it comes with a pump, bag, and a paddle. It's 12 feet 10 inches long. It's 28 inches wide. It weighs 35 pounds, or 16 kilos. And it has a capacity of 500 pounds, or 227 kilos. Now on paper, these kayaks are very similar. They're both in that 12 to 13 foot range. Very similar widths. Same weight. Similar price, although the Sea Eagle is a paddle too. And then beyond that, they all have some other similarities. The Sea Eagle and the Ittuit both have real foot pegs in them, which I love. They both have raised seats. Oh, and they're both drop stitch construction. And if you don't know what drop stitch construction is, what it means is that the tubes that you inflate, they're being held together. They're sewn together. These thousands of threads holding it together. You can pump it up really hard and make it really rigid because it's going to hold its shape really well. Now that's an upgrade. It's a more expensive, slightly more expensive type of kayak than non-drop stitch. But the joy there is you can pump both of these kayaks up to 10 psi. And that gives you a really rigid kayak. Something that's perform much more like a hard shell kayak. Whereas non-drop stitch kayaks, you typically only pump up to around 1 or 2 psi. You know, that's a big difference. Now, the big and obvious differences between these two kayaks are, well, on the deck, the Cathlon X500 is covered. This is a sit inside kayak that even has cockpit combing here that's designed to take a skirt. Seagull, on the other hand, is wide open. This is more almost like a canoe kayak hybrid. It's a mini canoe in a way. But the other big difference is actually the hulls. The Seagull 393 is a little bit more of a traditional inflatable kayak in that you have a flat hull here. This is the whole surface is flat. It does have a nice pointy bow to help cut through the water, but the whole bottom for the most part is flat. And that's why they need to have this removable fin here is to help it track because the bow itself is not going to cut through the water to the same way that a lot of hard shell kayaks do. Now, that was one of the big innovations, probably the biggest innovation that came with the Cathlon X500 is they figured a way to create a drop stitch kayak that wasn't just a flat bottom, that actually had a V-hull like a normal hard shell kayak. Now, the benefit of having a V-hull is that it wants to track through the water. That bow is going to cut through the water better and hold its line better. And that's why the X500 doesn't come with a removable fin because it doesn't need it. It will track better on its own. Now, there are pros and cons to each, but one of the biggest questions that I have is speed. You know, they're very similar kayaks, but how do they really measure up? How much of a difference does the V-hull make for speed? There's only one way to find out and that's to get it on the water. I'm going to take these suckers here out for a speed test. So let's do it. All right, so first up, let's give the old Seagull 393 razor light a speed test. Here we go. All right, so that was like 75% speed. Now, let's try see what my max speed can be. Here we go. Get a little run up. All right, so quick recap. Seagull 393 at 75% speed, I had an average speed of 5.2 miles per hour. Now, when I dug it in and I went full throttle, my top speed was 6.4 miles per hour. Both very respectable. I am looking forward to trying this other one. Here we go. Next up, the X500. Let's see how the Cathalon Ittowit does. Starting off, 75% speed. Average speed, 5 miles per hour. Now, here we go. Top speed of the Ittowit X500. We're going to ease into it once again. Top speed, 6.7 miles per hour as compared to 6.4 miles per hour. Interesting. So the Sea Eagle 393 had a slightly higher cruising speed, but the Ittowit X500 had a slightly higher top speed. Now, the device I'm using, the app I'm using, I wouldn't exactly say that it's calibrated to the hundreds of seconds or anything like that. It's a really good representation. I think what you can pretty much say is that both these kayaks are very comparable in speed. There you have it. All right. So that was a good test. And I don't know what I was really expecting, but in the end, they were both very comparable. Very comparable for average speed. When I was paddling at my 75%, they're both right around 5 miles per hour. And they both had a very similar top speed, which was around 6.5 miles per hour. Of course, that's my speed. That's not going to be the speed for everyone, but really interesting. They're both very similar. But let's talk about some of the other characteristics, paddling characteristics. Not just paddling characteristics, but characteristics while you're paddling. And we'll start with comfort. Comfort-wise, very similar. The seats are both raised seats. They're foam. There's not much to talk about there. They both have foot pegs. I think the only thing to mention is the openness of the 393 you can move your legs into different positions a lot more easily. You can even hang your legs over the side if you need a little change of scene. Dip your feet into the water. So really, that's the edge that the 393 has in comfort, is it's an open deck. Stability. Well, they're both very similar with kayaks. The 393 says 28 inches, but it's 25 inches at the water line. So same as the X500, it's 25 inches. So very similar with kayaks and they have very similar stability. You know, when you sit in them, it's not this feeling of rock solid stability that, hey, there's no way I could flip this kayak. And some kayaks give you that. Neither of these kayaks give you that feeling of invincibility on the water because they trade some of that for performance, for speed. Very similar feelings of stability on the water. One thing is the X500, when held on edge, it has slightly better secondary stability. And that's the stability when it's balanced on edge, it kind of locks into that secondary position. That only matters if you're paddling in windy conditions or rough conditions where you need to really edge the boat. But it's something worth noting. Otherwise, with performance. Maneuverability. Now, it was very clear right away that the 393, the Seagull, tracked better than the X500. And I think that really comes down to the big removable fin in the back of the 393. If you took that fin off, it definitely would not perform the same way. It would not track as well as the X500. The X500 didn't track as well, but it was much more maneuverable. It was easier. You could tilt it on edge and turn the boat. It acted more like a hard shell kayak in its similar class. So again, what does that mean? Well, let's talk about that. Let's talk about, you know, boil it all down. Where does the 393 excel and where does the X500 excel? Well, the 393, this is a boat that's designed for calm conditions and that's really where it excels. And the reason it's designed for calm conditions, the reason we say that, the reason Seagull says that, and I would totally agree with that, is because of the open design. If you paddle in significant waves and water comes into this boat, it's inflatable. It's full of air. It's not going to sink, but it's going to bog down and it's going to be really hard to move around and it's going to become very, very tippy as well. So it's not designed for those types of conditions. It's not designed for exposed water where you're going to be getting waves, going to have to deal, it's not designed for white water, anything like that. This is a calm water boat and that is what it excels at. So where else does the 393 excel? Well, comfort. And when I say comfort, it's not just the fact that, you know, what I talked about is that you've got lots of room to move and you can hang your legs over the side if you need a break. There is that element for sure, but it's the confidence that comes from not being in a sit-inside kayak. Some people just don't want to be inside a kayak. There's a feeling of claustrophobia almost that comes from that. And the open deck nature of this boat is going to be very appealing to a lot of people and then there isn't a lot of drawback unless you want to go into rough water. So the next area where the 393 shines, capacity. This boat has a max capacity of 500 pounds. That's a lot. It's a whole lot more than the 275 pounds. That's almost double what the X500 has. And so a couple different things that that really opens up with this boat is, for one, kayak camping. There's no problem putting gear. You can load this thing with bags. You can load this thing with heavy equipment. The other thing you could load this thing with is a child, a dog. You could put a dog in this thing very comfortably. It's a more versatile kayak. But the trade-off is it is a kayak that's confined to calm water. Now the X500 excels in a variety of paddling conditions. This is a kayak that you can take into rough conditions. It can handle much rougher conditions than the 393. And there's a few reasons for that. The biggest reason is the fact that it's a sit-inside kayak and it can take a skirt. And what that skirt does is it prevents water from coming into the kayak and swamping. The other thing it allows you to do is roll this kayak. Not only will it not fill up with water, but your knees fit underneath the fabric on the outside and it gives you some purchase to roll this kayak from. And so that's what makes this thing rough water capable. That being said, this cockpit combing, and it's something I mentioned in my full review, it's very small. There's not much room here. And so it won't take every skirt. And you can get a skirt that's specifically designed for this from Decathlon, but it has a very narrow rand, which means it's not a great seal. And so there is limitations to the rough water. I wouldn't have the confidence in that skirt in really rough conditions. It could easily, a wave could break on it and implode it, and then you're going to be swamped. So yes, this can definitely go into rougher conditions if you're willing to wear a skirt, but there are some limitations to that. Now the other area the X500 excels is just handling, overall handling. This thing, it handles more like a hard shell touring kayak because of the V-hull. When you, for example, when you put it on edge, it will turn just like a hard shell kayak. Well, it lets you handle wind better than the 393. It just lets you maneuver more easily than the 393. And that's no big surprise because those are the kinds of things you need from a boat designed for rougher conditions. So bottom line, who is each kayak for? Well, the X500 is a kayak that's for somebody who likes the idea of wearing a skirt because they can see themselves or they want to take their kayak into rough water, challenge themselves a little bit more. For someone who wants to pay a little bit more money, is willing to pay a little bit more money for that feature. Now the 393 is for someone who's going to be paddling in calm conditions. It's for somebody who would really like the increased capacity, would love the idea of taking a child, a dog, kayak camping and loading this thing with gear, and is going to be sticking to calm water. That's the biggest thing. And it's for someone who likes the idea of saving a couple hundred bucks on the kayak. Actually, it's more than a couple hundred bucks because this kayak also comes with a paddle, which this one doesn't. So if you have to buy your own paddle and if you're going to get a kayak like this, you have to be spending at least $150 on a paddle that can really take advantage of this boat. So really you're saving $350 with this kayak. So there's a major cost savings there as well. So there you have it. The Decathlon Etowit X500 versus the Sea Eagle 393 Razor Light. It's not about which one is the winner and the loser. They're both really good kayaks. The question is, which is the right one for you? I hope I've answered that question. If you do have more questions, then leave them in the comments down below. And hey, if you have experience in these kayaks, share that with the community down below and stay tuned because we've got lots more paddling tips, gear reviews, and paddling adventures coming your way.