by annageek » 12 Jun 2016, 11:02
We have two, and used them extensively on the Fletcher when we had it.
We had an RRD 10'4 lightstrip and a Red Ride 10'6. The RRD is a lot lighterweight, and to be honest, seems perfectly adequately made. The RRD is quite a lot heavier and in my opinion, over engineered. That said, we take them surfing in the winder when there's moderate surf, and they get a real beating but seem perfectly happy - also, they get chucked on the roof rack and driven around at 70mph (probably far too fast considering we have a 'wing' strapped to the roof!) and they are happy, too.
There's a short learning curve with them, but the wider the board, the easier it'll be. Our RRD is 34" wide, and the Red is 32" wide, and the extra 2" makes a noticeable difference. That said, we regularly used them as a tender for the boat, and used them in everything from flat calm conditions to quite choppy, and with a bit of experience, they're really easy to get on with (if you ever get into trouble, just kneel down to lower your COG and they're incredibly stable).
The reason we bought the more 'premium' branded ones was because we were uncertain of quality. As it happens, I've now seen a few of the Aquamarina and similar cheaper SUPs and actually, the quality of the board seems more or less as good as the RRD board (my favourite of our two). The board shape isn't quite as stable (skinnier aft part). It's more the accessories and bags/pumps/paddles that come with the cheaper ones that seems to suffer from the lower prices.
In short, would I buy a cheaper board? If I could find an all rounder one with a decent shape for surfing, then yes. If it was for occasional pratting about off the back of the boat, and to the beach/back, then definitely yes.
One thing though, I'd buy from a proper online shop than eBay as warranty bits and pieces will slightly more reliable (one would have thought). Twobarefeet.co.uk is a good place for these cheaper ones, if interested.
As Martin says though, unless you plan to invest in an electric pump, your upper body will get one hell of a workout, as they do take some pumping!! Never bothered us, though, and I can easily get my RRD up to 14psi without too much trouble, and Andrew can get the RED up to 20psi with his double barrel pump, also withouh too much trouble.