Recommended Paddle Lengths to Use with Neris Kayaks

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Recommended Paddle Lengths to Use with Neris Kayaks

Recommended Paddle Lengths to Use with Neris Kayaks

Since the main factors that affect the choice are the width of the kayak and your height, here's an easy way to determine the right length.

Kayak Model	Kayak Width	Under 5' / 152 cm	5' – 5'6" / 152–168 cm	5'7" – 6' / 170–183 cm	Over 6' / 183+ cm
Neris Smart-1 TPU	2.95 ft / 0.90 m	230 cm	240 cm	240 cm	250 cm
Neris Smart Pro XS	2.49 ft / 0.76 m	220 cm	230 cm	230 cm	240 cm
Neris Smart Pro S	2.66 ft / 0.81 m	220 cm	230 cm	230 cm	240 cm
Neris Smart-2	3.02 ft / 0.92 m	230 cm	240 cm	240 cm	250 cm
Neris Smart Pro S Tandem	2.66 ft / 0.81 m	220 cm	230 cm	230 cm	240 cm
Neris Smart Pro	2.82 ft / 0.86 m	230 cm	240 cm	240 cm	250 cm
Neris Smart-3	3.08 ft / 0.94 m	230 cm	240 cm	240 cm	250 cm

Neris Smart-1 TPU

Select paddles that match your body and kayak for a safer, more comfortable ride.

The key factors are kayak width and your height—use this guide to find the right length.

Kayak Model	Kayak Width	Under 5' / 152 cm	5' – 5'6" / 152–168 cm	5'7" – 6' / 170–183 cm	Over 6' / 183+ cm
Neris Smart-1 TPU	2.95 ft / 0.90 m	230 cm	240 cm	240 cm	250 cm

Neris Smart Pro XS

Your comfort and safety on the water depend on choosing the right paddle length. Since height and kayak width matter most, this chart makes it easy to find your perfect fit.

Kayak Model	Kayak Width	Under 5' / 152 cm	5' – 5'6" / 152–168 cm	5'7" – 6' / 170–183 cm	Over 6' / 183+ cm
Neris Smart Pro XS	2.49 ft / 0.76 m	220 cm	230 cm	230 cm	240 cm

Neris Smart-2

Finding the right paddle makes every trip smoother and safer. Just check your height and the width of your kayak, and you’ll know the length that works best.

Kayak Model	Kayak Width	Under 5' / 152 cm	5' – 5'6" / 152–168 cm	5'7" – 6' / 170–183 cm	Over 6' / 183+ cm
Neris Smart-2	3.02 ft / 0.92 m	230 cm	240 cm	240 cm	250 cm

Neris Smart Pro S Tandem

Comfort and control on the water come down to paddle size. Since kayak width and your own height are the deciding factors, here’s a simple way to pick the right length.

Kayak Model	Kayak Width	Under 5' / 152 cm	5' – 5'6" / 152–168 cm	5'7" – 6' / 170–183 cm	Over 6' / 183+ cm
Neris Smart Pro S Tandem	2.66 ft / 0.81 m	220 cm	230 cm	230 cm	240 cm

Neris Smart Pro

The best paddle for you depends on two things: your height and your kayak’s width. Use this guide to choose the right length for safe, efficient paddling.

Kayak Model	Kayak Width	Under 5' / 152 cm	5' – 5'6" / 152–168 cm	5'7" – 6' / 170–183 cm	Over 6' / 183+ cm
Neris Smart Pro	2.82 ft / 0.86 m	230 cm	240 cm	240 cm	250 cm

Neris Smart-3

The right paddle makes all the difference in comfort, safety, and performance. Just match your height and kayak’s width to find the length that suits you best.

Kayak Model	Kayak Width	Under 5' / 152 cm	5' – 5'6" / 152–168 cm	5'7" – 6' / 170–183 cm	Over 6' / 183+ cm
Neris Smart-3	3.08 ft / 0.94 m	230 cm	240 cm	240 cm	250 cm

Neris Smart Pro Reviews

Average Rating:

I just came back from a solo expedition in the Amazon forest, 1400 KM of paddling on the Rio Negro and the Amazon river. The kayak performed perfectly on white water and flat water, I average 8KM/H with a 50 KG load of gears. After this expedition the kayak had some very light scratch but nothing serious, the security valves did their job and even with temperature reaching over 100 degree far there was no problem. The skirt did very well and even after days and night of heavy rain the kayak was dry. Source: paddling.com

Author: H11 Reviewed: Neris Smart Pro Expedition

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Author's name Author's info

Average Rating:

I am very pleased to have found this boat. I have owned several folding kayaks over the years but nothing quite like this one. My Smart Pro is truly a "hybrid" folding kayak meaning - it incorporates beneficial elements from both a traditional folding frame kayak with that of an inflatable. I was lucky to be put in touch with the helpful folks at www.neris***.com just as these boats became available in the North American market. I cannot express how impressed I am with the overall quality, design and the performance. These are truly unique boats and I think we will be seeing much more of them now that they are available in the US. Source: paddling.com

Author: paddler511862 Reviewed: Neris Smart Pro

Neris Smart Pro Single/ Double Seater Review

neris smart pro foldable kayak for one person. can be easily transformed into a double seater - just add another seat.

Reviews from:

Extremely impressed with this kayak! After much research on folding kayaks, I became very attracted to the idea of a hybrid folding kayak. There is really nothing comparable to the Smart Pro on the market, for me it checks all the boxes . Super compact and light weight in the packing bag, easy to assemble (took about 30 mins the first time) now I can have it ready in 15 - 20 mins easy. I've taken it out a few times now and it preforms beyond expectation, no drag, tracks perfectly (even in wind). You can tell the material quality and workmanship is outstanding. Plus it looks great! I cant wait to take it on some multi-day expeditions I am planning for the spring. Source: paddling.com

Author: Ronjon80 Reviewed: Neris Smart Pro Single/Double Seater Expedition Edition

Neris Smart One Review

Neris smart one folding kayak for one person. Red top, black bottom.

Average Rating:

Have just got back from a week in North Wales and had six great days on the water - two on lakes and four on the sea. The kayak is just what I wanted. It is stable, easy to paddle and keeps in a straight line even in light wind, waves and small swell. I wouldn't want to carry it far in the bag but it's ok for a few hundred yards. It is easy to assemble in ten minutes or so. Source: neris.co.uk

Author: RM Reviewed: Neris Smart One

Average Rating:

I wanted to wait to write a review until I had something substantive to say — something coming from experience in the seat.

I have now kayaked on still and wind-waved lakes and still and moving rivers. I have paddled with and without the washboards, with and without the rudder. I have inflated and deflated, folded and unfolded. I have, in short, used the Neris Smart Pro single. If you think you might like this boat, I think you will.

The most important observation to share is that it displays great quality and workmanship and good design.

You will not be disappointed by its durability. For lack of experience, I was concerned about how it would fare on sand-bottomed shallow rivers, rocky riffles, or encountering submerge branches.

I would not drag it to the water, as I had none with my previous, heavier, plastic boat (an Old Town Next), but I have no concerns for damaging it in whatever river conditions you might paddle.

I had paddled a folding kayak before—an old Folbot Super from the 70s that survives to this day. There is little reason to doubt that the Neris will have an even longer life. As for design, some observations are obvious. It is hybrid of a folding and inflatable boat. The experience of paddling it is much like the experience of paddling a good folder.

The floor is the same flexible membrane pushed into its final shape by the combination of the aluminum framework and pressure of the water outside. You can push down against the floor and it moves. Because of its large Inflated sponsons it is quicker to assemble than traditional foldables. But, obviously, inflated sponsons take space. It is simply smaller inside than a similar-sized hardshell boat or folder.

Given its length, this does not mean that it lacks cargo carrying capacity needed for camping, but is much narrower inside than its beam. The sponsons, with their rounded tops also produce a sense—perception more than reality--of the sides being low. Canoe seats are available for it, but I imagine that with them you’d feel more like you were paddling on the boat than in it.

I do not have the Velcro-attached deck and spray skirt of the Expedition model. I like how the openness allows me to move my legs and bend my knees. In this, it feels similar to a sit-on-top, though drier than sit-on-tops I’ve used. However, except when the rudder is attached, it lacks foot braces, unless your legs are just the right length to use one of the frame members. I use a drybag or a floating cushion to serve the purpose. Or I use the rudder with its steering bar, which is not usually necessary if the boat is in good trim. The rudder becomes important, though, in moving water with tight turns.

The Neris Pro tracks well and turning tightly by paddle alone takes effort. In fast-moving conditions, it takes time you might not always have. The rudder helps. The boat is certainly capable of handling whitewater, as long as your goal is to travel along it and not to play in it as the water rushes past.

For performance, the craft is up to snuff. It glides well and handles wind and waves. For seating comfort, it is first rate with a good backrest and adjustable-firmness inflated seat, though past a certain age that I have past, it is a little challenging to find the best way to get out, which involves bringing your feet as close as you can, grabbing the washboards or the web-strap loop through which a washboard goes, and pulling yourself up to a standing position.

The washboards are aluminum tubes that run along the top of the cockpit and reportedly add some more rigidity to the aluminum frame for extreme conditions. I have not noticed that there is enough flex without them to justify the additional time it takes to install them in any of the paddling I’ve done.

What the Neris Pro offers that hardshells don’t is flexibility. That flexibility takes two forms. First, it is inherently more portable. It is lighter, folds up smaller, and can be carried or stored in spaces that are a fraction of the length and volume of the assembled boat. It’s also easier to get to places where your launch site is far from your parking spot. The backpack bag is large for a backpack, but much more manageable than a water-ready kayak.

The U.S. version comes with a second bag for carrying the frame, seat, rudder assembly and pump, which is a very good idea. The flexibility of foldability comes at less of a price than I expected: Assembly without the rudder and washboards takes only a little more time than untying and unloading a hardshell from the top of a vehicle and getting it to the water.

With washboards and rudder, one person can have it from the bag to assembled in 20 minutes, without racing. The net result is that you will probably use it more. You can carry in it your car so that you can paddle if you have a chance, instead of making sure you’ve got the time before loading a boat on top. And the paddling experience is not compromised. It feels different from a hardshell boat, but not inferior. The second flexibility the Neris Pro offers is that it can be used as either a single or a double.

As a single it is a pretty big boat, but it does not feel like you are trying to solo in a double, wishing for a second paddler, as was my experience with the Folbot Super. As a double it is not spacious, but it is not cramped. As long as the paddlers are coordinated so they don't knock each other's blades, it does double duty just fine.

As I mentioned, the Neris Pro single replaced my Old Town Next. I prefer it. It is lighter, faster, tracks better, and does everything the Old Town did. But most of all I have come to appreciate how much portable it is as a foldable, and how that promotes its use. Source: paddling.com

Author: paddler895246 Reviewed: Neris Smart One

Average Rating:

If you don't want to read a long review and you just want to know then yes, I would recommend this boat.

So why buy this boat with so many options out there? Well it depends on what you need from a boat, so I can tell you about what I needed and how the Smart Pro fits my criteria.

I have experience of sea touring in solo boats but wanted a boat that was suitable for camping trips with my wife who is much more canoe orientated. We have taken many canoe trips on fresh water, but they are obviously limited in open sea.

The Smart pro offers a boat that is sea worthy, adaptable, (can be used as an open canoe) and can pack down for storage or transport.

As it turns out we have not actually used it as a canoe because we prefer the extra power available with double bladed paddling. The boat is considerably lighter than any other double I know of, can be easily lifted onto a roof rack or packed down to fit in the car boot. Also, the weight helps with any portage you need to do. I have been on group trips where people in plastics doubles need four people to portage their boat, not the case with the Smart Pro.

The boat is very stable due to the inflatable side tubes, I have not experienced any tippy moments making it a good, stable fishing platform. It handles well for a double, better than some of the plastic hulled boats I have used, tracks well and is surprisingly responsive to steering despite the length to width ratio. I was initially worried I would need a massively long paddle due to the width, so I bought an extendable paddle thinking I would use it at maximum extension but do in fact have it closer to its minimum. We have used the boat in winds exceeding 12 m/s and it remained responsive, the windage effect was considerably less than expected.

The main reason for buying boat was to go camping. It easily carries enough gear inside the boat for two people for several days. I have not had to make choices on what to leave behind, it all fits. There is also the opportunity to strap things to the deck if need be.

All decisions involve some compromise. In bigger swells the boat is more raft like than fully rigid kayaks but still no significant problems. There is no skeg so we opted for the rudder kit. It works well when set up just right, takes a few trips to get it where you want it. However, it is also completely possible to manoeuvre the boat successfully with paddles only. Puddles of splash water do accumulate on the deck because it is not a fully rigid boat, but again this does not cause significant problems.

In conclusion the boat is a good match for my requirements, sea worthiness and stowage are excellent. I would recommend this over sit on tops any day and consider its lightness and adaptability to be a great advantage. Source: neris.co.uk

Author: Mike Loftus Reviewed: Neris Smart Pro Double Seater