Perception Conduit Sit Inside Touring Kayak for Adults - Lightweight & Stable Recreational Kayak for Lakes, Rivers & Coastal Paddling

I ordered from Amazon 2 - 13' Perception Conduits Kayaks from Amazon. They are the first kayaks that the wife and I have ever owned. We paid $700 for each, a few weeks later we saw them for $609 each. The strange thing is that they were ordered on the same day and both came from the same place but one of them arrived in about 2 weeks. It went from Seattle to Ohio and then back to California. When the Kayak was delivered I immediately noted some heavy scars, dings and deep scratches around the cockpit. The cheap protective wrap was mostly destroyed. The driver wouldn't allow me to completely unwrap the kayak to examine the rest of it without accepting the delivery. My thought was that it was handled like something that you could throw around. I was very disappointed at the condition of the delivery but thought that with use it will surely get more marks. I was so close to refusing delivery. NSD (Non-Stop Delivery) is the company that Amazon used to deliver oversized bulky items. NSD had failed in my opinion and the driver was not very pleasant either. The other kayak hadn't even left Seattle at that point. A few days later it was shipped to California and took only 3 days to get there, but then was held in my town for 10 days before NSD would delivered it. This one arrived in much better shape and was cover in lightweight plastic and some cardboard. It took over a month from the time I ordered they but now I had both kayaks. Finally My wife and I were able to get on the water and see if was even possible for us old folks (63 and 62) to paddle and enjoy the experience. I was concerned that the 13' length may be slightly long, or a bit too much. I have to say that there is a learning curve especially for entering and exiting the cockpit but once underway it was very enjoyable. We found them to be stable and fairly easy to do what we wanted them to do. They seem to track well and are responsive and fast. They both fit nicely on the roof rack of my chevy truck, and at 51 lbs are not too difficult for me to get up there. They should be a nice addition when we camp with the travel trailer. There are also many areas within a short drive of the San Francisco Bay that we look forwad to exploring. The Perception Conduit is awesome and figure them to be a great purchase at that price point. If you find it at $609 don't hesitate!I just got a pair of these wonderful Perception Conduit 13.0 kayaks as my first set of yaks, and I'm already in love after a single outing! The large cockpit gave me no troubles on entry or exit, and after playing with the seat and foot pegs I was easily able to get comfortable for at least the time I was out. My kayaks shipped with the seat fully up, but the angle aduster strap was too loose and I had to tighten it to make use of the ratchet adjustment; getting this right is important for your comfort (and avoiding the nasty sound of the back height adjuster submarining under the coaming when you lean back).This kayak has a nice easy motion and can pick up speed with little effort; even the little kids playing by the boat launch noted it. Secondary stability is fine; if you're anxious you might find it rocks a bit, but settle down and you'll feel confident in staying upright and dry. It's very responsive to everything you do and it's very fond of inertia, so if your last stroke didn't put you dead straight, you'll find yourself drifting off to one side or the other; if, as other reviewers note, it's always to one side, consider if you always stop your stroke on the same side, or maybe you need a slight adjustment in your seat or foot pegs - it's that responsive.The bow and stern bulkhead storage is generous (when it was sold as the Dagger Catalyst 13 they listed capacity as 50l and 70l respectively), and the super-tupperware style lids seem built to keep it all dry. I did catch a leak from the rear bulkhead on one boat: pushing down on the lid I isolated it to a hole under the closest rear bungie lashing; easily patched I think. I look forward to taking it out on a kayak picnic or camp-out.It would be nice if there was an actual instruction guide to orient you to the features of your new kayak. The only paper in the boat was the hull registration slip and a sales feature sticker mimicking the details you can read above... There are no holders, no rail system, or anything else for attaching water bottles or other conveniences - features I think the older Catalyst had, but for $600 I'm not complaining!Both of my yaks arrived with a couple of scuff marks from transport. (I suspect Amazon and not XPO based on the positioning of the marks and watching XPO unload...) One came with a bit of a scar on the bottom not far from the stern; I'll want to patch that up once I figure how, but it's not structurally damning. Amazon wound up being almost $200 cheaper for the pair than my other major option for buying this limited-availability boat; free shipping really adds up!All in all, a great buy!I don't easily give a 5 star rating for a product, but this kayak is worth it. First I would say that the seat is very comfortable, I would have no problem paddling all day. The foot rests are totally adjustable to your height. I will say the foot rests can come off the rail a bit too easy, so you have to be careful. Next, this boat tracks in the water beautifully. Paddling is easy and cuts through the water well. The boat has two large water tight compartments for storing your gear and buoyancy. I would have no problem taking this out on the ocean, lakes and rivers with class 3 or less rapids. For the size the weight of the boat is reasonable, I have no problems getting this on top of my car. Overall, a lot of boat for a reasonable price.Arrived damagedI recently bought this as my first kayak and have since paddled a few times at a local lake and have enjoyed it so far. Delivery was easy with no issues other than maybe a minor (less than 1 inch) cosmetic scratch or two. The kayak itself tends to not track incredibly straight when you stop paddling and start to get slow, but it is definitely not something you are fighting while paddling. Overall, I am quite happy with my purchase.The perception conduit is a great entry level light touring kayak at half the price of other brands in this catagory. I've had it out on lake Havasu for six times since I received it. It is stable, tracks well, is responsive, and fast for it's size. You can grow with this kayak as your skills develop. Because of it's width, a 230cm paddle is best if you are under ,6' tall. The only negative was the poor packaging by the manufacturer for shipping. Mine required minimum cosmetic repairs for surface scratches and a few gouges. Other than that, it is a great boat.