Nice 2 piece carbon paddle for the price. Bought it to keep as a spare but I had a chance to test it on a 5 mile paddle last weekend. Paddle is light and stiff. Did not feel as powerful on the draw as my shorter paddle with wider blades. Does better in windy conditions. Only complaints is that it seems to have a narrower shaft than other paddles (better for small hands). Shaft surface is a little rough which gives good grip but could cause problems with blisters. Overall good purchase.

Quality paddle. Shaft is stiff enough and has a slight oval shape. It wasn't 8'-6". Mine came 86". Pretty sure it's an error in the product description because I don't know who would need a paddle that long. Made to be trimmed down to your size. Carbon fiber grip is not attached thankfully. Comes with heat shrink for covering joint. Cut to length, epoxy in place, and heat shrink the joint. A hair dryer worked on the heat shrink but it's slow. No heat gun needed.

When I purchased, the carbon fiber version was $10 more on sale. It's 5 oz lighter. This paddle is lighter than my wife's adjustable carbon fiber.

I really had my doubts on this paddle as current designs doesn't have it it their catalog anyore (if ever). But the price dropped low enough that a figured a couldn't lose. It's not the lightest CF paddle i've ever had in my hands but it's significantly lighter than my Starboard Vision Enduro, and vastly lighter that any adjustable.

I did not see any flaws in the carbon lay up, and the shafts appears to be very thin walled graphite. The sparks when I cut it to size on my band saw would seem to support that. Paddle came with to shrink wrap sleeves to seal the handle after cutting and epoxy.

It paddles well. It's very stiff and had very little flex in the shaft despite my 225#. The blade did have some flex but did not flutter.

Now for the reasons it didn't get 5 stars, the paddle surface is too big for me to keep up a race pace cadence. It's actually identical in almost everyway to my Starboard paddle which is there 550 size which they say is 100cm, but seems closer to 110. The t handle is also a bit loose in the shaft. I used a bit more epoxy to snug things up.

All and all, this would be a huge improvement for some still using and adjustable of even a hybrid paddle. If you own a Werner or Quick Blade you probably wouldn't be impressed.