What are peoples thoughts on the vantage seat?

I have owned a few Outbacks and I'm curious to know what people think of the new vantage seat that is being used as of 2015. I had a 2014 Outback and I sold it and got the new model just for the seat. What I have found after 9 months and several thousand kilometers is I like the older simpler seat. I am on the ocean for 5-6 hours almost every day and it became obvious after a few weeks that the old seat with the inflatable cushion was just more comfortable for me.

On top of that, my Vantage seat (front) adjustment froze up and completely stopped working after about 6 weeks of ocean use. (If anyone knows how to fix that I would be happy to know). Anyway, luckily the seat was in a comfortable position once it became "non adjustable" so everything is fine. I'm sure the seat has lots of fans and I'm not trying to to imply that it is awful or anything, I just preferred the older simpler design. I still love the kayak and love the life I have fishing off of it everyday, I just wanted to hear others opinions on the seat.

What is the consensus opinion around here? Do most of you guys enjoy yours?

Lance


--a couple of gratuitous kayak fishing pics as an introduction since I almost never participate on this forum...

I do not own a vantage seat, but I wanted to say WOW... Nice fish... I just thought I caught big fish... What body of water are you fishing? Great job.

First off, nice fish!
I use my Revo11 with the old seat and my newer Revo13 with the vantage seat on separate occasions (11 inshore, 13 offshore).
The new seat is fairly comfortable to me and the back support it offers is well worth it!
My minor complaints about the new system are as follows:
- squeaks
- takes a bit of finangling to get it locked into place properly (have NEVER gotten it to lock in on the first try).
- when offshore, the venturi scupper drain thing isn't worth a damn, so I still end up in a puddle. However I'm still elevated from the majority of the puddle so that is a plus.

I have a bad lower back and the new seat is such a relief. With the old seat I am broke down at the end of the day.

I'd guess that the seat bar mentioned in the lead post is simply in need of cleaning and lubrication. It is a pretty basic function of gears and a stop pin.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

I have a 2014 Hobie Quest (great yak btw) and purchased a 2015 Hobie Outback.

Personally, I quite like the new seat. In fact I bought it more so for the seat than the mirage drive!

I don't have any back issues after long days in the saddle. My only minor issue would be that I too seem to have to fiddle around with the seat to get it to go in initially.

My biggest complain with the seat though is that I fish almost exclusively in the high position regardless of weather conditions. What frustrates me is that whenever I stand or reach forward enough to get my backside off the chair, the rear pegs retract and it falls into the low position at the rear. Very annoying when the front is in the high.

Matt if you could provide a solution would be great

I bought my Outback because I wanted to go with the Mirage drive(and glad I did), but I was sold on the seat when I sat in it. If I hadn't liked the seat, I'd probably still be paddling. I spent a lot of time in it trying it out at the dealer, I was just considering buying a Hobie and wound up bringing it home. I had a Slayer, so I had a comfortable seat, but the Vantage is much better. I had the squeeking on the Native, not on the Hobie, Really taught webbing on the Native, much softer and plusher on the Hobie, adjustability( lumbar, and the back adjustment is much better), I did have an issue with the rear pegs at first but have gotten past it, mainly because I don't stand. Great seat.

You are probably right about the cleaning and oiling. I will go out there and have a look at it now and see what I can do. Does that whole bar come out of the kayak? It would be easier to bring it onto the patio and work on it. To be honest I have just kind of blown it off since it locked up. It is locked in a comfortable position and I never really used the height adjustment anyway. I noticed it getting progressively more difficult to manipulate over the first couple of months and that is almost certainly a result of poor maintenance on my part.
Edit: I just went and looked the bar over. The piece that moves on the tubing is stuck and will not move. It will wiggle and rotate a degree or two but will not move back and forth on the rod. I oiled it and worked with it but cannot get it to budge.

I think one of the things I like about the old system was the simplicity. Being on the saltwater everyday, simple is usually better. It seems like the new seat has more moving parts than the whole rest of the kayak and that means a bit more maintenance to keep it working properly. I'm sure its not much and I'm sure most folks are not as lazy as I am but what can I say. I will take simple over fancy on the water every time.

The seat is comfortable enough and in some ways is more comfortable than the old seat but in others is not. I am fortunate not to have any back issues with either...what I have is butt issues! I don't have much natural padding back there and it starts to get to hurting after 4-5 hours. The icomfort on the old seat was actually great. Do y'all make any kind of pad for the vantage seat? That might be all I need actually.


thanks,

Lance

p.s. Pass along my thanks to everyone in the crew there at Hobie that was part of creating such an amazing design! I believe I love my life and have about as much fun as anybody on the planet and this awesome little kayak is a big part of that!

I am also finding my Vantage seat to be less comfortable than my old seat with the iComfort pad. I upgraded last month from a 2014 Revo 11 to a 2015 Revo 11 - same boat but I was really looking forward to the new seat & mirage drive. I'm 5'4" 125 pounds and relatively fit with no back problems. I have been using a Hobie for the last year to kayak fish inshore.

In my old boat, I could go out for hours with only what I would call "tired" muscles, as long as I would periodically adjust the back support. Now, after 2-4 hours my back really starts to hurt. I think it may be as bad as the old seat before I got the iComfort pad for it. I've tried all different positions of the seat and the back, including moving my pedals into different settings, but I can't seem to find a good spot.

My husband also feels like the seat is less comfortable, but he has an Outback and stands for much of the time, so it doesn't bother him as much. I do try to adjust how I sit throughout the trip . . . usually I sit cross-legged if I'm not moving. Not sure what else I can do, but if anyone has any tips I'd appreciate it.

I can only compare with the Quest 13 I have and this (new) seat is far more comfortable. Especially that lumbar support.

What you should try, is pedalling by thrusting your hips into the seat and pedal from your hips. This will keep you against the lumbar support and may assist in staying comfortable in the seat for the next few hours.

Let your body conform to the seat. The old seat conformed go you but I think this seat if used properly can be much more comfortable. Also, in the outback anyway, the high position makes it easier to stand.

Hope it gets better for you!

Cheers from Melbourne, Australia

1. Your I-comfort seat pad works every bit as well on the new Vantage seats as it did on your old seat. Deflate slightly for best results. Note -- the pad does not need to be formally attached -- should stay in position by itself.



2. If you're having back issues, there is a non-advertized adjustment that relaxes the mid-back area and allows better shoulder support. Locate the barrel screws on the back side rails as shown below. Loosen them until you feel some "give" in the fabric. Back them out the rest of the way, counting the number of turns. Apply Locktite Blue to stabilize your setting. Return them to their new position. Adjust or disengage your lumbar adjustment as desired. Caution -- you should have enough turns in the screw to make sure it is sufficiently engaged (suggest about 5 or 6 minimum). Note -- this is not a Hobie-authorized adjustment.



3. If you haven't tried it, raise the front of the seat up one notch while keeping the back all the way down. This relieves pressure on your back side without raising your center of gravity appreciably.

1. Try a little silicon spray on the front rail and underside of the fabric for the squeak.

2. Set the seat down in its place. lift the rear until the front drops in and engages the front bar. Pivot the back down. Double check your front is locked in place and secure the back.

Tips:
1. You can make an easy latch as shown below. This locks the seat folded, is easy to engage and disengage by simply compressing the seat, and makes it easy to carry the seat around (and insert as well). The loop hooks around a short protrusion on the bottom front corner -- you should be able to find it easily.



2. Once installed, you can leave your seat in your boat if convenient. Using your Mirage Drive bungee to temporarily hold the seat in the folded position during transport works in place of (or as a back up for) your string latch.

Some good ideas there RoadRunner.

Would you have any ideas you could possibly throw out there to assist with having the rear pegs extended all the time?

I fish almost exclusively in the high position and every I reach forward for the hatch or to stand the rear pegs retract and I have to reset the high position.

Quite annoying...

Thanks for the comments. The default seat height issue cuts both ways. On some of the boats a low CG is more important and unweighting it can cause the seat to spontaneously pop up in unstable water where resetting it down would be especially hazardous. Additionally, remounting a capsized boat on most cases is easier of the seat is down. Hobie has to look at it from the safety point of view.

That being said, there are also certain models and situations where you might like like to have the seat default to the high kick stand. Chekika, among others has posted the easy reversal (for his AI which has no stability issues) that you can do to make your seat permanently sit high -- see the following:


Perhaps on future models Hobie will make this selectable.

Just tried it out on the seat works fantastic! Seat now stays in the high position permanently

Thanks mate to both yourself and the OP for putting that up it has solved my only complaint thus far