Hobie MirageDrive 180° - Full Power Reverse

We announced this morning at the ICAST fishing show in Florida...

Hobie’s bioengineered MirageDrive propulsion system for kayaks was revolutionary in its inception in 1997 and has been evolving ever since. Now comes the biggest evolution - so far. Introducing the patent-pending Hobie MirageDrive 180 forward-reverse propulsion system that will be integrated into all 2017 model year Mirage kayaks.



The full story here: http://www.hobiecat.com/blog/hobie-introduces-miragedrive-180-forward-reverse-system,562/

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

once the stand-alone 180 drives become available, all I have to say is...

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2019 Outback360 'Fish Retriever'
2016 i11s 'Go Cougs!'
2012 Oasis and 2012 PA12 (moved on but not forgotten...)

Can't wait for this to be available .just wound if it will be a upgrade or not .

Not really possible to upgrade an older drive to MD 180. 90% of the new drive is new stuff. Just a few parts are used from the original. Would not be worth it.

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

Studied the video and I think yes... maybe?. Will the new drive fit all the older mirage drive wells? With my 5 Hobie kayaks 2 of them tandems its good to know about upgrading to a new drive.

I must say I'd never thought it possible to make a drive pedal in reverse, except by removal and flipping. Very amazing engineering going on at Hobie!

I thought it would be possible, but the solution Hobie came up with looks very elegant. But that is the way good design ends up looking. I have been looking at all of the responses to the Hobie peddle drives from FeelFree, Wilderness, and Old Town, and I have to say, they are way behind the curve. The fact of the matter is that even in skinny weed filled water, I can still flutter peddle my PA14 without issue. Those others have you raising what looks like a freaking outboard motor. Old Town was singling the praises of it only weighing 15lbs and having a spring assist to raise it out of the water. Those prop based peddle drives, though they can reverse, are like parking poles in skinny weed filled water. They were also touting a skinny guy getting the boat up to 6mph. Heck, I am 6'1" and weight a bit over 200 and I can get my PA14 up to 6mph. My typical cadence has moving at 4-4.5 mph all day long.

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STLKayak
2020 Pro Angler 14 360
St. Louis, Missouri
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005695487937

I agree 100% STL. Have u ever felt the Old Town XL console? It feels so wobbly and cheap. Like it could break at any moment. From the vid I seen, their PDL doesn't look any better. Look at all that side to side movement whiles he's raising it. And he does it with two hands every time. Back before I was a Hobie guy, I really wanted an XL or a 13 mostly I guess because I liked how they looked. After paddling one my buddy bought, I quickly started looking around, and I've never been impressed with any other boats. Now that I have a PA14, my buddy's super pissed that he bought the 13 and I didn't(later admitting he was jealous and should've got a Hobie). Anyone thats hating on the Hobies have obviously never tried one because no one makes a finer product.

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2017 PA14 Dune
Lake St. Clair
St. Clair Flatts
St. Clair River and Channels
3x Michigan Master Angler Awards

Yep! Fits older hulls easily in models with the alignment pin slots. Older models than that will require removal of the pins from the spine and for really old hulls you may have to file off some of the spine fairing.

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

A new kayak hull only is sold at a price that does not give you the full retail value discount of a drive removed as compared to when a drive is sold as a part. This is due to package pricing of the kayaks. You can not compare the two pricing structures equally.

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

Just when I thought I would have to wait a few years to get a used boat with and Advantage seat, now I will "have" to wait another couple of years longer to get one of these....Thanks Hobie.

In all seriousness, that is pretty slick. Can't wait to see them in the store...

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2012 Outback with sail / 2012 Outback / 2013 11' Revo / 2006 16' Adventure (no AKAs)

The reverse action would be really handy when fishing. But, can you sail with this new MirageDrive 180 kayak? I currently have a Revo, and I just love having the options to fish, sail, paddle, or pedal my kayak. But, regardless ---It would be GREAT if the new 180 Mirage drive pedals can be fitted into my old 2009 Revo hull.

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Papaya Revo

Will the 180 drive come with a ST turbo option?

Mark F.

Will the drive have a ST Turbo Option?

Mark F.

yes.

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2019 Outback360 'Fish Retriever'
2016 i11s 'Go Cougs!'
2012 Oasis and 2012 PA12 (moved on but not forgotten...)

I was not aware that there was any difference- I just compared my 2016 GT drive (that came with my i11s) with my V2 drive that came with a 2012 PA12 and they look identical, other than the GT/V2 differences. I have had no issues using these drives in either of my boats (I removed the black plastic alignment pin from the V2 to use it with the i11s, that's it)...I thought all GT drives were the same...cheers, roger

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2019 Outback360 'Fish Retriever'
2016 i11s 'Go Cougs!'
2012 Oasis and 2012 PA12 (moved on but not forgotten...)