mmiller wrote:
There is no point in arguing here... You are wrong about us not innovating, caring about the product and our consumers and I can tell you that Hobie Alter was VERY proud of what this company did (and continues to do) for his legacy. He was out of the business decades ago.
What we have here is a VERY sore attitude from Kross57 and I'm about done with it.
Who is arguing? I still don't get this. You care about your customers. OK, great. Am I not a customer? Isn't riddler a customer? Do you think we're the only ones to have these issues? Of course not. Why do you ignore anything that is less than complimentary or write it off as "attitude"? How is telling you that you have made the Hobie kayaks bad for certain applications "sore"? It's only the truth.
I am certainly no engineer, but even I can see that this is not a problem that's difficult to fix. Make the seat back detachable with a hard or soft back available. Easy as pie. Get rid of the kickstand and make the seat so the legs can be removed completely or lowered farther. Another easy fix. At least give the concept some thought. But trying to label everyone who has concerns as a crank is not helping.
Personally, when I was running a company, I encouraged new and novel ideas. I wanted feedback. This is where innovation comes from. Even if it's not the majority view, that doesn't mean it won't create value or shouldn't be attempted.
I note that Hobie recently improved the seal on the PA front hatch. Why? Because it leaked like crazy. It was a problem that needed to be fixed. So is the Vantage seat. So are the leaky hatches on other kayaks. So is the handling of some models without the rudder. So is the soft plastic. Ignoring these problems doesn't make them go away. Hobie has a great opportunity in this forum to discuss such things with customers. But if you only accept compliments, its a waste.
You have to realize you are creating a hostile environment for people that have problems. No wonder you never hear from them. Who wants the abuse?