Impact Inflatables? New Company/Review/Feedback

[talbert99]

Recreational boater here looking for a nice 12footish Inflatable. Have been previously looking at Achilles & Zodiak's when today I stumbled on a company called Impact Inflatables.

Haven't found much about them although they have a lot of Ebay reviews. was curious is this community had anything to say. Specifically I'm looking at:

Impact 380-MIL (12'5") Military Series Inflatable Boat

Material is a hybrid between Hyphalon and PVC. So in a sense I know Im comparing Apples to Oranges (all Hyphalon would be 2X cost). Being a recreational boater I'm starting to wonder if a $10,000 price tag on the Kodiak is really worth the difference from the $2500 Impact for maybe a few hundreds hours of use a year.

Anyone know anything about this company?

[Nos4r2]

Looks like Chinese rebadges to me.

[jyasaki]

Personally, I've never heard of the company, and don't see a whole lot on their site that would get me excited.

There was a shop in Monterey that opened and closed pretty quickly. Touted as a US brand (meaning, I think, that they sold the brand in the US), the "Made in China" stickers were sort of a giveaway.

That said, an inquiry might be in order (though I am reasonably certain they will be made in China or at least Asia.)

I had a 14' Achilles for several years; my view is that they are great quality boats. I'd go with a used Achilles over a new Chinese import any day (at this time, anyways.)

jky

[talbert99]

I ended up calling and had a good talk with them. They are in fact 100 percent made and sold in the US. They are just relatively new.

They were also very honest when speaking about materials and lifespan saying that yes the other boats I was looking at (Achilles and Zodiak) would last longer (about twice as long) due to the hyphalon.

In the end it was about intended use and price point which I can respect. I may give it a shot since my needs aren't great. Looking for a play toy for a few weekends a year.

Just wanted to pass in what I found for others.

[paul tilley]

according to the label the fabric is "hypertext" a made up name to mislead buyers into thinking it is a hypalon based material when it is PVC

[SIBer]

Never heard of them. Plenty of smaller known brands if you want to save some $$$