Aqua Bound Manta Ray Carbon paddle
 

Just got it in the mail today, (Manta Ray Carbon), is very light......compare to my ex-paddle, which is $30 Pelican aluminum paddle, big different.

A lot of you using Werner paddle, which for me is too expensive if i want a carbon paddle, (maybe some people say, do you really a carbon paddle? well, if only $50 different with hybrid and full carbon, i rather pay additional $50).

The paddle is $175, which is the most inexpensive carbon paddle out there, Werner carbon paddle at least $300+....:(

I am going to try it out this weekend, but just wondering is anyone here using this paddle? and any comment?

Thumbs up from me
 

Both my son and I have had the Manta Ray paddles for close to 12 years now. We have been very happy using them, but what made me a big fan of Aqua Bound/Bending Branches was how we were treated when we ran into an issue.

Last year my son was launching into large surf in Laguna Beach and took one big dig with his paddle and it snapped in half at the connection point. He was going to write it off as "Well I got 10 years of hard use out of it". I suggested that he send an email to Aqua Bound and explain the situation. They responded within a couple hours and sent a brand new paddle to him at no cost, I don't think he even paid for shipping.

When I saw his new paddle, I noticed the connection point was much better engineered than the original model, and upon looking closely at my paddle, I realized that mine was showing some wear similar to my son's original. I sent Aqua Bound an email with pictures and they offered to change out my shaft with the newly engineered model. This did cost me $25 and one way shipping, but That is not outragious from my point of view.

Like so many product nowadays, it ain't rocket science to build something, but if you stand behind your products, I'm a customer for life.

The Manta Ray Carbon is a nice paddle for its price. It however does not compare to a "true" Werner carbon. This paddle is more like what you find in a Tybee CF IM with Blow blades and a Carbon reinforced shaft. It is a different construction than say an Ikelos or Coryvrecken for sure.

At any rate they are nice for the price and we do sell a good number of them. I enjoy dealing with their customer service folks, always some of the nicest people we deal with.

Looks like i did the right thing, thx for the info!

These paddles are great and light weight. I bought two from Austin Kayaks for $125 each. I requested them to price match a competitor site that had them on sale and they did. If you haven't purchase them yet, I would call them and request a price match.

I own a Werner Camano and Aquabound Eagle Ray. The Camano is my favorite. I do a lot surf launches and I've found that if sand get inside the Aquabound ferrule its a pain to take apart.

The Aquabound is gathering dust in my garage now.

I know this is an older thread but i had to tag onto it.

I get the pro deal on both Aquabound and Bending Branches, i believe they are owned by the same company. I've been looking at the Manta Ray Carbon(AB) and the Angler Ace(BB). Looking at the specs they are very similar in size and weight. The Ace has a slightly smaller blade surface and is slightly heavier. The prices are very similar and both say they are USA made. Am i going to notice any difference in the two paddles? Anybody tried both that could point out any reason to pick one over the other? Thanks.