Hvalross, you are right when you say conditions can change faster than expected and you're also right when you remind us that waters like Eildon and Bemm (for examples) can become deceptively rough and certainly potentially dangerous for kayaks. The point that some of us are making here is that other models (particularly in the right hands) would handle those sorts of conditions better. So with that in mind I would suggest that this is one of the best reasons that people should be mindful about how far they venture from land in kayaks that are known to under-perform in rough conditions, especially when they haven't mastered righting and reboarding their kayak efficiently.
A true kayak can handle conditions far better than the average kayak fisho, who on the whole have no idea how to handle kayaks in the way an experience sea kayaker can.
Take it from someone who sells kayaks primarily to anglers, this is flat out true (this is especially true of Hobie owners, which I will elaborate more on next paragraph). This is one of the biggest issues I see with the sport today and I have been whining about this for years. Most of our first time customers are not kayakers and some of them have never even sat in a kayak before. Many of them don't approach the sport with the intention of getting good at kayaking, their primary goal is to catch fish, and thats it. Because of this many beginners see these kayaks as fishing platforms and are thinking about which will offer the best the fishing experience. They are thinking about mounting options, storage room, installation options, how it's all going to come together and what its going to be like to catch fish with it. What very few of them are thinking about is the ride (other than stability, which is a trickier subject than most expect) and how well suited it is to the kind of waters they plan to use it in. So many people gravitate towards Pro Anglers for this reason, and they are often surprised to hear me tell them a Revo (for example) might suit their needs better
I have been selling Hobie's for a decade now and have observed a couple of concerning trends in some of the people who buy them. Firstly, Hobie's tend to provide a false sense of security because they are so easy to use. Part of the issue is that because the pedals are so much easier for many people to use, thats all they ever do, and as such don't develop any kind of reasonable paddle skills or fitness.
Which leads me to my next point, which is that too many people don't know how to keep their gear in optimal condition, or even use it properly. This is most common with people who buy second hand kayaks and it is purely because they receive little to no info about how to use and maintain it when they buy it. It's not rocket science and there's loads of helpful forums, articles and videos online to help people educate themselves... but sadly many don't. The sheer amount of guys who buy second hand Hobie's and don't know how to put the drive in properly (for example) is staggering.
The Miragedrives are incredibly hardy (I have done over 30,000km on water on Hobies and never had a single drive failure) and they are easy to maintain, but maintenance does need to be performed regularly; rinsing, lubricating and chain tension being the main ones. The paddle is on hand as a backup just in case, but unless you know how to use it problems will arise when you need to fall back on it. And PAs do not paddle well even in the hands of an experienced paddler, which is another reason why I don't think it's a good choice to take them a long way off shore
