Slingshot Crossbreed Airtech iSUP
Summary
That’s why it makes sense that the Slingshot Crossbreed Airtech iSUP is a simple yet fun board. For many of their customers, they like to have a brand that they trust and purchase whatever other products within that ecosystem. That being said, why should you consider Slingshot’s only inflatable SUP?
Overall
4.7Pros
- Extra width makes it extra stable
- Lightweight
- Solid Construction
- High-quality accessories
Cons
- Only one carry handle
- No choice of length
- Fin not interchangeable
- Not much to make this board stand out
Table of Contents
| Length | Width | Thickness | Weight Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11' | 34" | 6" | 35 lbs |
Performance
This is a very standard iSUP, which is surprising considering the reputation of the brand. That being said the speed was fine but nothing to fast, due in part to its single center fin setup. On that same note, it has the worst of both worlds when it comes to maneuverability since it has the before-mentioned single fin plus it’s starting to get into longboard territory, so turning it is a little bit of a chore more than you’d imagine.
One area where this board does excel in is stability. Coming at 34” inches in width and 11’ in length, this makes for an exceptionally stable ride on flat water. This sort of stability is great for first time paddlers or for those who would be doing other activities, such as SUP fitness or yoga.
Features
The Crossbreed Airtech iSUP has a pretty generous EVA padded area that covers about 75% percent of the total board. Not only is it textured enough to make sure that you don’t end up with the fishes, it also has a super comfortable texture that will let you stay on board for hours at a time.
On item that was a major letdown was the grab handle — or the lack thereof. Pretty much every board in the market has a central grab handle to help you move the board over on land once it’s been inflated. What made this board stand out (and not in a good way) was that there are no other grab handles on either the nose or tail. These handles exist to make move the board in and out of the water easier. At the very least we would expect to see a handle on the front and appreciate on of the tail, but for some reason Slingshot included neither.
Going back to the positive side of things, we’re happy to see that this board inflates up to 18 PSI which gives it a hardboard feel. If you don’t feel like getting up to that high a pressure, it will also work well as low as a 15 PSI.
Board Design
The boards themselves are relatively simple but elegant with a Slingshot logo offset. Besides that, you have your choice of one of 4 colors: Blue, green, aqua and fuchsia. Other than the color, the boards are all identical.
There are 2 storage areas: a 4-point bungee area toward the front and a 4-point bungee area in the back with each point having a D-ring. Speaking of D-rings, there is no dedicated D-ring for an leash. Sure, you could use one of the other ones, but a dedicated D-ring is typically stronger and in a centralized location.
The single center fin uses a fin box that allows you to click it in or out of place. For most paddlers, that’s a great solution since there is no hardware to worry about and you can get going quickly. However, for a certain percentage of others, not having a standard US fin box means that you’re stuck with what Slingshot has to offer and you can’t swap it out for a third-party fin.
Construction
As this is Slingshot’s only iSUP, we don’t have another board to compare this to. But something that made us happy was the how lightweight this board was able to come out considering that it has a triple-level construction. This is due in part to the materials used. Like most other iSUPs, the outside of the board is made with military-grade PVC drop stich material. The reason that there were able to get the weight down was because the material inside the PVC.
A nice feature to include was the reinforced rails. This helps to keep the board feel extra strong even when it’s inflated to a lower PSI. Even though a 6” thick board is considered standard on the mid-tier iSUP market, that rail makes it feel as solid as what you might see with an 8” board.
Included Accessories
While we would like to have seen a few more accessories, the ones that do come with the board are enough to get you out on the water right out of the box. The included backpack isn’t the prettiest out there, but is heavy duty and comfortable. Having a repair kit is always a nice touch and the Crossbreed Airtech comes with one of the box.
The dual-action air pump is alright. Considering the fact that it’s a single chamber pump, it fills up the board quickly without too much of a struggle. By far the best accessory is the carbon fiber paddle. It’s light and adjustable yet doesn’t feel like it’s going to break anytime in the near future.
Our Verdict
For us, one of the worse sins is seeing a company can commit is by having a great reputation for just about everything they make but make their iSUPs seem like an afterthought. If you look at the marketing for this board, you would think that this the Crossbreed Airtech was their new flagship product, though the board itself says otherwise.
Overall, it’s not a bad board. If someone offered it to us, we would take it out on the water. However, you could tell that this was designed by people who figured that this would just be another part of the arsenal of water boards and not for someone who was really into SUPing.
In their defense, this is a new product on the Slingshot brand. Given that they do so well with their other products, we hope that this is just a blip and they’ll come out with an improved model in the near future.
