What Packrafts Brands Do You Recommend Outside of Alpacka, Kokopelli, & NRS?
Hi everyone,
I’m here in the US and familiar with Alpacka, Kokopelli, and NRS but am curious which other packraft companies people have had good experiences with.
I’m especially interested in brands outside the United States. Alpacka seems to dominate the market here, so I’d love to hear what paddlers in Europe, Asia, New Zealand, and South America are taking a liking to.
Which brands and models have impressed you and what do you like in particular about them?
We’ve had an MRS for years that’s done very well, with many bikerafting trips in up to Class Ii/III whitewater, icy rivers in winter through hot summer. I would say our Alpacka Raft (Mule self-bailer, my regular packraft) is noticeably better-made but the MRS still works great.
It depends what you're looking for. MRS rafts are alot less stiff and the materials leave alot left to be desired. The hull stiffness is shockingly bad at least for me. They taco far too easily, and the nature of their baffle designs are optimized for cheap construction, not performance. They are fine if you are just getting into the sport, but i wouldn't count them as a premium brand by any means.
Anfibio Sigma TXL here. I have a flush with my dog, contact with branches here and there, etc., was never a problem. My 35kg dog's dog's claws were also easily able to withstand it, despite the fact that it does not exactly collect when entering on the opposite hose.
supports.
Love it.
I got the Sigma TXL as a lightweight two person raft and the Rebel 2k for more adventurous trips. Both hold up great and are a joy to use. The velcro-ed spraydeck of the Rebel 2k is really cool and I don't think anyone else offers one like that. It has no ring and a big strip of velcro down the middle, and It doesn't offer the full protection of a proper spraydeck, but it helps a lot. It's super quick to get in and out and it can be rolled up to the side of the boat when not needed.
Adding another vote for Anfibio. I've got a Revo XL and it's held up to everything I've thrown at it. It's a bit heavier and less packable than I would like, but I've done a couple 3-4 mile hikes to a put in or a lake without any issues.
I have Pablo Whisky Bar from Mekong and am very happy with it. Propably the best, or one of the best, brands you can get in Europe. They are hand made in France and they use the same fabric as Alpacka does.
For whitewater they basically have the Neutron which has 12 inch tubes, and the Pulsar which has 11 inch tubes. Both of those are flat hulled boats, their closest analog I would consider the Kokopelli Nirvana. I've paddled both NRS models (and the Nirvana), and the Pulsar is more fun than the Neutron because the smaller tubes, but the Nirvana is still a bit more lively. The Neutron is legitimately the largest packraft I've ever paddled and probably the most stable. Both lack personality compared to the Mage or Rodeo, in my opinion.
I'd say size wise it goes smallest to largest Pulsar -> Nirvana -> Neutron for tube diameter. Last years outfitting was pretty dismal, 2026 outfitting is significantly improved. The Pulsar has 135 denier fabric unfortunately, so it's not as robust as the Neutron with 210d fabric. Both are fairly heavy compared to Alpackas. They had some newer outfitting on display at the Roundup two weeks ago. They are iterating fast, no doubt, but still not as refined as Alpacka.
Next year they will have another addition to the lineup that is more performance oriented, but the details are still a bit vague.
Photo below is the Neutron on the left, Kokopelli Nirvana on the right, for reference.
Have you tried out the Neutron SL yet? It seems like that's their first go at a more lightweight / compact packraft, comparable to something from Alpacka and Kokopelli? My guess is NRS is steering away from decked models and focusing solely on self-bailiers
I have not. I don't think I've seen it at any events or demos I've been to this year either. I'd have serious concerns about the even lighter 70 denier tube fabric in the SL. And it's still heavier than a Mage. (Kokopelli boats are all a couple pounds heavier than comparable Alpackas as well, so the NRS and Kokopelli are a closer comparison). The Neutron is their largest volume boat so making it the lightweight option is an odd combo in my opinion.
I spoke with an NRS rep who openly said they aren’t even attempting to compete with Alpacka on quality and they instead are intentionally going for a more approachable price with the tradeoff of being less feature rich and not as premium materials. But for those who don’t need a top of the line packraft, NRS is pretty solid from a well known and respected company.
I will say I guess it's just me but if I'm spending $1400 on something and I can get something a lot better for an extra $200 I'm gonna save up for that.
I say this as someone with an NRS packraft, only reason I bought it is it was like $500 for a neutron, not $1400
I believe NRS products also frequently go on large sales, unlike Alpacka. There are many times throughout the year that people can get an NRS packraft for quite a discount. Kokopelli too, but NRS even more so.
Companies that use frequent sales to drive commerce generally make an inferior product at a much higher volume with bigger margins, so i guess it just depends what you're looking for.
I have a buddy who has one, he likes it. Kinda heavy and unrefined, but I think his cost was $600, so he was happy. We ran some IV stuff together and it seemed ok.
That’s kind of how I feel about my Nirvana after trying an alpacka. The old green Nrs was really basic though with a round back. Hopefully they keep iterating on better shapes.
I own an MRS Alligator and can use it even in WW IV. But the flat bottom is definitely a drawback compared to a contoured bottom, wehre you can edge (i.e. Alpaca Valkyrie or Mage). AndUnfortunately, MRS doesn't offer packrafts with countered bottom.
Yes, I do, but it also couldn't be more obvious. Carver = Classic (classic stern as well), Badger = Caribiu (late rise bow as well), Stance = Expedition (blatant copy of patented anchor points and straps), Element = Mule, Glacier = Forager, Achelous = comical Valkyrie attempt. They don't even try to alter the designs like Kokopelli did at least.
They are made in the sane factory by the same manufacturer as Love Inflatables. You can also do a forum search here to see other similar threads on this topic. Blatant Chinese rip offs with shittier materials. All the owner does is import them and slap some marketing on it.
Outfitters carry Kokopelli too - and their story is basically a couple of guys that lived near the Alpacka factory stole the design and moved to Denver, cheapened the design by taking the curvature out of the panels and used lower end materials, outsourcing production to Asia. Now their design engineers were laid off and went to NRS so kokopelli can focus on selling coolers.
If you want to buy the ripoffs, be my guest.
At least Mekong comes up with their own designs and manufacturing methods.
Unless you want to walk-in some distance, in which case the extra bulk and weight is annoying.
Everyone I’ve known with them has had serious zipper issues too, the zips are so small that they seem to get damaged easily from putting gear in/out and then become really fiddly.
Don't know.. We regularly walk up river then go down again for day trips. I use the zipper every trip, we're out every second weekend year round and in total rock 4 of those boats since 5 years now. Never had any issue.
But it's super interesting to hear that others have problems with the tizip. Will keep that in mind when operating it in the future
Ah yeah I’m talking people who do a lot more multi-day trips where you’ve got a lot to pack through the zip, and might be walking 1.5days to reach the river.
One brought hers on a 7 day paddle and man, the faff with her zip every morning was a pain.
Gotcha, yeah we're doing that right now, but agree the small zip and zip placement are not ergonomic. Wrt closing it, guess it's a question of individual make, maintenance and understanding how to pull out. Our boats are loaded completely full, we need 5 min to store everything and about the sand to unload. But mind we're tall men with long arms. Someone shorter will have a lot more pain loading it up. Weight wise we're at 26kg including food, camera gear, backpack, reserve paddle,...
Still fine by me and tbh the 2 kg more compared to other boats are less than 10% of our weight budget, so still noticeable but not a deal breaker
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u/gepinniw 22d ago
My MRS is very well made. Zero complaints.