Due to the rise in popularity of paddle boarding, we have seen an increase in boards available on the market, as well as a variation of prices. A question we always get asked is 'what's the difference between cheap and expensive paddle boards?' There are plenty of reasons why it is worth spending a little bit more on your inflatable paddle board.

In this blog, we will give you 5 reasons as to why cheap inflatable SUPs aren't worth it.

Now, if you didn't know, inside every blow up paddle board there are thousands of threads connect the top of the board to the bottom; this is called Drop Stitching. The purpose of drop stitching is to help with the stiffness of your inflatable SUP. In the low end, cheap paddle boards; the drop stitching is made with a cheap, low quality material which means after a couple of times of inflating and deflating your paddle board, these threads will snap.

You will see people who have the cheaper SUPs, that their board is dipped in the middle when they're using it. This is due to the drop stitching snapping and causing the board to boa a bit like a banana. When this happens it makes paddling more difficult and won't provide the glide that you'd get with a stiff, flat inflatable paddle board.

The durability of your blow up paddle board is important, especially when it's inflatable. Once a cheap paddle board starts to break down, it tends to be more than just a simple issue and more than likely isn't worth the effort of fixing so you'll end up going and buying a new one.

The cheaper inflatable paddle boards in the market tend to be constructed with glued seams which over time and constant inflating, deflating, folding up, and unfolding tend to loosen and cause punctures. This is dangerous. There's nothing worse than being out on the water and realising that your board is deflating! Many blow up paddle boards last year were having issues with this and many had to be recalled causing people to be waiting around till the brand solves the issue... like the saying goes 'buy cheap, buy twice'.

With lower-end blow up paddle boards, as well as poor construction and materials, the customer service can also be poor. You tend to have a very minimal warranty, if any, and lack of communication with any issues that you do encounter. Whereas, with the higher-end boards, like Jobe you get a reassuring amount of warranty and guaranteed customer service. Jobe now offers 5 years warranty on their all of their paddle boards. 

Unlike the inflatable paddle boards that you spend a bit more money on like Jobe, O'Shea, and others, the cheap SUPs don't have a great second-hand market. With the higher end blow up paddle boards, the will still hold their value if taken care of. This doesn't tend to apply to the cheap paddle boards, so when you come to upgrading your board, you'll be starting from scratch again.

We hope you found this post helpful, if you need any more assistance feel free to get in touch via the live chat, email or give us a call and one of our experts will be happy to help you out!