Solstice by Swimline Bali Stand-Up Paddleboard

This is a great way to get into SUP. My wife and I agreed we needed to find a way to start enjoying our local lake. We live in Wisconsin and summers here are short but beautiful. We have a lake 2 miles away but we're not "beach people" nor do I want the expense or hassle of owning a boat. For us then the choice was either SUP's or kayaks. At this price we could afford to buy two of these which was a necessity since the point was to be able to go out together, with a friend, or with one of our kids.Before buying these we took lessons and those were done using solid core boards. I'd say these inflatable boards are a little less stable in the waves than those but the cost and transporability of these were more important to us.I've kept them inflated since purchasing (I keep them mounted on my garage wall using a couple of 6" U brackets) so that my wife can use them without me - pumping these up fully is definitely hard work. After the season is over I'll deflate them and store them in the bags they ship with. The ability to deflate them also allows us to take these camping next summer.When these are fully inflated they don't feel any different underfoot than the solid core boards. I'm 170 pounds and don't notice any flexing or sag. I've topped off the inflation after about 4 weeks of use and suspect that I'll keep doing that every month to make sure they stay solid feeling.At 25 lbs these are not too heavy for my wife and kids to carry by themselves. At 10'6" long I'm glad we have a mini-ute that has fold up seats and a tailgate. It's a lot easier to load these inside versus on-top. We use a couple of bungee cords to hold them in place for the 5 minute drive to the lake.I'm a very athletic man and at some point I may start looking for a higher performance board that allows me to go faster on the water. For now and for any trip where I'm out with my family these will continue to be my first choice.

So I was pretty dubious when we bought this unit, but it has exceeded my wildest expectations. I read the other reviews here where "most" reviewers said it is great, but there were also various inflatable SUP reviews about not getting firm enough, bubbles showing up, inflation work, etc. But I'm happy to report no issues, and an excellently performing SUP. I'll address a few of these apparent cons from other reviews, and make a few comments on general performance. For the record, I am a middle aged 6'2" 190lb male with a beginning level of experience (maybe a cumulative 30 to 40 miles on a board before on protected ocean water before getting this board). I consider myself in great shape, and I paddle for a work out, irrespective of my primary reason for going out.First, this inflatable paddleboard inflates easy, and the pump was plenty good enough for me. Now with the caveat that I'm in pretty decent shape, I always inflated this board in one go without stopping. But without working it too hard, I timed myself from the point at which I had the pump attached until I got to 15 PSI. 3 minutes and 27 seconds, and as I recollect about 160 strokes There's a secret to that pumping action; if you think you're going to pump with elbow action, it isn't going to happen, and the only way you're going to finish the last 60 or so strokes is to act like your giving CPR - lock your elbows, and pump from you waist or elbows using your entire upper body as a weight to drive the pump in. That might sound like work, but even in 90 degree weather, I wasn't breaking a sweat.With that in mind, I was pleasantly surprised by the utility of an inflatable SUP. This SUP was christened on a family road trip in a vehicle so loaded that I wouldn't have been able to take a normal SUP. This isn't to say that this thing is small and compact - it certainly folds down, but not counting the paddle it still takes up the volume of what is likely your biggest suitcase (and maybe a bit more). While I expected the inflatability to be useful, I was expecting it would discourage use. But inflating this unit was never an obstacle, and I believe it was actually considerably easier than hauling a SUP off the roof rack. I could unbag, roll-out, and inflate this SUP in about 5 minutes, and I could do it pretty close to the water. Since the bag has backpack straps, it was an easier carry than a hard SUP.That likely leads you to wonder what putting the board away was like. I carried a coleman 6v inflator with me, that would never be sufficient for inflating, but this unit also has a deflating mode. While the board deflates easily, this makes it pretty easy to suck all of the remaining air out of the board and get it truly flat. Without a deflator, you have to be a little more attentive to rolling the board and getting all of the air out of it. With a deflator, the board rolls easy, I give it a wipe, pull out the pin for the tail fin, and slide it into the bag. All told, this takes about 90 seconds of releasing the valve and running the deflator, and then probably 3 to 4 minutes of wiping and working it into the bag, depending on where you've been paddling. Of course, if sweat is still dripping in your eyes, this is more like 10 or 15 minutes.Now in terms of performance, this board performed quite nicely. First, at 15 PSI, the board was plenty rigid for my 190 lbs and I couldn't detect any deflection while standing, dropping to knees, or while getting up and down. Standing in the direct center and bouncing on the board, I thought I could detect minor deflection of the ends, but nothing disturbing. The upside or downside depending on how you look at it, is I think the inflatable nature of this board makes it really stable. Versus hard boards, this one is easier to balance on. If you're looking to push your skills, this might be a downside. If you're looking for stability, it is an upside. We also had 3 10 and 8 year olds on this board at once, and it was plenty stable for that as well, but cumulative weight was probably still under 180 lbs.The surprising rigidity here worked out well for overall board usability on the water. Granted, I'm not doing paddleboard racing, and I'm sure a racing board is a world of difference, but this inflatable moved decently fast. My fastest averaged pace on sustained paddling of 1 1/2 hours was 19 minutes a mile (according to the iphone and Under Armour's MapMyRide app). Granted, that was a little bursty and had various breaks in between, but when making faster runs, I was counting about 25 strokes per minute, using a pretty long and hard stroke that I drop in the water pretty far out in front. According to my app, when I look at my splits, my first mile out was covered in 16 minutes and 30 seconds, or 3.6 mph. On rivers and lakes, that was fast enough for my purposes, and encouraged me to cover 5 to 6 miles each time out. On these longer excursions, the eyelets on the front and a couple of bunging cords were exceedingly valuable, making it very convenient to tie down an assortment of stuff (water bottles, life jacket, water shoes, iphone).Finally, I think I've had this board on the water probably 7 or 8 times now, for a total of around 30 miles, and it has held up well. A number of times the kids have taken it out also. The skin is certainly tough enough to handle shore landings and running into most stuff that isn't excessively sharp (perhaps a metal dock edge would be a bad idea). During those inflation and deflation cycles, I also haven't seen any indication of the bubbles that occasionally show up on Amazon pictures, other than a soft patch which I think is intentional on the side opposite the inflation valve. I also haven't exposed the board to excessive heat and since I live in Arizona, I wonder if there could be any issues here - time will tell. But I will point out that the foam board pad on top does hold some crease marks / impressions from being rolled up sometimes, and I wonder how that will hold up over a couple of years. It looks to me that any replacement or repair of that type of material would be much more difficult than on a hard board.Overall though, I don't think I've made any purchase before which I've been so pleased with given the price point. The one caveat here you should notice though, is this board doesn't come with a paddle, and good priced paddles of decent quality are hard to find without spending a fair chunk of change. My SUP came with Amazon Prime, and that was a good deal at the time, even without a paddle.

tl:dr - Great board for the price you are paying.Getting up and running:This is a decent board. It has solid construction and seems to be pretty durable. I have only just begun using the board and if this changes, I will come back and update this. The pumping takes some elbow grease to get the thing fully inflated and I could see a small person having a hard time getting those last few PSI. It rolls up fairly easily and can go in your trunk, backseat or truck bed easily. Great for portability.On the water:I am a fairly athletic 6' 230lb dude and I have to admit, it was a bit hard to balance at first. Within an hour however, I had no trouble standing and paddling around Lake Huron. It is easy to start out kneeling and get the grasp of how to stay balanced on the board. I'd recommend to any first-timers to start out on calm water. My first time on this board was in 1-2 foot choppy swells. Not super easy to balance on this thing in rough water.The second day I went out it was much calmer, and it was much easier to balance and paddle. I felt like a pro. My girlfriend and I paddled from our beach over to the local pier and back (about 2000 yards round trip) without a problem.Bottom line: This is a decent quality recreational use paddleboard. It is great to paddle around the lake on, or head down a lazy river. I'd definitely purchase this again.

We bought this board because we wanted something that wasn't going to break the bank and was easy to travel with, but also not a POS. Well this board did exactly what we wanted and more! We had it shipped to our house in the US and then brought it down to the Caribbean with us for our month long vacation. It traveled so easily, it is a little heavy, but a lot more manageable than bringing a hard board down and then on the ferry to Anguilla! All of our guests (big and small) were able to use it and everyone at the beach was asking where we bought it from. Its pretty easy to pump up, but the last 4-5 pumps to get it up to the right pressure are a little more difficult! We were planning on either selling it to a local family in Anguilla or leaving it at the house for next year however my family loved it so much they said we needed to bring it home to have it at the lake this summer! I think if you are looking for something that is portable, sturdy and a fun time this is a really great investment! The only major issue we had was with someone who was for sure over 240 lbs and he had a really hard time using it but that may have been just his poor balance.

Board works great, it is a good package for the price. However, it says it's rated up to about 250 lbs. It is not. I am right at 205 and when I stand on the board my feet get wet. It's not bad, but because it is only 4" thick, it does not quite have the buoyancy that you would want if you are over about 190 lbs. The board itself seems very solid and the pump works good, people who complain about getting it up to 15 psi are just complaining. It takes less than 10 minutes and its good to go. The board tracks well but if you are considering an iSUP for the first time, the wind will move your board around a lot more than a hard SUP. Be prepared for that.

I'm barely 5 feet tall, in my mid forties, and only have a little car, not good for transporting boats or boards! I can throw this paddleboard in my trunk, carry it easily by myself (ok, it's pretty heavy for me, but in its backpack I can do it) down a half mile trail from parking lot to river, inflate it in less than 5 minutes, and be on the river (I bungee the pump to the board) quickly. A paddle does not come with it, but I bought a kayak paddle because I like to sit and paddle most of the time, and I'm short enough that I can use the kayak paddle standing if I really want. When I'm done, it's a little bit of a challenge to roll it up tightly enough to fit in the bag, but it doesn't take long. That's the hardest part - getting it back in the bag. Also, since I'm in Florida and do most of my paddling on springs (which stay warm all through winter) I do a lot of paddling in winter. I can sit or stand on this fully dressed in jeans and tennis shoes and not get wet. There's no sag when properly inflated. People are surprised to see me deflate it actually, because it doesn't look like an inflatable when it's in use. I have been WAY happy with this purchase. For anyone with a small car or who paddles alone and transporting something would be a challenge (either because of small vehicle or because you aren't very strong) this will enable you to get out there on the water with less fuss. It has been FANTASTIC.

Boy I LOVE this paddle board. Stable, easy to inflate, durable, portable, fits in my car. BUT the pump stopped working after two or three uses and doesn't hold pressure. I've emailed the warranty department at Solstice (Swimline Corp) twice and even called the pump manufacturer to see if there is way we can fix it ourselves (answer: no, it just happens sometimes).Anyway, I'm hoping my third email and a one star review will get them to respond. If it weren't for this pump issue and the lack of response from the warranty department, this would be a 5 star review for sure. I feel bad for the other reviewers who have had quality problems with the boards themselves. I at least can borrow my friend's pump so I can still use it.

I've been doing a lot of research on SUPs over the past several months and was looking for something versatile enough to travel with and use regularly on the rivers and creeks near my home. After reading through the pro and con reviews of the Soltice boards I had a pair shipped (as an anniversary present for my wife and me)to my house and I feel like it was a great buy. My wife, my daughter and I tried them out on a smaller creek where the water was moving slow just to get acclimated. It only takes a few moments to find your center of balance and get confident. The boards are very firm,stable and easy to inflate.I do like the back pack-style gear bag the boards are shipped in. The pumps are easy to work. Next summer we will be heading back to the beach, somewhere around the country. I like the idea that I can pack them IN my car or check them as baggage when I fly. Portability is awesome!I recommend starting out by paddling from a kneeling position(if you are new to SUP) to get the feel then moving to standing position. If you've never surfed or snow skied before, you should go in knowing you will get wet-and that's part of the fun.If there are any cons to this purchase it would be the instruction booklet. They could add a few more direction/instructions on sitting and standing paddling.Very much a fun buy. If you can afford it, buy two. It's a lot more fun when you have a family member or friend along for the ride.

The board was easy to unpack and inflate. The pump has a gauge on top so you can watch your progress It helps if two take turns pumping. It is as firm as our solid board,not as wide but quite stable. We are going to take it back and forth to our condo in South Florida and here. It rolls up into a surprisingly small space. The pack with it seems to be of good quality.

LO RECOMIENDO

Easy to transport and inflates easily with pump that was included. Must inflate to 14 - 15 Psi or it will bow a little. Great for people up to 160 lbs. Rides a little low in the water for me, 195 lbs, but still fun and light to carry around.

Love it!

Everything works great. It is a great board for the price. The pump works fine. It does take a bit of work to get pumped up but not too bad. The backpack carrying case isn't the best quality, but it does the job.