Mega test 2020/2021: 40 vario paddles

Photo: Stephan Gölnitz

Sporty touring paddlers can already paddle a good 2500 strokes - in one hour! That's more than 1000 good reasons to take a close look at the three most important paddle groups for dedicated stand-up paddlers before making a new purchase or upgrading.

When buying a paddle, the good news and the bad news are the same: on the one hand, for every gram of weight you save, you have to pay a few more euros. On the other hand, the added value that you get for almost every extra euro is actually noticeable. So it is probably difficult to estimate how many amateur skiers really notice the difference between a 300 and a 500 euro ski on the piste.

With a paddle, every buyer can feel the difference between a 100 and a 200 euro model. Immediately, even in the shop. And even more so on the water.

Photo: Stephan Gölnitz

As the price rises above 300 euros, however, the weight advantage in particular becomes less and less - because at around 550 grams, a Vario paddle has apparently reached its limit - even with all the money in the world, the technical limits cannot simply be bought away. According to our long tests, the best price-performance ratio for ice-cold computers is therefore probably offered by the "middle class", even if the top paddles often have a few more grams, a more noble finish, a little more stiffness or other refinements to offer.

It doesn't make sense to focus solely on stiffness. For rather petite people who don't pull on the paddle like an ox, even an otherwise "medium-stiff" paddle doesn't have a noticeably different effect than the stiffest model. This was shown very well in the test with the two particularly thin paddles, which the light ladies liked very much, but would not be an option for a rather strong paddler. When it comes to weight, however, there is only one flavour: the lighter, the better.