Wave Sport Scooter X – How Did They Make It Even Better?

The ever-popular Scooter has been updated and has evolved into the Scooter X for 2022.

Check out the transformation and let us know what you think – have Wave Sport succeeded in their aim to keep the best bits while improving on the original Scooter?

Styling

If you’re familiar with Wave Sports recent designs such as the Ethos and Hydra there is no mistaking the ‘Wave Sport’ look of the Scooter X, not just because of the large Wave Sport logo moulded into the storage tank well. The squared bow and stern and strong styling brings the Scooter in line with the rest of the range. It’s quite different from the soft, round, bubbly Scooter with a more modern, angular look.

Features and Design

Beyond the styling the most obvious change is the location of the storage hatch which has been brought into the centre of the cockpit area making it more accessible while your paddling. Wave Sport have done away with the traditional mesh bag and gone instead with a moulded basin inside the hatch keeping everything a little drier and more secure. Would it be nice if it was a little more spacious? The answer is definitely yes, but it’s certainly roomy enough for a set of keys. When we asked Wave Sport about this it turns out that a deeper basin would cause moulding issues hence the shallower design.

The water bottle holder remains and has been given a refresh with webbing straps to hold your bottle in place rather than just elastic.

Tried and tested features like the four moulded handles have been retained and refined to make them easier to use and more comfortable. The squared bow shape in particular works well giving you a nice wide handle, rather than the more awkwardly shaped bow handle of the Scooter.

The moulded-in footrest pegs are a little more pronounced making them more comfortable and secure when you need to brace off them. There is also a little more room for those with big feet with a wider foot area at the front of cockpit.

The Scooter X still comes with the excellent WhiteOut seat, which you’ll find clips easily onto the custom D rings. A small point to note is the little recesses under the d rings – something that all modern boats feature now – but weren’t found on the previous model so it’s good to see this hasn’t been overlooked. Also, around the seat area you’ll notice a higher rim behind the seat offering more support if you choose not to use the WhiteOut seat.

Upgraded scuppers are now bigger and better, specifically shaped to improve bailing performance. As well as being larger the idea is to have the water being sucked out thanks to the clever design of the underside of the boat. One other welcome change is that the scuppers are now a more universal size which should make it easier to find bungs for them!

One final detail which will come in handy for those with 2 or more Scooter X’s is the recess on the deck and behind the seat which allow you to stack multiple boats together for storage and transport

Performance on the Water

With such an all time classic the big thing here was to make sure the soul of the Scooter wasn’t lost. That meant more subtle changes were made to improve the performance of the Scooter X on the water.

Firstly, increased volume helps keep the bow up and out of the water when there are some waves, while the front deck has been designed to encourage the water away from the cockpit rather than the concave shape of the previous model.

The keel running under the stern of the kayak has been squared up a little to help with tracking, but the Scooter still retains its fun, easy performance that makes it so enjoyable to paddle.

Quality

The Scooter has always been held up as a benchmark for UK made quality. With the Scooter X, Wave Sport certainly have made another very polished boat- everything fits snuggly, looks clean, is superbly finished, and the moulding quality is excellent.

Dimensions & Weight

Here are Wave Sport’s given dimensions for the Scooter and Scooter X. Its clear to see that Wave Sport haven’t made a massive changes here which is great!