Scubajet Unboxing, First Look & Conclusion updated ’22

Updated 2022 – I have only one recommendation after dealing with ScubaJet since 2016.

Do NOT buy any products from ScubaJet.

It is my personal subjective opinion but the company have not delivered on ANY of the promises made and despite my purchase of Dinghy adaptor – ScubaJet never even BOTHERED to tell me that they had canceled the product. I have communicated with both the CEO and other ScubaJet staff and they do just not care about their customers at all.

For a long time I excused it by them being a small new company and cut them a lot of “slack” – but they have had quite a few years to improve – and they act like their customers are “a pain in the backside” and have seem to have no intents to deliver on any of their promises they have made to me and many other Kickstarter backers. I have also been contacted by other owners with similar stories.

[original review below]

The Scubajet had its introduction on Kickstarter in August/September 2016.

The Scubajet is an Austrian mini “Jet” engine for water sports like Scuba & SUP (Stand Up Paddle board) or Dinghy/Kayak propulsion*

We backed as an “Super Early Bird” (one of the first 20) – and it had a delivery “promise” at the time of January 2017. We hoped we could use it for our dinghy in the summer of ’17. (Very optimistic – I know)

Delivery was then delayed – a lot…. Enough to say we got the Scubajet finally in the 2nd week of December ’18. So almost 2 years late.

We do NOT have an issue with delays on Kickstarter projects. But Scubajet has not been handling it super well.

Communications has been lacking to put it gently. And there are still a LOT who have not received their backer rewards.

The biggest issue is probably that Scubajet took the decision to deliver to their dealers FIRST – before delivering to their supporters. Kickstarter supporters paid first and get last.

While we do understand the need for cash flow – it is hard for backers to see Scubajets in the wild a YEAR before the first one Kickstarter backer gets theirs.

You can actually go right now and purchase a Scubajet from a dealer – and there are still backers without a Scubajet.

Scubajet Dinghy Mount

We also have a Dinghy Mount on order. With a Dinghy Mount the Scubajet should compete slightly with Torqeedo Travel or ePropulsion Spirit.

But it would be a lot better for small sailing dinghy’s as it takes up a lot less space compared to a Torqeedo. So pop it on the back of an Optimist Dinghy or a DinghyGo Orca – and when you are at your destination – pack it up safely and go by wind-power. The Scubajet would be great for that, as many Mediterranean marinas do not allow navigation in port without an engine?

The Dinghy Mount was ordered in June 2018 – but has still not materialized despite Scubajets optimistic writing of June 26 2018:

Some of you also have additional orders including the Dinghy adapter or Universal Adapter for kayaks and canoes. We have been busy improving those as well and here are some images of the final version. We originally planned to use different adapters for these two, but our production team found a way to design the dinghy adapter as an extension of the canoe / kayak adapter.

The parts are ordered now and assembling can continue as soon as they arrive which is planned in about three weeks from now. Needless to say that we try to ship all in one package to you or at least back-to-back. 

Quote Source : Scubajet Kickstarter update #34 – June 26 2018

The Dinghy Mount has since been removed from Scubajets website. Actually both Kayak & Dinghy adapters have gone missing from their marketing material.

To be continued.