Glide Retro 10'6 Inflatable SUP Review

Honest, real reviews about Glide's most popular inflatable paddleboard - the Retro iSUP.

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GLIDE RETRO 10'6 INFLATABLE SUP REVIEW - 2021

We recently got our first Glide O2 Retro in and have been letting our team do what they do with it. Glide is a company with a storied lineage that goes back to 2010 and whose founder, Ken Driscoll was a professional kayaker who broke his back kayaking off of a fifty-foot waterfall and somehow decided that whitewater SUP would be a safer endeavor for him! Thus he founded a company whose SUPS could withstand the rigors of rivers.

The O2 Retro is the inflatable version of the company’s Retro hardboard which has been in their stable since the company’s inception. The Retro is Glide’s all-purpose board; designed to perform in lakes, ocean surf, and, of course, rivers.

The Retro sells for $699 on the Glide website and they offer a $150 discount if two boards are purchased. The Retro comes with a fin, paddle, backpack, pump, carrying strap, and kayak seat.

We tested the Retro out on the ocean and a local river. The 10-foot length worked well in these waterways. Glide conservatively puts the weight limit for the Retro at 275 lbs but one of our testers tips the scales at 325 lbs and it worked fine for him.

Our grading system is as follows:

ABILITIES

Our main criteria are as follows:

1. Stability

2. Glide/Tracking

3. Maneuverability

Stability - As mentioned above, one of our testers is quite large and had no problem maneuvering the board in ocean surf and river rapids (for a big man, he’s quite agile!). We had our usual novice, intermediate and expert paddlers use the board in flat and moving water and all were impressed by the board’s stability.

Glide/Tracking – When you name your company “Glide” you better perform in this category and the Retro didn’t disappoint. The tracking was very consistent for all three levels of the testers and they all felt that the glide was smoother than they had noticed in other iSUPs in this category.

Maneuverability – The Retro was the lightest board that we tested in this category which made it quite maneuverable, so much so that a couple of our testers were able to cut a turn or two as they caught waves. In flatwater, we found turning to be quick by using either the backward paddle technique or by stepping on the tail to lift the nose.

BOARD DESIGN/SHAPE

The board is named the “Retro” because Glide wanted the look and functionality of the long surfboards that were popular in the ’60s. The rocker on the board is aggressive which makes for easy turning. There was full agreement that the 4 layers of PVC make the board stiffer than most. The fact that it can be inflated to 25 PSI definitely helped with that perception.

We found that there were plenty of D-Rings to support any accessories. The deck pad is very stylish and comfortable, and the yellow color of the rails really makes the board “pop”.

FINS

The Retro comes with a keel-type fin which is great for tracking on flat water. Because the Retro sports a US Fin box, it’s easy to replace the fin keel fin with any type of fin a third-party manufacturer makes. A Retro owner might want to add a shorter, more flexible fin for river running or a “dolphin” style fin for surfing. This flexibility is huge in the world of iSUP.

ACCESSORIES

Glide includes a nice fiberglass paddle with an ABS blade that floats well in addition to a leash. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that they also include a carry-strap and a kayak seat which Glide estimates to be more than a $100 value.

CONCLUSION

Based on Glide’s heritage as a producer of durable SUP’s, the weight and maneuverability, price point, and the cornucopia of accessories that come with the Retro we found it to be far and away from the best value of the 10-foot multi-use iSUPs that we tested. We’re impressed that a company that made its bones in the SUP hardboard world has been able to pivot so deftly into iSUP production.