So I'm in the market for some new oars. I'm looking to upgrade from my wooden oars and was just wondering what some of you guys are using, and what you think? i was recently at Holiday Sports in Burlington looking at those Lamiglas oars. They look pretty damn nice but they're still fairly new to the market so I'm having trouble finding reviews on them. I've heard nothing but great things about the Sawyer MX series, but they cost a pretty penny. How would these differ from the Lamiglas in quality?

Lamiglas and Cataracts are going to be essentially the same thing when it comes to feel and weight. Where you spend the big dough it will be on blades. You can get the new Razor blades from Cataract that balance the oar really well without a counter-weight on it but they bump the price of a pair up to 500 dollars. A pair of cataracts or lamiglas oars with the standard magnum blade is 390 I believe.
Isaac

Whatever you do don't let the price determine what oars you buy. Good oars are very important. I cheaped out and bought the sawyer black and white fiberglass oars for 150.00 a piece. They wear me out on a long plug pullin float. A buddy has cataract oars with dynalite paddles they work pretty good. I know someone else who has the mxsg oars and he loves em. Good stuff isnt cheap, cheap stuff isn't good.

personally i prefer wood shafts. like the sawyer lites, with a dynalight blade.

buy sawyers. they are super sweet.

Buying cheap oars for your drift boat is like putting cheap motors on a powerboat. When conditions get a little dicey the last thing I want to think about is how I saved a few bucks, I want complete confidence in my equipment. With the sportsman shows going on you should be able to find a good deal on a nice set of sticks somewhere. My 2 cents...

Sawyer MXSG with Dynalite blades. No question. Had Cataracts for years and switched and never looked back. And yes they are extremely strong regardless of weight!!!!! Just my opinion

I will 2nd cobble cruiser's advice and multiply it by every cent you have to spend on oars.

Figure out what size you need, really make sure it's the right size, then buy some MXSG oars with Dynalite blades, you'll never look back.

Sawyer makes great oars, in fact they are the only oars I will ever spend money on again.
I myself row a set of SP Lights, but that is more of a wood boat true wood oar thing. I reinforced the blades something crazy, I would not recommend wood tips to anyone who wants an oar for more then a year or so.
If my boat was anything but wood I would have set of MXSG-Dynalights before the boat was even in the garage.

Having never rowed a set of Sawyers, what makes them better than Cataracts? I am curious, not trying to start anything just looking for a little education
Isaac

I use the Lamiglas oars, but the first thing I did before ever even getting them wet wet was install a set of Cataract floating oar blades, and put the Cataract Magnum blades that were on them in the shed with other sets of Magnum "backup" blades that I have...they're waaayyy better for your boat.

Fish on...

Todd

Love my MXSG's.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

Get the Sawyers! Don't try to save a few bucks.
That is what I did. My Sawyers were getting questionable. Bought Cataracts because they were a little cheaper. They are a good oar but, I think the Sawyers are much better for a long day on the sticks. The Cataracts just wipe me out. I am going to try the counter balance things. However, with the sawyers I did not need.

So in short listen to all the advice above!

The Cataracts in the retail stores, dont have the counter balance weighted handles. If you call Cat... they will sell you a pair. They also have slide on counter weights. If you drill a hole and add your own, you void the warranty. Counter balancing weighs more. I think wood oars may be the lightest you can find. Either way, it will take more effort.

Don Hill use to sell a CV joint style oar lock, but the mfg stopped making them and Hill doesnt list them on his site.

It appears there are some new blades Im not familiar with, so I can only speak to the blades from Cat.. that float. Whatever oar you get, you want the floating blades. Otherwise, you will get punched in the face with the end of your oar, eventually. It sounds like the blade that Todd has. At the time, I bought them at Sportco and the blades were separate, so you could pick either style. If you dont have them, get the short version of the oar-rites and leave the rubber blade protector on the blade.



Its possible that some folks have extra weight because they bought too long an oar. When I began to look, no one had a math equation to arrive at the correct length. The closest I heard about was to measure the distance between the oar locks X by 3 and divide by 2. I did that, but I also rounded up to the next size. A friend bought the same size oar for his willy, (wider than mine) based on Willys recommendation and I thought his oars were a little short. The equation would have required at least another 6 inches for each oar. Due to the angle of the oar to get the blade submerged the handles were above my shoulders. A longer oar will not require such drastic movement. You also maximize the leverage on the boat, but only to a point.

http://cataractoars.com/component_options.html the razor blade are the ones I tried that really balanced the oars out nicely on a 9' overall length. The best oarsman I know uses the magnum blades and says the extra money spent on anything else is a waste. Buy the best once and be done with it

Unless you get lucky, there is no cheap way out.

The first 2 seconds I rowed the Sawyer MSXG with Dynelite blades, I was hooked. They are light, strong, and just have the right "feel". I use Cataracts on the pontoon boat and would gladly trade them for MSXGs. To me, the Cataracts feel heavier and stiffer. I had to use pencil lead just below the handles to get them to balance.

The MOST important factor in balance though is getting the right length oars for the boat. That is best accomplished by either trying out oars on your boat or talking to people with the same boat. FYI, my Clacka uses 9.5' oars. I bought 8.5' Cataracts for the 2 man toon and had to cut them down to about 8'2" to get them balanced.