Gear Review – Luna PFD

I have now been using Palm’s Luna PFD for about a year and after some rigorous product testing on and around many different rivers, countries, and scenarios I feel like I have put it through enough to have a good idea of its performance. I work predominantly as a raft guide, safety/photo kayaker, and kayak instructor as well as kayaking for fun and get in a race here and there when I can. I spend a lot of time wearing a PFD so it’s pretty important for me to have one that is both comfortable and functional.

Enjoying the slides on the Ula River in Sjoa

The Luna PFD gives you good freedom of movement which makes it great to race in…

Bit of carnage, upside down raft, no worries the Luna PFD will float you back to the surface

Good for raft guiding

Even if you’re guiding backwards

Doesn’t ride up when your swimming making it a great PFD to go for a swim in

Unrestricting for kayaking allowing you to get your boof on

Also room enough to get a good tuck on if you’re running bigger drops

Even if you want to dress up in a Santa suit and run down the river the Luna PFD wont let you down!

 

So in conclusion, I love the Luna PFD, it is by far the best PFD I’ve ever owned (previous PFD’s include Hydraulics River Pro, Stohlquist Descent and Palm AMP vest which I also liked a lot). I was impressed by how well it fits to your body shape, it feels like it hugs you when you’re swimming which none of my previous PFD’s have done very well. I like the mesh inner ‘boob hold in’ thingys which are great for preventing you accidentally flashing people when you bomb off a drop only wearing a bikini cause its so nice and warm. The front pocket is roomy enough to easily fit your basic rescue kit (sling, 3 carabiners, 2 prusik cords, knife, chocolate bar) while also being compact enough that it doesn’t make it difficult to get back on your upside down raft if you’ve flipped.

Also finally and most importantly it has awesome buoyancy. I spend a lot of time swimming, mostly for fun on the Kaituna river because we like to swim down the grade 3 section when its warm, good fitness and also good practice for rescues. The Luna is great for river swimming in that it doesn’t ride up or restrict your movement but it floats you very well. I also had one involuntary swim in Norway where I got a big beat down in a rather small but very sticky hole and after fighting it for a good few minutes I decided it wasn’t letting go, pulled tab, and popped up in time to make quite an epic swim to catch a small eddy before being swept over a big ledge hole. I was very pleased with the PFD’s performance in this situation because it floated me quickly to the surface allowing me to make the eddy in time. Thanks Palm for putting in the hard yards and designing an awesome women’s PFD!!!