Johnson Outdoors Reviews 4

I was new to the kayak fishing experience. I purchased an Old Town Sportsman 120 Pro ePDL+ and received delivery in mid December 2025. I have fished a total of 5 times on the kayak. I made the error of trusting a certain type of ratchet strap that I have never used before and during transport the strap failed and the bow of the boat was destroyed beyond possible repair. The damage is mine, I own that. What I feel is deeply disturbing is that after trying every avenue I could try, even the shop I purchased it from, contacted an executive of the company, and that representative offered no solutions. Johnson Outdoors has offered me zero solutions to purchase a replacement hull. I didn’t ask for an handout for my mistake, I’m offering to give them MORE money. Instead told me I could buy another kayak at full price. So drop another $6k? That’s not including the Minn Kota trolling motor and Humminbird Xplore 9 fish finder, both products under the Johnson Outdoor brand, that I have purchased which brings the grand total to $10k and Johnson Outdoors(Old Town) can’t provide me with a reasonable solution. I will be steering clear of this organizations products in the future as much as possible and not recommending their products to anyone. I have been embraced by another manufacturer that has been more than willing to help me in my situation and clearly still see value in customer satisfaction as a priority. Even when it is not their issue.

Difficult to get in touch with a human that knows anything. Needed to make a return for a Jetboil. Received a RMA number with return address. Took to the post office and they could not find the location in the city designated on the return address so they couldn't mail it based on the address not matching. Finally found a number and spoke with someone. They said "oh yeah, the USPS in some locations don't have Kirkwood NY in their system, but if you send it to Binghamton NY we'll still get it" Asked for that to be in writing. Got nothing. Seems to be a very unorganized business. Plus the return shipping was almost $15. They should at least cover that based on the 3 separate trips to the post office I did to try and get this resolved.

Bought 2 Johnson kayaks about 18 months ago. One had a dent in the bottom. I was told to leave it in the sun and it would "pop out". It has progressively gotten worse. Can't get Johnson to reply after multiple attempts. Very disappointed.

Got my first Minn Kota trolling motor and I'm very excited. The online purchase was easy. Their customer service was good too, although it could have been a little faster. As for the quality of the trolling motor, I haven't tested it myself yet, but I know it's good because my best friend has one and it's been running for years.