Mirage Drive ??

[TJones]

one slight change in 2012 . a pin to align the drive was added . they are still interchangeable . the alignment pin would have to be removed to slide newer drive on older models. probably better off without anyway. and as far as v1 compared to v2 ? would not know , but i would say the v1 is outdated . and like mentioned above parts are more expensive.

[jbaker]

The alignment pin on V2 drives come out easily. That's the only thing keeping a V2 from fitting in a V1 kayak. The V2 drives have elongated drums. It's produces a bit more torque and most importantly moves the stress point away from the cable connection. I have seen a few V1 drives snap cables right at the connector. However if you but an older kayak with a V1 drive you can upgrade the drums and cables to V2. Cost is around $160 for both drums, two chains and and idler cable. I did this on a friends drive after he snapped his 3rd chain and its been great ever since.

Originally Posted by Iceman

Any Mirage drive will work in any Hobie Mirage series.

Thankfully, Hobie has rejected Apples methods of product development

Originally Posted by jbaker

The alignment pin on V2 drives come out easily. That's the only thing keeping a V2 from fitting in a V1 kayak. The V2 drives have elongated drums. It's produces a bit more torque and most importantly moves the stress point away from the cable connection. I have seen a few V1 drives snap cables right at the connector. However if you but an older kayak with a V1 drive you can upgrade the drums and cables to V2. Cost is around $160 for both drums, two chains and and idler cable. I did this on a friends drive after he snapped his 3rd chain and its been great ever since.

Technically, the pin was introduced in 2012, but previous models had V2 drives as well (at least my 2010 did). The 2012+ drives can kind of be considered V2.5