The Tomcat "seat" has a miniature tube-mounted one-way valve, not a Summit valve like the main chambers of the Tomcats. The Tomcat inflatable backrest is for AIRE brand boats only, and can also function as a footrest as long as you cinch it down very tightly to the floor (so your feet cannot accidentally slip under it during a flip or big vertical drop). It is held in by a pair of straps that come off each side, and you loop these straps through your boat's cargo loops, then back up through a plastic ladder lock.
As back support goes, the Tomcat seat is slightly better than the seven inch AIRE Kayak Thwart, but not as comfortable as the Cheetah chair and not nearly as supportive in whitewater as AIRE's 12" Kayak Thwart (these other seat/backrests are listed in this same section). However, if you own an AIRE kayak that you fly with, a pair of Tomcat seats will compact nicely with the boat, whereas the stock Cheetah chairs tend to make a rolled AIRE kayak far more bulky in size. On a commercial airliner, it can be the difference between paying "oversize" baggage fees or not. This product comes in gray only.
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