What follows is a deep digging story, if your looking for the boosted board review itself feel free to skip down 🙂
Ever since I can remember myself, Ive always been looking for ways to walk less and roll more. It started with bikes as a <10 year old, then because bikes were too big to take on the Train foldable (manual) scooters, skateboard, back to racing bike (for faster easier transportation without having to jump on an off buses trains etc), all of which had their advantages and disadvantages.
And then electric skateboards were invented. At first they were crappy, slow, heavy things; I didnt even bother to buy. And then about 2 years ago I discovered an electric skateboard with a brushless motor (500W) and lithium ion batteries, being sold in england called elektro-skate. I was able to get my hands on one here in Israel, like I said around 2 years ago. I right away threw it on a scale, 8.5 kg, top speed of 25km/h, range of 20 km. It was built on a cheap chinese deck with simple steel trucks (an upgrade over the titanium ones because I understood those developed fractures and broke). I loved the board, and so did everyone else who stepped on it even for a second…theres something satisfying about gliding effortlessly, silently, directly above the ground.
I used the board for 2 years basically on a daily basis, to trains, between trains and buses, from buses to destination, and on the few days that it wasnt functioning (probably only 5 days over 2 years), I discovered that the board literally saved me an hour in transportation time, in each direction. In other words, in either direction to work from the apartment I was renting, with the skateboard it took me an hour, without-2 hours, IN EACH DIRECTION!
Unfortunately I was made aware of the boosted board kickstarter campaign only a couple of weeks after it had completed, after I had already had the elektroskate for a couple months, and literally upon reading about it got on the preorder waiting list. At the time, i had paid about 1000$ for the elektroskate including shipping here, so the 1300$ price tag seemed fine to me.
Fast forward a year and a half or so, after following excitedly all the blog posts and updates on the board, the opportunity fell into my hands to have a board brought here by a friend, for the exorbitant price of 2150$, but decided that price is really no object, I know what it is, I know how useful it is to me, and it saves me literally hundreds of hours and dollars in transportation and insurance. So after consulting various people around me I bit the bullet and ordered it.
So received it last saturday night. Like this:
From here starts the actual review of the board itself and comparison to other e-boards available today:
The board itself is a loaded vanguard 38″ longboard covered in the gripiest tape ive ever gotten scratched by. The battery sits on the botton behind the front truck, 2 tiny brushless motors sit infront of the rear trucks, infront of them is the control unit. The finish of the board is amazing, it feels super solidly built, nothing rattles, everything is just tight. It makes a satisfying thump when you put it down.
At first I was worried it would be annoyingly long for me but its ok. Id prefer a bit shorter but thats that. The deck itself is really flexible for my taste, but apparently its 3 stiffness, so maybe im just used to my flexless crap chinese deck. The nice thing is that despite the relatively smaller wheels than i had on my elektroskate (100 vs 75mm), this board rides smoother even over crappy crappy pavement because of the flex.
The board comes set on baby mode, which after 2 seconds I switched to “expert”, because Im obviously used to the e-board feeling. Getting used to the board is immediate, jump on and fly away. The motors are so strong and steady, it just makes you Want to ride fast. On my old board I had already gotten used to the board and already was more relaxed, just gliding along smoothly, maybe because the board felt a bit less secure and reliable. This board just makes you want to fly along, its actually rediculous. It feels so steady at speed, I even loosened the trucks all the way so that I could try to carve a bit tighter but that hasnt hampered the high speed ability of the board. Its rock solid.
The speed is a double edged sword, because flying along on this board uses the battery up at a scary rate (I only weight 150 lbs). On my last board I got used to having no battery indication, so after doing a few distance tests, just eyeballed the distance I could go, charged when I got a chance, rode slowly and saved battery when I was worried I wouldnt have enough.
On this thing, when flying along you can literally see the indication lights going down in real time 😉 Its a bit problematic 😀 The board is rated to 6 miles = 10 km, if ridden agressivly (im not talking full gas full brakes, just when cruising, cruising maxed out), I dont think I could get 10 km, probably 8-9. Thats not really enough distance in my opinion, so Ive started riding more relaxed, and I can go considerably farther, still have to do more distance tests. This aftenoon I was able to go 9.5 km (riding really relaxed and pedaling some) and got home with 2 full lights left (out of five), so i should have another 4-5 km left on the batt. So the batt can last if you try to save it, but because the board is meant for such fast riding, it would be better to have a bit more serious battery. In practice, wherever your ride, you going to want to plug in at the destination just to make sure you’ll have. Enough juice to get wherever next.
Another idea assuming were trying to keep the board to a minimum weight would be to build a battery into the charger (which is quite big) which comparing the size of the battery on the board and the size of the charger should be able to add another full charge or so. That would be cool (hint hint boosted), because I assume everyone will carry the charger with them wherever they go, because the battery isnt really enough for anything but the shortest round trips.
Oh, and yea, the board tops out at a measured 29 km/h on a flat.
The remote is also a top quality piece, feels like high quality plasic and the wheel feels nice and responsive. Its not the most comfortable shape for my hand, but you get used to anything, so not really an issue.
One other thing i was disappointed by is the manual kick ability. I thought the board would be more comfortable and smoother to kick push both because its top like kit and also because it rides quite low. In reality the 2 motors in back make a large amount of drag which makes the board quite annoying to kick.
Other minor annoyances:
The charging plug is on the bottom of the board, which means you cant charge it while the board is resting. cmon boosted, you can do better, put it on the side!!!
Also, the battery – sitting behind the front truck, because theres (almost) no tail, if you were to roll down a curb, would right away hit the battery. Got to be careful. In addition, the motor mounts sit really low, going up a ramped curb, if not perpendicular can grind the mounts a bit – unavoidable over time.. I hope these things are strong 🙂
The board also makes whirring noise when riding, especially at higher speeds, much louder than my old board. Dont really mind it, but its there.
Theres also the issue of the remote. Its rechargeable (which is awesome), but the battery doesnt lasts only about a week of use. My electroskate remote used 2 AAA batteries, but lasted about 3 months. Also, for some reason, the remote charges using a mini-usb, and not a micro-usb, the connector most smartphones have, so you need to carry another cable, in addition to the board charger, your phone charger, etc…
The bottom line:
The board delivers a bunch of nice things:
1. Its built on a professional longboard, trucks, and wheels and not a rolling platform like some of the other boards.
2. Its ridiculously fast and steady. The board is literally made for speed, im dying to take it to bomb down the hills in Jerusalem. Also the fact the the brakes are regenerative and therefor I dont have to worry that the battery will suddenly die mid hill is relaxing 🙂 feedback from the remote is great and easy to control (both accelerating and braking).
3. I havent measured it on a precise scale but it weighs probably 7kg, which is relatively light.
4. The charge time is fast – as advertised, 1.5 hrs does it from empty.
The board does have a few disadvantages, both absolutely and relative to other boards on the market or in designing stages:
1. the range is a major problem in my opinion. the elektroskate I had did 15 km in constant full gas riding and 20+ km in regular riding, the yuneec e-go board advertises 30km or something ridiculous like that (with a much weaker motor, havent tried it, they didnt agree to ship here), and the marble board which just finished its kickstarted campaign (hell ya i copped one of those too!) advertises 10 miles with the equivalent motor as the boosted. Most rides really are less than 10 km, so you can pretty much get wherever you’d want to, but you can’t do a longer round trip 😦
2. The kick-ability of the board is less than ideal, considering its a loaded vanguard. disappointing 😦 Fairly I can only compare it to my elektroskate, but I think it isnt any easier than the elektroskate, and that board rides high, has 100mm wheels, and a heavy clunky battery hanging off the bottom. apparently, driving both rear wheels has its disadvanteges, because its twice the amount of friction vs 1 driving wheel. Maybe the motors will loosen up over time and this will improve.
3. The price. For 2000$+ you get an amazing board, but you cant ignore the other boards available. no doubt the boosted gives more than the e-go, but it is also 3x the price. Theres no doubt its the mercedes of electric skateboards. The marbel board went on kickstarter 1200$ which is somewhere in between, similar also to the evolve boards, which I havent tried but look scarily similar to my elektroskate, and also cost around 1200$, no? Either way, the marbel board has the batt build into the carbon deck, so that should be cool.
4. The remote could use a bit longer battery, although the fact that its rechargeable is great!
Thats all, these are some static pics I took, more will come!!
hovermanbronz 