Ownboard (table source)

Ownboard M1

• Wheel pulley: 60T
• Motor pulley: 18T ? (unsure, didn't count but remote was set to ratio of 3.3)
• Remote pairing instructions: https://youtu.be/YblpPaNdhH8

Missing your board? Leave a comment below and I'll add it to the list!

Wowgo just released a long overdue update to the very popular 2s. It seems that they have put this out to replace the Wowgo Knight which was released a few months ago. Since this board is so new, there isn't much information out about it but we can break down the photos available on the Wowgo website.

First looking at the deck, it seems that they have gone with a much nicer deck than what was on the Knight. It's good to see that they chose to make an upgrade here as that was the weakest part of the Knight (imo). Some people will be unhappy that it doesn't have a handle which is common for these more budget boards. Usually handles are only on stiff decks so hopefully this deck is nice and flexy! The shape looks good and it seems to have a slight concave shape which I personally am a fan of.

Next, moving on to the motors, we've still got hub motors just like the old 2s. They seem to be on a slightly better truck but still look to have very thin urethane. This is an area that I would have liked to see Wowgo upgrade as it makes a huge difference in the ride quality of the board (Meepo NLS vs V3).

The front wheels look to be the same cheap ones as the old 2s with a fresh coat of paint on them. To keep this short - they aren't great but luckily are easy to replace. We have lots of good 90mm wheel options on the market now so this is an easy upgrade if it bothers you.

Moving on to the battery, Wowgo has upgraded to a 12s2p (from a 10s2p) which is great to see. It likely won't make a huge difference but should get you a bit extra range and acceleration.

The ESC & remote have gotten a nice upgrade to the same one that the AT2 is using which I can say is fantastic! It has smart turn on so you can simply power on the remote and it will power the board as well. The remote also charges with USB-C which may be a selling point for some. It's still a Hobbywing so it's going to be very smooth with acceleration & deceleration.

Anyways, those are just my first thoughts on what little we know about this board. I think Wowgo made some really great upgrades to this board and I'm glad that it's still an affordable option. For anyone looking to get a budget board, this is probably the one!

We should have a lot more information soon and I'll leave a few links below to other reviews as they come out.

WowGo 2S Pro Electric Skateboard Review | eSkate Hub

The WowGo 2S Pro is the best beginner electric skateboard with great performance and an affordable price tag.

eSkate HubeSkate Hub

Recently a popular esk8 Youtuber by the name of Fabi started another esk8 company. If you don't know about him, he's been vlogging with a focus on esk8 for the past few years. He's done a lot to help build the community by getting new riders into the hobby but in this post, I'm going to explain why you might not want to buy a board from him yet.

First off, as you may have gathered from the title, Onsra isn't Fabi's first esk8 company. He originally called it Faboard. The website for Faboard is still up as of writing and accessible at: https://www.ridefaboard.com/. On this site, he drop ships cheap, low quality chinese boards. You can see an example below. Now there's nothing wrong about drop shipping boards like this but the problem I have is that he's secretive about it and tries to make them look like his own boards by adding a cheap paint job and jacking up the price.

About a year after starting Faboard, Fabi launched a new company: Onsra. He promised a custom built board with excellent performance in multiple videos trying to build hype for his new brand. He also claimed that the board was "built and designed in Switzerland." (Source: video description).

Another Rebrand?

There were some accusations on Reddit that Fabi was copying an off the shelf board from a Chinese factory called "Onewow boards" (linked here).

Fabi responded to this accusation on Reddit:

For one, the Onsra boards are not rebranded boards. The "OneWow" board is from the same factory ONSRA has partnered with and they use it as a prototype to attract other customers. This was the arrangement ONSRA made at the beginning to share some of the startup costs with the factory, like the cost to generate molds for the carbon fiber enclosure (won't do this ever again!!!). Both the Direct Drive and Dual Belt boards were designed by ONSRA and are not knock-off or rebrands

This seems reasonable to me and I'll give him the benefit of the doubt since this was the only factory selling this board. I thought it was important to address this and clear him of these claims since there was such a large community discussion about it.

Battery Issues?

If you take a quick read through this post, you'll see that the main issue found was the battery. It is a 12S3P 35E battery which is a bit under-spec for the board's direct drive setup. I actually think u/sfogliatele summarized this issue perfectly:

yes, its true, 35e batteries were never meant for use in electric boards. The "e" is supposed to stand for economy, theyre high capacity batteries, but have a relatively low current discharge ability. Theyre intended for use in lower current products like vapes or lights.

An individual 35e cell can do a continuous draw max of 8a, while cells like the samsung 30q (very popular in electric board builds, found in most wowgo and meepo boards) can do almost double (15a) albeit the lower capacity.

While a 12s3p setup outputting 24amps is decent enough to power an electric board (alot of the older meepo and wowgo boards are limited to 22amps by the esc), theyre budget hub motor options + they cost more than 3x less as the onsra.

With that last point, I did want to note the fact that the standard Hobbywing ESC can pull a maximum of 22A which is less than the 24A that the pack can provide. So this issue isn't going to cause any problems with the board per se but does raise the question: why does this $1,600+ board use the same ESC as the $400 budget boards? It's really not powerful enough to validate this high price in my opinion.

For comparison, a DIY board would be rated at 80A per motor (Source). Now the Onsra doesn't need that much as DIYs are towards the top end in terms of performance and that's just the max limit for the motor but a continuous current draw of 24A is really not enough.

This battery issue isn't going to cause any major problems with the board but doesn't really fit the $1,600 price tag. You're better off getting a Wowgo AT2 at $1,000 as it is pretty much the same board if not better (+flexy deck).

Conclusion

Fabi is great at making pretty videos with interesting topics but he's not an engineer. Batteries and esk8 electronics are very complicated things so it's important to do your own research before you drop $1,600 on an esk8. There's nothing inherently wrong with the boards from Onsra, I just think they're overpriced for what you're getting. There are so many better options that won't cost you $1,600.

I really do wish him the best though as more competition is always better for us consumers. Maybe someday we'll see some more reasonably priced boards come out of Onsra.

Quick note: Fabi also appears to own the site esk8us.com which seems to be the same site as the Onsra one. We are not affiliated with either site in any way. He also seems to own all of the following sites:

• https://www.onsracalifornia.com/
• https://rideonsra.com/
• https://onsrausa.com/
• https://esk8us.com/
• https://www.ridefaboard.com/
  

We're in a very exciting time right now where many esk8 companies are announcing and releasing brand new boards. This post will have an overview of some that you might want to check out if you're in the market for something new. Without further ado, (in no particular order) here are some of the new boards for October 2020!

• Meepo NLS Belt
• Wowgo Knight
• Exway Wave (Preorders have just shipped)
• Exway Atlas
• Backfire G2 Galaxy & G2 Black refresh
• Backfire X3
• Backfire App

Meepo NLS Belt

This one is pretty interesting as the wheels, trucks, and motors are all taken off of a Boosted Stealth. Yes, you read that right - they are the exact same parts that Boosted was using on their top of the line longboard. If I had to guess, I would say that Meepo probably purchased the excess parts from the factory that Boosted was using when they went out of business. Impossible to say for sure though.

I'm personally more exited for the fact that there are now more replacement parts available for us Boosted owners and if the NLS Belt sells well, they may continue to manufacture these parts.

Dkwan is the only one to my knowledge that has been able to test this board as he knows Kieran (Meepo board CEO) so if you're looking for more info on it, check the video below.

Wowgo Knight

This board is coming in at a pretty competitive price of $499 for hub and $559 for belt. Looking at it, you may be asking: "what's the difference between this and the 3/3X?" From what we've been able to gather, the ESC has been updated to the Hobbywing V3 (same as the Wowgo AT2) which adds the smart turn on feature as well as swappable drivetrain. Personally, I don't think this board is going to be a huge hit but will instead service a small niche of people who value some of the unique features this board has. Major ones to note are the handle, swappable drivetrain, and smart turn on.

The two things I'm most unsure about on this board are the battery and deck. Many of the boards with handles that I've tried (Wowgo 2s, Meepo V2) have been pretty low quality with no flex and pretty bad shape. Now I'm not sure if that's because the deck was just using low quality materials or if having the handle caused it to be like this. There's no information on the battery (besides that it's a 10s2p) so I would recommend waiting until we start seeing some reviews on this board before purchasing.

More discussion of the board is taking place on Reddit. Dkwan also has a video on this board which is linked below.

Exway Wave

This one is more of a status update as we've known about this board for a while. If you're interested in the board, check out our post on the best shortboards as we talk about it in there. All of their preorders have been shipped as of 9/25/2020.

Exway Atlas

The Atlas is Exway's new AT board. We've been hearing a bit about this board every few weeks but now that the Wave is shipping, I'm expecting more information to be coming soon so keep an eye out if you're looking to get an AT board.

Backfire Refresh

Backfire has updated their lower end boards with some slightly better electronics. It's not a huge update but certainly appreciated. The new boards are called the G2 Black 2020 and G2 Galaxy.

They also updated the Zealot deck to make it a bit more stiff to address the clearance issues that many riders were having.

Backfire X3

Backfire has been working on the successor to the X2 since late 2019 and they have started to tease it on social media as well as posted that it's expected to be available in early October. Now, I'm not sure that this will actually happen as we still haven't seen a completed X3 so I would expect it in late October or potentially even later.

They have told us that the board is going to be a hub driven AT board just like the X2. While most of the market has moved their AT boards to belt drive, Backfire is sticking with hub motors so if that's something you're looking for then be sure to check this board out!

Backfire App

That's all for now. Did you like this format? Would you be interested in having this be a monthly occurrence? Any other suggestions/feedback? Let me know in the comments below!

If you're looking at this article, chances are you already have a helmet. That is good news! Now you're looking for some added joint protection, but you can't stand certain inconveniences and appearances of typical pads and armor. If you've been following the latest esk8 trends, you've likely come across LAZYROLLING and other products offering integrated and discrete protection. We're here to form an opinion on the usability of these products and see if they're truly worth the current months-long wait.

To start, LAZYROLLING is a Swedish startup/boutique producing protective wear and esk8 accessories. They have a very active presence on social media and are widely featured within esk8 culture. I believe Instagram is their main platform for live production and delivery updates. They also manufacture in Pakistan, if that stokes any sort of nationalist sentiment.

The Kit

As a 6'1" male with a skinny 145 lbs physique, I ordered the Armored Reflective Jacket in Large. I ordered from mid-April and the product came in by July 13th with DHL Express shipping, which I think was the standard, cheapest option to ship at the time. I also ordered it without the pads installed, which I think is optimal since it's cheaper, fun, and easy to install the pads on your own. The jacket costed about $230, clearly an expensive product.

Out of the package presents a simple, no-nonsense kit:

• One Reflective Jacket (Large)
• 4 Joint pads (CE Lv 1, softshell)
• One Back Pad

Total Cost: $228.38

To put things into perspective, that's about half the cost of a Meepo V3. Including the Cargo Pants will make the kit cost as much as a budget eboard.

Quality

This is the area where I feel a bit critical of, similar to the Avitar V2. There are several small manufacturing errors, even when considering my light tumble when riding. I'll just show a couple pics to express what I mean. I still think that this jacket is well-built, but these little nicks get kinda annoying.

Fit and Ergonomics

To give the jacket a fair chance, I wore it for about a week as my daily driver while taking my daily 10 to 20 mile trips. I gotta say, I quite like it and Large is a perfect fit for my skinny 6'1" 145lbs body. There's only so much to say; it's comfy, airy, and stylish. Outside of the initial manufacturing imperfections, the texture of the exterior fabric is of good quality.

Initially, wearing this jacket will definitely require some breaking in. I can't deny that the pads and the weight of this jacket may feel awkward at first. However, that's true for pads of all kinds. Then after a couple days of wearing this, I really don't think much about the reduced mobility or the added weight of the jacket. I can still move around just fine and it hardly impacts my carving and riding.

In 60 to 70°F weather, this jacket may be the least optimal in terms of ventilation, which is expected since LAZYROLLING offers more breathable products. However, I had no problems wearing this in SF summer weather when other normal and similarly built jackets would cook me alive under the same season. Temperature tolerance is going to be subjective. Luckily the airflow system located under the armpits provides added temperature flexibility.

If you're pushing it hard, I would obviously suggest making use of the thumb holes, which will prevent the sleeves and the pads from yanking away from your elbow. Not doing so could potentially misalign the pad from the elbow in the event of a crash, meaning your elbow will lose its protection. I haven't tried using them along with gloves, but it's likely that fitting the thumb through could be an issue depending on the product unless LAZYROLLING designed their products in mind of other gear.

Probably the best thing about this jacket is the portability and discretion. Obviously, I can wear and take off the jacket faster than I would with pads. If you're self-conscious about protective gear, this could be the jacket for you.

My only complaint is maybe the tightness of the zippers. They may also require some breaking in, but unzipping can be a bit of a chore.

Protection

Now, does this jacket actually protect? From light to hard falls, yes. I've only taken a small, slow tumble a couple days after I got this jacket and I'm certainly not willing to abuse myself again like a crash test dummy, but I can say that this jacket fulfills what it needs to do. My torso did not experience scrapes or pain. With the Kevlar fabric, the jacket didn't tear around the elbows either and it covers for any stray scrapes outside of the joints.

But, does this jacket provide protection at a good value? I won't lie, I'm not too familiar with protection ratings, partially why this review took so long. In spite of this, I went ahead and took quick glances at downhill and freeride pads with similar-ish CE ratings as LAZYROLLING products. Maybe not the most representative, but they include G-Form Pro-Xs, TSG pads, etc. Theoretically, yes, you most likely can get away with spending less on dedicated padding with good quality, similar or even better protection, and good brand reputation, provided you're willing to forego the other aspects that aren't required for your type of rides. This does not mean that LAZYROLLING products won't save your ass during those fast pace electric rides, they will. You're also paying for something else, namely functionality as a piece of clothing, style, and ergonomics. This along with the pads enhances the product. I still see more experienced riders of my local esk8 community rocking these products, if that provides any more confidence.

I'll have to test the efficacy of the jacket's element resistance (most notably against moisture) once the rainy season rolls back into the Bay Area.

Final Thoughts

There's a part of me that feels like this piece of clothing somewhat epitomizes the Apple of esk8 gear, or that I'm just thinking too hard on the amount of money I spent on a windbreaker with pads. However, I can confidently recommend this product even as more of a budget guy and I do see myself getting the Cargo Pants in the future when I can afford them. A sufficient helmet is the bare minimum for cruising around, but if you want to nosedive in style and if you're also a commuter that values convenience as much as protection, maybe LAZYROLLING is for you.

So, I finally get introduced to the wonders of downhill longboard full faces after the TSG Pass caught my interest. I previously thought of full face helmets to be clunky, over-the-top, fanboyish, and too cumbersome to justify my needs. After a couple of reads, I went on a helmet journey.

So, after all the TSG praise, I figured I'd give it a shot. I rode with a friend owning a similar helmet (can't quite remember the brand) and he let me temporarily ride with it; luckily it was a good fit. With added safety and optimized ergonomics, I thought the helmet was good and it easily dispelled most of my worries.

To get into the full face game, I initially bought an S1 Lifer Fullface. It would have been the winner and star of this post ... if S1 made a larger size. The highest size possible (23.5 in/almost 60 cm)  did not accommodate for my head at all, then I remeasured to find out that my head was hovering closer to 60 cm, higher than expected plus the helmet is smaller than expected. A head measurement well under 58 cm would do wonders for S1's offering especially if you're buying within the US, but today, it's all about New Olders baby!

Disclosure : If you're new to this blog, we are small and treat this as a side hobby. We don't have nearly the same reach and resources as larger reviewers and influencers. This helmet was bought fairly for my personal consumption and ownership.

I'll edit this if anything new comes up or I've missed something.

New Olders

New Olders is a Brazilian-based company specializing in highly customizable downhill longboard helmets created on-demand. Many of their flagship helmets (at least the Avitar V2 as far as I'm aware of) are designed to International Downhill Federation (IDF) standards. In layman's terms, these aren't scam pieces of plastic, but serious helmets that will keep you safe under high skateboard speeds. To read up more about the IDF, click here.

My Build

My thought process behind this build was that I wanted something clean, simple, not too garish, yet extremely stylish. If the clothes don't look good in black or white, it can't look good in anything else and luckily, white/black on this helmet is an easy foundation to start from.

My complaint with the customization tool is that maybe the matte colors aren't exactly color accurate. I've seen New Olders repost pictures on Instagram with users' matte helmets and they look drastically different from the tool. If you wanna figure out what your helmet could potentially look like, I would scroll through social media posts. Especially important if you're working with more garish, clashing, bright, and vibrant color schemes.

Cost : $215.80 + $90.24 shipping. Total : $306.04

From order to delivery : 1 month's time. ~3 weeks fabrication, 1 week shipping.

Step 1 : Structure

• Manufacturing - Reinforced Fiberglass. I didn't want this helmet to already be more expensive than the TSG Pass and it didn't seem like the carbon options could make the helmet any safer. Buy the carbon options for added looks.
• Inner Size - (XL 61-63 cm + Larger Shell). My real head measurement hovers around 59.5 to 60 centimeters or about 23.5 inches. Luckily, bumping up the size proves to be a snug fit for my head.
• Frontal Air Takes - Standard Avitar

Step 2 : Colors + Finishing

• Main Color - White
• Arrow Color - White
• Brand Color - Black
• Padding Color - Black
• Finishing - Glossy (everything)

Step 3 : Visors + Accessories

• Visor - Mirrored Silver
• Chin Strap - Micrometric

Final Quality Impressions

After a month's long wait. I got the package. Unboxing it reveals a very barebones, rudimentary package. No branded product box, just bubble wrap and the anti-scuffing bag containing the helmet. To me, this doesn't really matter and it doesn't bring down the functionality of the helmet. After all, 33% of the cost comes from just shipping if you live in the US instead of Brazil, so as far as I care, this is actually a $200-ish helmet.

I will admit that there are some quality imperfections. I saw some rough finishes on a few edges and closer to the vents. Otherwise, the helmet is very polished as far as I care.

Ergonomics

Now let's get into the fun part. How does this helmet actually ride and feel, especially when coming from a first-time real user?

The first thing you'll notice about putting it on is that it can initially be a tight, compressive squeeze. After that and if you're the perfect size, the inner padding lovingly embraces your head from all sides while padding from the chin to the cheeks perfectly align, cushion, and straighten your jaw to really lock in your dome with the helmet.

Let's also discuss ventilation. I ordered the standard Avitar vents closer to your cheeks. After some riding, I don't think I need the extra 3 vents that are closer to my lips. I even wore a medical mask with the helmet and I didn't feel too stifled. Weather was about 60F, but it got colder later on. With the visor down, you allow no excessive wind to enter your helmet, maintaining pleasant head temperature. On chillier days, this can be great. On warmer days, I could see more usage of the visor being pulled up.

Visual and auditory awareness are always concerns when designing helmets of this form factor. Let's start off with things that I don't like. I don't know if this is universal or exclusive to similar helmets with visors, but I find the visor to distort my view of the ground way under me if I were to look down on the pavement. I give quick glances to the pavement under me to scan the quality of the road, so I adjust my riding style and body stance to brace accordingly. The distortion only occurs if I stretch my peripheral vision WAY down and I've learned to ride without being bothered by that. So, more of an initial annoyance. Obviously with a visor, riding with the sun coming down can darken your view, especially if the visor's aggressively tinted.

Other than that, I can maintain almost all my peripheral vision. I didn't really miss out on any needed audio cues when riding fast with the visor down. Obviously if you want to talk and be heard, pull the visor up.

Ooooh, the jugular strap. I actually quite like it. The micrometric strap is serrated, making the male end of the strap easy to push and lock in while offering minimal play to loosen in the event where crashes pry the helmet away from the head. The strap also comes with padding hanging loosely so that the strap doesn't chafe your neck.

Let's also discuss how this helmet impacts your head movement. Not much at all. If the helmet fits just slightly looser, you might find yourself slightly swinging the helmet around as you turn. With my snug fit, this is not an issue. The helmet is around 2 lbs according to the website, allowing to preserve most of your freedom of movement. I have no issues pivoting and turning my head to check traffic and all that.

Does a full face negatively impact quality of life? Definitely yes. Unless you're perhaps used to being a motorcyclist, there is a lot of inconveniences to work with, especially when you're also an electric skateboarder. As a $300 investment, I want to avoid as many scuffs, scratches, and smears as I can on this glossy helmet, meaning I'm encouraged to bring the protective bag, meaning I have to bring my backpack to store the whole thing, increasing load and inconvenience during shorter, slower trips. In comparison, I have a cheap half shell that I am less afraid to scratch. You also bump into things more since you are expanding your head space. I haven't found cramped spaces too difficult so far. I'll have to keep wearing it to figure out how a full face meshes with my lifestyle.

Considerations

I bought this helmet without trying it. It's highly important that you can physically test fit helmets since sizing is never clear cut. I came in with the assumption that plenty of foreign full face helmets are smaller than what Americans should order, which was a very true case for the TSG Pass, meaning this purchase could've been a VERY BAD gamble. Find a local helmet dealer or a site with a generous return/exchange policy and try before you buy if you can. In the event that you do buy this helmet, it's safer to buy larger than what you measure for your head. If it's too big on the first fit, New Olders offers different padding sizes to be compatible with your helmet.

If you can relate to my measurements and buying experience and think that this is the helmet for you, I would suggest buying accessories in bulk along with your helmet, asking potential buyers/friends to purchase your accessories with their main helmet, or arranging group buys. New Olders is based in Brazil and shipping say a single visor to the US may rack up more shipping costs than the visor itself.

Like I said before, if you're considering New Olders, make sure to scan through social media posts for color accuracy.

Overall, I think this is a great and safe helmet if you have the time to burn, money to spend, and an itch for customization. But if you want something quick on delivery and you have a bit of a smaller head, I would also suggest buying from other local and established brands.

To estimate the range on a board, you first need to know how much power the battery can store. We can figure this out by calculating the battery's watt-hour (Wh) rating. By comparing the watt-hours of different packs, we can easily tell which one will provide more range. Unfortunately, board manufacturers don't always provide the Wh for their boards on the product page. Luckily we can calculate this ourselves!

Esk8 batteries are almost always comprised of smaller cells (usually 18650 or 21700) in different configurations. The important info about the configuration is how many cells are in series and how many in parallel. Putting batteries in series increases the voltage while more in parallel increases the amperage. More information can be found here. The number of cells in series/parallel is captured in a format like this: 10s2p or 2p10s. The number before the "s" is the number of cells in series while the one by the "p" is number in parallel. So the 10s2p has 10 cells in series and then two of those in parallel for a total of 20 cells (10 x 2). 10s2p is the same as 2p10s, just different ways of writing it. The 12s3p has 12 cells in series and then 3 sets in parallel for a total of 36 cells (12 x 3).

Calculating voltage first, we take 3.6v (standard cell voltage for fast discharge) and multiply that by the number of cells in series. This number is the total voltage of the battery pack (putting cells in parallel doesn't change the voltage).

Next we need to figure out the amp-hours (Ah) for our pack. This can be calculated by multiplying the Ah in each cell * parallel count. The amp hour per cell is based on the battery model that the pack uses (a common one is the Samsung 30Q). If you Google the cell name with "amp hour rating" you'll find the right value. See the examples below for calculating and make use of the calculator that we've included at the top of the post.

10s2p 3.0Ah (Samsung 30Q cells)
10 series * 3.6v = 36v
3.0Ah * 2 parallel = 6Ah
36v * 6.0Ah = 216Wh

12s3p 3.0Ah (Sony VTC6)
12 series * 3.6v = 43.2v
3.0Ah * 3 parallel = 9Ah
43.2v * 9.0Ah = 388.8Wh

Other resources:
https://dkwan.com/how-to-convert-to-watt-hours/
https://dkwan.com/how-to-estimate-range/

The sub $500 price group used to be very competitive when Chinese companies like Meepo and Wowgo first came onto the scene. Recently, many of these companies have been putting effort into creating boards for the mid-tier segment ($500-$750) instead so there aren't as many options here. You likely won't get great support from any of these companies but they all use pretty standard parts that are easy to replace. All of these boards are hub drive as it's the cheapest option and have pretty small batteries compared to the boards in the next price segment.

• Apsuboard V3 Dual ($299/$319)
• Meepo V3 ($379)
• Backfire G2 Black 2020 ($399)
• Wowgo 2s pro ($429)
• Wowgo 3 ($499)

*unable to verify, Apsu: based on assumed 10s2p configuration, Wowgo source.

Apsuboard V3 Dual ($299/$319)

The Apsuboard V3 Dual is the cheapest board that I'll recommend. This board has been rebranded by many different companies (most notable being the Wowgo 2s). They're all the same board and are basically the cheapest option worth buying. There's a couple different variants of this board but the main thing to look out for is the ESC. Luckily, Apsuboard lets you pick between the LingYi and Hobbywing ESCs.

If you choose the Hobbywing ESC, this board is a cheaper copy of the Wowgo 2S with a slightly better deck. Compared to the LingYi ESC, the Hobbywing is much more responsive but has a bit less power. If this is your first board, I'd highly recommend the Hobbywing as it's much easier to learn on.

If you instead go with the LingYi ESC ($299), you'll get a higher top speed but with more of a "binary" feel to the remote. It's a bit hard to describe but basically the remote feels as if it has a few distinct speed steps so you can't accelerate/brake as gradually.

Other than that, this board doesn't excel at anything in particular but is certainly a solid pick. If you do decide to buy this one, I'd highly recommend upgrading the front truck (Paris V2 is a common choice) as it greatly improves the ride, doesn't cost much, and is easy to install.

Meepo V3 ($379)

The Meepo V3 is a nice step up from the Apsuboard. For the extra money, you get better skate hardware with the Shredder trucks as well as a truly unique design. The deck is a bit better than the Apsuboard but most wont notice a big difference. It's still pretty stiff but does have a good shape to it. It comes with an OLED remote as well as a USB charge port built in to the battery. Meepo switches out their ESC very frequently so I can't comment on how responsive it will be. If this is something that's important to you, I'd highly recommend checking out r/electricskateboarding to see what recent owners have to say. It's likely not going to be an issue though as Meepo has stopped using the "binary" LingYi ESC. Other than that, this board doesn't have any real issues and is a great choice in this price segment.

Backfire G2 Black 2020 ($399)

The G2 Black 2020 is pretty similar to the Meepo V3 but with a few great upgrades that make for a much more comfortable ride. First and most importantly, you get more flexy deck. The large 96mm wheels also help provide a smoother ride. The board also has a larger battery than the Meepo which should give you a bit more range. This board was recently updated (late July 2020) by Backfire to include an OLED remote, longer and wider 38in deck, and their new enclosures. It's great to see Backfire coming back to update their older boards with the newest electronics and skate hardware to ensure that us customers get the best bang for the buck!

Wowgo 2s Pro ($429)

The Wowgo 2s Pro is a recent release and came out early June 2021. The deck has a nice concave shape and lots of foot room. It uses the great Hobbywing ESC and even has smart turn on which means you won't ever have to bend down to press the power button on the ESC. This also means that is gets a new remote with an OLED screen and USB-C charging.

This board is a solid option along with the G2 and you should be able to make a decision based on which of the factors above you value most. Personally I believe the most important factors when deciding between these two is the deck, battery, and ESC/remote. For more information on the 2s pro, please see this post.

Wowgo 3 ($499)

The Wowgo 3 is a bit of a tough sell over the other boards in this list at $499. The deck is comparable to the G2 Black 2020. The front truck is an authentic Paris V2 which is a well-known excellent truck (back is a Paris clone). Wowgo created custom wheels for this board which are soft and similar to the popular Orangatang Caguamas. You also get the new Hobbywing remote which has an OLED screen as well as a USB-C port for charging. The battery is also a fair bit larger than the G2 Black 2020 and Knight which is always good to see.

Overall, it's a solid and well put together board that checks all the boxes for this price range. If you have the extra money and like the look of the board then go for it. My #1 recommendation for this category is the Wowgo 2s pro as it strikes a great balance of price to performance. My second pick would be the Backfire G2 black.

Nothing affects the way a board rides more than the drive system. This plays into the acceleration you get, energy efficiency, ride quality, required maintenance, an perhaps most important, price. This post will break down all of your options and help you pick the best for you!

Hub

A hub motor drivetrain is when the motors are placed inside of the wheel. The urethane (wheel material) is glued to the motor housing. This is great because it saves space and reduces the number of moving parts resulting is lower maintenance costs. Energy usage is also lower because nothing is lost to friction. Hub motors also tend to be the cheapest option so if you're looking for a budget board, you might want to look here.

The downside of putting the motor inside of the wheel is that your motor needs to be smaller than the wheel. This results in reduced torque and acceleration. In addition, the center of the wheel is no longer soft so you're going to feel bumps more than a regular wheel. Some boards have started putting thicker urethane on the hubs which helps but doesn't fully solve the problem. Perhaps the biggest problem is that you can't change wheels, you're stuck with the stock setup.

Belt

Belt drive systems have great acceleration due to the available gearing in the belt/pulley system. They also allow to change wheels at any time assuming you have a compatible pulley for the wheel core. With this, you can get a really smooth ride by using soft wheels that eat bumps. Most systems also allow the rider to change the pulley ratios allowing you to adjust the torque/top speed balance. Another great quality of belt systems is their price. Being one of the most popular systems means that there's lots of competition and thus, a better price for us! The parts market is also very strong with lots of different pulley and belt options.

The biggest problem with belt drive in my opinion is the amount of required maintenance. You're going to need to replace the belts every couple hundred miles (depending on ride habits). It isn't hard to do but the costs and time do add up so you'll want to consider this when picking a drive system. Belt drive is also much louder than hub motors.

Gear

Gear drive gives you the acceleration and customization of a belt drive system but with less maintenance. These systems are still pretty new so there aren't many boards out yet that use them. I haven't been able to ride a gear drive system so I can't say too much about it but I think we're going to start seeing more of these in the near future :)

Some of the drawbacks of gear drive include the lower ground clearance, high pitched noise, and high cost.

Direct

Direct drive is the new kid on the block. We're just starting to see boards using this system and it's looking good so far. In this system, the motors are integrated into the hanger right in between the wheels and kingpin. You get a smooth ride, swappable wheels, and low maintenance requirements.

Since the motors are mounted right next to the wheels, you can't use a motor larger than your wheels. This also means that you don't have great ground clearance so avoid this system if riding on uneven terrain. Perhaps the biggest reason not to go with direct drive is the cost. As I said earlier, direct drive is very new which means there aren't many manufactures so the cost is still pretty high.

This price segment is the most competitive with new boards being released here frequently. It's really the sweet spot for most people where you get a great board without breaking the bank. In this guide, I'll break down the top choices in this price range and provide all of the important differences between the boards. They're all made by reputable companies with proven track records, have great flexy decks, OLED remotes, and large enough batteries for most riders. You really can't go wrong with any of the boards listed, they're all great!

• Exway Flex ($649/$699)
• Meepo NLS Pro ($649)
• Wowgo 3x ($749)
• Backfire Zealot ($699)
• Meepo NLS Belt ($699) - preorder

Exway Flex ($649/$699)

This board is my top pick because it checks just about every box as well as having some excellent features that are exclusive to this board. The Flex is well polished and really reminds me of my Boosted Stealth. My favorite features of this board are the swappable drivetrain and the phone app. With the swappable drivetrain, you can use the same board/battery with either a belt drive or a hub motor system. Switching costs around $300 so I would recommend getting the one you plan to use to begin with if possible. As for the phone app, it allows you track board mileage, update firmware, and change acceleration curves. Most users won't need these features but they're really nice for experienced riders.

Pros

• Great app (firmware updates & lots of customization)
• Swappable drivetrain (hub or belt)
• Wheel flares on deck allow for large wheels and keep feet centered
• Auto balancing battery (smart BMS)
• Auto turn on feature (kick board to turn it on)

Cons

• Supply issues (backordered)
• New and unproven board
• Some users have had issues with motor clearance on the belt system (fixed by adding a riser to the truck or flipping motors to the back)

Important Specs

Weight: 16.5 lbs (7.5 kg)
Battery: 259 Wh
Deck Length: 37in
Wheels: 85mm 76A

Meepo NLS Pro ($649)

The NLS Pro is my top choice for a hub motor board in this price range. It has a huge battery, very fast top speed as well as a great flexy deck. I got to ride this board a few months ago and had a blast! It provides a pretty smooth ride for a hub board with the large wheels and padded grip tape. It doesn't have the best acceleration but makes up for it with a scary-fast top speed and other great features.

Pros

• Thick padded grip tape and large wheels make for a smooth ride
• Huge battery combined with hub motors makes for excellent range
• Lots of accessories provided (extra set of bushings with different durometer)
• Auto turn on feature (kick board to turn it on)

Cons

• Worse acceleration than a belt driven board
• More bumpy, mitigated by thick urethane on hubs
• Heavy (18.7 lbs, 8.5 kg)
• Wheels aren't changeable (hub motors)

Important Specs

Weight: 18.7 lbs (8.5 kg)
Battery: 288 Wh
Deck Length: 38in
Wheels: 100mm 78A

Wowgo 3x ($749)

The Wowgo 3x is a bit overpriced at $749. While the parts on this board are all great, you can get a very similar (if not better) board with some of the other options listed here. The only reason to go with this board would be if you really liked the design.

The 3x has a great flexy deck as well as an official Paris v2 truck in the front (the back is a Paris clone). There aren't any flashy features here but the board certainly hits all of the important points and provides excellent performance and durability.

Pros

• Quality, proven parts combined into a well polished board
• Really good wheels included
• Iconic "Boosted" design/colors

Cons

• Enclosures are thicker than they need to be resulting in less ground clearance

Important Specs

Weight: 17.2 lbs (7.8 kg)
Battery: 259 Wh
Deck Length: 38in
Wheels: 90mm 78A

Backfire Zealot ($699)

The Zealot is a great board with key features being the huge battery, custom remote, and built in LED underglow. It uses the same great deck as other Backfire boards as well as the proven CaliberII truck in the front. People have just started receiving their orders and we've been seeing a lot of positive reviews.

Pros

• Cool and unique design (deck shape and wheel text)
• Biggest battery of the lot

Cons

• Less flexible deck than the others

Important Specs

Weight: 17.6 lbs (8 kg)
Battery: 311 Wh
Deck Length: 39in
Wheels: 96mm 78A

Meepo NLS Belt ($699)

The Meepo NLS Pro (mentioned earlier) is a great board if you want hub motors. Meepo announced the NLS Belt version on 9/15/2020. There isn't much information on it yet but we'll update this when we know more.

Here's a great overview video which includes most of these boards:

Before buying a board, you need to know which type of board you're looking for. This post details the main types as well as some examples. Also be sure to check out the post on drive systems!

Cover photo used with permission from u/liftedfishing

Street

Street is the most common type of board. These boards are perfect for street riding and carving but perform poorly in wet conditions or non-flat surfaces due to the lack of any tread on the wheels. This also tends to be the most affordable category because of the high demand and intense competition between board manufacturers.

Street boards have smaller wheels (compared to AT), usually 85mm-100mm with no tread. The outer wheel part is made of a material called polyurethane (PU) which is given a durometer rating to quantify the hardness of the wheel, ranging from about 70 on the soft side up to 80+ for harder wheels. If you want a smoother ride, you can choose softer wheels with the caveat that they will degrade faster.

Street boards most commonly use belt drive or hub motors for their drive system. There are some boards coming out now that use gear drive as well as a few with direct drive but for the most part, it's hub and belt.

This category is broken down into longboard and shortboard which refer to the length of the deck. A longboard will be around 38in while a shortboard will be around 30in. Shortboards also commonly have kicktails which allow for more maneuverability.

All Terrain (AT)

AT boards are perfect for riding offroad, through grass, and dirt paths. Their main defining feature is the huge tires which are either pneumatic (air-filled) or foam. They range from about 6-8in in diameter and have treads to prevent hydroplaning and eat bumps.

You will sometimes see straps/restraints to help keep your feet planted on the board. Straps can be really helpful for those hoping to traverse rough terrain. In addition, their decks are often slightly longer than traditional longboard decks for additional stability.

As far as drivetrain goes, most AT boards use belt drive but there are a few that use hub motors instead. You'll also see some boards using double kingpin trucks which provide a closer turning circle as well as more ground clearance.

AT boards are the most expensive boards of the group due to the often custom-made wheels, high power requirements, and large batteries. There are many boutique board makers in this category most notable being LaCroix and Trampa.

Hybrid

The third category is hybrid which lies between a street and an AT board. They're perfect for light dirt trails and short grass. The wheels are usually > 100mm with some sort of tread but not pneumatic or foam. Most street boards (besides hub) can be easily converted to hybrid with a quick wheel swap.

The most popular wheel that basically created this category is the 120mm Cloudwheel. This wheel is super popular for users that want a street board with light offroading capabilities.

Some users have reported traction issues while riding on pavement so be careful when first trying these wheels. This is likely due to the curvature of the wheel reducing contact with the ground.