Audit: Electric Skateboard Crowdfunding 2017

2017 is the year of electric skateboard crowdfunding.
Around 34 products were crowdfunded in either Kickstarter or Indiegogo.

However, there is a saying – Back an Eskate crowdfunding campaign only if you believe in Unicorn.

The pessimism is warranted as crowdfunding campaigns for electric skateboards have always been ridden with problems.
For starters, delays are the rule rather than the exception while overstating the performance is just too common.
As if that is not bad enough, there were outright scams! Anyone remembers Tinboard?

Here are the most common problems in Eskate crowd fundings.

Delays

Delays are the rules rather than the exception when it comes to eskate crowdfunding.
20 out of 30 boards had their delivery delayed for more than 1 month.
That is 66%!
And if you counted out 4 of those boards which were existing products (Ivory, Nuff, Maxfind C, Backfire G2), the statistic of delays would be 19 out of 26 boards, 73%!
If you are not willing to wait an extra 6 months, don’t back an eskate crowdfunding campaign.

Offenders: Most of the campaigns.

Overstating the performance

Eskate crowdfunding campaign is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.

The price is too good, you think.
This must be due to an early bird discount, you think.

But more likely it is because the board is just a POS and the marketed specs straight-up lies.

Influencers may be influenced or did not give the board a rigorous test.
Even if they did, what’s stopping the company to produce something weaker than the prototypes?

Offenders: Buffalo, Leafboard, LouBoards, Enskate FiBoard.

Poor Quality

On the other hand, even if a board could hit all the numbers, but broke the very next day, what is the use?

Too many boards end up having disappointing quality.

Offenders: Longrunner, Leafboard, LouBoards, Acton Blinks, Enskate Fiboard.

Problem with import custom and delivery

Electric skateboards are very difficult to ship mainly due to the batteries they carry.

A lot of campaigners underestimated the difficulty when it comes to getting their products to the customer’s doorstep.
There are delivery companies that failed to deliver, or outright refuse to deliver the electric skateboards, which in turns leads to an unexpected increase in both the delivery cost and the duration it takes.

Be extra wary if you are not from the States because international delivery are often problematics.

Offenders: Mellow, Leafboard, Acton Blinks, Elwing, Juiced (can’t post overseas), Linky,  Enskate Fiboard

Need to top up cash

Besides underestimating the complexity of delivering the board, many campaigners underestimated the import tax or shipping cost.
They either end up requiring the backers to shell out extra or leave the backer in shock when their custom inform them to pay a significant amount to have their board to have clearance.

Offenders: Acton Blinks, Walnutt Spectra ($19), Backfire G2 (Initially asked for it, then decided not to), Leafboard.

Did not deliver

Some campaigner straight up never delivers.
Sometimes, some backer receives their boards while others did not.
This might also be something to do with the delivery company.

Offenders: Longrunner, Leafboard, Kuickwheel (went missing before delivery).

Poor post-sale service

Nothing is going to stop a new company to just disappear after delivering the boards.
They delivered the board as promised, and now there are nowhere to be found.

Luckily, not all of the offenders went MIA. Most just straight-up suck in post-sales service.

Offenders: Buffalo, Longrunner, Leafboard, LouBoards, Elwing,  Enskate Fiboard, Huger Boards

Spec or design change

Spec changes are not always bad, but it is often unexpected.
How do you feel if the board doesn’t come with the deck that you ordered?
Or if the range was sacrificed in favor of more stable voltage output?

Design changes often come with good reason, but it might not be “your” reason.

Offenders: Acton Blink, Backfire G2.

Obsolete Specs

The board that we chose to back is most often state-of-the-art, top-of-the-line new tech that came with an unbelievable price.

However, after waiting 4 months for the due date we were hit by another 3 months of delay.
By the time the board reaches our hand, it has lost its edge in specs and pricing to the latest set of new boards in the market.

New boards are always better, and this industry moves fast.

Notable board coming out from Crowdfunding

With all that said. There are actually a few great electric skateboards that came out of 2017 crowdfunding campaigns.

Mellow

Mellow only took almost 2 years and multiple design changes to finally deliver.
Costing somewhere around $1800, Mellow is super pricey, but those who have it absolutely love it.

2 years back, Mellow is state of the art. By the time it delivers on 2017, the competition definitely has caught up.

In particular, Onan took the concept of the electric booster and ran with it.
By the time Mellow was released, Onan was already in its third iteration.
My review of Onan X2 is here.

Though as pessimistic as I may sound, the proud owners of Mellows are mostly very satisfied with their purchase.
Why wouldn’t they, Mellow is powerful, packed with useful features and most important of all, of great quality.

For those who are flying with their boards, Mellow is also considered the best travel board ever, as you can just remove the battery and introduce it as your XXL power bank.

Check out Mellow

Arc Aileron

Arc Aileron is one of the few crowdfunding projects that delivers somewhat on time.
It also marks the second time Arc team has successfully delivered Kickstarter project, both times with flying colors. (After their first project, Arc Board)

Arc Aileron made it on my list for being the best portable shortboard available.
It only weighs 9.5lbs(4.3kg).

Equipped with VESC, the acceleration and deceleration on Arc Aileron are very smooth.
It uses small 70mm wheels, so in exchange for a responsive and agile feel, the board has problems handling rough roads.

By the way, Arc team has just teased about their new project, Arc Finix.

Nothing much has been revealed about Finix yet but if they choose to go to Kickstarter with it again, I definitely feel safe recommending it.

Check out Arc Aileron

Raptor 2

Raptor 2 needs no further introduction.

Although it has seen some delays, the final product did not disappoint.

In fact, Raptor 2 has made into many blogger’s lists as the best electric skateboard of 2017, that is how good it is.
It is good all around! Quality, range, torque, speed, you name it!

Michael Gatti has the best review for the Raptor 2.

My affiliate discount (200 AUD off) for Raptor 2 is here. 

Linky

Linky is an interesting board.

It is an electric skateboard with a foldable deck.
It also has a swappable <99wh battery.
The combination of these 2 features makes Linky the most portable travel board on my list.
Well, I just mentioned others say Mellow is the best travel board but well, I guess everyone has their own favorite. (Read: I am poor) 

Anyways I digress.
Linky is still new and not much user feedback has surfaced, so the quality and riding experiences are still largely unknown.
Linky nonetheless brought a new concept to the electric skateboard market and wasn’t that the whole purpose of crowdfunding? To support innovation?

Check out Linky

Bad fails of Crowdfunding

Leafboard

Really really portable board

Leafboard was a Kickstarter darling when it launch.
Cute size, good price and crazy powerful (marketing specs).

Well, not many people are still expecting Leafboard to deliver after they stop responding to Kickstarter comments and shut off their webpage.
They were, however, still somewhat active in their Facebook group with updates now and then, and,
finally, to most of our surprise, Leafboard delivered in September 2017.

Too bad the woes didn’t stop there. It starts with complaints of backer getting hit by surprised import charges. Then there were complaints of how the boards under-performs and felt cheap in quality.
Well…What a shame.

LouBoard

Turns out Louboards are not a real deal.
After a few months of delay, backers who received the boards were largely unimpressed.

The final product under-performs it’s marketing specs and break easily.
There were also multiple complaints about SoFlow’s customer services.

Turns out a misogynistic company wasn’t that trustworthy after all.
(Much like a misogynistic politician.)

Acton Blink Series

For Acton, the first clue of troubles was when the Indiegogo campaign ends with a 2651% funding.
How are they going to produce that many boards?

Initially, I was one of those who applauded Acton for setting a new standard for affordable high performing electric skateboards.
Their Indiegogo pricing for Blink S, S2 and Qu4tro all undercuts the competitions in value for price.

Then the Acton starts to announce delays, that was to be expected.
What was not cool was how Acton straight up lie about the delivery dates.

It frustrated the backers when Acton told them that they are shipping the very next month -failed to do so, then proceed to give the same promised for the following month and then repeats.

International backers have it worse as they have to wait another few extra months (like 3 months) for the board to finally arrive.
To add insult to injury, at one point Acton’s site listed Blink S as having ready stock for purchase while their international backers still waiting to receive their board.

Blink S and S2 are meant to be the best affordable boards.
However, it took so long for Acton to deliver that, by the time they were out, better budget options like the Meepo and Backfire G2 were already roaming the streets.

It is even more disappointing if you consider that Acton already had a Kickstarter experience (which they somewhat screw up too) under their belt.
Speaking of not learning from experience.

Final Thoughts:

Backing a crowdfunding campaign can be a very tricky ordeal.
Considering the risk mentioned above, most of the time, it is not worth the risk.
However, a successful crowdfunding campaign usually has a few characteristic.

  1.  The company/ team had done it successfully before.
    Arc, Enertion
  2. The founders are reputable in the Eskate community
    Enertion, Riptide
  3. The product already somewhat exist.
    Backfire G2, All those Onan clones
  4. It’s not Acton

What about the Huger Boards? Huger Classic, Huger Travel & Huger Racer Preview

Huger Tech, a new startup company launched an Indiegogo campaign back in July 2017 bringing us not one, not two but three new electric skateboards.

Introducing the Huger Trio

Huger Classic – A $499 budget friendly E-skate that still provides decent speed and range. It also has the skateboard kick tail – Hence ‘Classic’.
Huger Classic is $349 for Indiegogo backer.

Huger Travel – A $899 e-skateboard that sits somewhere between cheaper Huger Classic and pricier Huger Racer. Calling it Huger Travel is a misnomer because it weighs 14.5lbs (6.5kg). A heavy board for such a small body – Most likely you aren’t going to travel anywhere with it.
Huger Racer is $699 for Indiegogo backer.

Huger Racer – A $1199 e-longboard that provides good specs. It’s going to compete with the top dogs such as Boosted, Evolve and Inboard.
Huger Racer has a huge discount for Indiegogo backers at $899.

Huger is looking to deliver all three of them by October 2017 – a short timeline.
I don’t think they can make it for all three of the boards.

It will be clear why I thought so by the end.

Overview

The first thing that struck me when seeing a Huger boards for the first time is how good the finishing is.

Actually, everything that Huger Tech does looks pretty. The board’s finishing, the packaging and well, the advertisements are all very well done.

They are just some beautiful, beautiful boards.

It also looks like Huger Tech is trying to distinguish their boards by packing in lots of features.

A horn that is controlled by the remote?
Swappable battery for Huger Travel and Racer?
LED lights that include brake light and turn light?

No other board in the market are fancy like that.

Huger also undercuts the competitor of similar specs in term of pricing, aiming to be the first consideration for every price range.

Watch out, Acton! A new company is coming to eat your cake!

Huger Classic

Huger Classic is a skateboard size electric skateboard that comes with a good price.
($499 retail price, $349 Indiegogo backer price)

An easy way to think about Huger Classic is, a nicer Acton Blink Lite.
On paper, it has the specs of Acton Blink S but in reality, it seems to be only as strong as the Blink Lite.

The board itself doesn’t provide much torque and kick-push from a stand still is needed to get the board starts rolling.

Range(6mil/9.6km) and speed(15mph/24kmh) are on par with the electric skateboard this size and this price.
And Huger Classic is really light.
At 8.6lbs/ 3.9kg, Huger Classic is more travel-friendly than most e-skate, and the Huger Travel.

Reviewers consensus for the Huger Classic has been mostly positive.
Well let’s be honest, you can’t be too critical for a board at this price.

Overall,
it is a budget electric skateboard that also looks very nice.

Huger Classic should fit nicely for someone on a budget, wants an E-skate that is light and with a small deck and doesn’t have much needs for the power, speed, and range.

Competitors: (Skateboard/Penny Board that are cheap)

 

One thing for sure though,
if Huger Classic can deliver what it promised, there would be little to no reason left to buy an Acton Blink S or Blink S Lite.

Huger Travel

Huger Travel is made to be the filler between budget Huger Classic and the higher end Huger Racer.

$699 for Indiegogo backers and retail @ $899, the board has the specs of Acton Qu4tro (minus the torque)!

However, with the current design, the testers hate this little board.

The riding-experience-sucked!

Top speed of the board is 20mph/32kmh but trying to go that fast on Huger Travel is asking for trouble.
Every Youtuber that tried on Huger Travel complaint that the wheel base is too narrow, making it dangerous to balance on.

The Huger Travel also seems to be disappointing in torque despite the on paper specs and the top speed.

At the end of the day, riding experience is more important than any specs.
Huger Tech may and may not be able to change the design at this stage of development.

And if nothing was changed, Huger Travel is a bad bad board.

If you are looking for a budget electric skateboard with good speed and range, looks elsewhere.

Competitors: (Skateboards of the similar price range)

Huger Racer

Huger Racer is how Huger Tech plans to challenge the top dogs of E-skate world.
Can Huger Racer beat the likes of Boosted, Evolve, Inboard and the Metroboard?

For $1199, it is already a few hundred bucks cheaper than the big names.
And you can get it at $899 if you back them at Indiegogo.

Better yet, Huger Racer often came out on top when it comes to specs and features.

25mph/ 40kmh top speed with 20miles/ 32.2km range is on par with Evolve Bamboo GTX, Enertion Raptor 2 and Acton Qu4tro and totally blew Boosted dual out of the water.

Usually, you will be looking at a China Boards such as Backfire G2 or Koowheel if you want this kind of spec on the cheap. (Here is my comprehensive guide on the China Boards.)

To put the icing on the cake, Huger Racer is armed with features up to the teeth.

Waterproof, swappable battery, smartphone apps are the usual suspect.
LED lights that include brake lights and turn lights are gimmicky but nevertheless fun to have.
And that remotely controlled horn? That’s just a cute and funny feature that stuck with me.

The deck is not as flexible and the riding experience definitely won’t be as nice as the flexible deck of Boosted boards, but reviewers opinions on the Huger Racer are mostly positive.

To sum it up, Huger Racer positioned itself quite nicely.
If you are wallet conscious but still want a board with a great top speed with great range (and you don’t want a China Board) – then Huger Racer might be the board for you.

Competitors:( Longboards that are cheap/ top of the line.)

Huger the Company

The company behind the product is definitely as important as the product itself especially when it comes to electric skateboard.
Boards have to be maintained, broken parts have to be repaired so chances are you will definitely require some kind of assistance from the company down the road.

It is unsure what kind of E-skate company Huger will turn out to be.

Best case scenario, they follow the lead of Boosted, Evolve and Inboard to be great in both in selling and caring for their customers.
On the flip side, the worst thing Huger Tech can be is to become a company like Acton – poor communication with customers, repeatedly break promises, and just simply inconsiderate at times.

There is not much out there to judge what company Huger Tech will be but there are some warning signs that make me uncomfortable.

1) Huger Tech doesn’t seem like a by E-skater for E-skater company, but a company run only by businessmen.

None of the marketing material put out by Huger mentioned any about why they got into this market.
The team member of Huger doesn’t seem to be skaters, they are designers, marketers, and campaigners.

What’s more, the company emphasized that it is based on Orange County US while tries to avoid mentioning the parent company IDT International which is based in Hong Kong.

Just look at the about page of Huger Tech and the Indiegogo Campaign page and ask yourself how you feel about the company.

Definitely not a company founded just for the purpose of making e-skate.

Logically, this should not be a concern.
The motive of the company shouldn’t matters, what matters is how good the product is, and how well the after-sale services are. Right?However, in the E-Skate world, a company that prioritizes on profit often makes questionable product decisions.

I would hope so.However, in the E-Skate world, a company that prioritizes on profit often makes questionable product decisions.

However, in the E-Skate world, a company that prioritizes on profit often makes questionable product decisions.
They cheap out on quality, use customers as guinea pigs, making false claims and provide horrible post-sale services.

On the flip side, E- skater’s company always tried to do their best to perfect the board and the result speaks for itself.

Sanjay Dastoor of the Boosted, Ilan Sabar of the Metroboard, Jason of the Enertion Raptor, the Arc Board team, DIYelectricskateboard, Unik and my pal Kieran of the Meepo Board are all good examples. They see their board as their pride.
Try telling Jason his Raptor 2 suck and wait for his reaction, it’s clearly not just about profit.

2) The noises coming from Youtube.

If you ever searched ‘Electric Skateboard’ in Google, you definitely know how active Huger Tech has been in advertising.
It is the only ad I see on Youtube and Facebook through Huger’s campaign month.

Huger Tech also has been busy sending YouTubers such as Big Kids, Press Reset, Dylan Kowalski, FabTrav its board for ‘their input to help improve the end product’.

And the result is confusing.

We see the board couldn’t brake going downhill (Regenerative braking overcharging the battery again perhaps?), LED lights malfunctioning and almost everyone spotted the same problem: Huger Travel has too small of a wheel base to be safe.

Everyone but people from the Huger Tech.

It really begs the question: Does anyone in Huger Tech rides their own board?

And, could they even change the truck placement this late in the production?
They seem to have electronics in the deck where the truck should move to so can it be done?

If they are changing the design, could they make the Indiegogo date of delivery?
If they are not, what does it say about the company?

And also, according to the Indiegogo timeline, this is supposed to be the final testing stage, why are the board still having this much of a problem?
Wasn’t this kind of review and testing suppose to be done behind closed door and problems sorted out before the board is being marketed?

If Huger Tech dare to send problematic boards to the influencers, what can regular folk expect to get?

3) Bad PR

I like to feel the personality of a company to better understand the electric skateboards they put out.
It has been difficult trying to get to know Huger.

The official site www.HugerTech.com is basically the extension of their Indiegogo campaign.
Not much info there.

And when I came across the representative of Huger in the forum, they always came across as sale-sy when promoting and dodgy when tough questions were asked.

The best part? I reached out to Huger Tech through email and after some back and forth, I was promised an interview with someone from team Huger and then never saw an email reply to finalize the date.

I reached out to Huger Tech through email and after some back and forth, I was promised an interview with someone from team Huger and then never saw a reply again to finalize the date.

Verdict:

Even though I am shorting Huger Tech as a company, some objective suggestion can be made.

Huger has the help of its parental company – IDT International and hence manufacturing and delivering the Huger boards should not be a problem, as evident by the quality of their packaging and finishing. They should have no problem delivering to their IndieGoGo backers on time barring design changes.

Meaning, they should have no problem delivering Huger Classic and even Huger Racer on their Indiegogo delivery date.

However, it’s hard to see how Huger is able to change the design of Huger Travel and meet the October 2017 deadline at the same time.

My recommendation:

Huger Classic, a board rated well by consensus is a recommendable board if it suits your need.
However, a $349 Indiegogo price is not a huge discount from the $499 retail price and hence you could just play safe and buy when it’s out.

Huger Racer has garnered good review too and the discount from $1199 to $899 is reasonably tempting. If you like what you see from Huger Racer and is comfortable with Huger Tech, well, go for it.

Avoid Huger Travel.

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