Tag: belt-driven

Posted on by Paxson Lim

Tynee Board Ultra Review—13s batteries for a mid-tier eskate?

So! Today we will be looking at the Tynee Board Ultra, the flagship product of the Tynee board brand.

In our previous review of Tynee Board Pro, we’ve mentioned that Tynee Board is a company that’s not so tiny since they are founded by giant industry veterans who parted ways with a major eskate brand. Tynee has put out a lot of muscle with its very competitive products since its founding, and today, we will be reviewing Tynee Board’s latest flagship board—the Tynee Board Ultra.

The Tynee Board Ultra is a $609 board or $729 if you’re going to get it with Cloudwheels, so it’s a mid-tier electric skateboard playing in the same ballpark with Exway Flex Riot ($594) and Wowgo 3 ($529).

To check out our previous review for the Tynee Board Pro, click here.

Formulated boosted-style

As a matter of fact, these three boards are built with the same formula—using flexible decks, plus Hobbywing ESC for the smoothest control, and adding on some dual belt drives for power and tada! You get a recipe similar to the late-Boosted board—a comfortable board that’s strong in power, smooth in control, and fun for carving.

To separate Ultra from the rest, Tynee packed this board with 13s batteries for better power. To give you a little background, most boards at this price are still with 10s batteries and at best, 12s. Now the question is, can Tynee Board Ultra truly demonstrate a stronger power with these extra series of batteries? We will see. As usual, let’s go through the specs.

Tynee Board Ultra – Build and specs

  • Deck: bamboo and fiberglass; flexi-deck, no concave, camber
  • Board weight: 16.9 lbs/7.7.kg
  • ESC: 13s Hobbywing ESC with smart power-on
  • Batteries: 13s2p 18500, 281 Wh, 7.8 Ah
  • Motors: Hobbywing 5255 dual belt, 2 * 600 W 170kv
  • Trucks: Tynee PE trucks (Paris V3 clone)
  • Marketed top speed: 28mph or 45 km/h
  • Marketed range: 18.6 miles or 30 km
  • Wheels: 90 MM x 62 MM 78 A; 105 MM Cloudwheels

Tynee Board Ultra’s deck is a combination of bamboo and fiberglass with no concave and is flexible with camber. 

Ultra also uses a 13s Hobbywing ESC with 4-speed modes and smart power-on. Its electronic enclosure is made of nylon and fiberglass, and it’s pretty sleek. 

What do you think about Tynee Board Ultra’s very classic vibe? Let us know in the comments section!

Tynee Board also mentioned that the board is IP 54 waterproof, but as always, we would advise not to take any waterproof rating of any boards too seriously.

Better power but with measly range

  • Tynee Board Ultra flexible deck bamboo and fiberglass
  • Tynee Board Ultra 13s Hobbywing ESC 4-speed modes smart power-on
  • Tynee Board Ultra nylon and fiberglass enclosure dual-belt drive 5255 Hobbywing motors 2 * 600 W 170kv

Now let’s go to their upgrade, the 13s2p 18500 cell batteries. These add up to 281 Watt-hours or 7.8 Amp-hours in size. A higher series of batteries promised better power, but that didn’t add up to the range.

Tynee Board Ultra has a marketed range of 18.6 miles or 30 km. There’s a chance you can go that far by riding slow, but that won’t utilize the power of a 13s board.

We tested the board riding fast, and our 155 lbs (70 kg) rider got only 10 miles or 16.5 km for range. Our 200 lbs or 90 kg riders only got a measly 8 miles or 13 km. Let’s just say it left us wanting more.

Tynee PE trucks as Paris V3 clones

For the trucks, Tynee Board uses its proprietary truck named Tynee PE trucks, which are based on the upgraded Paris V3. Tynee seems to be pretty confident with their trucks, backing it up with a lifetime warranty. We will talk about how the trucks will ride a bit later.

As for the motors, Tynee Board Ultra uses Hobbywing 5255 belt motors, 2 * 600 W with 170kv. These motors compete on the same level as most belt-driven boards at this price range. 

Combining these motors and ESC allowed the board to have a marketed top speed of 28mph or 45 km/h, which we were able to hit pretty easily. Tynee Board Ultra retains a healthy 25mph or 40km/h top speed even as it drops below the half battery, which is not something every board does, mind you.

Lastly, Tynee Board Ultra is available for both street wheels and Cloudwheels. The board uses your typical street wheels in 90 MM x 62 MM with a 78 A durometer and is also compatible with 105 MM Cloudwheels.

As you can see, the polish of the Tynee Board Ultra is pretty good. It does not shout premium, but it is definitely well built.

Tynee Board Ultra – Riding experience

Now that we’ve run through the specs, it’s time to ride!

The best trait of Tynee Board Ultra is the smoothness of its ride feel. Carving is fun with its flexible deck that also helps reduce vibration from the road. If you’re the type who can’t tolerate road vibration at all, you can always spend an extra $120 and get the 105 MM Cloudwheels.

PE trucks handle top speed with a smooth ride feeling

Moving on to the trucks, we still prefer branded Paris trucks over Tynee PE trucks, but these PE trucks aren’t that bad. It has a good return to center and is very responsive. It can also handle high speed without compromising the silky-smooth ride. The board is quite stable, although the bounce of the flexible deck can take away some stability at top speed, especially on rougher roads.

Acceleration power with a massive punch

When it comes to speed control, the Hobbywing ESC has always perfected a very smooth and intuitive control across all 4-speed modes. 

So, let’s now talk about power. The acceleration power for Ultra is very strong, indeed. The 13s batteries did not disappoint, either. More powerful than most of its peers, you will be hard-pressed to find similarly priced boards that pack a massive punch than the Tynee Ultra. Among the boards we’ve tested, only a few do better than the Tynee Ultra in the torque department. (For example, the Beastboard Viper – Torque Specialist and Ownboard W2 Pro).

To check out our review on the Beastboard Viper, click here.

You wouldn’t need to worry about going uphill with this board, ever. The braking is very strong and smooth, as expected from the latest gen of Hobbywing ESC.

Eliminates voltage sag

Another special factor about Ultra’s ESC configuration is that it eliminates voltage sag. The board retains its strong power down to the last 10% battery. One downside with this configuration though, is that the board sometimes allows us to ride it down to 0% battery. This can surprise you if you aren’t being careful. Thankfully, all electric skateboards at present are programmed to brake gently to a stop upon disconnection.

With that, the power of the Ultra can come as a double-edged sword. 

First, it allows a strong ride even when the battery is low. You get to drain through the battery really fast as a result.

Second, the board has a higher top speed (28mph or 45km/h), and utilizing them with a bouncy flexy deck is quite scary. It might come out as a fancy feature after all.

These are obviously minor nitpicks, but it’s worth considering a board with a stiffer deck if going fast is high on your priority list.

THE VERDICT – Is Tynee Board Ultra worth your money?

Alright, time to summarize! 

The Tynee Board Ultra is a well-polished, boosted-style board deserving its $609 price tag. You get a smooth riding experience and strong power that lasts down to the very last percent of the battery, which, unfortunately, happens too soon (8 miles) when riding fast.

When it comes to the brand Tynee, I do feel comfortable recommending it as it is run by industry veterans who have proven that they know what they are doing. This young brand has also kept its reputation intact, which is harder than it sounds among Chinese eskate brands.

So, for those who expect a lot of range from a mid-tier electric skateboard, the Tynee Board Ultra should not be on your buying list. But for those who do not want to compromise on torque and power, even during the last leg of the ride, I’m sure Tyneeboard Ultra will make you very happy.

If you are interested in buying the Tyneeboard Ultra, be sure to check out our affiliate discount link here and use code: “ESKATEHQ” to receive $10 off during check out.
It will help you get a small monetary discount and help us out too. On top of that, you’ll be tagged as an Electric Skateboard HQ customer and probably be treated better. Cheers!

Posted on by Paxson Lim

Ownboard W2 Pro Review – should it get some hype?

Today, we will be reviewing the Ownboard W2 Pro. 

It’s a $699 USD dual belt-drive electric skateboard that’s the newest flagship of Ownboard.

Ownboard hasn’t been given much attention lately, and they had a pretty rough 2020. Their Bamboo AT took a backseat to Wowgo’s AT2; while in the mid-tier segment, the Exway Flex and Backfire Zealot stole the scene from their W2 model.

So can their latest flagship, Ownboard W2 Pro, help them get the spotlight this time? 

Ownboard W2 Pro is the big brother of W2 and is designed to challenge the Backfire Zealot and Exway Flex’s overall performance.

That’s why it’s not a big news for both the price and specs of Ownboard W2 Pro compete against the Backfire Zealot—the best midtier longboard available right now, at least from our perspective.

Will the W2 Pro compete against the top dogs this time around?

As usual, let’s run through the specs first.

Build and Specs

  • Deck: Bamboo + fiberglass, flexible, no concave, camber/rocker profile
  • Electronic Speed Controller (ESC): 12s Hobbywing ESC 
  • Marketed Top Speed: 26mph (42 km/h)
  • Battery: 12s2p 21700 cells, 8.0Ah and 345.6 wh
  • Marketed Range: 18.5 miles (30km)
  • Wheels: 105mm Cloudwheels, 40T Abec pulley, can be changed with other pulleys (32T Abec pulley and 36T Kegel pulley)
  • Trucks: Paris clone (customized with PU ring)
  • Weight: 19.5 lbs (8.8 kg)

The Ownboard W2 Pro uses a flexible deck that’s made up of bamboo and fiberglass. It has no concave and gives a flat profile.

The board also uses the 12s Hobbywing for the electronic speed controller (ESC) and paired it with a generic OLED remote.

If you’re familiar with Hobbywing ESC, you would already know that this speed controller will give you silky smooth acceleration and braking, with intuitive control.

This is an older generation of the Hobbywing ESC, though, which means it has no smart power-on feature.

For the battery, the Ownboard W2 Pro uses 12s2p 21700 cells that will give you 8.0 AH and 345.6 WH. The marketed range is 18.5 miles or 30 km and we managed to hit 19miles or 31 km. Pretty cool!

The W2 Pro also went with aluminum alloy die-casting for the battery enclosure as compared with the usual plastic enclosure for durability.

And for higher power density, Ownboard W2 Pro uses dual 750W motors with 160 Kilo-volts and 5255 dual belt motors. These belt motors are similarly rated to the one on Backfire Zealot.

To know more about the Backfire Zealot, click here.

In our speed test, we were able to hit its top speed of 26mph or 42 km/h.

Now, let’s move on to the wheels.

Choose your own wheels

The Ownboard W2 Pro uses 105 mm Cloudwheels which have a good ceramic bearing. These are good semi-all terrain wheels that can handle most road conditions. 

If you prefer a different style, Ownboard also made a few different wheel pulleys available to purchase so you can change your wheels effortlessly.

The available pulleys are the 32T Abec pulley and 36T Kegel pulley. The board comes with the 40T Abec pulleys for the Cloudwheels.

Ownboard also gave a few tips such as pairing 90 mm wheels with the 32T Abec and at least 100 mm or bigger wheels for the 36T Kegel. Torqueboard or Boa’s 110 mm wheels are among the recommended options for the 36T Kegel pulley.

Suggestions aside, you still have the freedom to choose any type of wheels on your checklist since the pulleys are available.

You can even experiment with Windwheels! They are wonderful in handling road vibrations, too.

Customized Paris clone trucks

The trucks are a Paris clone with a few adjustments. Many of the boards in this price range use branded trucks so this might be a disappointment for some. For instance, Wowgo 3 uses genuine Paris trucks while Backfire uses Caliber II. As for Exway, they have their own proprietary Trist trucks, while Meepo uses unbranded OEM Boosted trucks for their NLS belt.

But branded or not, the important thing is still on how well the truck performs. We’ll talk about that later in the riding experience.

Lastly, the Ownboard W2 Pro weighs 19.4 lbs or 8.8 kg.

Overall, the board is pretty polished, not as refined as most premium boards obviously, but for $699, it’s fine.

Now it’s time to ride!

Riding experience

The Ownboard W2 Pro has 3-speed modes that are perfectly smooth. The top speed mode has very steady yet effortless acceleration and brakes. 

To be honest, the W2 Pro goes up on our list of tested boards with the strongest torque in the mid-range category. We’ll go ahead and say that this ride is as strong as the Beastboard Viper—another power freak we tested. We were amazed!

To learn more about the Beastboard Viper, click here.

Even with a low battery, the W2 Pro’s torque remains strong, but the top speed will be capped at 20.5mph or 33 km/h.

The board isn’t difficult to maneuver, either. The Paris clone truck Ownboard used is not the same as the average Paris clone.  Ownboard made some modifications to the truck, as the result, the trucks are actually very good! In our opinion, it is surprisingly on the same level as with Exway’s Trist Trucks.

The rebound to the center is good, and the board ride is very secure at high speed. Carving is superb and fun with the W2 Pro. The board is very responsive.

On the downside, the lack of concave on the deck did make us feel hesitant when riding at top speed. We had trouble gripping with our foot position, and that took away the cool vibe.

Still, if you consider the great combination of smooth control + a flexible deck + good quality trucks, then you would get a board that does wonders for carving. 

So how was the ride with Ownboard’s W2 Pro on smooth and rough roads?

Here’s what we got:

On a smooth road, the narrow contact patch of the Cloudwheels took away the sticky, grippy smoothness of the ride. This made carving less fun as compared with your regular street wheels, thankfully, Ownboard W2 Pro allows you to change into regular street wheels easily.

When riding on rough roads, this is where the 105 mm Cloudwheels shines. These wheels won’t break a sweat on crossing over bumps and holes, and they cushion you in the vibrations safely.

Finally, here’s our verdict.

THE VERDICT

All specs and riding experience considered, should Ownboard finally get some hype in the eskate community?

Definitely. 

Ownboard W2 Pro is a board that deserves more attention. The board combines power and smoothness perfectly. Plus, this baby is great in both performance and riding experience.

However, is it great enough to outdo the Backfire Zealot as the best electric skateboard under $700? 

Well, that depends. 

Backfire is still the champ when it comes to delivery and post-sale service. 
Ownboard may come weaker in both brand and polish, but they make up for it by offering more value for your buck.
With Cloudwheels coming in stock for the Ownboard W2 Pro and not on Backfire Zealot, you get to save $150 on the Cloudwheels by choosing Ownboard—especially if your goal is to have a semi-AT board on the go. 

The Ownboard W2 Pro is much stronger in torque, too.

So the big deciding factor is, will you pick polish or value?

While the Ownboard W2 Pro and Backfire Zealot are pretty much tie in most aspects, I suspect most of us will find the more polished Zealot an overall better choice. However, the Ownboard W2 Pro might suit you better if you want something with stronger acceleration or prefer Cloudwheels to come in pre-installed.

So while Ownboard W2 Pro won’t replace Backfire Zealot on our Best Electric Skateboard list just yet, it’s nonetheless a very good choice worthy of your attention.

If you are interested in buying an Ownbaord, be sure to check out our affiliate discount link here and uses code: “ESKATEHQ” during checkout.
It will help you get a small monetary discount and helps us out too. On top of that, you’ll be tagged as an Electric Skateboard HQ customer and probably be treated better. Cheers!

Posted on by Paxson Lim

Beastboard Viper Review – 12s4p and a Special Sauce.

If you have the habit of hanging out in Eskate Facebook groups, I bet you have seen a variety of meme ads by Beastboard. Well, Beastboard is a newer Chinese brand looking to get some traction in the market. As is always the case, you can expect good value for your money from a brand trying to establish its name, as long as you can also stomach the uncertainty when it comes to after-sales service.

Today, we are reviewing the Beastboard Viper, a $600 electric skateboard that packs a lot of punches.

Beastboard Viper Review

To get a clear picture, let’s run through the specs real quick.

Deck

The Beastboard Viper uses a 7-Layer Canadian Maple generic deck that’s commonly found on entry-level boards in the $400 range. It has only a little bit of flex to it and has zero concaves.

Trucks & Windwheels

While the Viper uses generic trucks, the wheel it uses is anything but generic.

Windwheel, it’s called. These unique 110mm wheels are the highlight of the board and the most memorable part of the brand. It has a honeycomb look that might make some uncomfortable but promises a comfortable ride. More on that later.

Electronic Speed Controller & Remote

As for the electronics, the Viper uses a 12s Hobbywing ESC, which means it comes with the latest Hobbywing remote that can read board telemetry.

Battery & Range

For the battery, it rocks a beefy pack of 12s4p 432wh batteries, but then cuts costs by going with generic 25R cells. Well, I can’t complain, they have to make the price work somehow. This gives the Viper a marketed range of 22 miles (36km), but we could only hit 20 miles (33km) in our test. Still very good.

Motors & Top speed

The Viper also uses a good pair of 6065 5255 motors that were rated as 750W each. This gives a marketed top speed of 28mph (46kmh). We almost hit that top speed, just missed by a hair, so… almost.

What to think about the specs & parts?

In short, you can think of the Beastboard Viper as a budget board on steroids. The skate parts are pretty generic, but the 12s4p battery with corresponding 12s Hobbywing ESC are specs you expect to find on a board over $800. This duo promises great performance on both power and range, the remaining question would be on the riding experience, so let’s start with what the weird windwheels bring to the table.

Riding Experience with Windwheels

The Windwheels are Beastboard’s proprietary wheels that have this squishy honeycomb pattern. Individually they are priced at $159 per set. We were frankly very cynical of the windwheel design before the test and were expecting it to be just a gimmick. After all, the design isn’t very elegant, and putting holes into the wheels to make them soft seems to be such a primitive idea.

As it turns out, Windwheels are exactly what they were designed to be: 110mm wheels that take away bumps and cracks on the road. We think they are even better than Cloudwheels when it comes to softening the ride on rough roads, making the Beastboard Viper a very comfortable ride on rough roads even when the stiff deck doesn’t contribute anything to vibration dampening.

The windwheels have a fairly narrow surface area for contacting the ground, meaning that they will spin-out when starting from a stand-still in some off-road situations. However, the surface area is definitely big enough for most grass, gravel, and dirt roads situations.

While the wheels are a highlight, the other skate parts are pretty average and doesn’t contribute much to riding experience.

The other parts, as we said, are pretty average.

First of all, paired with the wheels are a set of generic reverse kingpin trucks that are decent. Carving with the Viper is not as fun as carving on something with branded trucks and a flexy deck. The deck also doesn’t have any concave to it, so our feet don’t feel the deck as well as we would like.

While the skate parts are pretty average, we like the electronic parts that the Beastboard Viper uses. The 12s Hobbywing ESC gives the perfect smoothness in speed control that everyone expected it would. Pairing a 12s ESC with big motors gives the board a super-powerful torque too, to the point where you need to be careful hitting the throttle when riding on the highest mode. Just because it’s smooth doesn’t mean it doesn’t pack a huge punch.

While the 12s4p battery pack is not using the most amazing cells, (generic 25R), just by the virtue of their large size we didn’t notice much voltage sag on this one.

Verdict:

The Beastboard Viper, for the price of $599, will get you an amazingly specced board that has amazing torque, good range, and smooth speed control. It’s a semi-AT board that can handle the roughest roads and can occasionally go off-road as well.

If that’s what you want and you are willing to, one, put up with average skate parts, which is something you can tinker with yourselves; and two, be amongst the first customers of a new brand, Beastboard Viper is a great deal. It indeed, is a beast of a board.

If you are interested in buying a Beastboard, be sure to check out our affiliate discount link here and uses code: “ESKATEHQ” during checkout.
It will help you get a $50 discount and helps us out too. On top of that, you’ll be tagged as an Electric Skateboard HQ customer and probably be treated better. Cheers!

Posted on by Paxson Lim

Meepo NLS Belt Review – So much Boosted in it, yet …

“Meepo should release a belt-driven board.” We hear that quite a lot in the forum. And ta-dah! Here it is.

Much unlike Meepo typical habit of getting product out of the door fast, the Belt Meepo was in the labor room for quite a while. In fact, 8 months ago I had already been shown the photo of the prototype belt Meepo.

Belt Meepo Prototype
The prototype for Belt Meepo.
Pretty different from what we have now.

A lot of things can happen in 8 months, especially when we are in the year 2020. Among the tragedies of 2020 was that Boosted went down.

Well, It’s the ultimate altruistic act to be an organ donor. The idea is, don’t let the most valuable parts of you die with you. So, when Boosted went down, Meepo became the recipient for the organ transplant. Basically, Meepo reached into Boosted’s grave and came out with the drive train system, the trucks, and the 85mm wheels. They transplanted them into a board of their own and creatively named it, the NLS Belt.

Meepo fans should be glad that these proven parts are now part of the new Meepo board, but many were troubled when the specs of the new board were announced.

Meepo NLS Belt Review

See, priced at $699, The NLS Pro Belt was right in what we call the mid-tier price segment and a direct competitor to the Exway Flex and also the Backfire Zealot. This is not a great place to be for Team Meepo. In terms of customer service and delivery, these 2 competing brands are performing better than the Meepo, at least recently.

We thought the specs of the NLS Belt are worse than the competitors as well, but after a closer look, they actually weren’t. In reality, it’s only the top speed that’s lower.

  • Deck Size: 38-inch x 9-inch (96.5cm x 22.8cm)
  • Top Speed: 22.5mph (36km)
  • Range: 18miles (30km)
  • Battery Pack: 288Wh (Samsung 40T in a 10s2p, 8Ah)
  • Weight: 18lbs/ 8.2kg
  • Motor: 2 x 900W belt motors.
  • Wheels: 85mm 78A
  • Price: 699 USD

Let’s take a look at the electronic components:

Motors – Why so slow?

You see, the NLS Belt uses the same motors from the Boosted Stealth, rated at 900W each, but it only gives a top speed of 22.5mph (35kmh). This came as a surprise to many, including myself, as Meepo has traditionally been obsessed with speed, sometimes to a fault. But this time, apparently, what bottlenecked the top speed is the LingYi ESC, and also their choice of a larger gear ratio. We will talk more about the speed a bit later.

Battery – Good range with Samsung 40T

In the range department, the NLS Belt uses the same great ER battery, made of Samsung 40T in a 10s2p setting, that’s 288wh and has a marketed range of 18miles (30kmh), which we managed to hit in our range test.

ESC and Remote – Cosmetic upgrade.

The board comes with a LingYi ESC, and hence we get the push to start feature. What’s not typical of the LingYi ESC is the new and much better-looking remote. It’s slightly different than the updated Hobbywing remote but obviously takes some inspiration from the Boosted remote. It goes well with the whole Boosted theme.

Enclosure – Same as always.

The electronics are housed in Meepo’s usual plastic enclosure, which has a digital meter to show the battery percentage; a godsend when trying to know the battery % when charging the board.

Now let’s look at the skate parts of the NLS Belt, or you may say, of Boosted.

Deck – the same deck that was the best feature of NLS.

NLS Belt, of course, uses the same 38” flexy deck as the original NLS and it’s made out of 7 layers of bamboo and 2 layers of fiberglass. It has a mild concave, some camber, and a lot of flex.

Remember back when the original Meepo NLS was released, everybody was amazed by how good it is? Other brands have since caught up but personally, I still think it is one of the best if not THE BEST flexy deck from any Chinese brand.

Yeap, I like it more than Exway Flex’s deck, bite me.

It’s deliciously flexible and the mild concave will help to let you know where your feet are.

Remember the original NLS use to have the electrical cable visible below the grip tape, and the NLS Pro just remedied it by adding a foam layer below the grip tape it? The latest NLS doesn’t have that anymore, everything is smooth now. However, I’m really not a fan of the latest grip-tape design.

Old Original NLS and the cable bump underneath the griptape

Truck- Boosted

The C&C’ed trucks and bushings are also from Boosted, instead of Meepo’s Shredder trucks.

It’s funny how every Chinese Brand seems to use two sets of trucks now: Branded trucks for their premium model and proprietary trucks for the budget model.

  • Wowgo: Paris Trucks & Paris clone
  • Backfire: Caliber II & Caliber clone
  • Exway: Seismic & Exway Triss
  • now, Meepo: Boosted & Meepo Shredder (Bear Kodiak clone)

I like Shredder Trucks, a lot, but Boosted’s are better.

Wheels – Boosted

The Wheels are 85mm 78a, the same as Boosted 3rd gens.

Boosted 85mm wheels are good & comfortable; especially when going head to head with generic wheels from typical Chinese brands; but everybody knows that Caguama is better.

Riding Experience

So, those are the specs, and after going through that a seasoned eskater would probably have been able to predict how the NLS Belt would ride.

Top speed – Might be too slow for you

Let’s start on the weakest point, the top speed. There is no way around it, if you want a board that rides above 22.5mph (35kmh), then this will be a deal-breaker.

As mentioned, the limits on the top speed come from the LingYi ESC, but not from the motors. The choice of going with a larger gear ratio of 17 to 56, or 1:3.3 also means that Meepo prioritized torque over top speed. The NLS Belt will not accelerate past 22.5mph (35kmh), but it sure as hell will get you there fast.

Torque – this is the fun part

Meepo designed the board prioritizing torque over top speed, and this actually makes the NLS Belt very fun to ride.

I love how the board rockets off the starting line and left other riders in the dust (until they caught up eventually due to the higher top-speed). NLS belt would probably be the champion in many drag races. (How I wish @Skatemetric is still around to visualize the drag race.)

Let me put it this way, if you like the thrill of going fast without actually needing to be fast, NLS Belt will be purrrfect.

Speed Control – How’s LingYi ESC now?

Acceleration – good but can be better.

Another nitpick that I have with the NLS Belt would be the speed control on the LingYi ESC. First things first, for those who are uninitiated, LingYi ESC’s have 4 acceleration modes and 4 brake modes, independent of each other.

Everyone by now should know that a LingYi ESC on a Meepo board is meant to be ridden on the 3rd acceleration mode, the perfect balance of smooth and strong. Going over to the highest 4th pro mode means the board is too strong and too raw for comfort; it’s almost only for certain situations and for drag races – where you uncage the beast and don’t mind it being untamed.

However, even ignoring the intentionally harsh 4th-speed mode, the Meepo NLS Belt and the current LingYi ESC are still slightly less refined than the Hobbywing ESC. and it is more pronounced during uphill or when turning on rough surfaces. Many riders probably wouldn’t notice the difference, I didn’t, but my friends who also rode the board did notice it.

Brakes – Brakes are perfect.

The brakes are strong and smooth though, even the 1st braking mode is plenty strong, and the strongest 4th braking mode is still plenty smooth. I always set it on the strongest brake mode for myself, and the lightest mode when I let others ride it. Everybody is happy.

Ride feels – Boosted imbued

Now, let’s talk about how well the board controls, and this is where the Boosted parts come in. Carving and, maneuvering on the NLS Belt is as nice as it was on a Boosted board. Of course it is! It’s the same trucks and bushings after all. Read or watch one of the hundreds of Boosted Stealth reviews, and that’s exactly what you get with NLS Belt. In short, it’s very stable, very comfortable, and very smooth for carving.

The wheels are the same. The 78a 85mm wheels are the same set from the Boosted Stealth – and they are known to be soft, comfortable and durable. However, as mentioned, the fact is that the Orangatang Caguama is still better, and many Boosted riders did make the swap, so that’s what we did too on the NLS Belt. It’s an easy swap and makes the ride silky smooth.

For those who hate road vibration. NLS Belt has no trouble on rough pavement. With a Flexy deck and 4 soft wheels, the NLS Belt is one of the most comfortable boards when riding on a poorly paved road.

For those speed zealot – consider Cloudwheels

For diehard Meepo fans who can’t live without a higher top speed, the easy fix is to swap to bigger wheels. (The harder fix is swap the ESC)

This is what you get for switching to Cloudwheels:

  • Top speed increased to 27mph (43kmh)
  • Slightly reduced range: around 15miles (25km) of range [preliminary test]
  • Increase comfort in rough terrain and increase safety from pebbles
  • Less fun when carving.

The switch is super easy, as Cloudwheels’ has the Boosted pulley sets that work seamlessly (obviously) here. It will only take you 10min and … money [$129 (wheels) + $39.9 (Boosted pulleys)].

I’m pretty surprise why Meepo doesn’t just tear a page out of Backfire’s playbook and advertise the NLS Belt with Cloudwheels.

Disclaimer: We are obviously the affiliate partner of Cloudwheels (& almost every other Eskate stuff).

So, if you are interested in buying Cloudwheels, be sure to check out our affiliate discount link here and uses code: “ESKATEHQ” during check out.
It will help you get a $10 discount and helps us out too.

On top of that, you’ll be tagged as an Electric Skateboard HQ customer and probably be treated better. Cheers!

Boosted successor?

So, is the NLS Belt a good replacement for those who would’ve bought a Boosted?

Nope. People love Boosted not only for the riding experience but also for the brand and everything that comes with it; Meepo and the NLS Belt don’t have all of that yet. When it comes to style, product polish, or customer experience, Meepo isn’t on the same level as what Boosted was. What the NLS Belt is at the end of the day, is a board that’s most physically close to the Boosted, but is not, in any way, the successor of the Boosted experience.

Verdict:

Taking it outside of the Boosted comparison, the NLS Belt is in itself a board that’s great in everything but the top speed. Meepo could’ve reduced the gear ratio, sacrificed some torque, and allowed the board to hit the standard 25mph (40kmh) top speed, but they didn’t.

Trading off thrilling acceleration for a mere 2 mph increase in top speed is certainly a deal that many won’t knowingly make, but unfortunately, most people don’t think past the marketed stats. Or Meepo could, you know, upgrade the ESC, even if it means increasing the selling price.

But it is what it is. The NLS Belt today is not a board for those who can’t look past the lower top speed; but for everyone else, the thrilling acceleration, good range, and the great riding experience made possible by the use of Boosted parts, is indeed thoroughly enjoyable.

Check out NLS Belt product page by clicking here!

Posted on by Paxson Lim

Backfire Zealot Preview – Troubling or promising?

Backfire decided to start their 2020 conquest with a belt drive release: the Backfire Zealot. I guess we all sense that belt-drive is coming back to fashion and now every major Chinese brand has a belt board, well every brand except Meepo, which I bet will soon join the movement too. By the way, I think Zealot is a pretty appropriate name for a belt board seeing those who like belts are often very fanatical about it. =P

The board is now pre-selling at $699 and is due to ship on 30th April 2020. Its official retail price will be $899 but seeing that competition is pretty tough in this product segment (Exway Flex & Wowgo 3x), I seriously doubt that it will ever be sold at full price.

So what about the board?

First things first, here are the specs:

Backfire Zealot specs infographic

Looking at the product photo it is very easy to see that Backfire Zealot is practically a “belt-driven Backfire G3” so much of what Zealot will be can be known by referring to Backfire G3 (click to read review) .

Breaking it down:

Backfire Zealot has the usual good things going for it. A good top speed (28.5mph/ 46kmh), a flexible bamboo deck with an aggressive concave that has proven to be very comfortable.

Backfire longboard deck flex test
Same deck as the Backfire G3

Then, there is the Caliber II Front truck. The back truck that mounts the motor is unfortunately not from Caliber but is Backfire’s proprietary truck. No worry though, Backfire’s proprietary trucks are usually pretty good.

(Edited at 22th May 2021: The motor has been updated)
Backfire Zealot is using 2 x 5255 5250 motors. These are slightly smaller than 5255 that are pretty standard in production boards and are seen in the likes of Exway or Wowgo 3x. They are rated as 650W 750W each and are from Hobbywing., so I assume they are the same set as the pair on Wowgo 3X, which had proven to perform well.

Going with belt-drive also means we can be very flexible with wheel choice. The stock wheels are 96mm 78A with ABEC core. And soon they will be 105mm Cloudwheels option available. (It will be the updated Discovery core, for those who are following the latest eskate news.)

(Eskate historian here: Did you know, despite Backfire’s focus on hub motor all these years, their first board was a belt-drive?)

The original Backfire!

Things that I’m not optimistic about:

The things that I’m really worried about will be the range. Backfire Zealot has a marketed range of 22miles (30km). This is very likely inflated to some extent seeing that the Backfire G3 Plus with a more efficient hub setup and a bigger battery was only making 15 miles (24km) in our range test – That was only 60% of the marketed range. I’m pretty pessimistic about the range for Zealot.

Backfire Zealot, Battery

Even trying to get a theoretical estimate of the range is difficult as the disclosed battery specs are pretty confusing. For instance, I really like to know what cells Zealot is using as the numbers don’t quite add up.

  • 21700 cells
  • 12s2p
  • 4000mah per cell

This should bring us to a 346wh pack and not 311wh given by Backfire. Oh well, maybe just a typo somewhere. I wish I know what cell they use though.

For reference, Backfire G3 Plus is using 12s2p setting with 4000mah 21700 cells (Samsung 40T) and gives a 346wh pack.

So would it beat the current top choices?

Regardless of the nitpicks, Backfire Zealot is pretty promising. All the parts should come together to give a great riding experience and the promised new smartphone app is just the icing on the cake.

In short, I’m pretty excited for the Zealot and would like to see if it can snatch away the throne of the “Best mid-tier belt board” from Exway Flex.

You can check out Backfire Zealot product page by clicking here.