Enskate Archives - Electric Skateboard HQ

August 17, 2020August 17, 2020 by Aiman Abd Rahman

Enskate R3 Mini Review – Wrong number but nice to meet you.

Introduction

Do you know what people say about Enskate? They don’t. Enskate is not a brand that usually comes to mind when it comes to Eskate companies. We know they are a good sport though, even after we made fun of their Enskate Woboard S in our previous review, they still came back for more and we respect that. They also addressed some of the complaints that we had with the Woboard S, by upgrading its ESC to a standard Hobbywing, and using a better, non-sex-toy-looking, standard Bobbywing remote.

This time, they want us to test out the Enskate R3 Mini, a practical portable, well-polished shortboard that’s intended for sidewalk commute. And here we are, trying to answer 2 questions with this review:

Is R3 Mini amongst the top choices for sidewalk commute and
is it time for everyone to start paying attention to Enskate?

Enskate R3 Mini Review

As usual, lets run through the specs real quick.

Top Speed: 20mph/35kmh ( Our test: 23mph/38kmh )
Range: 12.5miles/20km ( Our test: 6miles/9.5km)
Battery Pack: 2.5AH pack from Samsung in 10s1p configuration
Weight: 13lbs/6.0kg
Features: 450w dual hub motors, Hobbywing ESC remote controller,wide concaved deck, big and functional kick tail
Price: 399 USD

Riding Experience

i. Acceleration & Breaking

The board has pretty smooth acceleration and braking as expected from hobbywing ESC. Acceleration felt quite powerful and strong. This came as a small surprise as this, after all, is a 10s1p board, performance is not supposed to be its strong suit. Enskate did put a stronger than average 450W hubs on it, so I guess that explains why.

ii. Stability and Maneuverability

R3 Mini has a kicktail that’s useful for sharp turns in tight space and dodging pedestrians, however beginners should pay extra attention when accelerating as it might resulted in an accidental manual and fall on their back. Honestly, same can be said about most shortboard with kicktails, always gotta be careful about them if you are not use to it.

iii. Vibration

The R3 Mini performs great on smooth roads. It has wide concaved deck that makes riding felt stable. It is very nimble and responsive as well. Carving with it is very enjoyable and fun.

But as always for a mini board, when it come to rough roads, the board will suffer. The combination of stiff and short deck make the road vibration felt intense.

iv. Range & Top Speed

I bet you notice something doesn’t add up here. Unless Enskate has it’s battery magic imbued, there is no way that a 10s1p 90wh get us to 12.5 miles or 20km in range.

Our range test gave us 6miles (9.5km) Riding fast on mode 2 and 3 which is expected from a small battery. On the 5.5miles (9km) mark, the voltage sag is noticeable as it starts to slow down significantly.

In other words, Enskate didn’t break the law of physics, but it might’ve broken the heart of some buyers who actually believes 12.5 miles (20km) is possible. Unless, you weigh 88lbs (40kg) and you ride conservatively, there is no way you will get 12.5 miles (20km) with it.

Our tested top speed however is slightly higher than the marketed top speed. During our test, we get 23mph (38kmh). The R3 Mini is pretty stable at high speed but still for a mini-board, 23mph (38kmh) felt faster than usual.

A closer look at the parts

i. Deck

The deck is 8 layers maple with close to zero flex. It has a very wide concave which makes riding feels very comfortable. It has a functional kicktail that is wide making it easy to kick turn.

ii. Components

The board uses a standard 90mm 78A wheels.

There is not much to say about the 90mm 78A wheels that Enskate uses other than there isn’t much to say about them.

Let’s just say, they are good wheels but they aren’t Orangatangs.

iii. Truck

Generic trucks that are nimble and responsive enough

iv. Remote

The R3 Mini uses generic Hobbywing and it came with the first-gen Hobbywing remote that has no telemetry screen.

For two of you who are not familiar with Hobbywing remote, this remote is comfortable in hand, it has no drop connection, and it fits pretty comfortably in the pockets.

Verdict

So, what is our final verdict on the Enskate R3 Mini?

I hope that by this point it’s plenty obvious that the R3 Mini isn’t made for punishing terrain or group rides. It’s made for a very specific purpose, last mile commutes on a sidewalk. So, is it good for that? Yes. It’s a polished short board that rides comfortably and isn’t a chore to lug around.

Is it the best campus board for $399? It really depends on your situation, other budget shortboards like the Meepo Mini 2 are every bit as good and have 2 times the battery size, but like Uncle Ben says, with great power comes… greater weight. There is a reason we DIY-ed a 10s1p crappy shortboard after all.

If you are interested in buying an Enskate, be sure to check out our affiliate discount link here and uses code: “ESKATEHQ” during check out.
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!

May 28, 2020May 31, 2020 by Paxson Lim

Enskate R3 Mini Preview – Will this be a good ‘campus’ board?

Enskate as a company has been a pretty good sport – If you remember, I made fun of their dildo shaped remote back when I reviewed their Enskate Woboard S, but they still came back to us courteously and even sponsoring this news to get the word out for their new product: Enskate R3 Mini.

Sorry, NSFW.
They’ve since then switched to a standard LingYi controller.

What is this Enskate R3 Mini about?

Enskate R3 Mini is a $399 Hobbywing dual-hub shortboard that is not heavy on specs but is light in weight. It uses a 2.5AH battery pack that uses Samsung 25R in 10s1p configuration. Enskate marketed a max range of 12.5miles (20km), however, my experience with Samsung 25R tells me that 8.5miles (12km) will be a more realistic expectation.

Enskate R3 Mini also has a marketed top speed for 21.7mph (35kmh), which is a pretty standard number for a shortboard.

Alright, so what’s the selling point here?

“Hey Paxson, don’t we already have lots of $399 boards in the market?” you may ask.

You are exactly right, random stranger! We do have lots of choices when it comes to budget shortboard at this price. However! None of them is IP54 weather-proof like the Enskate R3 Mini is. Did I tell you a story where my friend had to get his $500 shortboard repaired 2 times after he got caught in the rain twice while riding the board to work?

Now, painting the rest of the picture

Enskate R3 Mini is using an 8-ply Canadian Maple deck with a functional kicktail. Needless to say, having a kicktail will be really helpful for tight turns, provided you know how to use it.

R3 Mini uses a dual 450W hub motor with swappable sleeves. Nothing special about these as these hubs are pretty standard.

Standard Hobbywing Remote.
No complimentary sex toy for you this time.

Short summary:

Enskate R3 Mini is not made to be the best board ever, but it does fill certain needs very well. (Full review will be coming later.)

Portable (13lbs /6kg)
Intuitive control (with standard Hobbywing ESC)
Weatherproof (IP 54)
Budget pricing ($399 after shipping)
Standard top-speed (21.7mph/ 35kmh)
Uninspiring range (2.5AH battery)

Oh yeah, it ships from California Warehouse (1-5 days).

October 27, 2019May 27, 2020 by Paxson Lim

Enskate Woboard S Review – A futuristic looking shortboard!

Enskate blipped onto the radar with the launch of its Enskate Fiboard Indiegogo campaign back in 2017. While the Fiboard looked impressive, the Shenzhen based company overpromised and delivered an underwhelming product.
Woboards is Enskates attempt at righting the ship and offering improved products. Fiboard was distinctive and memorable owing to its futuristic design that featured a small screen at the head of the deck, and the $466 Woboard S has adopted the same design.

Unboxing

Woboard S comes in a double box, and once the box is opened, the board that greets the rider is much lighter than it looks. Woboard S weighs in at 15 lbs(6.8 kgs), has a simple finish that is not pretending to be premium.

First impressions:

The board uses a 10-ply maple deck that has zero flex, generic trucks that most riders would be familiar with and 83mm wheels which are decent in quality.

The charging port of the board comes with a twist cap cover, making the board more water-resistant than its predecessors. While the covered charging port is a nice feature, screwing and unscrewing this cap is a real pain in the ass and riders may find this feature clumsy.

This twist cap is super difficult to twist and untwist. Hate it.

Woboard S does have an IPS4 waterproof rating, but putting this to test isn’t recommended, as the previous Fiboard did not turn out to be waterproof despite having the IP rating. However, to add to this, Woboard S does have better water resistance than your regular eskate board.

and finally, the cool bits

The Screen

The scratch is on the plastic cover part of the grip tape.

The feature that differentiates the Woboard S from the rest is its built-in screen that tells the speed, range, battery level, and temperature. While the plastic cover over the screen is somewhat easy to scratch, the LCD screen is bright enough to be visible even in bright sunlight. To take this a step further, the display units on the screen can be changed by downloading the Enskate mobile app, but many might have trouble getting the app to work.
I couldn’t register the app as I was not able to receive the TAC code on my phone.

The lights

Another exciting feature of Woboard S would be its head and taillights. The board has inbuilt head and tail lights and these lights function like the lights on a car, that is, when the lights are switched on, both the head and tail lights turn on, and brake lights will apply even when the main lights are off. The lights can be turned from the remote control, which hilariously looks like a dildo.

NSFW

Specs:

Inside the plastic enclosure, the Woboard S comes with a 90WH battery with Samsung 25R cells in 10s1p configuration. The board is marketed to go for 12 miles, but it actually got me to only 8 miles or 12.5km. Of course, the range you can get depends on the terrain you ride on, the riding style you have and of course your weight. (I’m 155lbs or 70kg)

Riding Experience:

The Woboard S uses the LingYi ESC with smart turn-on features. While the LingYi ESC is known to have thrilling acceleration and harsher brakes, the Woboard S configuration is pretty meek, and hence both acceleration and braking remain reasonably tame. Acceleration is gentle and smooth; the braking, while it doesn’t have the smoothest curve, isn’t strong enough to be a discomfort to the rider.

The Woboard S trucks and busing set up makes the board very loose, turny and agile. In the odd chance that the board is still not maneuverable enough, the rider can always kick-turns with the kick tails. Being very turny also comes with a downside of reduced stability at high speeds, but this isn’t much of an issue here as Woboard S has only a tested top speed of 20.5 mph (33 kph).

The board also does not shine as the best carving board, as the bushings have little rebound and the deck is completely stiff. And of course, as expected, stiff deck and smaller, harder 83mm wheels made the Woboard S an uncomfortable board on rough terrain. The set-up just doesn’t absorb vibration well and you will feel every bit of vibration from poorly paved roads.

Verdicts:

Despite all of its limitations, the Woboard S is a good board for the purpose it aims to serve, which is a short commute within a city or a small area. It is light and easy to carry around. It has a kicktail, and so it is easy to maneuver in tight spaces or to pick up. It has smart turn-on, and hence it is easy to deploy. It’s limitations in acceleration, top speed, torque, range and vibration dampening aren’t too much of a factor if you are spending your time on flat sidewalks or good roads.

All in all, although the Woboard S isn’t the best performing board out there, it will still be a good fit for some people, especially if you like the LCD screen and the lights.

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