Tag: semi-AT

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

Ownboard AT 1W Review – Good Evolve clone?

The Ownboard AT1W is a board that hasn’t been talked about much, beyond how it stole its graphic design from the Evolve GTR. If you look past the design shenanigans, the Ownboard AT1W is actually a pretty beefy board worthy of some attention!

Ownboard AT-1W Review

  • Deck Size: 39-inch (99cm)
  • Top Speed: 25mph (45kmh)
  • Range: 24miles (40km)
  • Battery Pack: 432Wh (Sanyo GA in a 10s4p, 14Ah)
  • Weight: 27.5lbs/ 12.5kg
  • Motor: 2 x 1200W hub motors.
  • Wheels: 105mm rubber wheels
  • Price: 799 USD
  • Features:
    • Remote with Telemetry,
    • Swappable Wheel Sleeves

Beyond just copying the grip tape design, Ownboard also kept most of the Evolve formula – using a double kingpin truck, Double drop deck, and a 10s4p battery configuration.  The battery cells on this one, however, are Sanyo GA, and the total pack is 432wh in size.

And the ESC it uses is the widely popular Hobbywing ESC.

The Ownboard AT1W uses 105mm rubber wheels and powers itself with two 1200W hub motors. This yields a top speed of 25mph (45kmh) and a range of 24miles (40km).

In short, you can think of the AT1W is as an Evolve Bamboo GTR with 105mm rubber wheels and hub motors. Obviously, as the AT1W uses hub motors, there is no way to convert it to pneumatic AT wheels.

So you might be thinking: there are many many Evolve clones out there, so why should someone care about this one in particular? Well, the Ownboard AT1W is definitely one of the more affordable Evolve clone, and $799 is a good price for any eskate with 10s4p battery. What I meant to say is that Ownboard AT1W looks good on paper, and what we are trying to know is if it is also good to ride.

First, let’s talk about the numbers.

Numbers & Performance:

Range:

The 10s4p 432wh Sanyo GA batteries did hit the full range of 24miles or 40km it promised. However, we can’t verify the marketed top speed, which is 25mph(45kmh), as the board was too wobbly for us to comfortably reach that speed. That’s is even after tightening the Double kingpin trucks all the way down.

Top Speed:

We aborted our test at 21mph (35kmh) and called it a day. The board definitely can hit the marketed top-speed 25mph (45kmh), it just that we as the rider couldn’t. We will talk more about the truck letter,

Riding Experience

Speed Control – Buttery Smooth

So, let’s talk about the riding experience. First, let’s talk about speed control. The Ownboard AT1W uses a customized Hobbywing ESC, similar to their other products. That means buttery smooth speed change with fairly good strength in the brakes. Unlike the Exway and Wowgo boards, there is no smart-power-on for this one, which is too bad.

Torque – Sufficient but not very powerful

Many of us love to hate the 10s set-up as it bottlenecks the torque, especially when combined with hub motors and big wheels. As that is exactly what the AT1W is, it’s no surprise that the torque on this one isn’t amazing. While going uphill wasn’t an issue for us, we had issues when trying to ride it off roads. For example, when we are riding it on thick grass, the board was unable to start from a standstill due to the lack of torque. This will probably be a dealbreaker for those who really love torque.

Manoeuvrability – Twitchy trucks

As I mentioned just now, this pair of double kingpin truck Ownboard uses is not great. You see, when it comes to double kingpin trucks on an eskate; some brands did get it right, but many didn’t, and those who didn’t get it right usually end up with wobbly trucks. Ownboard’s double kingpin trucks are obviously the latter, and in our opinion, this is the most significant weakness of the AT1W. It has poor return to center, so when you make a turn, it doesn’t rebound back and help you recenter. The lack of rebound also means it doesn’t help to stay centered. Of course, the double kingpin trucks do allow a small turning radius for tight turns – so there’s that.

The flaw with the truck is such a shame, as the rest of the board is very likable.

Vs Road vibration – great

Underneath the pretty grip tape, there is a wide deck with moderate flex and a comfortable concave. Our feet felt pretty comfortable on the deck. The flex of the deck, the drop through set-up, and big 105mm wheels also means that road vibration is pretty well absorbed, and riding on the rough road is actually alright.

The 105mm rubber wheels did their job well and will roll over most terrain, but all-terrain they are not. They can do grass, sand, and rough road; but gravel and stones are definitely off-limits. The accurate name for this board should be Ownboard Semi-AT1W, but I guess this doesn’t have the same ring to it.

Issue – 1) Poor bottom clearance

105mm wheels on a double drop deck also mean that the bottom of the deck has very little clearance. I promise that you will rub the bottom of the deck on every single speed bump out there. This again is a point against off-road uses.

Issue – 2) Rubber wheels aren’t durable

Another thing that many people love to hate about rubber wheels is that they tend to wear fast. Well, they do, but at least the rubber sleeve is replaceable.

Verdict:

Should wobbly trucks and poor ground clearance stop you from considering this $799 board?

Let’s look at it this way: the AT1W is not for someone who is looking for an All-Terrain board, I hope that’s pretty clear by now. It’s also not for those who like to ride really fast, as the trucks are pretty wobbly.

Who is the Ownboard AT1W good for?

Perhaps someone who needs the range, who needs the safety provided by relatively large 105mm wheels, and who doesn’t typically ride fast and really likes the maneuverability of a double kingpin truck; but someone who, at the same time, doesn’t like the maintenance of a belt-drive and prefers the hassle-free hub drive.

I don’t think this description matches a lot of riders out there, but if that description fits you, then consider Ownboard AT1W.

So, what do you think? Do you like the look of this AT1W, and what do you think about it? Let us know in the comment section.

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