by Chris |
Last Updated: September 15, 2021 WowGo 3
Pros
- Plenty of great features for an affordable price! You won’t feel like you’re receiving budget board quality.
- Amazing customer service – The company remains friendly and helpful even after the sale and board includes a 180-day warranty.
- Shipping– You’ll receive your board within 5 days instead of waiting months! On top of that, they offer free global shipping!
Cons
- They’ve increased the price of this board compared to their older models and compared to the competition in the budget electric skateboard range. If this trend continues, they may no longer be classified as budget boards.
- Max load capacity is only 280 pounds, so heavier riders will lose the already more limited torque going up steep hills.
- Batteries recharge slowly – takes 3 hours to fully recharge!
This WowGo 3 review is going to check out one of the more popular budget electric skateboards. The WowGo 3 has been gaining a lot of traction in the market recently, so we decided to put it through its paces and see how it performed.
Small commutes have gotten a lot more eco-friendly lately.
People are ditching cars on shorter treks in favor of motorized bikes and skateboards. This is especially true of urban campuses and schools that are nestled nearby to a lot of local restaurants and culture.
Electric skateboards have become a way of life for a lot of people. They are a fun and zippy way to get from point A to point B utilizing cutting edge technology. Customized electric skateboards have also become a great way to express yourself and create! They are pushing the limits of top speeds for unprotected vehicles, some even capable of traveling over 40 miles per hour!
The problem is that despite being insanely cool, they are also very frequently insanely expensive. It can be difficult to begin using these boards, which is why they’re still a niche market. Finding boards that have all the best features, long ranges, tons of power, and attention to detail can often mean spending thousands of dollars, which is a significant investment.
The good news is that there is an increasing market for budget electric skateboards. If you don’t mind issues like bumpier rides or less high tech controllers, then you can usually find a great electric skateboard for under $1,000 by shopping around, and most of them will come with the feature you don’t want to sacrifice as long as you’re willing to compromise in other areas!
This WowGo 3 review is going to check out one of the more popular budget electric skateboards. The WowGo 3 has been gaining a lot of traction in the market recently, so we decided to put it through its paces and see how it performed.
Table of Contents
Key Features
Right off the bat, one of the things that make WowGo stand out is that when you buy one of their boards, it is delivered within 1 to 5 days. This can be either a pro or a con, depending on how you look at it. A lot of people don’t want to wait months for their board to be made to order, so this rapid delivery is a fantastic option for them! For others, the fact that these boards are preassembled in warehouses somewhere makes them feel less special and calls the craftsmanship into question.
Moving on to the features, the WowGo 3 uses an all bamboo with fiberglass deck. This makes it extremely flexible without losing strength, and the bamboo dampens your ride bumps and absorbs shocks well.
It uses a Turbo ESC that runs on the Hawkwing design, which is considered the best of the 2 budget board ESC options, and the hardware upgrade allows for faster acceleration. The remote is comfortable and user-friendly, and the power allows for a top speed of just under 25 miles per hour. While that won’t be breaking any speed records, it is nothing to sneeze at, either.
The electric skateboard uses dual rear hub motors instead of a belt drive. It takes advantage of the industry-leading Samsung 30Q battery technology and allows for an upgrade to the 40T battery for 8 Ah instead of 6 Ah. Unfortunately, that battery system takes 3 hours to recharge, which is significant. It offers a 12 to 14-mile range, which is nice for commuters who are traveling and don’t want to get stuck carrying the board, and the 8 Ah upgrade kicks that up to 20 miles!
The board can handle a 25 to 30 percent uphill grade. Although this isn’t quite as powerful as comparable models, it’s still pretty good for powering through the tough spots, especially since the advanced modes will feed you enough torque to make it.
The wheels offer some great grip. They’ve been rated at 78A and are 90 mm. In case you don’t like them, you can swap them! Even the PU sleeve on the hub motor can be swapped. WowGo3 uses Paris trucks for their boards, which is nice because it improves the turning responsiveness and ride smoothness.
WowGo 3 Review
Now that we’ve gotten a peek at the features and specs on the WowGo 3, let’s take a look at how it rides! After all, this is the most important part of your electric skateboard experience!
Range and Speed
In the test, the range performed about as advertised. When it was fully charged, I got about 15 miles of range out of it. This range was tested at around 18 miles per hour, so it’s got a pretty decent balance of range to speed, which is what we consider the most important aspect of any electric skateboard after budget range. Heavier riders may experience different results. I was riding in a flat area on a sunny day, and weigh around 160 pounds.
Obviously, the WowGo 3 doesn’t try to compete with other boards when it comes to top speed. Their main selling point is the great balance of reasonable speed with range. This means that you will find it pretty easy to hit that 25 miles per hour top speed.
Ride Experience
This is a really smooth board. Thanks to the bamboo, the deck is pretty flexible, It’s an upgrade over their previous models, which were very stiff and offered no concavity. This deck can absorb the bumps in the road and cracks on the sidewalk easily, so you won’t feel it when riding. Even the wheels contribute to the experience, offering a large enough diameter to roll over pebbles and stones without coming to a stop while offering a smooth experience.
The braking on this board is seriously impressive. Thanks to the powerful motor, the braking is pretty easy. Braking is usually the place where budget boards start to sacrifice compared to more expensive models. The WowGo 3 did not follow suit. On flat surfaces, it will stop so quickly that it can easily topple you if you aren’t prepared. Even downhill, it stops itself pretty quickly.
Remote
The remote offers control over your ride. It’s well designed and ergonomically mastered to fit into your hand with ease and have intuitive controls. The display shows you the speed, odometer, and remaining battery power. Everything is controlled using a single button. Press it once to toggle between slow (0 to 12 miles per hour), normal (up to 18 miles per hour), fast (up to 24 miles per hour), and turbo (up to 24 miles per hour with added torque) modes.
Pressing the button twice will toggle between forward and reverse directions. Pressing it and keeping it depressed for a longer period of time will turn it on and off. When you hold it, you can go into pair modes.
How does it compare?
Let’s take a look at how the WowGo 3 compares to a couple of its competitors.
WowGo 3 vs Meepo 3
In a head to head comparison, the WowGo 3 edges out the Meepo V3. Although the Meepo has a higher top speed, the WowGo offers nearly double the range of the Meepo while still maintaining decent speeds. Both of them have great decks, but the WowGo deck offers more turning responsiveness and shock absorption than the Meepo, which is stiffer and better suited to higher speeds. Finally, the WowGo uses the Hobbywing ESC instead of the LingYi, which makes it a much smoother experience. Read our review.
WowGo 3 or Starkboard?
The closest competitor on pricing to the WowGo 3 is the nearly identically priced (barring sales and promotions for either board and subject to pricing fluctuations) Starkboard. In a side by side comparison, the Starkboard’s top speed is only 20 miles per hour, as opposed to the WowGo’s nearly 25, so there isn’t a massive difference, there, but there is a significant one.
The Starkboard’s range caps out at 12 miles, while the WowGo 3 can handle up to 15 miles. They weigh exactly the same amount, and the WowGo runs on 8 extra battery Wh than the Starkboard, so they’re comparable in that regard. The Starkboard battery takes less time to charge, but the WowGo’s uphill grade is twice as much, offering 30% incline capacity compared to the Starkboard’s pretty pitiful 15% grade.
Conclusion
We love this board! It’s a little pricier than some other budget skateboards, but the extra features are worth it in our opinion. It won’t be the best choice for people looking for speed, but it’s got the perfect balance of speed and range. It has a 15-mile range even at speeds of up to 18 miles per hour. When it comes to budget boards, you won’t find a smoother ride than this!