by Chris |
Last Updated: May 3, 2020 E-Glide GT Powerboard
Pros
- All-terrain electric skateboard! You can ride this in the snow without damaging the electronics, and it performs well in grass, sand, and other less than ideal turfs.
- Rage: The upgraded battery offers an insanely high range of 30 miles!!
- It comes with a 1-year warranty on the electronics, so you can rest easy knowing you’ve got a quality product.
- Original high-power electric skateboard offers over a decade of experience.
- Tons of great built-in safety features. These include separate power switches, variable speed controls, and automatic shut-down if the controller gets unplugged.
- The California-based company makes these boards to order in the USA and is on hand to offer world-class customer service and support.
Cons
- Weight: This board weighs over 50 pounds, making it a real burden to carry around once you run out of power. This is not portable at all! Make sure you never get stuck without power when using it.
- Uses one wheel drive, so the tire treads can wear down unevenly. They may need regular rotation or replacement to avoid loss of traction.
- Not a budget board. The price of this board is high, especially if you spring for the 30-mile range battery. You may be able to find what you’re looking for at a more affordable price than this.
- The wired controller could produce some anxiety in riders who may not like having to be conscious of the wire during their ride. It may not be worth the added safety protection from hacking and interference, especially in off-road travel.
Electric skateboards have become very popular. More and more people are using them for commutes and races. Enjoying the feel of the wind on your face as you whip past obstacles and people is a real thrill!
Although this is a niche market, there are still a lot of different options. It can be difficult to know which board to purchase, especially when both the $300 budget boards and the $5,000 custom boards both seem to offer similar top speeds or ranges. How do you decide?
First, you need to set your budget. This will quickly narrow down your options. Once you’ve set the budget, think about the features you absolutely must have, and the features you can sacrifice. For most people, the choice will come down to top speed and range. Most electric skateboard users are looking for wicked speeds, long ranges, or a decent balance of range to speed. Knowing your preference can help.
Still, for some users, there are other features they’re not willing to sacrifice. For example, not everyone rides in smooth, paved terrain. Not all climates are the same. Some people need a board that can handle tricky climates or a lot of terrains. These users will want to focus their efforts on finding an all-terrain electric skateboard.
This article is going to look at one of the more popular all-terrain electric skateboards, the E-Glide GT Powerboard. By the end, you’ll know the features, strengths, weaknesses, and how it compares to competitors.
Table of Contents
E-Glide Electric Skateboard Features
This board has some pretty impressive specs. One of the coolest things about this board is the option to swap batteries for some serious range! On a standard battery, you get around 15 miles of range, but with an upgrade, it can do nearly 30. This board weighs over 50 pounds, so it’s not a very portable board for users who end up carrying it once it runs out of power, but with a range like that it seems unlikely that this will ever happen to you.
It’s also got a pretty decent speed range. The top speed is around 25 miles per hour, and it can go from 0 to 23 miles per hour in 4 seconds flat! It includes regenerative braking to increase the battery life and a 36-volt, 800 Watt motor that is paired with industrial-grade computational power. All of these electronics include a 1-year warranty.
The wheels are fabulous. The E-Glide GT Powerboard uses 9-inch Kenda Turf tires with a 17-inch wheelbase. This makes them perfect for any terrain, whether you’re riding in snow or sand, off-road or on! The electronic parts are tucked up pretty high, offering great clearance, too. These wheels are extremely flexible because they were built to go off-road. Even if you hit muddy patches, your electric skateboard can power through it. Even the trucks and bushings are built for adventure, offering extra shock absorbency and pneumatic precision.
E-Glide Skateboard Review
Now that we’ve taken a look at the features, let’s see how they all work together to make the ride experience on this board!
Deck Design
This deck is made from aluminum for a smoother ride. It’s got a dropped design that offers added stability with enough flex and dampening capacity to offer a really smooth ride. The rise at the edge of the deck lets you brace when you’re rapidly accelerating or braking and find a great balance. With the nearly 8-inch clearance offered, even off-roading will result in a smooth ride and excellent suspension.
How’s The Power On This Board?
This board offers a great deal of power. The upgraded power and voltage offers the kind of torque and acceleration that increases the top speed by 20%! The acceleration is wicked fast, getting to 23 miles per hour in just 4 seconds, and it can handle rough terrain and steep hills at speed.
Truly All-Terrain
The board definitely lives up to its reputation of being built for any terrain. It’s got waterproofing technology that was engineered for the safety of both rider and parts. With a nearly 8-inch clearance, it can handle bumps and jostling on uneven terrain. The sealing offers protection in the snow and rain.
The board’s RPM is controlled. This makes it safe and stable, without having to worry about acceleration changes going uphill or downhill. The deck’s drop design offers additional stability, so you won’t lose your balance. The pneumatic tires maintain this stability and can easily roll over sticks, stones, and other obstacles that would cause most boards to come to a very abrupt halt.
How Does It Compare?
Now, let’s compare the E-Glide skateboard to some of its competitors in the off-road electric skateboard market.
BLITZART Mini Flash vs Evolve
The Evolve is a great electric skateboard so we definitely wanted to compare the two products. When it comes to the range, the E-Glide wins this battle. The Evolve has a range of up to 12 miles and a top speed of around 22 to 25 miles per hour. While top speeds are comparable across the boards, the ability to hit 30 miles in range gives the E-Glide an edge over the Evolve!
Although the Evolve has a hill grace capacity of 25%, when you match power to power, the E-Glide has more acceleration and torque by a landslide. Deck to deck, both options offer great smoothness. The Evolve’s more traditional bamboo deck offers great flex and dampening, while the dropped deck on the E-Glide offers better stability and bracing capability.
Both of them have the same weakness when it comes to battery charging. These boards take a pretty long time to recharge, so if you’re stranded you need to be prepared to sit somewhere for a while or hoof it back home with your board. Given that the Evolve is less than 20 pounds to the E-Glide’s over 50, the comparison puts them neck and neck depending on which features you’re more interested in having.
E-Glide vs Backfire Ranger X1
One of the top-rated all-terrain electric skateboards is the Backfire Ranger X1. Naturally, we wanted to see how it compares to the E-Glide. Right at the start, it comes with a much more affordable price tag. The wheels are smaller on the Ranger than the E-Glide, so despite them both being all-terrain wheels that can handle grass, mud, and other bad conditions, the E-Glide takes a bit of an edge here.
Both boards offer a curved deck with some flex, which absorbs shock and offers a smoother ride, and both of them offer great trucks. The top speed is pretty identical across both boards, and they each offer great uphill climbing power. The Ranger has dual motors, which offer quite a bit of power, and the primary battery offers around 20 miles in range, making it almost as good as the 30-mile range offered by the E-Glide and slightly better than the range with the basic battery.
The Ranger is also much lighter. Given that it’s more affordable, more portable, and offers similar top speed and a range somewhere between the standard and upgraded range options of the E-Glide, we think that the Ranger just barely edges out the E-Glide electric skateboard as the better option, as long as you’re willing to sacrifice a little bit of torque, braking power, and wheel size and clearance. It’s a pretty even race between the two!
Conclusion
We really like this board. The price is a bit steep for regular commuters and speed races, but if you are buying an electric skateboard because you want some adventure then this is a great choice. The company was one of the first to create electric skateboards, so they’ve perfected their craft. This all-terrain board can handle anything you might throw at it, from sow to sand to mud!