by Chris |
Last Updated: September 21, 2021 Altered Fantom 1.0
Pros
- Offers an extremely smooth ride that won’t jostle you or throw you off balance.
- Carves well. The trucks on this board are very responsive and easy to handle, especially with the tail kick.
- A great option for kids! It’s easy to control and doesn’t go too quickly, so it’s a great toy for young kids.
Cons
- Low weight capacity. This board is better suited to children than adults and can’t hold more than 120 pounds.
- Not much power. This motor is only 100 watts, so it won’t go very quickly or perform well on hills.
- Battery takes up to 10 hours to fully charge from empty, which is terrible given that it’s only got a 40-minute max ride time before dying.
Electric skateboards have become extremely popular. More and more people are interested in the hobby, and the market is slowly growing form a niche market to a broader one, with a wide variety of options in budget electric skateboards, some even available with same-day shipping online or for pickup in retail stores now!
The hobby can be intimidating for people who are new. With so many options at such a massive price variance, deciding where you can sacrifice features and where you can’t is pretty difficult. It can also seem like you’ll never find a good board in your budget if you don’t know for certain whether you will even enjoy the hobby.
This article is going to take a look at one of the most affordable electric skateboards on the market: the Altered Fantom 1.0 electric skateboard with a wireless controller. We will talk about the different parts that comprise it, how the ride experience feels, how it stacks up against other budget electric skateboards, and all the strengths and weaknesses. By the end, you’ll know whether or not this is the right option for your needs.
Table of Contents
Altered Fantom 1.0 electric skateboard features
The first part of this review is where we take a look at all of the Altered electric skateboard parts. The motor is not stellar right off the bat. At only 100 watts of power, this board can only hit 10 miles per hour of top speed. On the plus side, it uses a belt drive system, T2 torsion trucks, and decent polyurethane wheels, so the ride is smooth… while it lasts. It does weigh about 20 pounds, which can be a bit of a beast to carry around once the battery dies, especially for kids.
You can go for about 30 minutes before the battery needs a few hours to charge. If you’re looking for the range, there isn’t much data on that because the indicator is based on total ride time. Still, when you consider 30 minutes and a 10 miles per hour top speed, then the range should be somewhere around 5 miles… which is not great. The battery itself is a 12-volt rechargeable battery that offers 7- amps of power. This takes 8 to 10 hours to charge, so be prepared to wait a while once you finish the ride.
The deck is nice. It’s made from 7 layers of maple wood, and it has a concave design with a tail kick so you can stay stable while riding and direct it easier. It takes direction about as well as a traditional skateboard does. That being said, it’s only got a maximum load capacity of 120 pounds, and maxing out the load usually causes the motor to struggle even more. Still, it is even easier to control thanks to the Altered electric skateboard remote, which features a unique and easy to understand design and a few different
Altered electric skateboard review
Okay, so the features are clearly not very “grown-up,” but the ride can make up for a lot of that, especially to the right demographic. This board is a great option for kids who don’t need the power and range that electric skateboard commuters are looking for when they purchase. Most of the time, kids who ask for electric skateboards are looking for a really cool high-tech toy to show off to their friends, and in that capacity this board is perfect.
Deck and ride experience
The deck is pretty great, especially for kids. The concave shape, tail kick, and grip deck keep you stable during the entire ride and allow you to control the board. The remote itself also has grips so you won’t have to worry about accelerating and braking in time. Thanks to the Exkate T2 torsion trucks, the ride is extremely smooth. Your wheels will be able to handle turning and pavement cracks without losing stability and stopping or bucking you off the deck.
Breaking and safety
It’s also got a very responsive braking system. This is one of the areas that the Altered electric skateboard doesn’t sacrifice the strength of other boards to save money. You won’t have to worry about your kids getting hurt because at lower speeds like this board handles, braking is pretty quick and you can almost stop on a dime, without needing 30 feet or more. Although the motor and battery aren’t very powerful, they are well protected and well made for their class. You won’t experience part failures or overheating while riding.
How does the Altered Fantom electric skateboard compare?
When it comes to similar pricing, the Altered Fantom doesn’t have very many that can compete with it on price alone. Let’s take a look at a couple of the closest matches.
Altered Fantom 1.0 vs Swagboard NG-1 NextGen
Both of these boards are in the basement of market pricing, as 2 of the cheapest boards available. When it comes to safety and stability, the Altered Fantom wins. When compared with the Swagboard, the braking on the Fantom is significantly better. The Swagboard’s braking is not gentle at all and you may end up toppled, especially given the difference in deck construction.
On the other side, Swagboard’s battery is much better. It is capable of going a bit farther each charge, and it definitely doesn’t require 8 hours to recharge. Their top speeds are about even, with the Fantom topping out at 10 miles per hour ad the Swagboard adding an extra tic, to make it 11 miles per hour.
With deck to deck matching, both are made from maple wood and both include some nice grip. While the Swagboard’s deck has some handle holes so it can be carried when it runs out of juice, the Altered electric skateboard comes with a concave deck and kick tail, making for a smoother ride.
Altered Fantom 1.0 vs. Ancheer Mini
There is one more electric skateboard in the Fantom’s price class. Ancheer, known for some great boards, makes a mini version of their traditional electric skateboard that falls in a similar price range. This board can go up to 12 miles per hour, so it just edges out the Fantom on top speed. The range is about 6 miles, so while we don’t know for sure what the range of the Altered is, we calculated it around 5 miles, so these are also even.
The Ancheer mini-board only weighs 8.6 pounds, which is less than half of the weight of the Altered Fantom, making it much more convenient to carry around when the battery runs dry. On a similar note, the battery only needs 1 and a half hours to recharge, so this also wins. It can carry a maximum load weight of 132 pounds, which edges out the 120 that the Fantom can handle. This would make another great option in this category.
Conclusion
At first glance, the Altered Fantom 1.0 electric skateboard seems like a terrible choice. There are a lot of things that are lacking when it comes to this board. When it comes to the important factors most people look at, like top speed and range, this board falls pretty short of the best performers without even offering a decent balance between the two. It’s low power and can’t really handle much weight.
That being said, a lot of young people are excited about electric skateboards. They see their favorite YouTube celebrities going on about the amazing things electric skateboards can do, and they absolutely must have one. If you’ve got a kid who is begging you relentlessly for an electric skateboard, who may not have much experience and who doesn’t need to go very quickly, then this is a fantastic starter board.
The limited speed and range mean it’s safer for them than other boards and they won’t get too far from home before having to turn back around thanks to low battery power. Combine that with a very low price, and it’s a win all around. This way, if your kid ends up not falling in love with electric skateboards, and it’s just a fad, you haven’t dropped thousands (or even hundreds) on a test run!