BACKFIREG5 Electric Skateboard with OLED R5s Remote, Top Speed: 28.5mph, up to 25 Miles Range

My first e-skate of any variety that I actually own so it's not like I have anything to deeply compare with. But after doing a lot of research and trying to weigh the cost/performance of various options I picked this for 2 main reasons - easy to learn but with decent room to grow vs an entry hub board and less maintenance hassle vs a high power belt drive. Turns out other factors like range and noise were much more important than I initially figured but I lucked out in those departments. At under $600 I felt safe from major buyers remorse if it turned out to not be for me, your monetary comfort zone may vary. I'd have been seriously bummed right now though with the $349 G2 Black board I nearly chose with half the range and power. That board is probably great for a kid or if you just need a campus commuter and price is a really big factor but it wouldn't have cut it for me at all and I'd already be out of the hobby.The $300-450 range seemed to have too many compromises, mostly with range which I realized after a few rides is a *much* bigger factor than I initially thought so I'm relieved I went with something in the mid/upper 20 mile zone. So far my shortest ride has been 8 miles and most are 10-15 which would have me in full anxiety mode on a lower level board.Acceleration - After getting used to the performance I know I'd have quickly been upset with the more entry level boards, 350w x 2 motors vs 700 x 2 seems like a steep drop in acceleration potential when this isn't exactly blindingly quick. It is plenty though, I don't really feel wanting more often, you spend way more time at speed than getting up to speed and this will move smartly across intersections and up to cruising speed, it was more than quick enough to catch me off guard initially. With about 100 miles under my belt I'm still content with it's acceleration and even hill ability and while I could handle a bit more torque now, it's way down on my list of wants. Part of my plan with this was once I wanted to move up to faster, (If I even do, I'm more content than I thought) was to hand this down to my wife as this is an easy board to learn on while still having more than enough top end potential, she doesn't need a 5000w watt screaming belt drive with tons of torque to fuel her anxiety. If it weren't for eventually wanting something more all terrain-ey that can do nasty 5" wide "cracks" and awful roads better I'd just get another one of these.Top and cruising speed - Will it go 28.5? Couldn't tell you, I've not gotten past 24 because I only have a helmet and wrist guards, no smooth areas long enough and things quickly get exponentially more dangerous feeling as you go over 20. 20 is painful in a car, pleasant on a road bike, plenty on a longboard, terrifying on a street board. The fact my local roads and multi use trails are rough and have massive cracks every few yards limits where I could potentially test higher speeds too. The 11mph eco mode top speed is super casual and feels safe as kittens, I use it to not rile up my HOA and neighbors on the way in and out. Turbo mode is pointless for me, I'd rather have the throttle wheel be more progressive and I don't need the full top speed. Sport mode is just right, good response but not jumpy and still more top end than I actually use. Where I've found I'm happy to cruise is 14-16 on rougher roads with big cracks where I occasionally have to brake quicky and abandon ship when the cracks are wider than the wheels and 18-21 when it's smoother sailing, I'm honestly quite content to cruise all day at 20 if I could. At 22-24 I don't feel in danger from the board, no indication of speed wobbles or anything, but it just feels like there is not enough room for error if I don't see a hazard or get a big gust of wind or whatever. With rough pavement and these harder than typical wheels higher speeds make everything a bit buzzy and you can tell you're not fully in contact with the ground, a bit floaty like an air hockey puck or the really old school electric football games that worked with vibrations.Brakes - On flat they're great, more than enough to pitch you right off the front if you get into them too fast but quite smooth once you get the hang of it. Being gentle how you roll onto the brakes and lean against them turns out to be more important than how hard you get into the throttle. Down the worst hill on my regular ride which is long and theoretically about 9% they are certainly up to the task and not likely to toss me if I get in deeper faster than I wanted. I try to keep things about 16mph or less on big hills and gently ride the brakes just in case someday the brakes don't and I have to run out.Turning - Carves pretty smoothly at speed, out of the box though the trucks are set very tight and I couldn't make tight or even moderate corners only weighing 135. I'm still slowly and gently backing the kingpin nuts out every ride till I find my turn/stability sweet spot. I think some aftermarket bushings are in order to get it just right for my weight but I need to talk to people and learn a lot more about that as longboarding is new to me. Coming from street skating it's a huge change to not be able to carve quickly, kick turn on a dime or just ollie over something in a pinch. Long wheelbase and no tail is a learning curve for sure, this is much more similar to snowboarding than street skating.Range - SO good. They say 25-28 but in my longest single ride starting with a full battery of 15 miles I still showed 4/5 bars on the board battery so I don't know if it's just not accurate, I'm riding on average a lot slower than they expect while being light weight or what the deal is. The odometer is very accurate, like to a 10th of a mile in 10 miles so maybe it's right about battery level and I can actually go safely over 30 miles without calling a cab. I've gone on 2 rides on a single charge that totaled 19 miles and still been 3/5, I'm a bit skittish about getting a flat battery far from home, this wouldn't be fun to carry for 5+ miles. But I'm super happy I didn't go with my initial instinct of "well, 12 mile range is way plenty...that's an insanely long distance on a skateboard" no, it isn't, not on an e-skate if you have open trails and aren't stopping every block at a street light. Now that I'm past the board shakedown and local trail exploration phase I'll be doing 20+ mile rides pretty much every time.Comfort - Mixed bag because of my roads. The deck is pretty flexy and bouncy even with me being only 135, might be really squishy if you're much over 200 but I think it's a good fit for me and 160-180 lbs should probably love it. While I understand a very stiff deck might be better at high speeds I don't really like riding there often so I'll take comfortable where I do ride over extra stable where I don't. Anyway, the deck isn't the stability weak point when I get to my upper comfort zone of speeds which so far is only 22-24, it's the wheels. At 18-20mph on what passes for smooth for my area roads I get a fair amount of buzz that wears out my feet after several miles, I've got new Cloudwheel Rover 110 wheels on order and I might regrip with some padded grip tape. 80a is pretty hard for longboard wheels and if I had some fresh asphalt or glassy smooth concrete with tight seams they'd be pretty great, but I don't. I don't notice the hub sleeve style tire to be the weak point in wheel comfort like I've read about, I'm sure it transmits more vibration than the fronts do but my problem is big cracks and hub sleeve or not they're gonna suck on plain solid urethane. The bigger, softer new wheels should open up a lot of the paths I tried but don't return to because they have crack gaps that run from 1-2 inches wide, 1" deep every 20-30 yards like clockwork, which I can deal with but certainly don't like mixed with the occasional 3+" wide and 2" deep caverns sprinkled about that require a quick brake, jump off, run, hop back on after the board bounces across maneuver that I've gotten far too much practice with. What do you expect, it's New Mexico.Non powered longboard use - Being a hub drive that can coast does give it that 'normal' board feel at speed, you get a bit of a jolt if you just drop the throttle off instantly but the coasting feels right with no braking detectable to slow you down. Pushing doesn't feel good, you're high off the ground and there is a lot of inertia in a 22lb board so you need big, forceful pushes to get things moving without looking silly, I'm still trying to master that. I still push off from a start instead of just standing and using the power, it's too baked into my brain. Trying to get good at mixing a single push to overcome inertia and move over the sidewalk/street merge bumps and seams while rolling gradually on the power, it's easy to goof that one up and wheel out in a crosswalk which looks really cool. I definitely appreciate the silence of the hub drive more than I thought around other trail users and in and out of my complex, even if they know it's powered it sounds like I'm coasting and that lack of attention is priceless. Were this a belt drive I'd be walking this heavy beast a quarter mile in/out to stay on peoples good sides.Remote - It's fine, I've nothing to compare it with and it doesn't do anything to upset me. Screen can black out if you're wearing polarized sunglasses though and the screen could really be bigger with bigger print in general. You don't really look at it much while riding so whatever, but seeing battery level is important. I really like that it turns on the board and is rechargeable with a very long time between recharges. My odometer is spot on with the mapping software I use to plan a ride, 1% error maybe. The mode buttons are easy enough to figure out and even the cruise function is simple but it turns out I don't like using cruise control at all above about 16 mph, the slight slowing jolt you get when you touch the throttle to cancel is a bit disconcerting at high speed. The shape could be more round and hand friendly and maybe a texture or material that handles sweat better. I know, it's good to want stuff.Overall - This feels like the best possible board option for new and indeed *most* riders, yeah that's bold coming from a sample size of one. I say this because the breadth of it's useful life from stone cold wobbly beginner through to craving solid acceleration and pretty high speed performance that will satisfy most users for a long time and perhaps forever is huge. I can't see anything being more complete beginner through advanced intermediate friendly unless you need something physically smaller and lighter because it's for a kid or you're very petite. From an operational standpoint this can go as gentle and smooth as can be asked of any entry level board yet scale up to quick/fast with nothing more than a bit more push on the go wheel. There aren't unlimited options for hub wheel wheels, but you can get some of if not the best possible options (opinions vary) for it so I don't see that as a negative. Be hard to outgrow the range on this, if you do you'll be into the hobby deep enough that you'll like having a spare "beginner" board you can loan out to a friend capable of keeping up with your new rig that cost more than my first car. But to be totally honest if your roads really suck (go have a serious in person look at your local multi use trails and bike lanes) I'd recommend looking at the all terrain category vs street wheel and adjust your price horizon, I probably should have but that pushed up the price past the "what the hell" zone for me and I had no idea paved trails in a big city that is ostensibly governed by educated people, has regular access to power, water and other accoutrements of civilized society could be this poorly maintained. There are cracks on these trails where they should search for lost children.But better and bigger wheels plus knowing my routes make this totally viable and fun for me as long as I want or until I get the urge to make my credit card hurt.Update with Cloudwheel Rover 110's: Bigger wheels like this will *really* blunt your acceleration, uphill speed and range, makes the torque limitations of a hub drive clear. While the takeoff isn't as brisk as I'd like now the speed comfort zone for a given terrain has increased by about 3mph. I'll cruise on good surfaces at 22, sidewalks with regular joints at 15 and rough pavement at 18 instead of 19/12/15. Range went down from 28 to 20 miles. If your riding area permits you to stay with urethane wheels this boards power will keep you happier longer.