Swagtron Swagboard NG-1 Youth Electric Longboard, Black

I was looking for a decent boosted board alternative. I am pleasantly surprised. I had seen some half-decent reviews on YouTube and was unsure of what to think. I haven't gone to work without my car in over 5 years. My first day with this board, I couldn't just NOT ride it to work. It was fun, fast (enough) and didn't give me any problems.Here is the stuff that I wanted to know before I purchased it and wasn't sure of:Speed: Fluctuates between 9.5 and 10.2 mph. - As a lifelong skateboarder, I could easily handle it twice as fast, but 10mph is a reasonable and fun speed. Probably more fun for non-skateboarders or thrill seekers. This is a practical means of transportation, not an amusement park ride.Battery: It came with a dead battery, that made me feel... not so hopeful. I let it charge for a few hours and then rode it around for 30 minutes. In that period of time, it didn't seem to slow down or show signs of dying. I eventually got bored, or cold and went inside. I proceeded to throw it on the charger. I haven't had it die on me yet but I also haven't used it as a long distance means of transportation. I work just over 1 mile from where I live. I'm very confidant that I can make it round trip without a charge.Charging: It says that 2.5 hours gives a full charge. This seems about accurate. That means I can ride it to work, bring the reasonably small AC adaptor with me, charge it at work, and ride it home without any issues. This is after all what I purchased it for in the first place and it does that exceptionally well.If the battery dies: You can ride it like a normal skateboard with (almost) no resistance. This was a big concern of mine. If the battery dies, it's more or less just a regular skateboard but it doesn't become difficult to ride.Wheels: The wheels are a good size, I found myself not even looking at the ground while riding because I can tell that it will just run over small pebbles and debris without throwing you forward. Unless there is a sizable object in your path, the wheels will handle it. It rides up and down sidewalk aprons with ease (as long as you are coordinated enough) and the cracks between sidewalk blocks can be felt, but aren't an obstacle.Griptape: Too grippy in my opinion. I think this board was made so that a variety of people can ride it but a coordinated person or anyone who is familiar with a skateboard doesn't need griptape this grippy. It's not a problem, but I did put a mild rip in an expensive pair of pants unboxing this thing. It was much more coarse than I expected. Not a problem, but be careful picking it up by the handle or you can potentially take some skin off. It gets the job done though, it's griptape. Replace it if you don't like it.Size and Shape: This is my only real qualm about this. I expected a longboard. The pictures aren't inacurate but they are taken at strategic angles. This board is only slightly longer than a traditional skateboard, and has almost no tail or nose. This makes things like riding off of curbs very difficult to do safely. I really don't understand why the manufacturer would leave you without at least a tail to press down on for emergencies or advanced riders. It's a comfortable size, and it's got a longboard shape- I don't think that Swagtron is trying to be misleading by calling it a longboard, but it's really not a longboard per-se. More like a "Slightly longer skateboard in a longboard-esque shape" so if you want this because it's a "Longboard" instead of wanting it because it's an "Electric Skateboard", I don't think this is for you. Then again, this product does exactly what you'd expect it to, and I've never understood the whole longboard obsession. This is a working product with a slightly less than ideal shape but it's a very decent electric skateboard. You can't really kick the board up by the tail.Brakes: This is a big point that I wanted to mention. A lot of the reviews I saw on YouTube complained about the brakes being too aggressive. They aren't. The first time you hit the brakes at 10mph, it will be slightly surprising how efficient they are. They bring you from 10mph down to 2mph in a second or so but any reasonably coordinated person can handle this with ease. I really like the brakes. If they were less "aggressive" they wouldn't be as functional. I had to use them coming to a busy intersection and it worked exactly how I'd want them to work. Anything slower wouldn't be safe enough to ride around traffic, walls or other obstacles.Remote: The remote feels like it's on the cheaper side. It operates comparably to an RC car remote in terms of response. It worked right out of the box, the battery on the remote is very good and it's USB rechargeable. So I'd say it's functional, but not fancy. The screen reminds me of the old handheld poker games that used to by lying around your grandparents' houses. It has cruise control and that's nice. The brakes are very responsive. It works, but I do feel like it can go into "sleep mode" when you don't want it to. Not when riding, but when getting ready to get started. It goes to sleep pretty quickly, but that saves battery life, right?Why I gave this a 5 star review: This is a $200 product. If I purchased this with the impression that it would give me the same experience as a boosted board that costs $1,500, I'd be slightly disappointed but for the price- this is an excellent alternative. This is the review that I wish I could have read before buying the product. I was very unsure of what to expect when buying this but it deserves a 5 star review for the price. The expression that comes to mind is "functional, and fun". I experience buyer's remorse after buying toys pretty quickly. I don't regret this purchase at all.Final thought: If this board goes ~10mph, you will travel 1 mile in about 6 minutes if you don't have to stop or slow down. Use google maps to see the distances to places you may want to ride to. If it's under 3.5 miles, you can probably make it round-trip without charging or 7 miles with a 2.5h charge before you head back. If you are ok with riding it like a regular skateboard, you can easily stretch the battery life out quite a bit.Additional Information/Disclaimers: I weigh about 140lbs. I have not tried to ride this up or uphill. I have only owned it for a day. These are my first impressions but the thing feels sturdy and well-made enough that I don't expect my opinion to change. If it does, I will modify the review.

UPDATE: Swagtron customer care contacted me and apologized for the issues I've had with their RMA service. They sent us a BRAND NEW board and my son is elated. He's been riding it for several weeks now and has had no problems. I'm very happy that Swagtron stepped up and did the right thing. If you have trouble with this board and need service, you may be in for disappointment unless Swagtron has addressed their service team (or outsourced RMA service). The board is very cool and my son loves it. Unfortunately, ours died after a month of use and I had a nightmare to get it fixed/replaced. In the end, Swagtron came through so I increased stars from 1 to 3. If it hadn't been for the poor RMA service, I'd give this product a 4 or 5 star review based on how cool it is. :)ORIGINAL REVIEW: I bought this board for full-price around Christmas 2016 before they started selling the boards at a discount. My son rode the board on our smooth (new) blacktop driveway for about 2 months on and off. The board looks like new...no abuse whatsoever.After about 2 months, the motor stopped working. The battery pack showed charged and the controller showed link and full battery...but the motor wouldn't work. I reached out to Skagway to ask for warranty repair and found out that I would be responsible for paying for shipping for this heavy board to ship their defective product back to them. I asked them if they would consider supplying a pre-paid shipping label and they refused. They said all I could do was go to their website and fill out an RMA form...and I'd be contacted by them. A day or two later, I received an RMA form...but no shipping label.I ended up paying almost $30 for insured shipping to get the board back to the manufacturer for repair. They had the board for about two weeks and then sent it back. When I opened the box with my son, the board was still not working. Same issue...battery charged, controller showing link and full battery...but no wheel movement. ALSO...the front truck was not fully attached to the board. It appears whoever worked on it at Swagtron didn't even bother to screw the truck back on all the way. The screws were supposed to hold the truck mounting plate to the board were sticking out about 1/8". So...the board wasn't fixed and was actually in worse shape when it was sent back to me.I was frustrated, so I called Swagtron today and asked if they would consider shipping out a new board and I'd return the defective one. They refused and said that I needed to go back online to their website and fill our a new RMA form and go through the whole process again. The agent on the phone had ZERO customer service skills. I asked if there was any way to avoid going through the same RMA process again and he said, "Sir, I'm telling you what you need to do...You need to go to our website, download and fill out the RMA form and resubmit it." I asked if there was a manager I could speak to or a corporate number at Swagtron I could call. He simply said, "Sir, I've told you what to do. If you want the board fixed, you need to go to our website and fill out the RMA form...AGAIN."I have NEVER had such poor customer service from a company that claims to sell such "premium" products in my ENTIRE life. Swagtron is horrible. I will never buy another product from them again and will go out of my way to let everyone know to avoid them. If they reach out to me and make this right, I'll update my review. Until then, the truth is the truth.

I bought my board 1 month ago and I haven’t had any issues except one con is the battery life I weight 98 pounds and I’m 13 I can get up to 9 kilometres (6miles) on a full 3 hour charge the remote rarely loses battery you only have to charge it for 3 hours every 10 days or whenever it gets low another con is the motor wheel gets very dirty and the metal ring by it is very scraped up I live in Canada so it’s a little bumpy another little con is that the plastic is very hard to get off the bottom Would I recommend yes if you weight less then 130 pounds then you can get the most use out of the board it’s been very good for me to get to school and I haven’t had any real issues without yet I’ll update if I do

This is a great entry board for *lightweight* electric longboarders. It was easy to use out of the box, the controller synced immediately, and the charging time is pretty quick. The top speed is not the fastest (that might actually be a good thing for many riders), but it is great for cruisinging around the neighborhood.Uphill is pretty slow going, and honestly, you're better off pushing up hills - this is the biggest battery drain.The spec distance must be on smooth pavement with no hills, because I only weigh 150 lbs, and I definitely didn't make it 10 miles.The acceleration is smooth, but the braking is sharp.All things considered, this board is great fun, and definitely worth the price.*Note* after using for a couple weeks, the drive wheel is already starting to show wear.

Honestly I was excited before I got it despite the reviews already here. After I got it I’m now even more disappointed.Let me tell you why.Pros:1. At this price this is a fun entry level board to electric skateboard.2. The board is made pretty good I would say.Cons:1. There are no “Speed Control”. You get one speed when push forward.2. Break only. No reverse.3. I weight 170 and on a flat asphalt I was going 9 - 10Km/h. Is REALLY SLOW.4. The breaks are so forceful that every time I break I feel like I’m going to get toss off the board.5. The remote control is so cheaply made that I was pretty shocked how cheap the plastic is.Even at this price of $300 Canadian. This is just sad. I can’t recommend this to anyone.

junk broke after less then a week of riding

We purchased these for our teenage sons to get around the university campus and around the neighbourhood. We have multi-purpose paved trails in our neighbourhood, so they are able to navigate around, legally, pretty well.