Marbel vs. Boosted vs. Evolve

Hi,

So I've decided to take the plunge and pick up one of these awesome looking boards. I figure this community has some strong opinions on which board is the superior board, and I'm eager to learn what you guys think. I live in the city, and am looking to pick this up as a commuter to work and errands which are closeby.

From what I can surmise, the Marbel may be the best bet. It's the fastest (25 mph), lightest (9.9 lbs), and cheapest ($1299). The 10 mile range is perfectly adequate for me. It also isn't shipping yet, and I worry about buying the early shipping models and having some problems that were unforeseen before mass production.

The Boosted is the 2nd lightest at 15 lbs., has a good top speed of 20 mph and has seemed to garner good reviews. Its range is only 6 miles, which worries me somewhat. It's also comfortably the most expensive board here, 54% moreso than the Marbel.

The Evolve Carbon Street model is a very nicely put together board. It has a nice top speed of 23 MPH, and an unrivaled range of 25 miles. It's a bit heavier than the above boards, but not prohibitively so, at 19 lbs. It's 27% more expensive than the Marbel.

I would say Marbel wins hands down. It beats Boosted on price, speed, range, weight, and Marbel has that ingenious wall charging rack. Both have regen braking and a (seemingly) ergonomic and compact transmitter. The only think I think Boosted has them beat on is aesthetics/design. But that's subjective and not even worth factoring in to the comparison.

I like the Evolve with the option of AT. Although, their board is pretty big.

Personally, I prefer Boosted over Marbel. Marbel hasn't really shown their electronics and could be straight off the shelf versus Boosted they actually custom made theirs.

IMO --- I would probably just make my own again. Especially, with our new custom ESCs and the option to run 12/13S batteries.

Sure, it won't be as pretty but you have a lot more customization.

In the end either one is fine. Better than no eboard at all.

Yeah, on second thought I agree with Torqueboards. For cheaper than all of those choices you could DIY a pretty sweet e-board!

You should check out Enertion Boards

At this point i think DIY is better.... Also i think in the future not many people will want to buy a complete board that cannot be easily upgraded and modified with other skate/electronic parts etc. Would you buy a mountain bike that only takes one kind of seat, or one kind of handle bars, or one kind of wheel..... the bike industry has shown that people want to build the machine that does the job they want.... and the fact that no one individual is the same... the pre built board options will always leave you wanting something more... they simply can't build something that will make everyone happy.

WITH DIY
> choose your deck
> choose your wheels
> choose your weight
> choose your range
> choose your speed
> choose choose choose choose.

however just takes a bit longer to build (....well, maybe not, as marbel not available) and requires time to educate yourself about certain things, plus you can F up and shit can blow up etc.

the DIY option has REALLY come a long way in just the last 12 months! you can easily build a very nice professional looking board... I would recommend buying some of the semi-built kit options that torque, alien & I make... it takes some of the guess work out of building your own from scratch.

Honestly..... just give it another few months (shit is happening fast) and most the DIY products will be equal or superior to these pre built ones anyway.. if i was boosted, marbel or evolve i would be worried!

advancements such as
> wii remotes
> custom ESC (and the performance data)
> Li-ion battery & built in charge solutions.

there really isn't too many other things we need to crack until our DIY stuff is the superior option on all levels.

Honestly I feel like almost all our DIY boards are better than pre-existing pre-built boards. Boosted and marbel and the bajaboard I think are the only pre-build boards that have some advantages than DIY. At the same time they have some down sides as well.

well said onloop...
I'd tend to aqgree DIY will outperform (most of us currently do) market boards within a very short time.
There's hundreds of us for every engineer in any of these companies...
We ride hundreds (if not thousands) of miles more a month than they do...
We try all kinds or new stuff everyday... what fails gets left behind, what works sticks...
Two boards that came into being in the last weeks (papertripping and voodojars) just to mention 2 of the top of my head, took 3 months or so to assemble, and 400-800bucks...... booster and marbel have yet to deliver... and cost way more.
from this point of view they dont stand a chance...

HOWEVER being able to pick up an eboard at wallmarts and ride 2 hours later, or buy one on amazon and get a proven machine for those who arent interested in the hobby side and just want to commute is something we are still a ways from being able to offer..

Thanks all for the replies.

I would love to make a board myself but have absolutely no relevant skills whatsoever. I'm looking for the best production board I can buy.

I would go with Marbel: better range greater top speed and way cheaper!! But it only has one motor so I don't know how powerful the board will be for uphills...

$1200 you could build yourself a dual motor setup -- why settle for 1 motor? now you could even have pneumatics also.

I was actually planning on backing the marbel. Just because but then I thought about it and said there isn't much I couldn't do with a $1200 budget. The only great thing is that it's all enclosed. We are definitely getting there.

Stated mileage is never that accurate with production based boards.

If I had to choose --- I would just go with a Yuneec E-go for $699 and an Airwheel from eBay $400.

give me $2000 and i will make you a frocking weapon!

To be honest, I would only consider getting a boosted from that list, simply because its the only one that doesn't look like dog balls. Marbel may have destroyed the kickstarter recently, because of the engineering features, but if they had someone like me on the team (as in, an industrial designer) then it would have been much better. A designer is the only thing that sets the boosted apart, and lets them charge the $800 more for their inferior product. Combine the Marbel board and the boosted team, and we have a winner.

I design/build longboards, built an electric bike a few years ago and just recently got a scooter, so a board is next on my list, hoping to get it done over the christmas break. I would recommend a home build for you too, you can get all the componentry pre-built if you are really unsure about building it yourself, then just assemble it. At the very least, you need to learn all the componentry just to properly look after it and set your deck up well, so the assembly of a board would be a great way to learn this. Plus, there are great tutorials on here, and helpful people.

In regards to diy being better in a year, fully believable, but I would be surprised if the designers/engineers from those boards don't already keep an eye on this forum. We are the market, the trend, the free R&D. We are the open source competitor that they can learn from without leaving the office or spending a cent.

Does Marbel have any production boards out yet? I honestly have problems with all those boards and it generally revolves around their claims of weight, speed and distance. The numbers just don't add up most of the time when I look at their battery sizes.

Agree with voodojar.... battery weight... watt hours per mile and such dont usually add up... sort of like when you buy your hummer truck and dont really get those 49 mpg they advertise...LOL

But if what they claim is true then marbel has the best stats! 10miles for 9lb. That's pretty good

Jj2525 you should defenitly give building one a shot. The people on this community won't let you down!!! Plus you will actually appreciate your board more as it was made with your own sweat and blood.

BShady said:

But if what they claim is true then marbel has the best stats! 10miles for 9lb. That's pretty good

Jj2525 you should defenitly give building one a shot. The people on this community won't let you down!!! Plus you will actually appreciate your board more as it was made with your own sweat and blood.

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To build a 10 lb board that can go 25 MPH in an all-enclosed, seamless elegant design is probably unlikely to be done by an expert in this arena, letalone someone who knows nothing like me. I would love to do it I just don't think it's realistic for what my goals are.

The Marbel's should be getting to the Kickstarter backers soon or have already, but I've yet to see any videos or reviews surface. 6 mile range on the Boosted, along with a 2k price tag is alarming. I like the Evolve a lot too, it's nice looking, just wish it were a bit lighter as it's built with carbon fiber and shorter.

If you replace the evolve batts with 18650 cells you will get a lighter board. I compared mine DIY with the evolve and it is much much lighter.

I was hanging out w someone yesterday with the boosted. One large plus it has which other already made boards don't is sensors. I don't know how much they help w starting from a dead stop or changin directions but it was definable quiet. Maybe it's the controller that's making it quiet. Boosted use sine waves?

At least they have a lot of volt potential which beats every other controller thats not too big I've come across.



The board was very flexy which I didn't like

Guy had gotten it for 1500 and was goin to use the 30day window to return it and get the E-go.

Maybe you can over-ride the speed limitations on that board simply with bigger wheels. Limited to bout 20 but I've seen them climb steep hills

Once Marbel starts shipping their boards (I thought KS backers were supposed to've already gotten theirs?), it will be interesting to see whether their stats hold up in reviews. If they do, 25MPH, 10 Miles, 10 LB will be hard to beat.

One thing is for sure though, the way they've integrated the electronics into the board deck itself seamlessly, with nothing visible on the bottom is incredible, and something board makers should be looking to emulate in the future.

JJ2525 said:

One thing is for sure though, the way they've integrated the electronics into the board deck itself seamlessly, with nothing visible on the bottom is incredible, and something board makers should be looking to emulate in the future.

Click to expand...

I agree. There's a lot of talent on this board and I bet someone here has the know-how and the tools to do it. If someone could build a deck that holds 2 batteries and all the electronics and allows easy access to those parts, I bet a lot of folks on this board would be riding them. Hard to say if the demand warrants the start up costs for manufacturing supply.

Decks with fully integrated components are really cool...

As an electric skate builder I find there are two distinct groups of people that want electric skateboards.

1. Skateboards riders who want to convert a normal skateboard.
2. Non- skateboard riders that want a transport solution.

There will always be a market for the DIY conversion kits. Because skateboard decks are very personal. People like to choose the deck that suits their riding style.... sort of like shoes.... people don't all wear the same shoes. Every foot is different.

But in terms of mass production it's much easier to make a one size fits all product.... it just won't please everyone.

I don't know why but I'm not such a fan of all the electronics being integrated in the board?! I think haveing a reall nice enclosure is way cooler. Maybe some stuff intergrated but not all. IMO

I find the battery cases/protection boxes in black matte really cool. Sleek design. I have asked a company to mold me one... 200 euros... for two models. If only I could get sleek boxes... would be so great. That set the design apart. Otherwise, we are just talking about ESC, lipos (more or less flat) and motors from RC and finding the perfect combo between power speed torque and battery time !

I really like the boosted or evolve battery case, but as said before... what set you apart the game is that YOU (or with some help) choose the board you want to ride... which is the basics when you enter the skateboard world (and of course you also choose the electronics to tune your riding).

I forget what batteries those companies are using but there's li-ion batteries that can do 20C and that's enough for a board. They seem a safer chemistry and more able to take abuse than the typical HK soft packs and I think they might be lighter too! What's not to like?
When you make a pack with them (which I plan to do) does it have to be hard wired? It would be great if we could swap batteries the old fashioned way as if they were simply As. Is there some kind of connection that could be made where this could be possible or at least another option other than the soldered connections?

For integrating batteries into the board these smaller cells are a great advantage. Seems the big companies are showing it's largely a game of integration because hobbyists are capable of throwing much better range and power in a tuperware box.