While I was originally wanting to get the Stary board, as its made in Shanghai, they don't seem to want to sell it locally.
So, scanned Taobao for similar products, and decided on the BenchWheel, as it looked reasonable quality-wise compared to the other options.
BenchWheel has it on Taobao for 2899RMB (about 450$USD odd).
I bought my BenchWheel on Monday, had it delivered on Wednesday (the magic of Taobao), and have been riding it for 2 days now.
Have never ridden a skateboard or longboard before, and I'm finding it very easy to ride. I'm already comfortable using it on the road for short trips in light traffic here in Shanghai. Took me about 5 minutes to find my balance, and after about an hour riding around my compound avoiding pedestrians and small rodent sized dogs I felt comfortable enough to take it outside on the street with the bigger traffic.
So far I'm quite happy with it. Top speed is faster than I want to go still, and the battery life is quite decent @ +-20km. The entire bottom of the board is essentially battery. Its really fun to ride, although its not such a huge eye opener here in Shanghai, as there are a lot of different e-vehicles already not counting the bazillion electric mopeds.
e-Scooters are trendy /popular, AirWheels less so. I've spotted a handful of electric longboards too.
Having played with most of the things available here, I think the Longboard is the most fun/ practical in daily use, especially for last mile from metro -> home.
One issue for the BenchWheel is that the battery size is > flight regulations. Theres a reason that Boosted etc have 99Whr batteries. Airplane regulations allow < 100Whr without inspection, and < 160Whr with inspection.
The BenchWheel is 210Whr, so will be an issue flying with one if you're honest with the TSA etc.
All in all, it feels like a decent quality item. The parts are solidly built, and it doesn't feel like cheap crap.
I haven't tried a Boosted board or other US brand boards though, so can't compare to those, but I do know what cheap crap feels like, and this isn't that.
If anyone has questions for BenchWheel I can ask them - my Chinese is reasonably good, and I've been chatting to them on Aliwang for a while already.
I also pointed the BenchWheel people at this thread. No idea if they'll register / post though.
If any one wants photos/video's or has questions fire away.
Some additional info
N5065 270KV motors x 2 - Not sure what brand, haven't opened it up yet.
Batteries in a 6P 4S config using 18650's 8800MAH / 210WH
Wheels are 80x45mm 78A
Board is 920x240x15mm
7.9KG
Has a carry handle, but I think there needs to be something smoother around the handle as the sandpaper gets rough.
Its light enough to carry short distances, which is good.
Remote control feels comfortable to use. The speed acceleration is good - its not crazy from stopped, it feels like they ramp up in a curve rather than giving you full throttle immediately. Braking on the other hand feels like they give you too much - you need to be more careful braking as its almost too fast on the controller.
Controller could do with some labelling, there are way too many leds that show different colors (red or green).
The bottom 3 show board battery status. The top two are speed allegedly, although they do flash when the board isn't sync'd.
The remote and the board time out if not used and left on. The lights stay on, but the remote does nothing. Turning both off then on again resolves that. Looks like it does that when left 3-5 minutes unused. I've already hit that once or twice tonight talking to people about the board and not using it for a few minutes, then it doesn't want to work.
I have to check what speed I've been riding it at next time I use it too. My manual is in Chinese, and the instructions are not very clear. I've actually had a go at making a better english manual here - http://computersolutions.cn/downloads/benchwheel/
Need to work out how to change the speeds then add to that.
