Got thrown off the GT, board took off without my command, petition to Evolve to fix remote

they say less than 5% have had issues, but please understand that the ones with issues are the most vocal. There is no "stopping in ECO" or anything that the boards do themselves, it is usually a combination of user error and a lag in signal. Brakes don't jam on or anything like that, if you read of posts about this they must have other issues.

 

facebook live chat perhaps.

 

facebook live chat perhaps.

 

Queuing up the commands is a great way to describe what happens (during the radio dropout)

YES Evolve tell us how the remote / radio works exactly and how we can MOST safely use it

Come clean with what fixes you have done that have helped - and put something down we can read and refer to so we understand exactly what we need to know to make the right decisions and use Evolve boards properly.

BUT I have my doubts we will ever know more (officially from HQ) we will likely just upgrade to the latest and greatest in a year or two - hopefully something more reliable and safer. (If nothing changes I will have no problem going to another popular brand - its not just about range and speed you have to be able to trust what you ride to get the most enjoyment out of it)

The thing is - they keep making these boards (with seemingly no changes as the issues keep popping up even recently) and we all keep buying them - where is the incentive to change on their part ?

 

100% agree. First of all, once you learn how the board works, you rarely need to shift. When you do, if you simply look at the remote to see what gear it is in before your press the throttle... you will not have a problem. From the descriptions of problem boards, it seems like people are shifting like a racecar... which is not necessary or as designed.

Shift with awareness. it's not hard to look at your remote and see that it's ready.

the remote is very sensitive. The board is very powerful. It takes skill. It may not be for everyone. (my dear old mom never did quite learn how to drive a stick shift car, either)

But if you read the directions, take your time getting familiar, you can depend on the reliability of the board.

suggest you consider how many people are not complaining about this issue, and how many boards are sold... instead of focussing on the few that are vocal about their experience.

 

Not really. You know the stupid LCD bleeds in the sunlight right? Also if you wear sunglasses, polarized ones it filters out the display. Also when you're riding with people and traffic, you *can't* be looking at the LCD display. Also who's shifting the board like a racecar? All the issues I've had have been related to not shifting like a racecar, but rather being cautious, and looking *AT* the LCD while doing the shifts. I don't know where you get that. Yes, I had issues of my board cutting out when shifting from FAST to GT without letting up on the remote, a person said you can do that, Evolve didn't say the board operates that way, I'm not holding Evolve liable to that at all. I AM holding them liable to the board being choppy on acceleration, not consistent, to having excessive dropouts due to RF interference and housing the remote receiver in a full carbon fiber RF filter. And having the user jam the board into reverse without knowledge they're doing so from not giving the user proper feedback on the remote due to the remote drop-out.

Easy to say buddy when you DON'T have a defective board. Count yourself lucky.

The remote is JUNK. Period. It has a 33% deadspot in the beginning, 33% deadspot at the end of the trigger pull / push. So you only have 33% to use in the full 100% throw of either the throttle or brake. They're using a 4 way potentiometer that is used in El Cheapo game consoles when they should be using a quality 2-way. Why a 4-way, cheaper for Evolve and more profits for them. For a $2,000+ board I expect a company to use quality parts and not skimp anywhere it has ability to adversely affect control of the board.

You're fooling yourself here. I don't need to explain.....

I'd honestly hate to buy your product. Any issue with a product that puts the rider at risk is a serious product FLAW and needs to be addressed. I honestly believe the defects are higher, many are just accepting this is the way the board works it is not. When you own boards that work correctly, you have something to compare how things should work.

I'm happy you have a board that's not defective. If you have a Carbon GT I'm happy to trade you out board for board, remote for remote so you can have your share of the issues.

 

teddy702, tsladamus,

I'm very fortunate to be one of the vast majority of people who got good boards.. mine is not defective.

important to note, it is entirely possible AS DESIGNED for someone to inadvertently shift into reverse and then hit the throttle while moving forward. This is possible when the wireless is working fine. (This is a valid safety concern with the board, and there are a number of suggestions to Evolve to improve this, but the board performs consistently). But the real question is ... why would you need to you downshift? how many gears? Why hit the throttle without knowing what gear you are in? Based on my riding experience, it's totally unnecessary to shift that much, and when I do, its because I'm about to hit a hill that I can anticipate.

I've also seen the "queued up" thing happen, but I only change 1 gear at a time, and I wait to see it change before throttling, so this has never tossed me.

I imagine it might be embarrassing if that ever happened... but anyway... how many boards are out there?

Also worth noticing, I see more people post that Evolve stands up behind the product -repairing/replacing, etc. than complaining.

 

Its interesting you brought up the point about the amount of people who have issues who document them here and the one's who don't. Forums don't give accurate measures on statistics. For one, some people just accept that the product works that particular way. They don't have any standard to compare it to. For example, I own a Tesla Roadster. My first impression from the car was that it had very bad brakes. I grew up racing Suzuki GSXR 750s and other fast bikes, got into police chases, had fast cars, but I ensured that they all could stop as much as good as their performance for moving forward. Its not good having a fast bike/car that can't stop, its death waiting to happen. I ended up changing out the pads first to autocross racing pads, big improvement, but only a band-aid. The brakes would fade if you stomped on them going 70+mph so false confidence in braking. I then followed a few racing forums and had custom 2 piece slotted racing rotors made for the car. Well then and only then did the car stop as it should. Its a very very very quick car, braking needs to be up to par with the same performance. So getting back to my point, the majority of Tesla Roadster owners accepted the bad brakes as a norm. They had nothing to compare it too. However after they started installing my brake pad and custom rotor configuration could they see the light that the brakes were horrible and could not stop the car, especially in a panic situation with the original configuration they though worked well. So that's one factor. Forums may not capture the real data, most often they don't, they capture pieces of it. Secondly, I worked on the Amazon Kindle. We sold lots of those. I looked at the forums to see the complaints, not that many complaints about defects, issues, etc. However, I had access to the full RMA and returns for that I was the one to look at them at the software/hardware level, and we DID had a constant stream of them coming in. All types of issues, power on, reboots, etc. But those were NOT captured in the forum nor the magnitude of the issue, many people in the forum were just saying how great they are. But many don't even complain on the forum, but rather goto the manufacturer to resolve the issue. So again, forums don't capture the real data. Only EVOLVE has the TRUE knowledge on how bad these issues are with the GT which I'm sure they don't want to disclose to us.

 

I think with the pace of electric skateboards development, I'll wait it out until the next evolve board addresses these issues.

In the meanwhile, I am preordering a OneWheel+.

After reviewing the routes I take, I can make the 5-7mi range work. I wanted something with large tires (hence CGT-AT) to not have to worry about sketchy roads.

So for anyone else looking for an alternative to the Carbon GT AT, OneWheel may be worth checking out.

It's obvious to me there is an issue with the controller/remote/receiver with Evolve boards... I've checked reddit/forums/etc.. there is enough common threads about controller issues that I believe it is a widespread issue. For something that costs almost $2200 after shipping & taxes, I would need a reliable controller to not have to worry about injuring myself by one day changing modes too fast and pulling the trigger.

There are some promising boards coming out this year (raptor2, qu4tro, ollie) but none have the AT style tires I am looking for.

With the competition in electric skateboards heating up, I think 2018 will likely bring more AT style options to the market... or at least, I hope!

 

Just give it some time, there's going to be other boards like the GT that will be safe, not skimped on quality components, and work great for both street and AT. MetroBoard is working on one, but he won't release it until its 100% safe, right, and it won't be half baked. He also puts stainless steel hardware on all his boards, so no rust. You'd expect stainless on any board that's over $1k, but its a few pennies that manufacturers can pocket in profits cutting corners like that, hence why there's so many issues I feel with the GT. To many corners cut with the main goal of just making $$$ rather than putting something out there of high quality, and allowing your name that was built on quality to naturally market your product.

The one wheel is in a class of its own, really not a replacement for an electric skateboard. Its really bulky, watched a guy bring one on the bus. You can't throw it under your arm. However from all the people I've talked to who own them, they're really really fun to ride and have a crazy turning radius. But I wouldn't depend on it as my sole commuter for work honestly.

 

And there is no remote with OneWheel - correct ? - its lean to go like a segway ...
(one less thing to go wrong)

 

correct, there is no remote, just the board itself (similar to Zboard2 I guess).

 

I too have had no issues with my GT AT other than losing pairing with the remote / board which is solved through reconfiguration.
I "have" almost fallen off the board a few times when I shifted and didn't look at the remote to make sure I did it correctly but I am way more careful now. I have used the one wheel and its not close to a substitute for a GT AT -

 

Hey guys if you're having issues, make sure your hand is not covering any part of the top part of the remote, and point the remote straight down at the board so it's as close as possible and the connection is 100% line of site with no fingers blocking (the transceiver is in the top part of the board). This fixed my intermittent connection issue 100% so far.

 

I also moved my phone (Pixel XL) to the pocket opposite the hand holding the remote. Im must be lucky as i dont have the issue. Then again i dont use GT mode and just use fast mode (and eco if i cbf shifting it but i rarely shift modes while moving now that i can jump on in fast mode and not land on my head.). Im a bit of a newbie to skating again after a 25year hiatus.. im getting more confident and luckily i dont have the issues listed above.

 

wiztecy,
Why do you spend so much time here bashing Evolve's product - design, production, components, software, and customer support ... nothing seems to meet your standards.

With so much expertice and experience, why not start your own company and compete on merits instead of lashing out at Evolve or dissuading their potential customers.

Wish you the best with your custom rig!! Go ride it and enjoy life.

 

anticrisus - again I'm very HAPPY your board works to your expectations. And I'm sorry if all these technical details go over your head.

However, MINE and others I know who own GTs it do not and I and others have seriously been injured from it NOT working properly.

Let me show you the original Carbon remote's antenna design, this is something out of a kid playing around with some Radio Shack goodies rather than a production quality product below. My feeling is that they NEVER fixed the RF issues. See where they placed the antenna? Even with the Carbon GT, the antenna is at the base/palm area. You DO know that your body is made up of mostly water, salt water, and that is an EXCELLENT RF filter. Please read my included link for your information. Also combine that with another known RF filter, Carbon Fiber. Which they housed the transceiver in. And then combine it with how Evolve will turn up your GAIN in the remote if you request it. So it appears they knew about this issue from a very early point. My guess is their signal quality is borderline and can get bumped out of line with any little bit of RF interference.

Bashing?

If I had a 100% fully functioning board which I paid LOTS of money for, is $2,000+ much for you?, then I wouldn't have ask a basic need / design of a product. Proper RF design and performance. This is a "consumer ready" product? No? I DO want EVOLVE to FIX these issues that hurt riders and can lead to death if not addressed. Its just a numbers game before something really bad happens.

Sorry if I hold a high level of quality bar, I work in consumer products. I'm a QA engineer. I fortunate to understand electrical, software, hardware and RF design and every day I have discussions with professional hardware, RF, software engineers which I do talk about my hobbies, including electric skateboards, and HAVE discussed the issues I'm having with my GT with them. These are not amateurs, they are those people who helped create/design, test, and execute a successful Apple and Amazon product which needed proper RF designs to function properly. I live and work in the heart of Silicon Valley, please look that up.

So to the pics, couple from the Carbon (not GT) remote. Notice the poor location of the RF antenna and the use of copper tape. Copper tape is typically used to mend a mistake, its not a production quality implementation. Typically its a sign that an original RF design with the antenna placed on the PCB didn't have enough ability to send / receive signals. Also below is a link showing how our bodies are excellent RF filters:

[So a little RF101 for you]

Does the human body block or absorb RF energy? | Shure Technical FAQ

Does the human body block or absorb RF energy?

The human body is both a reflector and an absorber of RF energy. This is likely to be even more apparent at higher frequencies, e.g. 2.4 GHz. Try this experiment. If you have a portable FM radio, tune in a station and do a 360 degree spin. Note how the station fades as you turn your body.

Positioning a large human body between the transmitter's antenna and the receiver's antenna can cause a degradation in RF performance. The human body is made up primarily of "salt water." Salt water is an effective absorber of RF energy. (Submarines have to surface to send FM radio signals.) The more body fat a person has, the more RF is absorbed. Our tests show that a body pack transmitter can be 50 to 70% less effective than a handheld transmitter simply because of the antenna location being against the human body. Thus the reason RF antennas are often placed above the stage...closer to the actors wearing the body pack

--------

Do all the Carbon remotes (not GT) have this copper tape? I really hope this was an early prototype....

 

By the way, I WANT to build my own board and get my money back from EVOLVE since my board is DEFECTIVE. I made a formal request to EvolveUSA for two things I'd accept which I feel is fair:

1) 100% Refund of my money ($2,000+) and they can keep the defective board / remote. Give it to one of their riders or fix and sell it as refurbished, they still can make profits.
2) They can have my defective board, which I'll send them. They send me what they feel is a 100% functioning board free from defects that can harm or injure me.

Evolves Response: Crickets (No response)

Other GT owners I know who have had similar or identical issues asked for their money back. Again, Evolve playing hard to get (your cash back) game. So then the GT owners had to get their lawyers involved, then and only then was Evolve responsive and refunded their cash.

Is that proper ethical behavior of a company selling consumer products?

Again I put the offer out there for anyone who has a Carbon GT, that I'll do a full trade of what they feel is a fully functioning and defect free board for my buggy and glitchy GT. This offer still stands for Evolve.

Also EvolveHQ and EvolveUSA has full ability and freedom to contact me via a PM to fully understand this issue I've been discussing and to properly resolve it. Again, NOTHING from them. They have the ability to allow a frustrated customer become more frustrated and irate or to actually show some proper customer support, which is reaching out to a customer who they see clearly having issues and difficulty with the product and understand more about the issue so they can ultimately make this a win win situation where there's a company who's happy and a customer who's happy. Then I'd be righting positive experiences regarding my dealings with Evolve, however I have nothing but negative things to say since I had nothing but negative experiences from the product and customer service.

 

Hey Wiztecy, just a thought, but if you purchased the board using a debit or credit card, you could try to do a chargeback on Evolve since they are not replying back to you and they sent you a defective board. As long as you have all communications you had with Evolve and can show that they are now basically just ignoring you, you'll have a good chance of winning the case since the product is defective and puts you at risk of injury.

I'm glad you mentioned problems with your board though, saved me the hassle of spending $2000 to deal with these problems.

I really wanted an evolve board but I will wait until the next version is out. Until then, I bought a OW+ instead. You can bet I researched for issues around OW and there is no recurring issues like I find with Evolve remotes -- tons of people are complaining about them... if enough people get hurt it may eventually lead to a class action against Evolve and force them to recall and redesign it.. Look at boosted boards, when they found an issue with the batteries they did the right thing -- they stopped selling boosted boards and did a massive recall.

 

Thanks tsladamus for the CC suggestion, yes I did purchase it on a CC. Had to split it across two CC so I could purchase it. Everything you said above is spot on. Really appreciate your honest feedback. And I think its everyone's duty to report on any product, especially in an open forum, about a products flaws, defects and any issue it may have that could impede a rider / customer's ability to use the product safely. We all understand the risks of riding a skateboard, any type of skateboard. However when the product deviates from the customer's expectations on its use and ultimately loosing any to full control of the board, its a priority for the company to address the issues and to protect / ensure the rider's safety.