Remote Problems... How big of an issue is it?

I am in the market to get a board and looking into Evolve... My only real concern are the issues I see regarding the remote connection issues.

My question is how wide spread is the issue?

I know nobody posts about how great things work typically....

Thanks

 

I havent had any connection problems or drop outs.

 

I ride boosted so that was a major concern, boosted IMO is the best with remotes, but I wanted to be able to ride further than 5 miles so I just ordered the GTX. A buddy of mine has ridden with Evolve since their first board, and now rides a carbon. He sent his remote back, had it updated and has never had an issue. We ride in downtown Atlanta so there is major bluetooth, wifi, etc. in the area, and he has never had 1 issue.

I think they fixed that issue you are worried about, I hope too myself! I rode his Carbon and it was nice, much smoother than my Boosted, but I of course have street tires and he is running AT, but I am excited to try the new GTX.

It was too stiff for me, that is why I went GTX over Carbon, I love the bamboo ride!

Hope that helps.

 

They haven't done anything from what I found to fix the issue. Its a couple of things, borderline quality and lack of throughout testing. of the radio / remote. And vulnerability of the radio. I've had 3 Evolve remotes, and all exhibited some bad dropout / communication issues. The scary part was that I had the 2nd remote that worked, or well, I could work with it and feel when it would start acting up. But I could ride the board. Trigger broke so I bought a new remote, well the board went bonkers. Couldn't ride it more than 300 feet without feeling I was going to kill myself (again). On my metroboard if I place the antenna in the incorrect or not prime location I can feel 2 areas that are repeatable where the Evolve went crazy. The throttle slowly backs down then picks up. The MetroBoard handles the case gracefully unlike the GT which would do the wrong thing every time. Ether stuck throttle/acceleration, no braking when I needed it, or touchy inconsistent throttle brake. Since the Metro has a movable antenna, I just relocated it away from wires and more to a clear unobstructed area of the board. You can't do that with the GT, antenna is built into the control board! Also the Carbon GT is a filter to radio signals since the top cover is carbon too. However people still reported the remote issues with the bamboo and Evolve 1 so as you can see, the last / latest release from Evolve the issue was not addressed. Same remote as GT. So with the GTX, in my opinion, they didn't fix it, but just put some fail safe in the board which I don't know what the heck that is.... All my Metroboards and my latest build have failsafe, its a given. Fail safe is usually when the remote disconnects that the throttle shuts down when you talk about fail safe with remotes. Some people may never see the remote issue, being in an area that's not as polluted or has different RF frequencies that don't clash with the remote. Safest thing to do is sit back, don't be anxious to buy, wait for people in the field to report back and watch you tube videos for reviews, reddit, and skate forums for the true word. Again the truth came out with the Evolve One after some time about the crappy remote striking again.

On my latest Trampa build I have ZERO drop outs with the remote and smooth throttle / braking. I'm using a Nano remote and the only quirk I found with it is that the remote needs to be powered on before the board, then the throttle / brake need to be activated via the remote or the throw of it. And then the board needs to be powered on. If that isn't done then braking is very very choppy. I'm guessing its doing some calibration at the remote but loses the setting when the remote is powered off. Minor issue since there's an easy work around. I know that when I ride my inputs are the same inputs the board sees and that's exactly what I want.

Evolve told me to do some crazy pairing process every time I would power up the remote / board. I did that, I did their modified steps, nothing worked. If it did I would have accepted it and rode the board, but instead had to push Evolve for a full refund, even after they said they fixed the issue when it was sent back to them for RMA.

Also truth is many don't talk about issues they have with the GT or of any product for that matter. After posting threads on all the many problems I had, I had others PM me saying they had the same exact issue. However they never posted on the forum about the problems. Some say people use forums to mostly complain or try to fix issues, but I've actually found forums to be the other way. Usually the users for the majority are talking about the fun experiences or modifications they're doing.

Anyways, I believe if you like a board and are having great experiences with it then share that on the forum. And on the flipside, if you're having issues with a product, share that experience and give details on what is happening and why. And try to resolve the issue with the manufacturer, and give that feedback to the forum. Its the only way as us, the consumer, have a better insight into our product choices.

 

How hard would it be to take a boosted board remote and reprogram it to work with evolve? I do dislike the fact there is no deadman switch, I for sure would like to figure out a way to add one to the current remote.

 

There's no way to change out the remote on the Evolve, radio is integrated into the control board. What you'd have to do is trash the control board, its nothing good anyways. Put in a dual VESC, based on the Vetter design that you now have access to configure anything you like in terms of battery, voltage, low battery behavior / cut out, and remotes. Then put your own favorite 2.4Ghz remote / pwm remote in there. But then if you're going that far, you'd just change out the motors and basically be building your own. Which then you can use top quality battery cells which Evolve doesn't use. My Trampa that was built by Kaly.nyc has Samsung cells, so top of the line. And the controller is made by Ollin which is the Vetter open source design. An motors are made by Alien, so its best of the best in my opinion. I was going to build my own but then found Kaly who was building exactly what I had in mind. I shared ideas back and forth, improved on the build design, and been loving it.

I can swap out the remotes on my Metorboard since he doesn't design the remote receiver into the control board. That way if a better remote comes out, he can offer it as an upgrade. So keeping your board updated if you like to go that way. Which I did on my 2 Metro's and upgraded to the 2.4Ghz mini RC trigger remote.

As for a dead mans switch. You don't need one if the remote is one that was designed well and that the throttle / brake curve is adjusted appropriately in on the controller. Evolve has their controller dialed in too touchy, any little bit of input you give on the remote with it being either throttle or brake has huge implications. Yes you have to get use to any remote, but that one is way over sensitive. More than it needs to be. And you hone that with your acceleration and brake curve that you dialed into the controller via the software. I made all those custom tweeks on my Trampa to get it exactly the way I want it to be and to be safe. It ramps up the throttle and down with the braking. Very predictable. And the board has more power and speed magnitudes over anything I can use but its just part of the design that comes naturally by building it with good components.

 

Got about 300 miles on my Bamboo GT. Just went out and for the first time started having intermittent drops. In other words, the acceleration would just stop. This is just as scary, because you are in a stance leaning forward due to acceleration and when it just drops, you sort of want to go flying forward off the board.

I'm trying to figure out how to back out the hex screws that screw the aluminum plate underneath it to see if possibly some connection has come loose. For the life of me, I can't get them to break loose. My board has been fantastic up until this point. This is the kind of stuff that definitely makes you not want to get on it.

I think they all have their issues. I went with Evolve instead of Boosted due to the ability to do more with the Evolve board. I've heard that Boosted has far better customer service though. It's hard to put a price on that. My board is out of warranty now which sucks. I've noticed that the range has dropped also. This is an expensive sport.

 

^ Did you check the balancing of your pack, packs shouldn't be going out that fast unless its out of balance or cheap ass cells used in the build.

What aluminum plate are you referring to? I'm lost there.

I disagree about all boards having issues with drop-outs, I've not had any incidents ever on any of my 4 Metroboards that put me in a sate of pure jeopardy and fear. My Kaly / Trampa build is flawless in communication as long as you first power on the remote, calibrate it, then power the board. 100% predictable and that's what you want. I need to get to the bottom of why the calibration isn't being saved or what's causing that. I bought an RC mini remote as well, one I run on the Metro board so when I get time I'm going to put that remote in and see how the board reacts to first startup with the board powered on, RC remote and ride. Hence the beauty of having a modular design. In Evolves design you're stuck with all the crap and its very expensive to get out of that loop. Why does Evolve do it that way, its cheaper on their end and they get bigger margins of profits per sale. But locked into the design. If you're pretty good at designing a system, a wireless and embedded one, then it works out fine. But if you're all over the board and don't have experience under your belt, its a loss to the customer and also your bottom line if you're doing RMAs from the product being returned from the field. Lastly you never want to set yourself up for a lawsuit because that's the end of the game if the plaintiff hires a good lawyer, can bankrupt your company. I think Evolve is skating on thin ice there. When you work in consumer goods and a company that can hire big time lawyers to keep going for the long term, you see those types of things. And company lawyers would have flagged a big red flag early on here with Evolve.

Curious.... was this your same general riding route? Where I got injured was on Veterans day and lots of tourists with phones and such on that day. It was a normal path I'd ride too that was 100% fine before. RF interference can strike at any time if the system isn't prepared for it and vulnerable to it.

Good luck. I hope you're able to figure it out and gain 100% confidence in riding again.

 

No problems at all until you have problems. It's the Achilles heel of their design.

 

"At the rear of the plastic battery pack underneath is an aluminum heatsink. This has all of the connections if I recall as well. I can't get those screws out."

...you shouldn't be messing with those heat sync screws. There's nothing of interest there for you. You need to drop you pack if you want to look at any real battery to controller to motor connections.

As for all boards having their issue, ok, I understand what you say now. And again, I haven't had any design issues with the Metroboard. Batteries, range, remote, motors, controller have all been sold for me. I've abused my boards too, I have blown out 2 controllers, but I've also been riding in downpour rain and though puddles in these boards. I've put conformal coating on the board, to help waterproof them. On my last board that blew out, I nailed a hard bump, metal angle iron for a metal gate crossing, which caused a voltage spike and blew the board out. Metroboard replaced the board for me. Thing is I'm giving Metroboard feedback on my experience, he's there 100% with support, and its beein 100% awesome. He's the owner of the company too, so no communication break-down like Evolve. He also takes your feedback to modify designs to make them better. He made a board change and gave me the updated revision. That's what goes the long way, a company that listens to customers and strives to make a high quality product.

Here's a battery dropped on a Bamboo GT if that's what you have as reference: This came off the eSk8 site so ignore the highlights:

 

How wide-spread is the issue, Evolve has the best data on that. But from what we can see, there's issues out in the field across the board, literally. Having a board that acted up, having strong knowledge on the technology from RF to embedded design to board design, and knowing people who build boards personally as well as engineers who're experts in all the related technologies, for me its bad and pretty damn serous. But that's me. As for the numbers we have as a consumer, its only as those who're open to disclose them. So you have to use your best judgement.

 

Wow a whole bunch of tech geek stuff, some of it pertaining to the actual question. Some of the frequency/interference comments a little helpful.
My 'simplistic' and limited experience, after about 8 weeks of use I have definitely noticed a pattern. I think the controller is extremely subject to intereference. Out nowhere, no probs. Inner city, suburban, dropouts regularly.
In carparks (with remote opening locks nd alarms) dropouts all the time.
In my local CBD area, dropouts all the time.
And I still need to test, but I have a suspicion that carrying my phone with bluetooth and/or wifi enabled also.causes interference.
Could just be coincedental and I need to empirically test with and without phone.
Summarily, and I am only one of many satisfied.users, but I havr real suspicions the controller/connwction is much too easily subject to RF interference.
Maybe just a buggy chip in my (and others) remotes?
There are 1000's of these boards sold and really it seems only a few issues.
I'd be really interested to.see the stats from Evolve on issues/repairs/replacements vs total sales numbers.
All I can say from here with my board in hand is its totes awesome but def subject to.controller issues.
Im only 1 person...

 

2 bad dropouts . One down my steep hill (17 deg) and no breaks scary shiit nothing broken but really badly injured One on a bizzy road with cars in 35K km/h speed and just stopped in a second.....cars managed to break ...injured again Now Iam scared boarder and ride as safe as possible never faster than i can bailout ok . Changed my remote for the new update not sure what safe mode is ? 1 week now and been ok so far....
One more drop out and for sure will sell the board and buy a boosted. Way 2 scary.....

 

Here is some info on the safe mode from evolve - " Auto Safe mode - if the board and remote have any signal disturbance or data processing glitch, the board will switch to Auto Safe mode and have a gradual brake and acceleration setting which can then be exited by pressing the speed mode button to resume previous speed setting "

Not sure if anyone has had the board fall into this 'safe mode' and how well it works. The issue I find with it is if you're traveling at high speed while accelerating and it goes onto safe mode, will this still lurch you forward and make you loose your balance? Some sort of audible bell to alert the rider there has been a problem before going into safe mode would allow the user to prepare for an unexpected change in performance of the board. It really depends what "gradual brake" means.

I also read they took out reverse in the GTX and possibly with the updated firmware:

"Remote firmware – Reverse is gone! This is arguably a good thing. Most (I say most) people don’t use it and many people were slipping into reverse by mistake, which caused a lot of injuries. Reverse has now been replaced by a SAFE mode, which detects any irregularities in remote to board connection and won’t allow any rider adjustments (mode shifts etc.) whilst the remote is in SAFE mode. This too will prevent many of the problems (many leading to injury) people have been having with syncing, drop outs and unexpected board behavior."

Here's where the latter GTX / updated remote firmware review came from:

"NEW" evolve gtx board

 

The Problem is fairly wide, I know a few evolve riders / and x riders, every single one of them including myself has had connection issues, the GT models not so bad, The evolve One is a seriously compromised product, Not only with the completely inadequate remote, but a single motor/belt that will ultimately fail to leave you without acceleration or brake when needed. you can find plenty of people online with similar stories to mine (previously written about on this forum.

If you want to read about how great things / or things may not work head here. reddit.com/r/boostedboards/ The boosted community is as lively as this one, You will notice 3 things. 1. People genuinely LOVE their Boosted Boards, the quality of the board its ride and performance. 2. The Lack of Equipment related incidences or Fails. especially look for remote fails, don't under estimate the importance of a reliable remote. 3. the absence of serious injury resulting in failed equipment. The people that have had problems recognised they were doing the wrong thing at the wrong time.

I live in Brisbane, Just up the road from Evolve HQ I want Evolve to do well but they really need to take their safety seriously. when I spoke to them about my incident they dismissed it. when I mentioned many others having similar stories they again dismissed it, I again say, if you're going down the electric skate board route and you're new to it, grab a boosted. (BTW I'm no way connected to boosted)

 

I own 2 Boosted's a Carbon GT 2 and an Eglide lithium. The CGT2 has had remote issues and has thrown me. It then accelerated into scrub and sustained $250 worth of damage. I don't trust it. I ride it 1/10 the time of my Boosted boards which are 100% reliable. The E-glide is good for off roading.

If I had money for only one board it would be a Boosted. Sometimes I really enjoy the CGT2. Yet it is a dangerous enjoyment.

 

My Evolve also went flying into a wall, on its own. I returned the thing.

 

I have a GTX pre ordered. I hate to cancel it I've been so excited and waiting to get a board for a long time. I don't know what to do. Seems these issues are more common than I thought.