Dont buy Evolve, i almost killed myself

So here is my story, and i hope it will convince you not to buy Evolve skateboards untill Evolve fixes the problem.

I got my new Bamboo GT 3 days ago, it was really nice, and as a long term skater i enjoyed this electric skateboard alot, except for usual pairing issues, there where no problems at all. The third day, I turned on the board, and then the remote, everything was fine but the board wouldnt react at all, despite the remote said its paired. I turned off the remote to try to pair again, but at that moment the board starts flying directly towards people and slammed into a wall at full speed. Lucky no one was hurt, and i managed not to fall on my back, but that was luck, this time. Front of the board is completely broken into peaces, i am returning the board to Evolve for inspection.

Those boards are not tested, bluetooth receiver and transmitter are probably some cheap junk they put in, or Evolve simply doesent have programers that can do software right (because i read alot of people have the same problem).

This board is dangerous to you and people around you, its simply NOT SAFE. Helmet may protect you, but will not help someone thats close to you when this board decides go berserk.

I would recommend everyone to STAY AWAY from Evolve boards.

 

Thanks for posting it, you've officially changed my mind on this board, I'll just make my own

 

I disagree on your advice but I agree on the remote issues. You are not the first nor the last who had a dangerous experience. The evolve remote is pure garbage. They should put all their efforts on solving this problem once and for all.
I didn't have a spooky situation so far but had tons of pairing problems. I never had a single problem with the "cheap" remotes of my other boards.

 

Can you get different remotes for it?

 

Sucks that we are still seeing these issues - so much to like with Evolve boards (carve, performance, range) but reliability of the remote still nowhere near good enough - you don't hear of these issues with other boards, you never trust a board again when its done something so dangerous as in original post above... one thing to make sure is that on startup (and initial pairing) the remote trigger is in a neutral position - they could add a feature where if the trigger is not centered any further acceleration commands are ignored until shutdown and startup on both ends (don't think it has that feature and not sure it would have helped in this case or some other radio remote issue)

 

Evolve's radio is based on two NRF24L01+ radio boards soldered onto the main board in the remote and motor controller daughter card, would be pretty much impossible to swap this out with something else - you would have two use a completely different ESC / motorcontroller and remote (possible, not easy)

 

Haha what a joke... Try owning a board more than 3 days before making such a definitive statement. After three days you have no idea how the board works or reacts. You probably didn't realize it was connected and were messing with the trigger.... In no way am I saying that evolve is perfect by any means and I've certainly had some issues. However I would certainly not listen to someone who messed up their board by what sounds user error

 

Once they fix the problems the board will be great. This thing in Bamboo GT version costs 1400nEur, thats a lot of money for a product that is not complete and very bugged, at least the remote part of it.

 

I am a skater for 10 years and this is not my first electric board. Boosted never ever had this problem. My remote clearly sad its paired, and i trusted the remote, its Evolves problem the remote was not paired correctly, and it clearly sad to me, on its screen, i am paired dude, you can trust me and drive me. Imagine that a car manufacturer makes an error and their car, for no special reason, starts to accelerate without you touching the pedal, and imagine someone gets injured or worse, and that story makes it into newspapers. Well, that company would be history.

I mean no disrespect for Evolve, clearly they are making good products and they put a lot of hours/days/years into making their skateboards awesome, but clearly there is a problem with their product and i can not, with my clear conscience, recommend a product that can injure someone.

If i was the only one with this problem i woldent even write a line on this forum, but, as it stands, i am one of many.ef

Before i purchased Evolve GT i searched the web, and youtube, and saw alot of people with remote issues, disconnects etc, but i thought they must of fixed those problems by now...well i was wrong.

 

To make myself clear, my board is returned and on inspection. I havent decided what to do yet, i am waiting for some kind of response from Evolve to regain confidence in the board because i enjoy Evolve GT more then my Boosted, but i will rather drive a safe board then a fun to ride maybe kills you board.

 

Totally agree! I've had an evolve GT board for over a year and never experienced that! Lack of experience/user error.

 

I totally disagree with you. Newcomers bleed too.
The remote has Nothing to do with xp, Besides it has been reported by many guys. Some of them after months of intense use.
I find inappropriate your comments.
The op could get severely injured and you are mocking him. Shame on you.
It is a fact that 99% of the remotes didn't fail
It is a fact that MANY guys got injured because of the stupid remote.
It is a fact that 200$ boards have 0 remote issues reported
I had tons of disconnections with my remote while I never ever had a single issue with my other boards. The problem is real and evolve is not working on it properly.

 

Wonder if I should cancel my gtx order? I hope I'd be a customer with no problems but with my luck I'll get one with issues.

 

Not really. Most people didn't have dropouts nor issues at all. I never had dropouts but I had disconnections. Claiming evolve sk8s are dangerous is not true. Also claiming they are safe.... is not accurate.
If any brand of cars releases a model 99% safe it is inmediately removed from the market.
As a matter of fact will probably never reach the market because of the safety tests.
The evolve boards are trully amazing and I do not encourage you at all to cancel your order nor be scared to ride it.
Most probably you will not have issues.
And I mean it.

 

Ok, so here is the official response from Evolve HQ about me asking them about safe mode.

With the new firmware update, with Safe Mode, there should be no commands buffering or “queued” if there is lost signal to the board. The point of the safe mode is if communication is lost, it switch to safe mode and dampens any inputs at the time of connecting again. This is for the situation where one may continue to hold the trigger.

Dont, get your board and see how it goes, it you experience any remote issues just return it, thats what i will do when i get my board back.

 

I hope it's good. I have read a few issues about evolve but seems like they were a little older or very few. If course now that I have pre ordered one I'm finding issues all over. I will give it a try. I have read all of thier policy's online just to be prepared if there is a problem. One thing I think is odd is how you connect the remote. I'm used to flying R/C and have always turned on the transmitter before the receiver and turned off the receiver before the transmitter. Odd to me they have you turn on the board first. Also, if I have this right, they have some customers with problems re pair or bind the remote every single start sequence? Or maybe everyone does this? Not sure but I've always had good experiences with R/C remotes. Crazy to hear of connection issues in 2017. I really hope this new safe mode solves the issues (even though it shouldn't exist).

 

I think my next board will be a DIY. I just like the Finnish of the evolve's. I will put a lot of work into a DIY to make it look like a production unit. For now, I just want to ride and the GTX looks amazing.

 

While it is clear that there have been connection issues for many riders, some worse than others, there is also a massive amount of Evolve board owners around the world currently. A large proportion of owners Do Not experience any connection issues at all, which indicates that the problem lies with only some boards/remotes otherwise every single owner would be complaining of issues and returning their boards. I am in no way dismissing the seriousness of some riders valid complaints, but in all likelihood, there is a very good chance that you have an enjoyable/reliable experience with your GTX. Do let us know how you get on with your new board when it arrives?

 

I would not buy an Evolve board. I own a Bamboo One and enjoy it very much. I've upgraded it and such and had a few, not many but a handful of events where the remote loses pairing with the board. it reconnects pretty quickly each time though, no stacked signals either, but if it happened at speed in traffic or going downhill it could lead to extremely serious and potentially deadly injuries, or the type of injury where death is a preferred outcome.

I think this outcome is very unlikely, but the fact that these are possible outcomes, and that the owners of the company have no seriously addressed the issue which could easily be fixed, tells me that I would rather get a One Wheel, or a Boosted Board, or and Ernesto special, or something else that won't put my life in danger and to give up on this company.

 

As someone who runs a large riders group with 400 members , I will say that there are quite a few issues with the entire GT range, including the GTX, if you think they are all down to 'user error' you are sadly mistaken. Not a day goes by we do not hear about issues from our riders, and the stories they could tell you would blow your mind.