Dont buy Evolve, i almost killed myself

Like?

 

People know by now the faulty parts are not isolates to one area, or a small portion of customers, things like:
- Battery Faults, sag, dead cells
- chipping wheels, both 83mm & 97mm
- Remote drop outs
- cross remote connections
- trucks that are prone to snapping due to large amounts of zinc in the mixture
- boards routed out to give flex but weaken the deck structure
- off centre grip tape
- DOA boards
- ABS is false advertising
- carbon fibre is not real carbon fibre
- bamboo boards are mostly maple

and the customer service stories are too countless to list them all, and its not my place to repeat them, but I have listened to recorded phone calls and had people show me emails and messages from their experience. There is a huge room for improvement here. Lets hope that they learn from these issues and Move forward. Some people only have Evolve as a viable option in their country which is why they buy them. If you think about it this way, If it was a model of car with a list of faulty parts like this, you would think twice about handing your hard earned money over. It is all about balance, you have to listen to both the good and the bad comments to see there the middle ground is. Blaming issues and faults on user error is not right, we have had users who's boards activated full acceleration into traffic without their input, these things do happen, so take from that what you will, again, I can only talk from our decent sample size of 400 members, but it is a pretty good indicator of present issues, if you are narrow minded and your only commenting tool is a hammer, everything will look like a nail

 

Agreed. I have spoken to lots of other Evolve users to and still think it's a low percentage of faults based on numbers sold but it is also user error. All manufacturers of electrical products of this type have a percentage of fails it's a fact. I agree that quality and customer service should greatly improve and don't understand why it hasn't, especially from a safety point of view.

 

It is really hard to gauge the actual percentage of part issues, but from our sample group, we are seeing them again and again, some users have been through 3-4 bad motors, 2-3 batteries, front trucks, sets of wheels and so on, thats per user, they have to battle with Evolve customer service to get parts replaced even under warranty, then the replacement parts also fail. Some have had to request a full refund as their issues can't be resolved after sending the board back multiple times. So the percentage is quite high. We created a spreadsheet and website for our riders to input when they have an issue, how it got resolved, and their level of customer service, it helps us keep track of the repeating issues. The bottom line is they know what their issues are by now, but rather than fix them, they seem to intent on selling more boards, and using the same components in new models which carry on the same issues. They need to possibly fork out a stack of money to some developers to get them to sort out the software, and then work on fixing the quality of their actual manufacturing, wishful thinking I guess, but we have our fingers crossed. Thanks for taking the time to reply, and with greater insight than the usual comments most people without issues seem to use. "my board is fine, no issues here, evolve are the best" safe riding mate.

 

I know what you mean. Safe riding to you to!

 

A similar thing happened to me today. I just got the Bamboo One board today and had been riding it for maybe 20 minutes. I went out for another session and turned the remote to the max speed and it was going along fine for about 20 seconds and all of a sudden the remote dropped out at max speed and started slowing down then suddenly it reconnected a second later accelerating by itself back to max speed, causing a large jolt that knocked me flying off the board and grazed my body all down the street. Extremely dangerous, it seems like a remote fault caused it. What should I do in this situation?

 

Same thing here.... I've had my new gtx for a week..... going down a hill yesterday remote lost connection...... while normally not a big deal...... accelerating down a long hill is 'very bad' (trump voice off )....... I was able to pull off into grass and decel a bit before I bailed and ran what is perhaps at the fastest speed ever in my 49 years ...... didn't eat it.... but has changed how I will ride these boards for sure. You will note the evolve vids are starting to say things like don't ride faster than you can run.... wear prot gear, etc...... this advice is not just for the lawyers..... it is legit real deal advice. always be prepared to have to bail. I could not imagine rolling up to a busy street with this happening..... 'very bad' ride safe.

 

My Bamboo one is charged and ready for the first ride!!! I was excited now I'm worried and scared!!!
I've had a $500 before this and never had any issues and I thought the Evolve were a better eboard and more reliable!!!
Wish me luck!!!

 

I made a DIY board before I bought a Bamboo GT. It was a laborius process that didn't end up looking as clean as the Evolve board and I trusted it's speed controller and remote even less. Of course that was about 3 or 4 years ago and the DIY scene has probably progressed considerably.

 

Wear protective gear guys. I bought a nice protective hoodie that has a back spine pad, elbow pads (hidden discreetly), and has a kevlar fabric to avoid road rash.. It just looks like a black hoodie. It's made for the stunta-biker people..... and of course wear a helmet.

Then there is riding style..... you can't ride this board without being accutely aware of a fault....... so you might want to practice balance stability tests where you ride with full on power, then drop off, then full power.... you should be stable enough to stay on through these types of power transitions... on accel and braking...... if you can't then you need some practice or ride slower..... this is how I"m proceding on this journey.

And also perhaps it's worth noting..... that certain amount of risk element makes this more enjoyable..... call me crazy but that is part of my lizard brain appeal to this hobby.

Ride safe! and surf on

 

maybe you haven't, but that does not mean it is only the unexperienced rider the problem.
I own a GTC for over 1 year now, and had dislocated my shoulder on it because problems with remote link stability, and then, in the end, a car ran over the board and killed it, I assume this was a privilege for me.
I am already sick of this kind of free advertising from some of the product users when there clearly are problems that should be absent on a ~2000 Euro longboard!

cheers, stay safe!

 

I signed up here specifically to concur that Evolve boards and their connection from the board to remote is horrible. I had mine a few weeks and it was a few moments of fun and most of frustration and a few injuries due to the board suddenly braking at full speed and sending me flying. Evolve sent me a new remote and everything and it still didn't work. They wanted me to send the back to them for inspection, I told them I didn't want their junky and dangerous product and I wanted my money back. I had PayPal reverse the charge and I sent their lemon piece of junk back to them. After seeing the insides of the board and being a long time RC hobbyist, the internals are a joke and the board is grossely overpriced. I would never consider another Evolve board and recommend others don't make a mistake and buy one. Thanks for listening.

 

How old (or new) was your board? Curious to know what hardware it was running thanks

 

Heres video of my board I took about 10 months ago. Since then Ive had two 'smackdowns' because of these issues and lately Im hesitant to ride at all. Be very intetested to speak to ppl in Australia about a class action due to injuries fr9m this shonky product.

 

Are people still using that old remote ?
Haven't they been replaced by the R2 or at least shouldn't they be replaced ?
Is this what all people who are having problems with still using ?

 

I am also curious about which remotes people with issues are using. A lot of the comments from users with issues seem to mention the V1 shown above. I also know there was some issues with the R2 when they first came out, I had one drop out one time.
I have upgraded all mine to R2 with the V2 software and do not have any issues with them, that being said of the three I have only one every dropped out and that was only one time.
With the R2 V1 remotes I did have issues with them not connecting from time to time and having to spend 5 mins trying to get them to sync, but since upgraded to V2 they connect immediately to whichever board I have just turned on, and stay connected.

 

So I knew there was a later release but heard just as many bad reviews I never bothered updating. Lets assume thats the "R1 V2", it got broadly bagged on forums.
Ive heard absolutley nothing about a new controller with later firmware.
I'll get in touch with Evolve and see if they'll ship me an "R2 V2" for free of course, because this product is plainly faulty.

 

R2 V2 is perfect for me still, after 17 charges !
Hopefully forever perfect .

 

I disagree with OP, here is my 2 year follow up post after I had a reverse spill early on in my riding..
Has anyone achieved the claimed 35km/19mi range on a Bamboo GT?
2 years with GT still strong.. no issues after early learning curve. basically if you notice no connection.. understand it is a delayed response. not no response. In other words if you switch between eco and fast, and it does not happen immediately, STOP and reset restart or just WAIT. It very well could shift after a few more moments. DO NOT JUST KEEP PRESSING THE BUTTON!
Just like a phone can lock up if you are on web & a phone call comes in.. sometimes all electronic devices can lock up.. They can have glitches in light rail, transit and even aircraft. You must know what to do upon a glitch & be able to determine when a faulty part needs to be replaced.
I have had delays in switching.. so I decided to just leave mine in GT mode, in other words I am not constantly switching and I have had zero issues for 2 years.
Most people say that your board goes farther anyways if you just leave it in GT or Fast and just squeeze the trigger less for a moderate speeds.. so really Eco mode is unnecessary and may not save battery. Although they might change mode to "beginner" mode instead of Eco?

Although there are some quirks with a device of this nature.. but just as you can injure yourself surfing the ocean on reefs.. or the sand.. dedication must be used on concrete & rocks.
I would like to see the auto-shift from GT to Eco removed (if it has not already been done?) maybe they could put this function with a hard circuit switch on the board it self?
I would like to manually disable reverse.. as I never use it. But other than that I have not had issue in 2 years by knowing the quirks in board. As any sport there is danger and use at your own risk is something every person needs to acknowledge.. even on a kids playground.. there is risk.. and I choose to ride with caution, leave the shiftier alone, and then I have had complete confidence in boarding.

 

Very strange "Rogerramjet" about your youtube video.. You turn the remote sideways when having issue and we can not see the speed changing?.. and the speed at times when the wheels are not turning at all is at 20Km but the wheels are stopped? and then the wheels start turning faster when you are not even squeezing remote? Almost as if there is a 2nd remote we can not see on the camera?
Weird. So if this video is not doctored.. then maybe you just need a new remote or receiver. This is sounds like an isolated problem, if you are not over-pressing the shift button during a delay.
If you leave in GT mode and do not shift between Eco.. I have never had a problem. if there is one change Evolve could make it would allow riders to disable reverse (who uses this feature? only a small percentage) and disable the "Eco-fast-GT auto switching capability on the remote. They could put a manual switch somewhere on board to switch between? or have a "sport advanced rider remote" which could handle the advanced speed changes or reverse switching?
That way might solve some issues and new user learning curves on a great board.
I have used mine 2 years without a problem.. I just leave mine in GT mode full time.. & no problems..
again if this video is true Roger.. I would replace remote. or it could be an isolated glitch in your board transmitter receiver. This sport is use at your own risk. A child can injure themselves at a playground.. a surfer can injure themselves on a reef or the sand.. It is a adventure sport on concrete.. and if you are dealing with electronics.. an occasional glitch can happen.