They are not even close to peak market for their longboard. Ride one around any non-NY/SF metropolitan area for long enough and you will realize no one has seen these things before. You get stares. You get people asking to ride. You get people who literally cannot help but smile when they see you fly by.
And then put someone on the board and get them to the point where they are maxing out Eco mode; This is how a friend of mine convinced me to buy one, and afterward I've directly influenced four boosted board purchases. I haven't had a single person get off without smiling and laughing, even the ones who were initially scared.
There is so much room for growth just for the board. Primarily: Eco Mode is definitely fast enough for commuting purposes. Create a cheaper board which maxes out around there. Moreover, there's room for the price to drop on all their boards.
Let me tell you why someone will pay more for Boosted: Safety. This is why Chinese cars have never been able to compete with the West/Japan, its why Toyota and VW are the #1 car manufacturers, its what Tesla blasts all over its marketing. Safety is stupidly important in this space, and China has never given a damn about it.
Cheaper boards fall apart. The decks are lower quality, so they split. The drive motors fall apart. A belt breaks and you lose braking. The bluetooth connection fails and you lose braking. A bearing comes out and you lose a wheel. A battery connection crosses and your feet are on fire. You knick a puddle and water hits a PCB. Go on Youtube and you will find even mainstream competitors like the Inboard having connection issues, and they're not even cheap. Boosted, by and large, doesn't have these issues anymore.
Boosted is going to continue to grow the longboard product by dropping prices and introducing more models, that much is certain. They have the best product, and second place is so far behind you'll need binoculars to see them.
- they need bike lanes. You could ride in traffic like Casey but it's super dangerous. Sidewalks are ok but unpleasant (bumpy) and slow.
- they're heavy. Once you're at your destination, carrying around a 15lb weight is no fun.
After 3 years my observation is that e-boards are essentially bikes with different drawbacks, rather than a new category of transportation. In NYC the best places to ride a Boosted is in central park and the bike route that rings Manhattan. To get anywhere in the city you're basically carrying the thing.
If there is something that is similar in specs but $500 I'll order one today.
With my usage pattern (commute to gym and back 4 times a week), it pays for itself every 4 months.
And yes, it gets me there faster than a bike or using public transit. Even Uber is just 3 minutes faster (on a 15min trip) because of traffic.
[1] I actually have two. If anyone wants to buy my old Gen1 for half price, ping me.
Nobody steals a longboard. They’re afraid of riding them and the used longboard market is weak.
Plus there’s gym cammeraderie.
The $600 one might be underpowered depending on your use case but hard to beat the Amazon return policy if you don't like it.
Meepo - ~350 shipped, as fast as boosted. Not as much torque as boosted but at least one boosted owner on r/electric skateboarding has commented that it is surprisingly capable of climbing hills. Con - not much info about reliability
Pulse echo- another new seller with hub motors - uses high quality motor controllers ~700 bucks
Raptor 2 - priced under boosted for now I think. Beastly hub motors (about 30 mph).
The space is getting really competitive so there are many more great options. R/electricskateboarding is ok for suggestions but the real knowledgeable people hang out at electricskateboard.builders