Spoiler, there is no such thing as the “best electric skateboard of 2021”, or 2020, or ever. The best electric skateboard is the one that serves you best – thus depends on who you are, what you need and what you can afford. Everything else is pure clickbait. With that said and some years of experience, let me give you some personal advice. If you want to buy YOUR best electric skateboard of 2021, follow this 6-step guide.
1. Set a price range at compare-skateboards.com
Use the table on the front page of compare-skateboards.com to get an overview on the models available. There is no larger data set nowhere in the world wide web. Make some smart filtering as per you needs: e.g. set a price range (USD 500-1,000) to only show the boards you can afford.
2. Select either hub- or belt-driven skateboards
Be sure what you want to buy, a hub or belt-driven skateboard. Each have their advantages and of course disadvantages. Here again, it depends on what you prefer so make your mind before you start searching. I have put together a short list (https://compare-skateboards.com/belt-vs-hub-driven-skateboards) on all the pros and cons I could think of. That should spare you some googling.
3. Sort remaining skateboards by battery size or else
Then go sort by the criteria important for you, e.g. battery size. The price range and drive you selected in steps 1 and 2 will remain in place. After sorting you should get a pretty good overview on boards that might be interesting for you. Note that the thumbnail image neatly represents the actual relative size of each board. Check the country and availability to see if you can actually buy and ship a skateboard to your place.
4. Search for the few boards left at Reddit
Have you narrowed down the long list to only a handful of boards? Go to https://reddit.com/r/ElectricSkateboarding/ and read read read. Every post you read on the remaining boards makes you a little bit smarter and brings you closer to your perfect choice. There is furthermore tons of good advice on electric skateboarding in general, funny stories and helpful advice available.
5. Check the company you itend to buy from
Even if it might look attractive you. Thoroughly check the company you are planning to buy from. Even 400 USD are a lot of money. Don´t throw it away for someone that won´t care for you. Believe me, I have e-mailed back and forth with a lot of these skateboard companies. You won´t believe how long it takes for some to even answer the simplest question. These are not the guys you want to turn to when some key part of your board breaks.
6. Follow my golden rules of thumb
I have to be careful with this one but as a very general rule of thumb, the more young the skateboard the more advanced is its technology (motors, batteries), i.e. look for boards released within the last half year. On the other hand, the more mature the skateboard company, the more reliable is its customer service, i.e. look for a company well established. There are quite some exceptions but keep these rules in mind.
The rest is common sense and doing your homework, i.e. some research as you would do for any other expensive thing that you buy. And if none of this leads to a perfect result, there is also a secret step 7 which is to simply build your own board. Ask the guys at eSk8.builders, its the best DIY skateboard community, they´ll sure help you out.
