- This topic has 0 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 4 years, 9 months ago by .
THE HIGHLIGHTS
The power! The power of the original Meepo and all Meepo's to this day is nothing short of staggering for the price! The spec sheet doesn't do it justice. Anyone who's ridden on these now quite common OEM hub motors through a 10s battery knows what I'm talking about. These motors aren't playing! They pack some serious torque and power! There was even I time where I hesitated in recommending the Meepo to beginners looking to buy their first board. This was mainly due to the boards other shortcomings, which could all in-turn make the board quite unwieldy for a new comer. I'll discuss these shortcoming in the lowlights section.
The smart turn on feature. The ESC used by Meepo comes from an OEM who's signature trademark is the smart turn on feature. Simply put the board down, turn on your remote and in one simple kick-push, you're away - the board has automatically turned on! No need to physically turn the board on or off (as it also turns itself off after a short period of non-use).
The handle. At first I hated it. A longboard with a handle?! Get the hell outta here! But I found myself using it a lot more than I thought I would. Electric skateboards are heavier than regular longboards. I mean, a handle kind of makes a lot of sense and it certainly made life a lot easier when I had to step off and carry my board through "no skateboard zones."
THE LOWLIGHTS
The deck. I know this is the lowlights section, but I actually quite liked two things about the deck, 1. The length. 36 inches was a nice grab-and-go size compared to other, longer boards, and 2. The arch/bow of the deck - it gave the board that extra travel room when flexing the deck, much like a Boosted. These two good points were unfortunately negated by the horrible convex nature of the deck longitudinally. Where most longboard decks have a nice concave longitudinally to help cradle and lock in your feet, the Meepo was the exact opposite - it was convex! Instead of your feet feeling cradled and locked in, the reverse was true; you felt like you were trying to balance on a bar and were fearful of your feet sliding off every time you leaned into a corner.
The battery sag. The board started strong, but once you're in the 40% or below range of the battery, you may as well get off and walk!
The reverse button. The first version of the OEM Winning/Nano clone remote had a protruding reverse button that was prone to accidental activation. I didn't become a statistic, but many people did!
Non-replaceable urethane sleeves. Okay, look, the motors were dirt cheap to replace anyway, and a lot of other rival electric skateboard companies were having a lot of trouble with their replaceable sleeve hub motors slipping and ghosting. This was never a problem with the earlier Meepo models due to the urethane being fixed, but there is still something frustrating and counter-intuitive about not being able to replace your rear urethane sleeves.
WORTH IT?
Yeah, it was worth it! Not only was I immensely surprised at the boards power and overall performance, I ran the numbers on what it would cost to build a Meepo if I bought all of the individual parts from DIYeboards and assembled the board myself. Even with Meepo's additional shipping fee, the Meepo was still $100 AUD cheaper overall and the board was delivered to me assembled and tested. It also came with a warranty and fantastic customer service and after sales support.
After running the numbers and trialing the board, I officially became a "Meepo convert!" It was less of a question of "why" and more of a question of "why not?" A Meepo board is perfect second or backup board!
Performance wise I easily achieved the claimed 22mph/36kph top speed on the board, and I'm a 207lbs/94kg rider! Range was a different story. The original Meepo's claimed range was 11mi/18km. I could only manage about 8mi/13km out it, and the last 40% of the ride was ruined by terrible battery sag. Nevertheless, 8mi/13km was about twice the real-world range I could get out of a standard Boosted battery with the same aggressive riding style. Nothing to sneeze at!
The torque generated by the hub motors is actually quite astounding! I honestly couldn't believe a board this powerful was available at such a low price! I didn't meet a hill my Meepo couldn't conquer - it was only battery sag that stood in its way.
Read the full review at: https://www.samjadelaide.com/the-original-meepo-board.html