This was the electric skateboard I wanted to build, and I’m furious someone else made it first! The Newsesh Echo is built around push assist, but it can also ride like a conventional remote-controlled electric skateboard.
For a limited time, you can get the Echo at its lowest price ever by using my discount code DKWAN. This link applies the code automagically on most browsers: dkwan.com/newsesh.
The Board I Wanted to Build
Electric skateboards have gained more speed, power, and range, but many have also become heavier, larger, and far less portable. They deserve a separate category, much like how a motorcycle isn’t considered a bicycle.
That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but many of us want an electric skateboard that retains the ride characteristics and portability of a well-made longboard. That’s why the Parsec Aero was created.
The Newsesh Echo was made to solve the same problem but went in a different direction. While the Aero has the form of a classic drop-down longboard, the Echo is built like an LDP bracket board. (LDP stands for Long Distance Pushing, or Long Distance Pumping.)
Out of all the various longboarding disciplines, LDP is probably the least cool at first glance, but it becomes an addictive money pit once you get into it. Just like downhill, the components that you choose for LDP matter a lot.
The Echo uses a setup that you commonly see in LDP: drop-down brackets, narrow trucks, and big wheels.
You can use the remote to accelerate and brake, like the vast majority of electric skateboards, but it also has a feature that few brands have attempted: electronic push-assist.
An LDP board with push-assist is exactly the board I wanted to make before I co-founded Parsec Skateboards. LDP is the most suitable longboarding discipline to be motorized, and also the one where push-assist makes the most sense.
You have no idea how badly I wish the Echo were my product. Instead, it comes from Newsesh, co-founded by Chase “Missing Tooth” Parker.
Newsesh and Chase
I’d met Chase several times at various downhill and e-skate events so I knew he was an excellent skater, but I had no idea he was into something as pedestrian as LDP, or that he was building basically my dream board.
Chase co-founded Newsesh with an experienced e-skate designer named Nana. They shared the same frustrations I had with the e-skate industry, that the market was obsessed with spec numbers, and that e-boards were becoming less and less like skateboards and longboards.
That led them to create the Newsesh Echo. They gave me one with no obligation to make a review, but here I am because this is truly a board I have been waiting for.
Push Assist
Echo’s implementation of push assist is fantastic. I was surprised at how natural and intuitive it felt. There’s no jerkiness at all, and it’s easy to pump to speed up.
You know how when you ride a longboard inside a shopping mall, or anywhere where the floor is completely smooth? The board goes super far with every push. It’s kind of like that but even on asphalt.
It isn’t fixed speed cruise control. The board gradually slows rather than maintaining speed, and it doesn’t make the board go faster than your actual push. It just makes each of your pushes go way farther than it should.
For now, push assist requires the remote to be on and connected. I wouldn’t put it in a pocket because you could accidentally engage the brake, but I’ve been letting it dangle from my wrist or my bag to get a feel for hands-free riding.
Riding with both hands free and having each push carry you way farther than usual really feels magical. I think if you have no preconception of what an electric skateboard is, like if you’ve never heard of Boosted or seen an e-skate review, then this is what you would naturally expect and want from an electric skateboard.
Chase told me that hands-free push assist is still being tested and is planned for a future over-the-air update. I really hope they get it working well and release it soon because I think it’s an important part of the experience.
Even with hands-free push assist, there are still situations where using a handheld interface to accelerate and brake would be beneficial.
The remote gives you four modes to choose from: two assist modes and two electric modes.
In the assist modes, the board does not respond when you push the throttle wheel forward. It does respond when you pull the wheel back to brake. You accelerate by kick-pushing, and you can brake either by foot-braking or by using the remote.
In the electric modes, the board operates like most electric skateboards. You use the remote to speed up and slow down. You can still foot-brake if you want, of course.
Limitation of Push Assist
The only real downside I’ve experienced from push assist is that foot-braking takes more effort. It doesn’t feel jerky or anything, but you need to create enough resistance to let the board know that you’re trying to slow down. This makes fine tuning your speed a bit more difficult in stop-and-go traffic.
On a regular longboard, you can gently brush your shoe on the ground to shave off just a little bit of speed. You would do that a lot in traffic, but that doesn’t work as well with push-assist. You gotta press down a bit harder than usual to slow down.
In busy traffic, I find it a lot more practical to control my speed using the remote. Another option is to turn the board off and push it without assist. It feels like pushing a longboard with big wheels, but it’s still way more natural to push than most electric skateboards.
Riding downhill is, of course, another situation where you’d want to use the remote.
Feels Like A Longboard
The Echo is one of very few electric skateboards along with the Parsec Aero that genuinely feels like a good longboard. From some angles, it even looks like an ordinary longboard.
The stock setup uses 86A barrel bushings in front and 92A in the rear, all with flat washers. By default, this plus the narrow trucks make the Echo much more maneuverable than a typical electric skateboard.
The 108 mm wheels are enormous by longboarding standards, even larger than wheels designed for LDP. They’re a major reason why this hub motor board is so comfortable. In fact, I totally forget that I’m on hub motors when I ride the Echo.
Speaking of hub motors, the Echo is extremely quiet. You can barely hear the motors over the road and the huge 108 mm wheels absorb much more vibration than the smaller wheels on most hub motor boards.
The drop-down brackets allow the Echo to have a low ride height, which makes pushing easier. But because of how thick this board is, there’s very little ground clearance. While the Echo and the Aero share the same ride height, there are shallow speed bumps that the Aero clears that the Echo doesn’t.
There’s a simple solution to this though: you can top-mount the brackets over the trucks to add some height. On mine, I’ve also added angled risers for even greater clearance and, in theory, more effective pumping.
The extra height does make kick-pushing a little more tiring, but with push-assist it’s still way less effort than normal kick-pushing. And since this is a bracket board, Newsesh could in the future release brackets with a more shallow drop.
The deck is a very nice looking maple bamboo fiberglass composite. The griptape is rough, but it won’t easily scratch your fingers. Unlike most griptape, it doesn’t feel like sandpaper.
I’m not sure if I like the translucent enclosure, since the internals aren’t very interesting to look at. There’s just a black rectangle for the battery and a smaller black rectangle for the ESC.
The standing area of the deck is compact, but large enough if you know how to skate, even for a mediocre skater like me. But if you’ve only ever ridden electric skateboards and aren’t used to the narrower stance on a regular commuter longboard, you might find this deck to be quite short.
Of course, if you like riding hard and fast all the time, having room for a wider stance is definitely beneficial, but that’s not what the Echo’s for. In my opinion, the best use case for the Echo is going out for a chill ride where you don’t need a whole bunch of body armor.
Speed and Range
Newsesh’s website claims that the Echo can reach a top speed of 31 miles per hour but I’m not going to test that out. Personally, I would prefer to ride this board at regular longboard cruising speeds like around 10 to 12 miles per hour. I know that sounds slow, but when the remote’s not in your hand and you have to brake with your foot, it changes your perception of speed.
As for range, Newsesh’s claim is 61 miles or 100 kilometers. Of course, that’s with push assist. My unit actually has a smaller 1P battery instead of the GTP’s 2P, but even that gives me more range with assist than I’d ever need in a single day.
An electric skateboard uses the most power when it’s accelerating, especially from a standstill. Once you get moving, maintaining a moderate speed doesn’t use nearly as much energy.
Just as with pedal assist on e-bikes, the actual range of push assist can be affected by a whole bunch of variables. I think the important takeaway is that the range with push assist is a lot more than most people would need.
Personally, I hardly ever ride more than 20 kilometers at a time. If I need to go much farther, I’d rather use other types of vehicles than stand on a plank of wood.
Of course, for people who are hardcore about LDP, I guess the 100-kilometer claim could matter, but that’s not me.
In the fully electric modes, Newsesh claims 25 miles or 40 kilometers. Based on the 346 Watt-hour battery and urethane wheels, that seems reasonable for someone around my weight riding at around 12 miles per hour, though actual range will vary.
Remote Controllers
The Echo GTP comes with this translucent version of the JECNN remote. Unlike the standard black JECNN remote shared by many electric skateboards, this one supports USB-C-to-C charging.
The optional Propel PALM Remote is sold separately. I like how compact it is and the high-resolution color display is really nice, but the standard remote with the more basic display is perfectly fine too.
As far as I know, all the customizations that you can make on the PALM Remote for the Echo GTP are also available on the standard remote. The PALM Remote does have the added benefit of being configurable for left-handed use.
Weight and Portability
At 19 pounds or 8.6 kg, the Echo is relatively lightweight for a modern electric skateboard.
Mine weighs about 7.7 kilograms with its smaller 1P battery. Personally, I prefer this lighter setup since it already gets me more range than I need when using push assist.
Even with the relatively light weight, I’d rather not carry it under my arm for more than a few minutes. I’d prefer pulling it, but the board is a bit too short to do that comfortably without adding a pull handle. I bought a random one, but Chase said that Newsesh will release their own in the future.
Even without a handle, the Echo’s ability to stand upright makes mall-grabbing highly convenient. It’s more than stable enough to stay standing in a subway train and on an escalator. The little piece on the rear that lets the board stand also lets you pop up the nose like a kicktail.
Who It’s For
The Newsesh Echo makes the most sense for someone who already loves longboarding and wants more distance from every push.
Push assist isn’t new, but today, as far as I know, only two boards with this feature are still available.
If you have no interest in push assist, there’s a whole bunch of other boards to choose from, but push assist on a compact LDP board with narrow trucks and a classic aesthetic is a dream come true for me. It just makes so much sense.
The Echo is obviously not made for off-roading. It’s also not what I would consider a high performance board by today’s standards. This board is more about reproducing the best qualities of a traditional longboard.
With it looking so much like a regular LDP longboard from some angles, the Echo may also be good for someone who needs to hide the fact that their board is electric due to local regulations, but don’t quote me on that.
And finally, if Newsesh delivers its planned OTA update, the Echo would be great for someone who wants a hands-free e-skating experience.
I’m not just talking about push assist. I’m referring to the benefit of having one less device to think about, recharge, and carry whenever you go out for a ride.
For most of my life, I made sure I had my wallet and keys on me whenever I went out. Now I leave them at home (because of mobile payments and smart lock) and I’d love to do the same with the e-skate remote.
I would still use a remote in some situations like in stop-and-go traffic, but for fun situations where you just want to skate and don’t need to brake all the time, being able to leave the remote at home would be awesome.
Final Thoughts
The Newsesh Echo is easily one of my top three favorite electric skateboards right now. It’s the dream board I wanted to make but couldn’t, so my feelings about it are complicated.
But I’m glad that this board now exists because it just makes so much sense to me: push assist, LDP bracket board, and hopefully soon hands-free riding.
I’ve wanted something like this for a long time. I’m sure lots of people have the same idea, but ideas are cheap. Execution is where it counts and I think Newsesh has done a fantastic job.
Watch the video at https://youtu.be/bV1W70zV2YE.
Learn more about the Newsesh Echo GTP at https://dkwan.com/newsesh. Use discount code DKWAN.