The Propel Endeavor series of electric skateboards is vastly different from all of the other boards I’ve covered on my channel so far. It is so different that there are a few important things you need to know to decide if this board is right for you.
What are its strengths? What are its flaws? And does it even feel like a skateboard?
The Propel Endeavor comes in two models: the Endeavor S and the Endeavor Pro. The review unit that I have is the Pro, but I’ll also talk about the differences of the two models.
Suspension
Unlike most other electric skateboards, the Propel Endeavor does not use skateboard trucks. It uses a suspension system that resembles what you might find on a car.
But the difference from a car, and the similarity with a skateboard, is that you steer by leaning left and right with your body.
So why did Propel go with control arms and coilover shocks like a car instead of the various types of longboard trucks or even mountainboard trucks? What are the benefits?
The biggest advantage of the Endeavor’s independent suspension is the stability. Instead of bouncing around on uneven terrain because of the left and right wheels sharing the same truck hangers, each of Endeavor’s suspension arms adsorbs bumps independently.
This is great for off-road stability and also high speed stability.
The board’s track width also contributes to its stability. The distance between the left and right wheels on most 2-in-1 all-terrain boards is about 270mm. On the Endeavor it’s 395mm.
Another benefit of the Endeavor’s suspensions is the ride comfort. According to one of Propel’s videos, this is the smoothest riding skateboard you’ve ever stepped on.
But exactly how comfortable is it relative to the more common 2-in-1 all-terrain boards that use pneumatic tires on skate trucks?
I’ll tell you my personal experience. Keep in mind that I’m about 75 kg and I kept the adjustable coilover shocks in their stock setup.
On a typical asphalt road, I felt no difference in ride comfort between the Endeavor and the 2-in-1 AT boards. And that’s to be expected. Small road imperfections get absorbed by the pneumatic tires on both types of boards.
On small and smooth tiles, and even larger sidewalk tiles, I still don’t really notice any difference in ride comfort.
But once I get onto rougher and more uneven terrain, then I can start to notice that the Endeavor’s suspensions are absorbing some of those bumps.
And the rougher the terrain, the more of a difference there is. I definitely felt more confident riding the Endeavor on uneven surfaces.
Like I said before, I did not adjust the stiffness of the coilover shocks. Being in Shanghai, I have very little opportunity for off-roading, so I prefer keeping the shocks set up for road use. But if I wanted more comfort on rough terrain, I could adjust the shocks to be softer.
But the comfort and stability of the Endeavor’s suspensions does come with a trade-off. The turn radius is quite large compared to other boards that I own.
Getting around corners at intersections is not a problem at all. It’s mainly an issue when I’m trying to maneuver around people or other stuff in tight spaces at very low speeds. And making u-turns would often require doing a 3-point turn.
The turning force is adjustable, similar loosening your skateboard trucks. But even when loosened up, the turn radius is still larger than that of my other boards.
Wheels
The stock wheels that come on the Endeavor Pro and S are the 8-inch pneumatics with knobby treads. 7-inch wheels for streets use are available as a separate purchase. Obviously the 8-inch wheels are more appropriate for off-road situations, and the 7-inch wheels should have better performance on asphalt.
By the way, you’ll need a 17mm wrench to take the wheels off. A standard skate tool won’t work.
Deck
The Endeavor Pro’s deck is made of carbon fiber, and the Endeavor S’s deck is made of maple. According to Propel, they are not interchangeable.
The design of this deck to me feels like it’s made for standing with your feet perpendicular to the board, similar to mountainboards and snowboards.
If you normally stand with your feet pointed more forward, you can brace your foot against that suspension arch thingy, but it gets uncomfortable after a while. On this board, I find myself turning my front foot more sideways than usual.
The deck has finger wells underneath to make picking up the board slightly easier. They also help with grabbing the board when riding.
Battery
The Endeavor Pro uses a 1080Wh battery pack made up of Samsung 50G cells in a 12S5P arrangement. And the Endeavor S uses a 648Wh pack with the same cells in a 12S3P arrangement. So the Pro has 40% more battery capacity than the S.
In fact, the Endeavor Pro has a bigger battery than every other electric skateboard that I’ve covered on my channel so far.
For context, most other all-terrain electric skateboards nowadays have battery capacities of anywhere from around 500 to 900Wh. The Endeavor Pro is the only board I have that surpasses 1000Wh.
I did an incomplete range test and rode 42 km with roughly 35% battery remaining. Using those rough numbers, at 10% battery I would have ridden about 58 km. My weight was about 75 kg, the weather was about 20 ºC, and my ride was mostly on flat roads with a little bit of off-roading. Also, I was using the 7-inch wheels, not the 8-inch.
Again that was a very rough estimate. There are also a lot of variables that affect range, but the key takeaway is that the Endeavor Pro is among the longest range all-terrain boards on the market today.
The board comes with a 5A charger, so charging the Pro’s 25Ah battery from empty to full should take about 6 hours, and the S’s 15Ah battery in about 4 hours.
Motors
The motor size is 6374 on both the Endeavor Pro and Endeavor S. Visually they look just like the Dongxingwei 6374 motors I’ve seen on another board.
I don’t really want to talk about output rating because that number doesn’t really matter, but in this case I like how Propel worded the rating: “Each motor has a maximum theoretical output of 3000W.”
Maximum theoretical output. That’s a much better way of putting it than simply calling this a 6000W board. But again, this number doesn’t even matter. To support my point, on the Endeavor’s own product page, it says 3000W per motor in the specs table, but if you scroll down a bit, it says 1500W per motor. This number is literally meaningless.
But in any case, as far as I know, 6374 motors are the biggest motors used on mass production electric skateboards today.
Speed controller & remote
The Endeavor Pro uses a VESC-based speed controller, or ESC, made by Flipsky. And the Endeavor S uses a Lingyi speed controller.
The speed controller of the Pro comes in two options: VESC4 and VESC6. The VESC6 option costs $100 more, but out of the box, the performance of the two versions should be exactly the same. The VESC6 option may be more appropriate for people who are familiar with VESC and want to tinker with the board.
The acceleration on the Pro is very strong once you get moving. From a standstill, compared to some of the other powerful boards today, it’s a little more gentle on takeoff, which is totally fine by me. If you’re a heavier person, I assume it might feel more sluggish on takeoff, but it also depends on what you’re used to.
The brakes on the Pro are also very strong, and the brake control is a little bit too sensitively in my opinion. If you want to brake gently, you have to really ease into pulling back on the control wheel.
A nice feature on the Pro is if you continue to brake when you’re at a complete stop, the board slowly moves in reverse.
The remote on the Endeavor Pro is a customized Flipsky VX2 Pro. It’s a nice remote with a display in the middle, making it good for both right-handed and left-handed use. The display shows battery indicators for both the board and the remote, your speed, distance traveled, et cetera. You can also set the gearing and wheel size to get accurate measurements if you change those parts.
I’ve been talking about the ESC on the Endeavor Pro so far. As for the Endeavor S, I haven’t tried it so I can only speculate about how it performs compared to the Pro based on the specs.
The Pro’s ESC can draw up to 65A of current, while on the S it’s 35A. And the Pro’s battery is 5P while the S is 3P. So, in theory, the Endeavor Pro should be able to accelerate noticeably harder than the Endeavor S.
Even though the S is lower tier than the Pro, it does have one notable advantage (aside from price), which is that you can turn the board on by just pushing the board a bit, while on the Pro you have to press a button.
I should mention though: since the button is on top, and it does not require a long press to turn on or off, I don’t actually mind pressing it. I never thought about it until now but I think I really don’t like long-pressing a power button. Still, some kind of smart turn on for the Pro would have been nice.
The remote for the Endeavor S, as far as I can tell, is the common Lingyi remote with a display. Like most remotes, it’s made for right-handed use. Again, I’ve never tried the Endeavor S, so I won’t say too much about that.
Portability
This is where Propel thinks I’m going to take issue with this board. And they’re right! This board is heavy. According to Propel’s website, the Pro is 19.5 kg, and the S is 17 kg.
To put that in context, the 12S3P Endeavor S has a smaller battery than the 12S4P 2-in-1 all-terrain boards, but it’s still a couple kilograms heavier.
The Endeavor S is about the same weight as the Lacroix Nazaré, but the Nazaré has a 12S5P battery. The Endeavor Pro also has a 12S5P battery, but it’s about 2 kg heavier than the Nazaré.
So how has the weight of the Endeavor affected its portability for me personally?
Compared to other boards, it’s not very easy to pull, not just because of the weight but also because there’s not really a good way to grab it. With skateboard trucks, the truck hanger naturally becomes a handle. But on the Endeavor, you grab the front suspension parts, which is not very comfortable.
The front of my building has some stairs. Normally I would pick up the board there, but with the Endeavor I just carefully pull it down. And when I come back, I use the wheelchair ramp. It’s not that I can’t pick up 20 kg – I just would rather not.
I’m not sure if I can bring this board onto the subway here, but I’m pretty sure I can’t. Technically we’re not supposed to bring on electric vehicles but I’ve only been stopped a couple times with electric skateboards. I’m pretty sure the subway staff would consider the Endeavor a very small car rather than a large skateboard.
Besides, we’re also not allowed to ride in the subway station so I’d have to pull it to the platform and onto the train. I’d rather not do that with this board, especially since not every station here has escalators.
In crowded spaces, with other boards, sometimes I push them like normal skateboards. That’s just easier sometimes. But with the Endeavor, because it’s so wide, my foot would hit the back wheel when I push.
Fortunately the Endeavor is small enough to fit inside the trunk of a car. It’s actually a little shorter than the typical 2-in-1 all-terrain board.
And for additional context, the Endeavor Pro is still much more portable than something like the Propel X4S and the various Bajaboards.
Maintenance
The Endeavor doesn’t really require more maintenance than most other electric skateboards, but it does require a different set of tools.
For most other electric skateboards, you can take them apart and put them back with just a standard skate tool and a 3mm hex key.
On the Endeavor, from what I can see, you’ll need a 17mm wrench, a 13mm wrench, and hex keys in sizes 2.5, 3, 4, and 5 millimeters. Your standard skate tool would not be useful on the Endeavor.
As a general rule, just like any other board, you should regularly do a visual inspection to make sure all the fasteners are still there and still snug. That does take longer on the Endeavor because there are quite a few more screws, but we’re talking about like maybe 20 seconds on this board versus around 10 seconds on other boards. It’s not a big difference.
Appearance
Again, I have the Endeavor Pro, not the S, so I’ll be talking about the appearance of the Pro.
This is one of the best looking boards that I have. The emblems look great. I really like the power button. I like the chrome rivots – they give it a retro look.
With most other boards, I can find areas where they cut corners. Things like zip ties, cheap cables, charge port covers. This board is one of the few exceptions where everything looks well designed.
If I had to nitpick, I would point out that this white line that runs down the center of the board isn’t actually centered – at least not on my unit. But you’d have to be kind of crazy to notice that.
Overall, in terms of appearance, it’s a good looking little car.
Aftersale
Propel says that they are actively growing their aftersale system. For the US, they have a service center in Florida, and they are looking for reliable local service partners.
I know they have a Facebook group that’s quite active.
They also have the Propel Virtual Garage, which is a YouTube channel that holds Propel’s tutorial videos. They cover topics like how to change tires and how to replace belts.
At the moment there are only 5 videos, and they haven’t uploaded in a couple weeks, but I hope they continue making more tutorials.
I personally would like to see a video where they talk about adjusting the turning force, because the board was quite difficult to turn before I loosened it up. Should I make the back tighter than the front? And how do I make sure the left and right sides are even? Those are a couple questions that I hope they cover.
There’s another thing I want to point out about Propel that indirectly relates to their aftersale. Communication with Propel has been very easy for me. With most of the e-skate brands I’ve covered, because they don’t have native English speakers who are part of their core team, communication with them has sometimes had their frustrating moments. But with Propel, I almost forget that they’re headquartered in China.
I don’t know what their customer service will be like once they have a lot more customers and need more support staff, but I hope they continue to have fluent English language support.
With Propel, communication with them has always felt very professional, and I always felt like I was speaking with someone who knew the product inside and out. I hope they keep that up.
Who is it for
If we put the Endeavor on a diagram where the lightest and most portable boards are on the far left, and the heaviest and most off-road capable boards are on the far right, the Endeavor would sit between the 2-in-1 all-terrain boards and the much more serious all-terrain boards.
Compared to the 2-in-1 boards, the Endeavor is less portable, less nimble, but more stable and better at off-roading. So whether or not this board is for you depends on your priorities.
A better comparison is possibly the Lacroix Nazaré, which is more similar in its dimensions and battery size, and also uses a VESC-based ESC. But I’ve never tried that board so I really can’t say how similar or different the ride is.
I can however point out the huge difference in price, which is one of the Endeavor’s strong selling points. The Nazaré is over $3000 while the Endeavor Pro is about $2000. The Endeavor S is even more affordable at about $1200.
For what this board offers, and compared to other off-roading options, I think both the Endeavor Pro and S are a great value – as long as they fit your priorities.
Final thoughts
Despite being far from the most suitable board for my environment, I really like the Endeavor because it’s a well-made specialized board.
Rather than being a board that tries to be everything for everyone, it makes appropriate sacrifices in portability and nimbleness to become a board that’s very stable, very long range, and very off-road capable.
It’s not great for riding in Shanghai, where I currently live, but I imagine it could be great in a US suburb where it’s a lot less crowded and you generally need to use a car to go somewhere.
It’s also great for people who want something that’s truly off-road capable, but don’t want something as large as a Propel X4S.
Like any specialized board, the Endeavor is not for everyone, but it may be perfect for some. Maybe you! If you want to get this board, you can get a discount and support my channel at the same time by using my discount code, DKWAN.