WowGo has really stepped up their brand image this past year. The Mini 2 is in my opinion not just the most attractive board that WowGo has released so far, but one of the best looking short electric skateboards available today.
Let’s start off this review with the skate parts.
Skate parts
The deck on the WowGo Mini 2 is 75cm long and 28cm across at its widest point. This is a short deck so of course it is stiffy. It’s made of 8 layers of Canadian maple and has relatively deep concave. The kicktail is 17 cm, long enough for all the practical use cases. And it comes with a replaceable tail puck to protect the board.
The shape and graphic design of this deck are quite nice, but I’ll talk more about that later.
WowGo has made new trucks for the Mini 2, which they call the Bat Truck. These trucks are rakeless, have beveled bushing seats, and use 45-degree baseplates.
The stock bushings are all barrels with a durometer of 95A. And there’s a snug cup washer on each of them.
The Mini 2 uses hub motors and offers two wheel options: 90mm urethane wheels and 105mm Cloudwheels. When purchasing the board, you can choose either one or both.
If you want more ride comfort, choose the Cloudwheels.
The Mini 2 also includes appropriate riser pads for each set of wheels so that you don’t get wheelbite.
Electronics
The battery is 180Wh made up of Sinowatt 18650 cells in a 10S2P arrangement. 180Wh is a pretty standard capacity for board like this.
The charger output is 2A so it should charge the Mini 2’s 5Ah battery from empty to full in about 3 hours.
According to one of my henchmen who range-tested this board, he got about 21 km according to both his phone and the remote. He was 75kg and rode on mostly flat surfaces at around 25 km/h with 90mm wheels in 19 ºC weather. This was back in October. I’ve had this board for a while.
21 km is quite good for those specs and ride conditions. I’m not sure if that was a fluke or if this board is just really efficient.
In any case, remember that many variables can drastically affect the range of electric vehicles, especially small ones. Check out the range estimator on my website to get a rough estimate of what range you might get.
The Mini 2’s speed controller, remote, and motors are all made by Hobbywing.
The remote is the same minimalist remote that WowGo uses for all of their boards. It has a single control wheel for both acceleration and braking, a single multipurpose button, and a small telemetry display that tells you things like how fast you’re going, how much battery you have left, et cetera.
Like all boards today that use Hobbywing, the Mini 2 has the standby feature so you can turn the board on and off using just the remote. You don’t have to bend down to press the power button on the board.
Like WowGo’s other boards, the Mini 2 has four speed modes: 1, 2, 3, and Turbo.
Turbo mode is noticeably more powerful than the other three modes. It’s even comparable to the performance of many electric longboards.
WowGo claims a top speed of 40 km/h on 90mm wheels, but that could depend on a variety of things, such as your weight. Max reached a top speed of 35 km/h, which in my opinion is plenty fast for a short electric skateboard.
The board does experience some performance sag in both the acceleration and top speed as the battery level goes down. It’s not extreme, but it is noticeable.
The brakes are adequately strong and easy to control. No problem there.
Portability
The Mini 2 weighs only 7 kg with the 90mm wheels. That makes it one of the lightest electric skateboards by today’s standards.
Like I mentioned earlier, the priority of a board like this is portability. The small size and relative low weight of the Mini 2 makes it great for people like me who live in a dense city and need to frequently pick up the board.
If you’re a student and need to put this board in your locker or under your desk and carry it to different classrooms, the Mini 2 may be a great option for that as well.
Appearance
Spec-wise, there’s not really anything in particular that makes the Mini 2 stand out.
But what did catch my attention is that it’s a really good looking short board. In my opinion, it’s the best looking board that WowGo has made so far. I would even say it’s one of the best looking electric short boards that you can buy today from any brand.
This new design style and packaging from WowGo does makes me think of another brand. Leave a comment if you know who I’m talking about.
If the Mini 2 had no branding on it, I would not have thought that it came from WowGo. WowGo’s previous boards had round edges and looked more – let’s just say less premium. But everything about the Mini 2 looks really nice. The single enclosure, the shape of the deck and the tail puck, the graphic design.
And I’m making a big deal about the look because in this category, where many of the boards have roughly the same performance and ride feel, it’s how the board looks that makes it stand out.
Surprisingly, even the user manual and stickers look well designed. And WowGo’s revamped website looks way more professional than before. The copywriting is still pretty bad – things were obviously translated from Chinese to English. But the photos and graphics look fantastic.
If you’re familiar with WowGo from a few years ago, and you look at WowGo today, you can see a total glow up in the brand. Well done, WowGo.
Aftersale
The Mini 2 comes with a 6-month warranty. If something is defective during that time, you can contact WowGo through email or Facebook. And if necessary, they can also help you troubleshoot the board through a video call.
Who is it for
The WowGo Mini 2 is a hub motor short board that weighs only 7 kg, so naturally it’s made for people who want an electric skateboard that is both portable and convenient. Like I said earlier, it’d be great for people like me who live in crowded cities and also for students who bring their boards onto campus.
It’s also for people who prefer the short cruiser form factor and those like having a kicktail.
If what you’re after is high speed or power or range, short boards are generally more lacking in those areas compared to larger boards that can hold larger batteries.
Again, the main selling points of this board are its portability and convenience. But what makes it stand out is that it’s a really good looking board.
Final thoughts
As you subscribers know, I broke my ankle from a longboarding accident in November but I’ve actually had this board for several months.
So I have ridden it myself before my accident and I can say that I personally like it for all the reasons that I mentioned earlier.
Its main competitor, I think, is the Exway Wave. Their specs are really similar, but the Exway has a number of extra features – most notably the quick swappable battery and the optional travel-safe battery that can be taken on airplanes. The WowGo Mini 2 does not have those features, but it is about $200 less expensive than even the base model Exway Wave. That’s quite a difference.
Anyway, I think the Mini 2 is a great board. If you’re thinking about getting it, you can use my referral discount code DKWAN to save some money and also help out my channel at the same time.