Tag: propel endeavor pro

The Propel Endeavor is one of the most unique series of electric skateboards ever featured on my channel. And their latest model, the Endeavor 2 GT, has just been released.

What is the Propel Endeavor?

The Propel Endeavor is a series of off-road electric skateboards that first came out in 2021. Although various types of all-terrain boards existed long before the Endeavor came out, the unique implementation of its suspension system keeps its overall size relatively compact compared to other suspension boards on the market. Propel calls the system their “Urban Independent Suspension”.

Aesthetically, in my opinion, the Endeavor was the first suspension board that didn’t look like somebody’s DIY project. To my untrained eye, suspension boards before the Endeavor looked like Lego vehicles.

But more importantly, the Endeavor was – as far as I know – the first suspension electric skateboard to be priced as little as $1200. The Pro model was closer to $2000, which was still a terrific value for a suspension board with more than a kilowatt-hour of battery capacity.

What’s new in the Endeavor 2 series?

Roughly a year after the Endeavor came out, Propel released the Endeavor 2, also in an S and a Pro model. The Endeavor 2 is, for the most part, the same board but with improvements here and there based on customer feedback.

For example, my biggest gripe with the Endeavor 1 was how it didn’t turn well at low speeds. And not much could be done about it because different bushing options were not available at the time. 

With the Endeavor 2, the board ships with softer bushings and now turns very well at any speed. Three different bushing options are now available, and the method for swapping them has become way easier.

Other improvements include precision hubs, upgraded springs, a repositioned antenna and charge port, and built-in ports for powering headlights.

And just recently, a new variant was announced: the Endeavor 2 GT.

What are the differences between the S, Pro, and GT?

In a moment, I’ll go through every part of the Endeavor 2 and explain the differences between the three models.

For those already familiar with the Endeavor 2: the GT uses the same battery as the Pro, but instead of the Flipsky ESC, it uses the LY-FOC. Headlights are included and can be switched on or off with the remote, and a brake light is built-in.

Now let’s go through the entire board.

Size

The S, Pro, and GT are all the same size. 

The overall length of the board is 1 meter long, which is slightly shorter than most 2-in-1 all-terrain boards.

The width, including the wheels, is 45 cm, roughly 50% wider than most 2-in-1 boards, and contributes to the board’s excellent stability.

As another point of reference, the dimensions are quite similar to the LaCroix Barrel.

Deck

The Pro and GT models use a carbon fiber deck, while the S model deck is made of a maple composite. The two decks are the same size, but not exactly the same shape, and are not interchangeable.

I’ve only used the carbon fiber deck, and it has a comfortable radial concave. There are finger wells on the sides of the deck to help with grabbing the board while riding.

While the board is 1 meter long overall, the deck is just 73 cm, and the standing area is a bit less than that. 

Because of the way the suspension parts connect with the deck, I find the standing area to be a little more cramped than I prefer. It’s partly because I like to cruise with both feet angled forward instead of perpendicular to the deck.

For those with a particular fetish, foot bindings are available as a separate purchase.

Wheels

The stock knobby tires are 8 inches or 200 mm in diameter and mounted on Propel’s precision alloy hubs. Propel claims on its website that these are the best-performing stock e-skate wheels. Slightly smaller street tires in 7 inches or 180 mm are available as a separate purchase. 

For street use, I don’t really feel a difference between the two sizes, but you should get a bit more torque with the street tires. For off-roading, the knobbies would be more appropriate.

Suspensions

All three models use Propel’s Urban Independent Suspension system with adjustable coilover shocks and turning tensioners.

The shock absorbers dampen the impact of bumps and cracks. They also keep the wheels in contact with the ground on uneven terrain.

And the turning tensioners, I think, are similar to making your bushings tighter or looser on regular skate trucks. But don’t quote me on that – I could be totally wrong.

For regular street use, I don’t feel much difference in ride comfort between the Endeavor and boards using similar-sized wheels on skate trucks. But in off-road situations like grass or cobblestone, the difference is quite remarkable. Certain paths that were completely unrideable on the 2-in-1 boards become at least tolerable on the Endeavor.

There’s of course a limit to the types of terrain a board can handle. Generally speaking, bigger wheels and bigger suspensions can handle a bigger variety of terrain. The Endeavor’s off-roading capability sits somewhere between the 2-in-1 boards and the much bigger off-road boards like the Propel X4S. 

At the same time, the dimensions of the Endeavor are closer to the 2-in-1 boards, allowing it to fit inside the trunk of a sedan.

Weight

The Pro and GT models are 18.5 kg, and the S is 17 kg. 

To put that into context, most 2WD all-terrain boards are about 14 to 15 kg. The 4WD Exway Atlas Pro with belt drive is 17.7. So compared to the 2-in-1 boards, the Endeavor is at the upper end of the weight spectrum.

On the other hand, when compared to suspension boards, the Endeavor is similar in weight to the smallest Bajaboard, which is 18.3 kg.

And when compared to the Propel X4S, the Endeavor is much lighter and a lot more portable.

For myself though, the Endeavor is heavy enough to prevent it from being one of my frequently used boards. While my building has elevators, I still have a few stairs to deal with. And maneuvering such a heavy board through the hallways between my studio and the elevator is a bit of a chore.

If I were still living in suburbia and could just park the board inside a garage, then I suppose the weight wouldn’t be an issue at all. But for me, living in the inner city of Shanghai where I have to deal with stairs and avoid traffic police, I need my board to be very easy to pick up.

With that said, the majority of people who attend group rides in Shanghai have heavy boards. Misery loves company!

Battery

The Pro and GT models both use a 1080Wh battery, and the S uses 648. So the Pro and GT have about 1.7 times more battery capacity than the S.

I’ve tried the Endeavor 1 Pro and the Endeavor 2 GT. On both of them, I didn’t finish the range test because, well, a thousand Watt-hours is a lot. 

But on both boards – riding on various terrains at a somewhat casual speed – based on my incomplete measurements, I roughly estimate I would get around 50 km. Your range could be a lot more or a lot less.

As always, a whole bunch of things affects range – and that’s especially true for a board that’s meant to be ridden off-road. But in most cases, I think you would get tired before the Pro or GT runs out of power.

The 648Wh of the S, however, is more on the modest side compared to most of today’s all-terrain boards. Assuming the same efficiency as the Pro and GT, the S would get me somewhere around 30 km.

The charger is rated for 5A, which is not bad but I definitely wouldn’t mind a more powerful charging option for a 25Ah battery. Charging the Pro or GT from empty to full would take over 5 hours, and the S would take over 3 hours.

The motors are the same on all three models, each with two 63 by 74 rotors. It’s a pretty standard size nowadays for all-terrain boards, and more powerful than most people would need.

And all three models use belt drive.

ESC & Remote

The speed controllers for all three models are different. The S uses a Lingyi ESC. The GT uses a more current Lingyi, the LY-FOC. And the Pro uses a Flipsky VESC-based ESC. All of them were customized for the Endeavor. I’ll explain what all this means for the layperson.

Lingyi is one of the two most popular manufacturers of speed controllers for electric skateboards, and their ESCs have a number of characteristics – both good and bad – that make them stand out.

One is the feature to turn on the board just by pushing it so you don’t have to press a power button on the board. You can press the button if you want, but that requires bending over – and that’s disgusting.

Another popular Lingyi feature is the ability to have the board stay in place on a gentle slope. Most electric skateboards using other ESCs actually cannot do this when you’re standing on it, even the ones with very strong brakes.

Lingyi controllers also allow the user to adjust brake strength right on the remote and without going into any settings menu.

But the one characteristic that stands out the most is that their throttle control sometimes feels jerky compared to Hobbywing and VESC-based ESCs.

Even with the LY-FOC on the GT, the third and fourth speed modes have a noticeable amount of jerk when you try to fine-tune your cruising speed.

While this probably wouldn’t be a dealbreaker for most people, it is a noticeable difference that’s worth pointing out.

The ESC also determines what remotes you’re able to use, as they’re not all interchangeable. For example, you can’t use the Endeavor Pro’s remote with the GT.

But you may be able to use other Lingyi remotes with the S and GT, which you may want to do at some point because of a couple of annoying things on the stock remotes.

The button labeled “Reverse” doesn’t actually put the board into reverse. You have to double-click the power button to go into reverse.

That doesn’t affect the ride at all once you figure out that the label is wrong. I just feel that a board that’s otherwise so well-polished – and priced at $1000 and up – shouldn’t have such a chabuduo mistake.

Imagine Sony or Apple or any other major consumer electronics brand putting the wrong label on a button. It just wouldn’t happen!

The Pro model uses a VESC-based ESC, which is ideal for DIY and RC hobbyists who want to tweak settings or make major customizations to their boards. It’s also for those who care a lot about having a smooth throttle control that you don’t get from Lingyi controllers.

The Pro model’s remote is the Flipsky VX2 Pro. It’s an ambidextrous remote with a color display. And when you pull back the control wheel at a full stop, the board goes into reverse without you having to press any button.

The remotes for all three models unfortunately use a Micro-USB charge port. Come on.

Lights

The final difference between the three models is the lighting. The GT is the only one with integrated headlights included and a built-in taillight. 

The two headlights are 1800 lumens each, or 3600 lumens combined. That’s really bright. They can be turned on and off using the remote.

The taillight is a built-in brake light, and I appreciate that it looks like it was designed to be there from the start, as opposed to looking like an afterthought.

On the S and Pro models, the lights are optional add-ons. 

The optional headlights look the same as the GT’s lights and are powered by the board’s battery, but they use a separate power switch instead of turning on and off using the remote.

The optional taillight is a separate unit with its own battery and does not look like the GT’s taillight. It does have a brake sensor though so it too works as a brake light.

Which one would I get?

Now that I’ve gone through the similarities and differences between the Endeavor 2 S, Pro, and GT, and how I feel about them, I hope I’ve helped you decide which one, if any, would be best for you. If you’ll be getting one, feel free to use my referral link and coupon code for a big discount.

If you’re still undecided and want to know which one I’d choose for myself, it would be the Pro or GT. And considering the price difference during the GT’s presale period, right now it would be the GT.

Even though I’m not someone who cares a lot about power and range, I do care about how I’ll bring a heavy board home when it runs out of power. This would not be an easy board to take on public transit, and I don’t think ride-share drivers would appreciate dirty tires in their trunks. With the bigger battery capacities of the Pro or GT, I would be far less likely to run out of power than with the S.

I like the smooth throttle control and the auto-reverse feature of the Pro, but I also like the smart turn-on and the integrated lights on the GT.

The GT model’s noticeable jerkiness in the third and fourth speed modes is a bit of a bummer, but it’s predictable and mild enough that I think I can just get used to it. 

If they were the same price, it’d be a bit of a toss-up, and I hope future Propel boards would combine each model’s advantages into one model. But right now, with the presale discount, I’d choose the GT for sure.

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.