Skateboards have been around for quite a long time — check out videos where you see some kid (or kid/adult) wheeling around with one foot pushing against the ground to keep them moving. Of course the speed was totally dependent on the person’s push, not to mention the quality of the balance of that person after that foot stomping. Plus stopping using a form of Fred Flintstone’s car (that’s feet). A modern skateboard removes the foot and adds a motor to the wheels. Battery powered, you stand or crouch on the skateboard and use a remote to drive those wheels forward. This makes traveling on the ‘board a reality, distance wise, as well as providing a steady power for doing those skateboard tricks which, while still requiring skill, become less dependent on creating speed of movement.
The Meepo Mini 3 Max takes all the above and sets it to 11. Beginning with the specs, it’s a compact deck design and powers on with two 800 watt hub motors working in tandem to provide motion (chargng time for the internal battery being roughly around 3 hours or so). Greater speed and stability results from the double motors — increasing acceleration consistency as well as a greater stability of motion as a person rides. That comes into play with the braking, which now becomes more predictable and better controlled as to stopping the ‘board. Or to simplify braking also, less jittering and a whole lot less abruptness when braking is applied.
Specs Vs. Real-World
Of course all the specs fall by the wayside when doing real world testing — i.e., getting on the skateboard and going for a ride. Not being accomplished at skateboarding by any means, what we’re looking for is how fast the ‘board can accelerate, how stable the ride and for how long we can ride it before being concerned about the battery. And don’t kid yourself, even though company specs say the board can handle up to 15 degrees of inclination we’re just going pedestrian on the Mini 3 Max, we’ve headgear and elbow kneepads working because we’ll try getting it up to that vaunted 28mph (45kph) top speed on a sidewalk.
Getting Ready
But before we get to any of this, we’ve first got to charge the ‘board fully. This requires plugging it into the included charger and giving it 3 1/2 hours — company specs says 3 hours will do but we’re conservative by nature and look forward to seeing how the spec of up to 10 miles before needing a recharge plays out (spec also says that regenerative braking has a 22% efficiency).
The board is made from 8 layers of maple With a bamboo-style veneer. What you see is an attractive skateboard whose concave profile makes for easy gripping. And at a weight of xxxx, it’s not that heavy to lug around, but certainly the motors add weight that must be taken into account.
While the ‘board’s charging, we check out the remote, which is obviously wireless and communicates with the motors through the now conventional and widely used stable 2.4GHz channel as often used in home networks. Familiarizing yourself with the controls prior to “jumping on” the ‘board makes a lot of sense here: instead of a series of buttons that require muscle memory to use, you’re getting a LCD screen (xxxx in size and backlit? But like most screens used outside, illumination falls off when hit by direct sunlight, so palming it to keep the Sun at bay will help. Fortunately the ergonomic shape of the remote aids in holding it.
The remote allows independent control over both acceleration and braking: a double-click function key avoids inadvertent changes of speed. Three modes offer a tailored ride, with 1/2 good for beginners (like us) and 3/4 catering to the more experienced. As regards braking, holding the braking key and double-clicking function cycles through brake modes 1-4 (1/2 for beginners like us and 3/4 for seasoned riders). Getting a feel for braking is best done, at least in our case, by traveling at slow speeds.
Go For a Ride
We did get our nephew over to show us how a young person who’s fearless could take advantage of the Mini 3 Max. He made our attempts look pathetic, which was expected, but what surprised us was that he enjoyed using it as a traveling board more so than a platform for doing tricks.
Considering all this, our first session was with the ‘board riderless, as we used the remote to have it both travel and stop a number of times. Once confident we could use the controls correctly, we got on and proceeded down the sidewalk of our street, getting a bit wobbly we have to admit the first time we went over a street curb to cross the street (the wobble less from the ‘board and more from our nervousness). By the third day we felt comfortable enough to use speed mode 3, at least for a little while, though we were a lot more comfortable with speed mode 2 and braking mode 2 getting the most of our time. But since we had yet to use Cruise control, we got it going and frankly felt great just standing there as the ‘board flew us down the street (it actually made going over the curb seem to go faster. The best part about Cruise control was that we could stop crouching from fear of falling off — we did fall off once on day one — chalk that up to its stability. And while it’s able to handle some wetness, using it on slick sidewalks isn’t going to be happening on our end anytime soon — YMMV.
Handling up to 300 lbs., it comes with a user manual, the needed charger, ergonomic remote and T-tool. For more about the Meepo Mini 3 Max go to https://www.meepoboard.com
