When comparing Airwheel M3 vs Evolve Carbon GT Street, the Slant community recommends Evolve Carbon GT Street for most people. In the question“What are the best electric skateboards?” Evolve Carbon GT Street is ranked 12th while Airwheel M3 is ranked 17th. The most important reason people chose Evolve Carbon GT Street is:
Being so powerful, this board will most likely appeal to experienced riders. It has a max range that's nearly three times more than what you'd get from the vast majority of boards out there. It's also faster, with a 26 MPH top speed, slightly beating the quickest competitors (such as Inboard M1 with 24 MPH top speed).
Specs
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Pros
Pro Can operate in very wet conditions
The electrical components are secured from the elements, and the board can be used even in wet conditions.
Pro Can mount setup on any board imaginable, even on a snowboard
The motor setup can be mounted on any number of decks, including decks not originally intended to serve as skateboards. This gives a great deal of flexibility in customizing your ride.
Pro App for tracking statistics and tweaking available on both Android and iOS
A chip inside the board tracks stats and wirelessly relays them to the app, enabling the user to check them in real time. This leads to better decision making while riding the board.
Pro No external motor
The motor is encased inside the wheel (instead of an external motor and belt drive), which keeps it protected and offers a good, high-powered experience.
Pro Awesome design
The board has a striking design with one tail and large wheels fastened to backward-facing trucks.
Pro Smooth ride
The trucks and bushings have a dampening effect on vibration and bumps making for a smooth ride. The large wheels and cushioning risers used above the trucks enhance this effect.
Pro It's fairly cheap
This setup cots 2-3 less than that what you'd expect to pay for a high-quality e-board, making it a very accessible option.
Pro Good warranties
The board comes with a 1-month warranty on the wheels, a 6-month warranty on the battery, and a 1-year warranty on the rest of the components.
Pro Able to ride on medium rough terrain
The large wheels allow the board to traverse rough terrain easily. This makes it a good board to use in off-road conditions, including forested terrain and parks.
Pro Feels really durable
The components are strong and stand up well to wipeouts and poor weather.
Pro Very impressive performace, suitable for pros
Being so powerful, this board will most likely appeal to experienced riders. It has a max range that's nearly three times more than what you'd get from the vast majority of boards out there. It's also faster, with a 26 MPH top speed, slightly beating the quickest competitors (such as Inboard M1 with 24 MPH top speed).
Pro Gorgeous design
The minimalist carbon color scheme and understated branding make this board a showstopper. A clean look that does not look like a hobbyist board, but something professionally manufactured with a touch of class.
Pro Suitable for city and off-road
This board comes with street wheels, but the all-terrain can be purchased separately. If you have both, the wheels can be swapped in and out fairly easily.
Pro Great stability at higher speeds
While the flex of a board like the Boosted can be great, It is not the best at speeds such as 42km/h, the GT's top speed with 97mm wheels. It can also be seen as a con for some people who just want to ride a board at decent speeds. Mainly the rigidity helps when going fast, as there will be less wobble or flex, which can easily throw the rider off their board, something no one wants at high speeds.
Pro Easily readable remote LCD screen
The remote is equipped with an LCD screen that feels much more advanced than your standard interface. You can get information, such as battery life or speed, from a quick glance.
Pro Great range
You can ride for up to 31 miles on the Street GT on just one charge. That's 2-3 times more than most boards.
Pro One of the highest-performing boards available
With a top speed of 26 mph and a 15- 31-mile range, this board is among the most powerful on the market. It can handle steep hills (up to a 25 percent grade) with ease.
Pro Solidly built
A 40" long board created out of custom molded carbon fiber and kevlar. This makes for a light but very strong deck that doesn't snap or break easily. Fastened underneath the deck is the battery, which has its own custom casing that doesn't add too much thickness to the board, though it does add considerable weight (as all batteries do). The casing allows the rider to feel confident that water and debris won't affect the battery.
Overall, a well thought out design with craftsmanship to match, that exudes toughness and reliability in its construction.
Pro You can ride it as a regular skateboard
The rider can just push kick the board when the batteries are dead, as the motor was designed to allow free spinning of the wheels when not in use. This is great for when the rider is out and about and the batteries die or a belt breaks.
Pro Huge selection of spare parts
Conversion kits, wheels, bearings, belts, chargers, hubcaps, inter tubes, battery casing, all parts for trucks (including bushings), are all parts you can order from their site, covering just about everything other than the motor itself. This is great for anyone who may lose or break any part of the board, as the spare parts are available and easily ordered.
Pro Easily maintained
Evolve offers a multitude of videos on how to change out parts on their boards, providing an easy way to learn how to properly maintain it. Coupled with the fact that plenty of spare parts are sold, it should be easy enough for any rider to obtain needed parts and fix their own boards when parts wear out.
Pro You can track ride stats in the free app
There are two companion apps, one for Android and one for iOS. You can use them to link on social media with friends who also have an Evolve board, as well as track riding stats, including GPS.
Pro Responsive customer service
The customer service tends to be pretty responsive and work with the customer when there are issues. Compared to some other popular brands that still have problems in this area, Evolve is a good choice for those who want to make sure to avoid that.
Pro Quickly charge the board (optional accessory)
A quick charger is available for purchase as an optional accessory that charges the board in 3 hours. This is 1-2 hours faster than the stock charger.
Pro Good warranty
The warranty lasts for six months from the time of purchase. While not the longest warranty, there have been very few complaints about the company not fulfilling their responsibilities. The warranty is listed on their site as covering "all defects in material and workmanship" for that six-month period.
Pro Fantastic turning radius
The turning radius of Evolve boards is quite good. Just lean into a turn and the board will follow with no issue. Some other high end boards have issue with this, Evolve does not. Definitely a perk for those that need to ride in areas with a lot of turns.
Cons
Con Quite heavy
The 25 lbs weight needs to be taken into account. It is not the easiest to carry around if that’s something you’ll need to do.
Con People can see it's motorized quite easily
Thanks to the very large battery box attached under the board, it’s quite obvious that the board is motorized.
Con Bulky battery pack isn’t great to look at
The battery pack is quite large and really stands out – but not in a good way. Its size also adds weight to the board, which is the tradeoff you make for a more powerful battery that lasts longer.
Con The range is unimpressive
When ridden by a 65 kg (140 lb) rider at full speed at 14 degrees Celsius (60 degrees Fahrenheit), the board only has a range of 10 km (6 miles). When it’s colder than this, the batteries will offer even less power. This is true of all batteries, so if you live in a cold environment be sure to consider the impact weather may have on performance.
Con One-wheel drive
Only one wheel has a motor, which can lead to too much torque on one side.
Con Dishonest advertising of specs
Airwheel is advertised with a top speed of 20 kph and a 20-km range (12 mph and 12 miles). The company also claims it can be fully charged in 60 minutes and that it will alert the rider when they reach 12 kph (7.5 mph). In reality, there is no alert at 12 kph, the board only charges to 55 percent capacity in an hour, and listed the top speed can only be reached if you weigh less then 60 kg (130 lb) or are going downhill. It’s possible that a 20 km range could be achieved in first gear, but in the top gear you will only be able to travel half that distance.
Con Miserable top speed
Even with a fairly light, 150 lb rider, the board will only reach a top speed of 11 mph. Obviously this speed will only decrease as the rider weight increases.
Con Doesn’t charge very quickly
The board takes three hours to fully charge. It will only reach 55 percent charge after the first hour. This makes it difficult to quickly top off the battery.
Con It's expensive
The price of this board is very expensive. $2K for a skateboard for most people is just not worth the money. There are good options available for much less.
Con Not easy to carry around
The board is quite heavy at 17-21 pounds, making for something that is not going to be the easiest to carry around when it is not being ridden. The large battery built into the device most likely adds to this issue.
Con Not waterproof
Water can get into the top deck of the board through the grip tape and damage the electronics.
Con The small motor pulley may wear out prematurely with aggresive riding, which requires you to replace the whole motor
You are obligated to get a whole new motor when your $3 gear wears out. Expect it to wear out quickly if you ride aggressively.
Con May be too rigid for some riders
For long-boarders who prefer a flexible board, the rigidity of the Evolve Carbon can be an issue. A flexible board offers a smoother ride at slow speeds, but the stiffer board offers more stability riding at higher speeds and carving around sharp turns.
Con GT remotes can control more than one board at a time
Some remotes may be tuned to the same frequency, allowing two or more boards to be controlled by one remote. While this will not happen to every board, the potential is there if many boards are around.
Con Carbon fiber deck has been known to crack
There may be issues if a crack develops in the carbon fiber deck. You can read more here.
Con Slow charging
It can take 4-6 hours to fully charge the board, which may be too long for some users. There is an optional fast charger cutting the charge time to 3 hours, but it does cost extra $89, which some people may not want to spend.
Con Resistance while not powered
For those that would like to push kick there will be a slight resistance to moving the board due to the belt drive train. This is something to consider for those that wish to use the board non-powered a lot. This is an inherent problem with all belt drive systems.
Con Optional all terrain wheels are unbalance and wobble at high speed
The all-terrain wheels are heavier on the nozzle size and unbalanced when spinning at high speeds, thus they can feel unstable. Luckily there is an easy fix of using car tire weights to balance the wheels.
Con Easy to move the board on accident
There is no dead-man switch on the controller, which could make for a potentially dangerous situation. This can lead to runaways when you accidentally bump the throttle on the remote.
Con May be unsafe on wet surfaces
This board goes pretty fast at 31 miles an hour, if you hydroplane or slip on a wet surface, there is a good chance you can get hurt falling off the board at that speed. This is why the manufacturer recommends not riding the board when it is wet outside.
Con No swappable batteries
There is no way to swap out the battery pack on this board. This means that there is no way to extend ones ride with a hot swappable extra battery pack. This also means the board will need to be sent in for service when the original batteries in the board will no longer hold a charge, as there are no replacement batteries sold to the consumer.
Con App feels like an afterthought
The companion app available (for iOS and Android) seems to be more an afterthought, as it does not really connect to the board in any functional way. It does not receive data from the board and it does not allow for changing of settings or upgrading of firmware. Mainly it is an app meant for tracking your usage, such a distances gone or areas ridden (which is recorded through GPS on ones phone, which isn’t always super accurate on speeds and mileage).
There has also been a lot of reports of the Android app crashing constantly, so for Android users, better apps are out there for tracking of the users rides.