Friday, 27 March 2009

The Hornet 250


Hi people

I thought I would post a blog about my new adrenaline hobby, Electric skateboarding, one of my friends on the internet, sent me a piece of information regarding Electric Skateboards, and how he had purchased one for himself in the U.S.A where he lives, he also told me that the fun element is fantastic and that since he has bought one of the machines, he has not been happier, so I began to find out some information regarding the electric skateboards, it is always a good thing to do before shelling out  a lot of money that you may regret afterwards, so I decided to utilise the best search engine in the world GOOGLE, and I was inundated with the amount of results regarding electric skateboards, and how they have come on so well and in such big advancements in the technology side.

I decided on two main skateboard sites, and began to look at the types/brands of their electric skateboards, and then trawled their FAQs for a few days or more before deciding which actual model to purchase, the Electric Skateboard that I first wanted was an eightball big daddy Electric Skateboard, however this beast had an 800watt motor, ten inch knobbly tires, and a good range of specs, however the downside of this was the actual price of the board.  £349.99 + £4.95 delivery charge to my home address.

Inrespect of the above price for the eightball big daddy board, Since revisiting the site, the same boards price had risen by £50.00 and now the price is £399.00 + 4.95 for delivery ??? no chance

Who gives these vbig companies the right to change their prices and raise them when they feel like it.

I went back to the other site, and they had some very good electric skateboards, and they also had reduced one or two of their electric skateboards, because the company were working on new models, and as I looked at their site for a few days or so more, I began to realise that if I am just going to start trying this extreme sport out, then the better approach would be to purchase a lower entry level Electric Skateboard, so I decided on the Elektro-Skate Hornet 250, which had been reduced from £169.99 to £129.99 and as I read the reviews and the FAQs I made my mind up and ordered the item, I recieved my board after a few days, and hurriedly unpacked it, like a child with a new toy, and soon had the box opened and emptied, my this electric skateboard is HEAVY, it did not take long for me to get it plugged into the mains and began the charging process, they state to charge the battery on this actual model for four hours, never no more than that, to get maximum power.  I must say that after the charging time, I had a quick go on the board, and it was incredible, the board can go up to 14mph in only three seconds, that is quick, it is pretty tricky getting used to the turning of the board, but after five minutes, it became much easier as you become more and more confident with the board.  I have tested it out quite a lot so far, and it has not let me down, and though it is really good, I want one of the faster boards, I love the adrenaline of this sport, it is simply awesome.  

Of course as with all sports of this nature, Protection and safety is paramount, always wear a Helmet, and of course elbow pads, and knee pads, it is better to be safe than sorry.

Here are a couple of links to the boards??? 

http://www.elektroskate.co.uk/store/index.php

Mine is the Hornet on the web site, the lowest price of the electric skateboards!

http://www.skatehut.co.uk/acatalog/Eighball_Big_Foot___349.99.html

The bigfoot model on this site, was the one I originally wanted! 

When I originally received this board it was very tricky indeed at first, but mastered it within around ten or so minutes, they are so easy to control and the fun and adrenaline is pure brilliant, however this board is not fast enough for me, as I like a little speed.

I thought that I would post a few of the little annoying problems that I have experienced using the Hornet 250 Electric Skateboard, Although the board itself is very good indeed, and people that see me passing by them on the street's always stare at me on the board, and they keep their eyes on me, until that is that I have vanished, and moved on, the problems that I have had are really silly, but they are enough to spoil the whole idea, and let you feel down with the product however the staff at electroskate are very very friendly indeed, and will do anything to try and help their customers, at the moment I am on the third drive belt (£7.00 per belt) for the board, and I am also on the second drive wheel (£16.90) it is really annoying I have been sent one free drive belt, and I did call them the other day, and enquire about a refund, this I was told was out of the question however, they stated that I could trade in my Hornet Board towards another board from their company, so I emailed them to ask about this, I did receive an email stating that they would offer me £100.00 for my Hornet 250 against another model, and promptly sent them another email stating that I would like to trade my Hornet 250 towards the bigger ES All TRACK board, but they replied to me stating that they currently have none of the ES 800 boards in at the moment, and that their best selling boards are the ES 600 model with Li Polymer Batteries are the lightest and fastest around, and they have sold lots of them, So I am thinking of going for one of these models, I am hoping to call them in the morning, and see exactly how it is going to work.

I shall come back and input information to this page for reference and also to help other's who are thinking of purchasing one of these boards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izlt3X0ttTE&feature=related

3 comments:

  1. great information on this website, thanks. I have not purchased a board yet but i have ordered a hornet from ebay. As i read this site i realised you are me, i mean i have done the the exact same as you. The board which caught my eye 1st was the daddy 8 ball. Like you i figured it is a lot of dosh to shell out and i too have spent hours on the net looking at the different models and their specs. The hornet for the price in my opinion is the best value for money and the best spec in the low range boards. Elektroskate models to me seem to be the most superior out of all the boards and the new lithium models with the brushless motors boast that they are a lot lighter to carry and that they will out perform any other board on the market at the moment.
    if i had my way id have one of each if i could. smallboard, longboard and the monster offroader. then you have all bases covered for every occasion. So i keep buying those lottery tickets.

    Cheers
    Smurf

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  2. Hi Smurf,

    The ES-600 Electric Skatebaord, is a really really fantatsic piece of kit, I love everything about it, thew sleek minimalistic lines of the beautifully concaved board to the bluetooth wireless controller, it is easy to amster within minutes, and when you come to stop and get off this thing, you want to get back on straight away, it is such an addictive sport, but also I did have an accident on mine, I had put on all my protective equipment, HELMET, ELBOW PADS, KNEE PADS, however I did not put on the Wrist protectors, and ended up breaking my left wrist, I was off work for almost eight weeks, I did truly learn a very valuable lesson indeed, ALWAYS WEAR EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF SAFETY EQUIPMENT, no matter how short the ride on the board.

    When I pass people on my skateboard, they usually shout things like wow did, you see that man on that electric skateboard, and wow that is cool mister, it is lovely to hear such things, and when you get off and begin to stop to answer my mobile phone, people tend to walk up and begin asking me questions about my board.

    I give them plenty of information about the board, they always ask the usual, how much was the board, when I tell them £599.00 that is as far as it goes, they lose interest pretty quickly, apart form a few that sya yes, I imagine they are very good for commuting, and form another mde of transport that is different.


    Hope this helps you, Smurf, bye for now

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