Update: July 1 2017 - Quick update. Leiftech publicly offered to upgrade my board 1.5 months ago. I sent them a list of my required parts. Waited the entire time. Get an update yesterday from Leiftech saying that if I want the new parts, I have to purchase it. Just a waste of my time. In fact, Leiftech announced on May 10th on their Leiftech forum that they would be offering FREE replacement parts to EVERYONE who bought a board. If a company publicly offers customers free replacement parts, I think they should own up to it. I was really hoping that Leiftech customer service was going to improve, but as of today it has gotten worse for me.

I almost dropped 1700 on one but then checked out your review and I don't think I'll spend that much money if the quality isn't better. For that price maintenance should be minimal and support should be better. I just miss snowboarding and was hoping this would be my summer fix. Thanks for the review

Never watched such a successful review video for anything.... good job friend you really nailed it. Thank you very much.

Great review, well organized. I really like that you gave a table of contents in the description and explained it right at the beginning of the video. I wish more KZfaqrs would do that.

Thanks for making us aware of the problems, i'm just glad i saw the comments before i purchased 2 of these boards.

Really glad I watched this. I’m very impressed with how well you reviewed this board. Super honest and I won’t buy one because of review. Thank you. I’d like to add though. I own a OneWheel pint which is far far far more superior to this board and also feels a lot like snowboarding. Also ride I rain all the time and on almost any surface. Zero issues.

Bro, you are the man. Who else is going to put up with all that over a board. Thanks but I won't be buying one.

Man, well done on the video. This really helped influence my buying decision and answered all my questions.

Thanks so much for taking the time to put this video together. I actually watched the whole thing and you did an amazing fair and constructive review. If there was a link I would send you a small donation as a thank you as you saved me a lot of money, time and frustration by giving me a clear insight into this company. I get so many leiftech ads and I’m so glad I googled this first. Thank you and keep up the good work and the updates.

Hands down the best eskate review I've seen. That is truly refreshing to see and also very helpful. Thank you and can you please test out some other boards ;). Good honest work!!

Thank you for making such an incredible review video. I wish more people made videos like this

I've seen the ads, so living in whistler and being a snowboarder this board looks amazing but I'm so happy i watched your video dude because like yourself i just want to charge and go, that's not saying i don't mind doing minor maintenance but this seems a lot work for what you're paying for. It was perfectly constructed, laid out and unbiased/honestly informative, so props to you, is how i think most product reviews should be like and how i would do reviews if i were to make them. thanks 🤓

Your videos are really well-made and honest. In fact, they are so good that I am subscribing even if I am not really into your topics. I hope you keep pursuing your mission. Keep it real!

Great review Paolo, really on point and great to share your experiences. It's good to see that the issues haven't dampened your spirits too much. And it's nice to see I snuck into the video too :)

I watched the entire video and I wanted to thank you for posting an honest review.I was interested in buying the board and I asked for a quote from the company.I was told to watch a few videos(while on chat with someone from the company web site) to see how the board works.The videos looked very interesting and I was ready to buy the board,well up until I saw your review and I said forget it.I have all the tools required to fix itand I work with my hands and as a plumber I can fix many things that break down,but the last thing I want to do is buy something and spend time repairing it.I thank you for saving me the hassle and frustration.

Great review! I'm glad I went with the OneWheel XR instead. Once you get used to it, it still feels a lot like snowboarding (especially if you put a different tire on it with more rounded sides). It goes over any kind of terrain, even mountain bike trails, no need to align anything, there's hardly any maintenance, and it goes super fast, very far on one charge and flies up hills no problem. Thanks for the review!

I have the Backfire G2, here in Tokyo as well, no problem with maintenance, it's very easy, I had a problem with the battery, they sent a new one in about a week and I changed it in about 5 minutes with regular tools. I think you'll have that kind of problems only with that kind of boards, the rest are pretty easy to maintain.

Thanks for the review. I can't believe all the issues you had to deal with.... I'll just wait for winter to snowboard...

Wow. Great review. Thank you for taking the time to make such a great video. I will wait a while to see how this company does.

Mate incredible review. A huge amount of effort time spent. thanks for this. The truth is real, and you my friend are the real deal. Well done and thanks for your insight. I'm sticking to a manual one from here. cheers

A review of your review...This is perhaps one of the best reviews I have seen of any product. It comes across as thorough, fair, and helpful. Great pros and cons. Not derogatory in any way, yet you continue to be semi optimistic....and providing what I think would be incredibly helpful feedback for Leiftech. I've also enjoyed the great back and forth with Leiftech, made openly/publically. You call bullshit when you see it (but in the most professional way) I was astonished with your callout of a commenter..in which you brought attention to him as being a likely Leiftech CEO relative. Great catch. Great review and entertaiment. Nice editing as well. Thanks for it all. Subscribed!

Awesome video bro. Don't let any negative comments deter you. Post your experiences and keep em honest! Looking forward to your next update.

Very good review. Thanks, Paolo!

Hey Paolo, This is the first video we watched from you, really liked it though. very good editing, filming, etc. we really like the way you show everything instead of only mentioning it. ur really deserve more views. and damn we feel you. I hope most of the stress is over now. kind reguards :) Bart & Anne

Thanks for the very honest review. I was thinking of getting one, but seeing the problems you've experienced, I think I'll skip out on it.

This is a very well done review. Thanks for all your information. It looks fun but I think I'm going to hold off on getting one of these boards.

Thank you man! Best review out there. You saved me a lot of money lol

Dude thank you for this indepth review. This has really helped me in my search for eletric boards

Thank you for all your time and effort to make this. Well done!

Great in depth video! Thanks so much for posting! Bummed to hear about all the issues, I think I'll get a one wheel instead.

Refreshing to read an unbiased review on this board. On the verge of buying it but customer service has been slow to respond prior to sale so I was worried about customer service after. With the maintenance involved and parts not readily available, I may wait it out a little

Really a top notch video. Thanks so much. Great job!

I do appreciate such a thorough review. Great job on the video. While the maintenance and support aspects of owning the board seem a bit daunting, I am still interested in getting my own.

Glad I watched this. I really wanted to get a board. But with that much maintenance, I'll steer clear!

Thanks for your honest review brother! You just saved a lot of people time and money... this Board needs better Motors, better polycarbonate Plastics, better Wheels, better bearings, better deck material and sturdier trucks. I'll stick to righting Evolve until they get this figured out.

Sincerely THANK YOU !!!!! what I was afraid of!!! I am on of those early adopters of gadgets, and I enjoy the maintenance to an extent, but at this time in my life I don't think I need the added stress of dealing with terrible support. I hope it gets batter and maybe ill revisit the idea of this gadget someday. Thank you again!!!!!

Excellent review. 13:34 maintenance is something many of us who buy the latest, coolest, mail-order, start-up company e-rideable gadgets do.not.think.of. Myself included. I have bought at least 4 start-up e-gadgets. One (in my avi) gave me issues only weeks after the purchase. Though under warranty, the company wanted me to fix it myself and sent a sped-up video how-to. I ended up taking it to a bike shop and tipping the staff for helping. Not sure what I'd do if it was something more difficult than a wheel issue. This Leiftech looks cool but I live in NYC and always come up on varied terrain. Also, I like that I am able to carry my board (Spectra Pro) on a backpack.

Great review, I was going to get one for a graduation present for my son. This saved me money and headaches..Ty

Great review Paolo, I wish I had seen it three Weeks ago as I probably would not have bought one. In any case I’m charging it up for a run tomorrow. Hoping it’s improved a bit since the early versions but I’m feeling nervous.... I think you show a lot of patience and a very positive attitude. Also great editing ... impressive. Hope you get more support from Leif Tech Cheers Sam

Fantastic review Paolo! Tells me everything I would like to know as a potential customer. I read about the LEIFTech about 1 week after ordering a Carbon GT. At first I was bummed that I had blown my dough on a regular skateboard instead of the snowboard version, but after watching this review I can see the many limitations to this kind of board, even if it was working flawlessly. I bought a Carbon GT in the second run while they were still on backorder, the only "flaw" with my board out-of-the-box is that one of the screws that holds the battery cover on was not "sunk" properly, and just spins loose in it's place. Aside from that, the maintenance issues are almost non-existent compared to the mountain of stuff you've had to do. I ride this board everywhere at full speed and the only thing I've had to replace is the remote controller because after I broke it for the second time after a fall, I couldn't revive it. In case you were considering a CGT, the obvious advantages are: Can go on almost any surface, including grass if you use the AT setup, rough roads are not a problem - can start it on hills (bit of a trick to it) - battery life and range is much bigger - climbs VERY steep hills no problem as long as you're not very low on battery - top speed is about the same, but can be tweaked if you use larger pulleys at a tradeoff of torque - they say not to ride it in the wet, and although I try to avoid it I have rode it on very wet roads and through the occasional surprise puddle and there seems to be no issues as a result. The downsides are that booking it in for service last I checked looked like it would take a long time due to the large amount of customers and only one servicing outlet in Australia, which I also have to get the board to. I'm not a massive fan of the remote control design which lacks a trigger guard and is very easy to break in a fall and expensive to replace, although you can buy 3D printed trigger guards on ebay that basically "fix" that design flaw. I wish I'd bought one immediately and saved $120 on buying a new controller. It does take a while to become proficient at riding at high speeds, but even now perhaps 9 months after purchase I still have the occasional spill due to accidental trigger/brake hits; I definitely don't recommend riding this thing at top speed without a full suit of safety gear including knees/elbows/wrists and helmet. In the two accidents I have had, besides damaging my controller I have trashed 2 backpacks, a good pair of jeans, a nice raglan shirt and various things in my pockets. Some of that damage would have been prevented if I had been wearing my full suit, which I wasn't in both accidents. Now I always wear it. It's also worth noting that every single person I have spoken to that has rode a GT, has had at least one significant spill. Most of the time it seems to be due to accidental trigger bumps, or overbraking at high speed which is definitely a delicate art as the controller is quite sensitive, and this sensitivity of braking is magnified with speed. Although not impossible, just takes a lot of practice. The board also doesn't have the ability to easily swap the battery out for replacement - last I spoke to evolve if I want a new battery it's got to come into the shop, although if you're handy with a spot welder It would be possible and probably cheaper to build yourself a new battery pack from high quality cells. Some people have reported that the Carbon seems to be poor-quality carbon-fibre, and have posted pictures of the board cracking around the truck mounts, but I haven't had that issue. I suspect if you're a heavier rider and using the street wheel setup might stress the board more and result in these issues (as the street wheels will transfer more vibration/impact to the deck than the AT wheels) but for me using the AT setup at ~61kg, it's definitely not cracking anywhere. I bought the 2-in-1 version, but almost a year into my purchase I haven't found a reason to use the street setup over the AT setup, as the AT setup is far less prone to getting jammed in a fat crack or stone and is a smoother ride. Overall I would say the CGT is a very good choice for a "commuter" board. I don't own a car, and I use my board for all the things I would use a car for and it does the job well. Looks to me like the LEIFTech wouldn't be a good choice to ride alongside busy traffic, or doing shopping runs etc. but much more of a fun toy aside from the maintenance issues. I think Evolve have a design advantage over LEIFTech as they have been developing eboards for quite a while and have therefore already made and solved most of the "beginner mistakes" and kinks you see in a less mature tech like the LEIFTech, where they have to learn and evolve their design according to early-adopter feedback from peeps like you. Anyway hope this is helpful, as I found your video very helpful!

Great review!!! Hope you get your issues resolved. I've been researching an eboard for quite some time now. The Leiftech definitely looks like the most fun to ride since there's no other eboard out there that can carve like a snowboard. It's sad to see that there's a ton of maintenance issues though. I hope Leiftech can work out all the kinks soon.

thx for the review, i was close to buy it but after this...no way, thank you for the honest review!!!

Hey Man, thanks for the review and insights. I was going to shell out the money for this, but I'm glad your honest review was here to stop me from this mistake, especially in regards to maintenance and customer support. Hopefully, someone else can come up with a better implementation of this, as I love the snowboarding. But not at THIS type of hassle. Cheers.

Great video! Thanks for posting the review. I was idly curious when I first saw the ads pop up on my phone, but now I know this is not for me.

This is a really high quality review. Very helpful. Thanks!

Great review Paolo!! After seeing your review I decided to get Onewheel instead and I am very happy about it.

Such a great review this is my favorite KZfaqr imma subscribe🤙🏼

Thank You for that dose of reality. I hope the new model is better. I hope they look after You as well. I'm still keen as I can see the potential for fun. All the best.

Your video is great, very clear and well explained, thanks

Thank you for the info, I was just about to purchase one.... not now that I'm informed!!

Bro, thanks a lot for this video. SUPER HELPFUL. I was on the fence to buy one this Black Friday weekend due to their sale. But after researching ownership experiences, I had no idea about the maintenance and support issues until seeing this video. Hopefully things have gotten better with support, but it seems if this board can’t handle a little moisture, then it’s a no go for me. So I decided not to go for it this time. Maybe v3 will be a lot better. But for now, thanks a lot for your honest feedback 👍

Thank you for your review. Like many others have written, I too was very curious about this board, and your review really opened my eyes to the additional costs involved. Looks like a lot of fun but also, a lot of maintenance. If I had to guess, I'd say you have probably spent at least an additional $500 dollars to keep the board up and running. Too bad you didn't give a cost analysis.

Thanks for the honest review Paolo fromTOKYO. I have 8 boards now and 2 more on the way (Acton Qu4tro Electric Skateboard and Evolve GT). I love all kind of boarding. I snowboard, skateboard and Kite Surf. I also run 2 companies and manage quite a few employees. What I can tell you is customer service is extremely important and having a public argument with a dissatisfy customer is unproductive and bad for business at the least. When it comes to retail the old saying "customer is always right" is still kind of true. Look at how well Amazon has done with it. Because I am always busy with work I would never have time to do that kind of maintenance on my boards and truthfully no customer should be expected to change out a motherboard on their product. None of my boards have never require any kind of maintenance other then cleaning the board, changing worn wheels, bearings and belts because I ride them so much. After that it should mostly be maintenance free. If it was my company I would have had you return the board for a full refund and have my techs go over and figure out the long term weakness to improve the next batch of boards. No successful business is built on trying to argue or tear down a customer no matter what issue the customer is having whether they are at fault or not. There is always a budget set aside for defective products, customer returns, product theft and fraud etc etc. In other word if this customer or anyone asking for their money back or they are asking for free replacement parts to replace parts that might not be up to code causes the company a problem they might need to reevaluate their products and services. I was very interested in buying this board. I saw it on a Facebook ad and decided to research it. I found this video as well as others but this video made me not want to purchase it. But not because of what "Paolo from Tokyo" said in his video. But because of the overall level of service from this company Leiftech and time it took to fully handle his complaint and close his case with a positive experience and happy customer. FYI: There is a picture of the Leif electric board splashing through a whole lot of water on Leiftech homepage and from what I see on the picture; the motors copper wiring is exposes as well as the motors internals. I don't see how this can stand even a drop of water yet be said the board is water resistance. Did not see a water resistance rating either on the homepage.

Sounds like an absolute nightmare to be honest, nearly bought one, i was literally puncing in my card details as i thought to checkl, so glad i watched this! Thank you man!

Paolo. Awesome review.. thanks

Thanks for the very helpful review. Made me think again about getting one. I love the idea, but not the hassle. I will leave until v3, 4... and they get better at support.

Came to this because I heard summer board is the new leiftech. But after watching this idk if I want to even try summer board. The customer service seems spotty and I'm not sure I wanna take the chance of trying to claim warranty work. Thanks for your review and sharing your experience!

Great honest review. Was gonna order one but this has me thinking as I would have to do maintenance after every ride. Some grease work or if replacing belt is easy then it's fine, but this looks like a lot more work will be needed.

Hay there paolo I built my own custom board for about 500 to 600 with lipo's and I have to say I'm happy with it. it can deal with light rain as well as crappy roads....its a pintail board. the only 2 downsides is I made this one with a Tupperware container which comes open if I rub myself to close to it and that the cables to the motors come undone but outside of that its just charge and ride. I get you had issues with this board but its a brand that is fairly new and innovative. my best word of advice is to get a normal board and ride it.....or sense you have some experience building stuff build your own and have way more customizability. my next board will be better then what my current board is and in the mean time I'm just gonna keep riding it until the batteries go bad.

Great video, very thorough with your experience. If you plan on buying the V2 version could you do a review on the differences with that skateboard especially on If the maintenance is less of a hassle or not.

Thank you, this is a truly educational video.

Thanks. I bought the board. your video absolutely will help me. your video is really fun and useful about supporting and maintenance part. I could enjoy to wait your next video. Thx :)

Hey Paolo, great review. Was strolling through some you tube videos and came across yours. I also reside in Tokyo and just got my boosted board. Having a blast. Would love to try out the Leiftech looks awesome!

Not gonna lie I really want that board and I'm sure your experience with customer support is really rare. It still sucks it happened. However with the amount of maintenance problems you pointed out it defiantly deterred me away from buying it. Personally I ride the Evolve boards (I ride the Evolve ONE board). I actually use mine to commute to work every day and I've been riding it for about 11 months now. The only thing I've needed to replace was the motor mount which snapped due to metal fatigue. Customer service is out standing and the community is fantastic. My Verdict, 11 Months, rare maintenance (aside from cleaning the wheels and bearings from time to time). As an added bonus when you purchase the board it comes with all the tools you need to pull it completely apart if you wanted to. Battery is still running rather well with a range of still about 35km and able to climb all the steep hells I've come across (I live in a rather hilly area). I'm happy to say I've defiantly got more than my moneys worth. Only complaint, I wish it was water proof/resistant.

Man, am I glad I read this thread. Thank you for reviewing every detail calmly and without bias. I had one question for you: if I want to occasionally remove the motor wheels when I'm not at home to ride my board home from work as a normal skateboard (just coast on the nice wheels) can that easily be done with just one or two tools, or is that a major operation not worth the trouble? Thanks!

Thanks for the review Paolo, I found this very interesting. I decided to just get a freebord as I don't have half the patience you have with either the maintenance or the bad support you are receiving. When I worked on the slopes in Canada I used to snowboard up the slopes being towed behind a ski-doo which was so much fun... freebord behind an e-bike might be a go instead!

I've been looking into this. I do maintenance and worked on cars most my life so I think i can handle this, but the time between parts has me 2nd thinking. BTW just a tip, use that soldering iron to heat the screws by resting the tip on it, this will loosen the lock-tight and any rust crud.

This is the best video i've seen so far. And not over criticizing like some say. You're giving a full review so people know what to expect from the first models. Even leiftech gave a positif reaction to the post. The only other electric thing i'm following are the electrical motorcycle's from Zero. From that point of view I only expected the gears and toothed belt would need a maintenance. And offcourse a replacement of the wheels after a decend amount of miles. But a maintenance after every time you get the board out? That doesn't sound right. The bindings of my snowboard broke after 4 years , not after a month. This is a quality issue. The outer bearings get under alot of presure, so I get they wear out faster. But motor bearings should be just fine. Now you clearly aren't mechanical person. You bought alot of junk, what brakes when you wanna work with it. This is what junk does, and why people should stop bying the cheapest tools you can find. I do have alot of questions about the maintenance tough. Slamming bearings in with a hammer, like you did, is asking to break it, even before you ride it. Same with the video of the blue freeboard wheels. You pop the bearings out from the middle. To simplyfy it, its a ring with balls in it and another smaller ring under the balls. By pressing the inner ring while the outer ring is being hold in position, you are killing the bearrings. So you have to push the outer ring in this case. You press the inner ring if they are on a wheel axle. I love the concept of the board, but the price is to high. Certainly with all the issues around it. The video is from a year ago, how is it with the board? Still working or collecting dust? You said another video would follow, but I didn't see it. But it could be I overlooked it since you got a decend amount of posts :)

Was gonna get one until I watched this. Good job on the review and warnings of Leiftech.

Dear Paolo, Thank you so much for this absolutely valuable video. It almost cover every aspects that any potential customer wants to learn about. What I believe, you share all the experience impartially and very easy to understand. As a potential customer, now I know what I will face when I get the product. Good job!! Regards, Emre

Excellent video. Thanks!

I really enjoyed the honesty of this users experience. I was literally just going to buy this board for my husband (right now) to help him deal with his PTSD from the war, but this review has made me rethink everything about this purchase as a whole. But I'm very sad :( My husband told me the one thing that used to make him happy before he joined the military was Snowboarding, but unfortunately we don't live anywhere near a mtn. so I was really hoping this was a ITEM that was going to help me get my happy husband back. Very sad right now.

Very good thorough review! Two thumbs up.

Hey young blood. My name is Manny and I wanted to let you know that your the only person that really could keep me watching your KZfaq site. Keep doing what your doing. I want to one day travel to Japan and hope one day I could, LOL. We might bump heads ( meet one another)if you like ?? Any way, God bless and God speed..

Great review! Detailed and the maintenance thing killed it for me.

Hey man, really great video. Thanks so much!

Epic honest review, dude. I Think I'll wait a couple generations so the kinks can be worked out. I would prefer this board to a freebord, if not for the risk of extensive maintenance.

awesome review man, very detailed and informative.

Thx for your review, I actually think I'm going to get one and just to treat it like its an amazing piece of technology and avoid riding on water or jump 🤔

Hey Paolo, great work on the video, very entertaining and informative, you're a natural. I was hesitant about buying something like this without support from a local shop, you've shown us even regular use needs regular maintenance. I think you should do a video riding through Ginza at night. And what kind of camera are you using to make your films?

I just received mine in the mail. I haven't taken it out to ride yet. I hope its an over site but they offered me a free set of wheels that whereto be included in my package. But they were not included. After opening the box i realize this is a pretty new company. Its almost like a beta board. I'm really referring to the packaging... Keep up the great work, love the videos.

@Palao - great review man! Very professionally done. I own a bamboo gtx (only for 2 weeks) and I love it. AT setup makes it so fun to ride on almost anything. It's not perfect tho... Battery sag is real but I heard there's ppl that can do a battery mod for around $700 which I'll probably do once this one wears down. They also came out with a new remote that fixes the connection issues. Other then that, I just wished my board was more protected from water damage but that's a problem with all e boards. Hope you can find a board that fits your needs...

Cheers for sharing your experience with Leiftech, I own a freebord for a number of years and was just researching more on Leiftech. I live in Australia and the evolve guys have been nth but fantastic, but I live in AUS so hard to say if they would be as efficient to send to Japan. The customer service by Leiftech in comparison seemed piss weak and I think alot of people had their focus wrong on the parts rather than the fake promises and constant reminding of posting the parts. Reminds me alot on many failed Kickstarter and Indiegogo projects I have backed in the past.

Ur deserve a medal. But even better mine and meaning random people respect which doesnt go far. Buttt u did a good deed saving me money

My Pcb caught on fire, but I was a kickstarter backer and service was great everything was sorted right away. Never had an issue since. I avoid the rain whenever possible but I've never had issues with my bearings. I think it's just to heavy. I find myself switching to my regular freeboard from time to time.

Paolo, how are you enjoying your Leiftech now? Can you give us an update?

whta a great review dude! thanks for the hard work!

Thanks for the video! Hope the next 6 months gets better. Please post an update!

Great review. Looks like a cool board in theory, but completely impractical in reality. As much as I love snowboarding, I think this persuades me to go for a regular board.

Song please 13:54 thanks ! Great vid once again Paolo, I’ll be in Tokyo in December and look forward to catching up 🙏🏼

Yes. Thanks for the info

really good reveiw. thanks!

Thank you for this video! Was unsure if Leiftech was right for me or not... but after seeing how it handles hills, it's just not a practical option for where I'll be riding. looks fun though!

Thanks Paolo for the review. Your review on the board has got me to reconsider my impulsiveness. I've been a long time snowboarder but since I moved back to Hawaii in 2008, I haven't seen snow since. I did get into Freebording at the time and have continued to do so. I was curious to find out what came about the Leif when it was first reviewed as a starter a few years ago and that's how I came to find your review. Hopefully they can resolve the reliability and customer service issues as $1600 is a bit of money. You my friend being one of the pioneers of this board did much of that legwork.

I wanted see a comphrehensive review on this board. I clicked on here by chance and my gawd i hit the Jack pot. You sir are excellent at cover everything kudos to you. I will give you my like and a subscribtion.now I will mine your vidoes in hopes of finding an electric skateboard that does will in rough terrain, goes quite a distance and modest in price.

best review dude Thanks bro!

This is a great review, probably the best for any electric skateboard on KZfaq. Good job. My question is, does anyone know if these issues have been solved with the new 2018 model or am I going to be running in to the same issues?

Thanks for this glad I picked u skateboarding in the summer instead

I bought a wheelman and had a similar experience, the maintenance was brutal. Almost every trip was a trip back to the shop for fixing....

love your honest review!