Backfire Zealot X review

The most fun I have had on 4 wheels

Whenever I ride the Backfire zealot X I can’t help by smile and giggle to myself like a small child at Christmas simply because of how fun this board is to ride. But with a high price tag and rather unnerving speed it certainly isn’t for everyone.

Design and the deck

Taking a look at the design of the board it resembles something straight out of a Sci-fi movie thanks to its ring of bright blue LED lights built directly into the deck giving it a UFO-like glow for safer riding in low light as well as just turning heads while you ride. The deck itself is made of maple and fibreglass layers, which makes the deck feel rigid with little to no flex, unlike other boards on the market such as the Boosted style boards, this is a solid design choice in my book particularly as this focuses more on a longboard design over a ‘skateboard’ and its control at higher speeds are certainly helped by the rigidity too. The foot sockets on the board are nice and wide here meaning you are always going to feel safe and secure on this board even with larger feet I didn’t find myself slipping or dangling my feet over the board in any way, they also curve inwards slightly helping with keeping your feet planted safely on the board.

While standing on the deck one thing to note is out of the box the trucks are particularly loose, this is great for controlling around corners and obstacles easily due to a much tighter turning circle however at higher speeds this did feel a little unnerving to the point my feet would wobble on the board leading to a rather wobbly and hard to control ride that scared the living daylights out of me thought I did find this is when I had the most fun with the zealot X, however, much like a normal skateboard or longboard it’s quite easy to tighten these as much as you like and though this makes the board safer to control at higher speeds your turning circle and manoeuvrability will be affected so it’s up to you which style you prefer.

Flipping the board upside down you are greeted with the main electronics that make this board electric. that is the SAMSUNG 14S2P 50S cells batteries, these have improved overall capacity from 346Wh to 504Wh and increased power from 50.4V to 58.8V over this board premises or making this Ride for longer and significantly faster than most consumer boards on the market.

Wheels

Out of the box, you will get the 96mm PU wheels, which are akin to that of a longboard, with little to no grip and quite hard, these are perfect for nice flat terrain such as the pathways on Maimi Beach, however, if like me your stuck in rocky and potholey UK these wheels leave a little to be desired in terms of grip and overall performance. thankfully though Backfire does sell much larger 120mm wheels that have large grips and tracks as well as overall being much softer than the 96mm leading to a much more controlled ride, especially in rougher conditions. That being said I wouldn’t recommend this board for offroad use even with those larger 120mm wheels, though it’s technically possible it’s certainly not built for it and is a very uncomfortable ride.

Controlling the board

Unlike other Electric vehicles on the market like Bikes and scooters, Boards like the Zealot X are controlled completely by the motor and don’t require any manual pushing or kicking making them illegal for use on UK roads but when on private land it’s fair game. the wireless bluetooth remote is well thought out and fits well in your hand allowing easy reach of all desired controls allowing you to easily control the board and adjust the setting for the most comfortable ride for you.

On the controller, you have the large circular display front and centre for displaying speed, power mode, and battery life of the controller and board as well as settings which will allow you to adjust the board to your liking. the 3 buttons below allow you to set the board’s power mode from Eco to Sport and even Turbo and finally access the aforementioned settings. Under that though is the large and rather interesting fingerprint sensor. This allows you to save up to 5 unique profiles and even completely lock the board without first unlocking and pairing with a fingerprint, this is a really interesting personalisation and safety feature I think more boards should adopt as quite frankly in the wrong hands these boards can be dangerous or even lethal. Finally, right at that very bottom we have the switch for changing direction from forward to reverse this is useful for manoeuvring and not having to physically get off and turn the board its just key to remember with the mode you have it set in before you set off otherwise you and an obstacle could become best friends. The remote charges via USB-C and provides a good amount of battery life, I found for 3 board charges I would need to charge the remote once which felt like a good ratio to me.

To control the board’s speed you can use the simple yet rather sensitive thumb wheel, pushing up gives you forward momentum while pulling back kicks in the emergency breaks if required. Let’s move on to the performance on this board though before we come back to managing settings.

Performance

Right off the bat even in its Eco mode Acceleration is where this board truly shines mainly due to that much better battery providing a lot more of a kick. By default, eco modes takes your acceleration to 30% alongside 30% top speed, pushing forwards on the throttle even in this mode can be a little daunting as the board can accelerate at a rather alarming rate to a cool 15MPH. Switch it into sport mode, and you need to make sure your feet are firmly planted and you are braced for a fast jolt all the way up to 20+ MPH. Slam it into Turbo mode and you better hold on as you hit a top speed of a rather intimidating 32Mph! This acceleration and speed is a real advantage even when travelling in hilly areas with the board being able to propel you up hills with a 35% incline!

The brakes are incredible on this board if again a little strong at times, you will want to make sure your feet are planted and your thumb is light on the brakes. I never have a fear of not being able to stop in a short notice, I do however fear going right over the front of the board with a jolting stop.

In terms of top speeds, this completely varies on how you configure the board, As mentioned above its rated speed is upto 32Mph though if I’m honest anything above 20mph to me feels plenty fast enough to the point I was a little scared riding it, if you are a daredevil or just have a deathwish this board will certainly scratch that speed itch!

In terms of range its just as impressive as its speed with Backfire rating it for upto 34 miles on the Eco setting, personally I have never found a reason to travel that far with this board but it’s at least nice to know you won’t get caught short in terms of battery life. Let’s hope you don’t because otherwise, you may have a long walk ahead of you with this board coming in at 13Kg it’s far from light and its size makes it rather unruly to carry around. When your battery does eventually die though it won’t be too long before you are back on the board and riding again with a charge time of 3 and a half hours.

All-Weather Riding

The board is rated for water RESISTANCE, but not waterproof. I have ridden on slightly wet paths and through small puddles with no issues. However this is an electric skateboard, and like any electronic, I would not ride any of my boards in the rain especially as the grip would most certainly be an issue. But it is good to know that if you are spending $1200+ on an electric skateboard, it won’t get totally fried if you hit a small puddle.

Customization is key

I mentioned with the remote you have the ability to setup profiles and assign fingerprints to unlock them, but what do these profiles actually mean? Well, they allow you to completely customize your board experience in each of the 3 modes, Eco, Sport and Turbo. there are 3 values you can change and assign for each, ‘Acceleration’, ‘Top Speed’ and ‘Breaking’ its really nice to be able to control and change these to a users liking, however with these values being percentages out of 100 it can be a little confusing to understand just how 40% acceleration is going to feel, so quite a lot of trial and error could be involved here though once its set you should be able to forget it and enjoy the ride.

What I did find strange with these options though was the software limitations it enforced, for example, on Sport mode you are unable to take acceleration below 40% (I like to ride at about 25%) and similarly, I can’t take my top speed to above 40% in Eco mode, for the upper limit I do understand why the limiter is here as a safety precaution however I just feel like having a completely unlocked ‘User’ profile where I can set exactly what I desire is a bit of a miss for me.

Conclusion

In terms of Electric vehicles, the Zealot X is certainly the most fun though perhaps not the most practical way of getting around town, I have never felt more alive than carving along a pathway at 20+mph but at the higher-end price point it could be a tough pill to swallow for some. If your looking for a fun and exciting mode of transport for a weekend ride I would look no further than backfires board for its pure build quality, speed, ease of use and looks alone.