I’ve never owned a banshee, hell I don’t even want one…just not my thing. But the above post, I’m just gonna call BS on that. This cat has been here for about 2.5 minutes, never posted a topic or replied on another thread, much less a build. Also, it barely skims the rules about vendor bashing. I hate to see a vendors reputation get sullied by someone who hasn’t proved he’s legit. We have too few companies to supply as it is.
@moderators, maybe wanna take a look at this?
I can’t speak for the second part of his post but the first part is true… Winboard took the majority of the risk in developing this board and a lot of the responsibility. Essentially, it was business anyone could have done. It’s not hard to get china to make you a complete board using parts borrowed from a dozen other complete boards. All you do is go to alibaba, find someone making these boards, and pay a little extra to customize it so you can put your name on the griptape. The problem and reason most don’t take this route is because your not going to produce a high quality board this way. You need to develop your own parts or work with people who have developed these parts if you want quality. But quality doesn’t come cheap. And banshee is all about price. I know he’d love to use our hub motors, but they cost more for us to make than these hub motors do to him. That is inherently the issue in eskate. Many do not want to pay 2k for eskate. So they compromise to something a bit more economical, like the banshee.
If he advertised his partner winboard, it would just look like another cheap china board (and theres a lot of them these days). Maybe it is, maybe it is’t, I can’t judge cause I never ridden one. But we all start from somewheres. I know he’ll one day build more from the ground up because it’s necessary if you want to control quality and create a truly unique experience. But for the time being, it is what it is, which is a board manufactured and assembled by winboard. You can try to hide that part, create an image away from that, but you can’t escape the roots. It might help in the long run to be open about winboard being a partner. Since they have taken so much responsibility, it’s not @PredatorBoards thats responsible when an esc fails or a motor stops working, it’s winboard. What ever their quality level is, is the quality level of the banshee. It would be nice if consumers knew this, but it is what it is, a business. And no business operates against it’s best interests. And consumers should know this so they can make an informed decision.
In the long run, it won’t matter, as I see @PredatorBoards looking to get parts from other places.
Right. But one thing is for sure that just because its made from china does not mean its equal to less quality. As far as I know, only metroboard is made in the united sates. And i am not sure if most the poeple here are aware that the rest is all from china manufacture.(boosted, evolve, raptor)
The point is not from where but how. Still these boards all have great quality from the ownership of the company policy and i figure they only chosen the location of manufacture from where they can get infrastructure close and echonomically.
The difference though is all of the boards you mention were not designed in china, by Chinese manufacturers.
For example, we have some parts machined in china. The thing is these parts need to be design by people who know electric skateboards. Every “test” I’ve seen from any of these manufacturers is deeply flawed and doesn’t really test anything. They don’t know any better because they don’t actually use it themselves. As to quality, I can’t say. But I can promise they make choices to sacrifice quality, whether they are visible or not. It’s the only way to get the price low. Even if we we’re to order 1000+ motor parts for example, our price only drops at best 30%. Still more expensive at cost for us without the labor of assembly then these motors are assembled. Bulk pricing only does so much. What save money? Use aluminum instead of steel, weaker magnets instead of strong ones, multi strand thin mostly insulation with little copper motor wire instead of high heat thick motor wire, hard to take apart and fix instead of designed to be easily serviceable. That’s the difference that money pays for and not one company in china has done any of these things. It’s only outsiders who turn to china for cheap labor.
Oh sorry if i said it like if i was against you. I totally agree on most of your words and have no doubt. Sacrificing quality to cost…yes this sometimes is cost, sometimes time, and sometimes just miss calculation. I am from korea and work in a pretty big electronics company though its not skateboard haha. But we also have this issue to bring up whenever we meet quality issues. And yet there is not a dominate answer to this. The only part i wanted to point out is that lets just not determine evrything which is made from china manufactures will go for there money and wont give a crap on there customers. Many people overthere might just think as the ones who think like you think.
I’d like to comment about our contract and go in depth about the whole situation, however the simple fact of the matter is that I’m not interested in making our relation with the manufacturer hostile by throwing fuel in the fire.
I will say @evoheyax, It’s definitely true that all the tests that manufacturers tend to do are non-sensical and surmount to nothing a little more than a vain marketing attempt of their components. So who ends up testing these components and making the call on what gets scrapped? Me. If it was up to them to design a board for me to sell, they’d literally strap a music box to it and ask me to market it as a ‘major feature’. See where I’m getting at? The buck stops at us to specify and design a purpose built product, and I like to think I carry a very specific vision for this company and where I want it to go.
As of now, a majority of the components used in the Banshee are compartmentalized. Only the deck and battery are sourced through our manufacturer. I can give less of a shit about the deck. You guys already know my other business dealings on this forum, that deck is definitely not my end game…
Dear predator. One thing I can say is that I still admire what you have accomplished out of such little asset in your possession. And also correcting things that come up on this forum and having salubrious arguments are what is to be done. But try approaching matters without giving negative opinions to what the others say. Same to @evoheyax i guess. Predator may not have done big investings at the first place but the fact is that it is more difficult to raise a company with only bare hands. Trying to make differences and improving things are also what is to be credited to predator team. Still scaching one another on just the differences does not make anything reach to a good point in my experience. Difference is not rong. Its just difference.
Oh I know this board in it’s current configuration is not your end game at all. But like I said, it is what it is till then.
I guess we all find our way in some how. I personally like building from the ground up rather than choosing other peoples components, but again, we all start somewheres. Theres a million and one things that can wrong in an eskate. Heck I’ve built 8 boards in the past 3 years, and not one hasn’t needed work after thinking your finished. Something, usually multiple things, go wrong. Heck, I blew out a vesc yesterday because of I guess an incomplete joint in he + wire from the cap board that lead to the vesc. It got free someone, sparked everywhere, somehow didn’t start a fie, but killed the vesc. I found out the hard way when I replaced the cap board and wire it back up, sparks and flames shot out. This shit happens in builds, especially when you run bleeding edge. Put some boards together outside the banshee, and you’ll see how many things can go wrong. 2 days ago, my receiver cable failed while going down a farly steep hill, scary as fuck. Shit just happens.
I don’t argue/debate with people I don’t care about or believe can’t be successful, so take that as a good note. Just build some different things, try out different stuff, you’ll learn so much by riding other peoples boards also 
He has built some boards , one using a duct tape and cardboard for enclosures.
Does Predator Banshee have a customer service ? My board just died. I hit a small puddle and it stops after a minute. I have no idea how water gets inside. It supposed to be waterproof, right ? That was the reason why i bought this board. I’m pissed of right now because this board was amazing. I liked everything about it.
But Predator is advertised as a waterproof board.
Weather Resistant Unibody Chassis
Water Resistant =! Water Proof
No board is water proof
From the website : “The Banshee carries a 1600W electric drive train in a 28″ Unibody Carbon Fiber weatherproof chassis. Take this through the sunshine and take it through the rain. The Banshee is the final word in high-speed last mile transportation.”
PS : Explain me this : https://youtu.be/HyY5ym4nNZ4
Don’t know what to tell you, no board is waterproof
He submerged a wheel… if ur electronics or battery get wet tho…dont ride through puddles on any board, even non esk8 boards
Me too. I own Evolve GTX and Acton Blink S2. Non of them are waterproofed. That was the reason why i bought Predator Banshee.
He submerged a wheel and nothing happened.
I viewed the video. Did he submerge the board or simulate a splash spraying water underneath the boardI personally think weather proof and waterproof are different. I do see how the statement on the statement made on the site could be misleading. Ive gotten caught in the rain on my hub board that isnt a banshee. I still avoided puddles since the splash could potentially wet the esc or find some way to get in my electronics. I always air dried with a compressor afterwards as well. Good luck tho
