Backfire Zealot S2 Review

Backfire has been making electric skateboards for more than a decade, and we've ridden and tested several of its quality boards over the years, including the Zealot S predecessor to the Zealot S2. The latest version is more powerful on hills, has a faster top speed, a modern remote, and sick new deck lighting.

Performance Comparison

Ride Comfort

Because most e-skate enthusiasts love to cruise and carve for hours at a time, ride comfort is one of our most important metrics. We test for comfort on typical pavement while carving and cruising with the wind in our faces, then move onto cracked and potholed nightmares to see how each board handles annoying hits at various speeds. The ABS, fiberglass, and maple composite deck of the Zealot S2 is a bit stiffer than the previous S version, which our riders appreciated most during higher speeds. However, the stiffer deck causes the comfort score to drop a bit below average for the group.

The 8-inch, 50° reverse kingpin trucks, paired with 96mm PU wheels, worked well with the deck, letting us carve at multiple speeds with complete confidence. The S2 rolls over small cracks well and tends to give us slightly better stability and slightly less vibration than similar electric boards we've tested.

Large cracks are not fun on the S2, but we've yet to find a board with PU wheels that performs well on our large crack test. As for the deck, our long-range tester felt it was a bit more comfortable than similar competition but not enough to gush over.

Range

To test the S2's range, we stepped on the board and took off to ride until it died. Cruising at a consistent 15 mph with a 190-pound rider, we made it 25.7 miles before running out of battery power. Backfire reports the S2 range at 25-30 miles, so our result confirms Backfire's own rating. If you're a lighter rider, you should be able to get even farther down the road.

Of course, if you're choosing the Zealot S2, you're probably looking for a zoomy experience, which means you're likely riding faster, accelerating often, flying up hills, and braking hard to dive into thrilling corners. In short, you'll ride the S2 like it's meant to be ridden — for fun. If that sounds like your riding style, you'll love the S2, but you should expect a slightly reduced range than what we found in our mild-paced distance test. That said, if you do need to commute longer distances on the S2, the high-quality 403Wh Samsung 40T batteries will get you to your destination if you're mindful about how you ride.

When it's time to charge up, you can do it quickly. Our tested recharge time was just 2 hours and 3 minutes from zero to full, which is even faster than Backfire's claimed 2.5-hour recharge time. Interestingly, the S2 includes a far bigger 3.5-amp battery charger than most competing chargers, facilitating the speedy recharge time.

Braking

The Zealot S2 has one of the best braking systems we've tested. Our rigorous GearLab braking tests include cruising up to 11-13 mph, then hammering the brakes on flat ground, and measuring the distance to a complete stop. After repeating this test multiple times, the S2 had an average stopping distance of 21 feet —- an impressively quick stop that is only beaten by a handful of other boards.

We test stopping power on more than just flat surfaces, though. To inform our overall breaking score and stress test each model, we ride down hills with a 5%, 10%, and 15% grade, noting the stopping power at each level. The Zealot S2 performed above average here as well.

This Backfire board was able to stop easily on the 10% grade and very nearly came to a complete stop on the 14-15% grade, which our lead tester says is difficult for modern e-skateboards because they no longer go into reverse like some older boards. “Still,” our lead tester noted, “over most ground, the Zealot S2's brakes felt powerful and controlled — and strong enough to lock up the wheels if I felt the need.”

Speed

The Backfire Zealot S2 is one of the fastest electric skateboards we've ever tested, clocking in with a radar gun at an eye-watering 32 mph. In our sustained, repeated tests, we ended up with an average of 30.8 with a 190-pound rider on flat ground.

Acceleration was just as competitive, taking just 3.57 seconds to zoom 50 feet from a complete stop. To put this in perspective, if newbies try this in Turbo mode, they'll likely fall off the back of the board — and most intermediate riders take a lot of practice to handle this kind of acceleration. More experienced riders will appreciate the thrill.

Overall, the Zealot S2 has an outstanding speed rating that is about as good as it gets for speed demons who don't want to shell out twice as much money for a more premium board. With all this power and speed, it's important to note that our lead tester tightened the trucks a bit to increase stability before attempting to go all out. This is a fairly common adjustment made by more experienced riders to increase stability at speed — but it can make it harder to carve big curves at lazier paces.

Hills

The previous generation Zealot S did well in our tough hill climb test, and the Zealot S2 does even better. It is far more powerful on steep inclines than its predecessor; with hard PU wheels, it's best suited for pavement, and the punchy ride will serve you well if you live in a hilly city. “The S2 zoomed up hills almost as fast as the brawniest boards we've ever tested,” one of our riders gushed.

We use a stopwatch to time how long it takes our testing boards to reach a 580 ft distance on a hill with a 14%-15% grade. The S2 clocked 26 seconds in our test, which is faster than average and is a time only a few other boards could beat.

Our lead tester noted that it's quite possible that the Zealot S2 had a bit more beast to unleash after timing its performance on our steep 14-15% grade test hill. “Because our test hill has some medium-sized cracks, I didn't want to go any faster for fear of breaking something on board,” he reported, “I was going significantly faster than other boards, and I still had a lot of wheel to go faster.”

Beginner Friendly

The Zealot S2 has a modern, feature-rich remote control with a colorful, easy-to-read LCD screen and a fingerprint sensor for an extra bit of security for your board. We definitely appreciate the modernized remote, which has a rugged aluminum cover with a plastic back to help ensure a good connection to the board underfoot. You can change the ride characteristics to tune top speed, acceleration, and braking, but the Zealot S2 seems to suffer from a bit too much power for very new beginners, landing it in the middle of the pack for this metric.

While you can set the top speed to just 4 mph — which is a great speed to learn at — the acceleration is still very strong. “New riders might have a hard time rolling the throttle on slowly, causing a lurching or twitchy feel,” our lead tester explained. While acceleration packs a punch in all modes, our lead tester reported that most non-electric skateboarders with good balance and riding experience will likely be able to handle the get-up-and-go with ease. Unlike acceleration, you can dial the braking response down to a beginner-friendly level of smooth gentleness.

Should You Buy the Backfire Zealot S2?

This electric skateboard costs less than premium competitors and delivers performance that meets, and sometimes exceeds, boards that cost twice as much. The acceleration might be too aggressive for brand-new riders, but experienced skateboarders are likely to enjoy the thrill. If you want a fast board for straight-line commutes, the speedy S2 will get you to work or school quickly — and if you need to slow down, the powerful brakes can help you avoid obstacles.

What Other Electric Skateboards Should You Consider?