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Today I’ve got the dual motor, full suspension Hero X8 electric scooter. It’s one of the more popular scooters out there for around the $1500 price tag so I was pretty excited for the opportunity to review it. In the review you’ll see how fast it can go on all three speed modes with dual and single motor.. An acceleration test on high and low settings.. How long it takes to stop on all speed modes and what you can expect for range when the scooter is set to the highest and fastest settings. I’ll also talk about hill climbing ability, comfort, stability and overall feel of the scooter. I wanna give a shoutout to my buddy over at Top Shelf reviews, he’s the one that picked the scooter up and invited me to come test it out with him. He dives into the settings, modifications and technical aspect of things, so you should definitely check his channel out if you want more info and show him some love by subscribing to his channel.
I always like to start the review off with a speed test, so let’s see how fast the two 800 watt motors, powered by a 52 volt battery can make the scooter go. It’s rated up to 34 mph on the highest of the three speed modes. On speed one, the app and scooter both reached 13; on speed 2 the app hit 20 and with 21 on the scooter and on speed 3 the app hit 31 with 32 on the scooter. Now this test was done with both motors and Turbo mode turned on. If eco mode is pressed, the top speed is limited to around 15 mph. In the menu the units can be changed from km to miles and if you’re nervous about the power, as it is a little much at first, it can be adjusted in the P menu from 0-100%, the lower the percentage, the slower the scooter goes.
The Hero X8 has a ton of options to either slow or speed up the acceleration, for this first test I had everything set to the highest level with dual motors and turbo turned on. Here’s a look at all three speed modes with 2 and 3 neck and neck for the first 100 feet. On the highest speed, I hit 25 mph within half a block, it then takes another 1-2 blocks to go from 25 - 31. That seems to be the standard with other scooters in this price range for my 190 pound weight. The Hero X8 is rated for 264 pounds and weighs 60.. I did another test to see if there was a difference between eco and turbo mode. The first 30 feet they were side by side till turbo mode pulled away… In the settings you can change the acceleration sensitivity from 0-5, here’s the difference between the two levels while still on turbo and dual motors, it’s hard to tell, but when set to 0, it is much softer. On the highest level, I was spinning the front tire on the pavement and easily spinning it in the dirt.. Last acceleration test I wanna do is compare the difference from dual motor to single motor. This is where I had the biggest spread which makes sense, I am cutting off one motor. The acceleration with a single motor is comparable to a city rental scooter and unlike a lot of city rentals, this has the option to either start from a standstill or kick.
The Hero X8 is rated anywhere from 34-53 miles. On their site, they say that depends on the size of the battery. They have three sizes to choose from, my buddy picked up the middle size which took me over 24 miles, I compared that with the scooters readout that said 27, so it doesn’t match up completely with my app. Now part of the test was riding in the dirt and up a pretty steep and soggy hill for a few blocks. I also did all my filming at the same time so there was a bunch of hard stop and go, I’m not trying to sell you on the scooter, just wanted to let you know I rode it hard, I bet I could of got another 3-5 miles if I set the cruise control and kept it at a constant speed.
There’s no hill rating, at least not that I found, but I will say it has plenty of power. For the range test, I headed up the canyon that has a general slope of 2-3% with steeper hills in the 8-10 range. I maxed out the scooter on those steeper hills around 20 mph and was even accelerating up them. This has close to the same power as the Varla, a scooter I reviewed a couple weeks ago where I went up a ½ mile, 15% grade hill at 15 mph, so I’d say this would have no problem doing the same, if not steeper.
The stopping power of the Hero X8 is one of the better ones with it’s hydraulic front and rear disc brakes. I set my camera bag down so I’d know when to hit the brakes and did a test on all three speed modes with the highest mode stopping just shy of 45 feet, I tried not to skid the tires and let up when they started to slide so probably could have gotten a few feet less if I held them firm. I then did another test with the electric brakes turned on and off, which didn’t make a difference when just letting the throttle go like other scooters I’ve tested. The electric brake is added to the overall braking power of the hydraulic brakes as the lever is pressed and when turned on to the highest level, they are almost too much, it’s one of the best scooters for brakes I’ve tested.
Now as far as comfort, the Hero X8 was ok, the deck was plenty wide and long with room for my feet side by side or one in front of the other. The rear fin is the first I’ve seen with grip tape. I really liked how it gave a few more inches to spread out when going off road or hitting rough patches on the trail. The front and rear coil suspension do a decent job with bigger bumps; it's not the best suspension I’ve felt. If I had to give it a rating out of 10, I’d say about a 6 or 7. Now the 8 x 3” solid rubber tires aren’t my favorite, those who have been with me for a while know my dislike for these types of tires. However I get it, it’s low maintenance and you don’t have to worry about flats but it makes for a bumpy ride, there is very little give with sidewalk lines, rocks and small bumps. The trail here is a green rated, which as long as you don’t have a lot of rocks or gravel, it will do just fine, it has plenty of power for these short and steep hills. The tires are very wide at 3”, so it does well on softer dirt and mud, unlike most off road scooters I’ve tried. The stem is very short, Hero recommends you add their 4” stem extension if you’re taller than 5’10, I’m 5’11 and really noticed how short it was and had to bend over more than I like to. The BMX style handlebars are a nice touch and though they looked pretty cool, it gives the scooter a tougher and meaner look and they are very wide. The handling was one of the better scooters in this price range, it is very stable and and feels well built, you can tell you’re on a high quality scooter. The grips were nice, I didn’t have any hot spots or sores when riding mile after mile.
The Hero X8 has a finger style throttle with a lcd display that can be easily seen in the day and has different levels of brightness. The mode switches the speed mode and the power changes the display to look at different stats like ride time, odometer, voltage and trip odometer. The Hero X8 also comes with two keys, has a voltage readout, takes 4-8 hours to recharge, collapses in a couple of seconds, has a IP54 waterproof rating, a 1 yr warranty and free shipping in the US. There's also an app with a ton of options to change the lighting, I’m sure my buddy’s review will go more into the app, so check it out if you want to see some of the cool stuff you can do.
Overall I thought the Hero X8 was a pretty good scooter, would I personally buy this for off roading? I don’t think so and that’s because of the solid tires, that was the deal breaker for me but like my buddy, he sought after the Hero X8 because it had solid tires, so if you don’t mind the extra bumps and want the security of never having a flat, this might be a good option. It’s got the power, it's comfortable, the brakes are excellent, and it feels like a solid and sturdy scooter.
