Yadea Elite Prime - First Impressions
I asked for recommendations on a full suspension scooter with tubeless tires and “light” weight. One of my fave suggestions was the Yadea, so I pulled the trigger and wanted to share my first impressions.
DELIVERY
Shipping within CA was insanely fast. Item was delivered within 3 days of placing the order. Very secure delivery — FedEx would not deliver without a signature.
BUILD QUALITY
Pretty great build quality. Clamping mechanism on the folding stem is very secure. Zero play. Kickstand is sturdy. Even the charger seems well constructed.
COMFORT
Ride is comfortable and quiet. No noise from the polymer suspension. The large diameter air tires instill confidence when dealing with potholes and rugged road conditions.
OPERATION
Operation seems to be hampered by poor algorithms for power delivery.
Power delivery is uneven. When riding at speeds a bit below max, you can feel the motor briefly shutting off and coming back on to try and maintain a low speed. The subtly jerky ride resulting from this becomes annoying. Not sure if this is a software issue or a limitation of the motor.
The scooter requires some initial momentum for the power to kick in — you cannot start from a dead stop. The threshold seems a bit high. When starting on heavily crowned roads (ie going uphill), the power would not come on from a gentle nudge. I really needed to put in some effort. This was also annoying.
There are different power level settings with the highest setting needing to be unlocked. The initial acceleration in the highest mode is too strong when starting the ride. Extremely difficult to start riding without accidentally pulling a wheelie. The power delivery curve is too steep. It feels great when at speed, but from the initial start it’s
The rear disk brake has a pretty steep and sudden engagement threshold. Very difficult to feather the brake and gently reduce speed. It delivers sharp and abrupt deceleration.
Tactile feedback on the turn signal buttons is poor. It’s difficult to tell if the button was pressed, so I often struggle a bit when trying to turn off the signal after a turn.
PORTABILITY
Yadea promoted the Elite Prime as “the SUV of scooters”. I think the reason is in part because it is HUGE. Coming from an Unagi e500, I was a bit put off by the size of this thing.
The 60lb weight is heavy but not unmanageable. I can get it up and down my stairs.
Personally I think this scooter is too large. I think I placed too high a premium on suspension. I would go lighter and smaller — no suspension, but tubeless tires.
VALUE
I got the scooter for around $800 with a coupon code. It’s a lot of bang for the buck. That said, the annoyances around operation of the scooter harm my perception of value.
DECISION
I’m mostly unhappy with the operation of the scooter, some of which could possibly be addressed by a firmware update. I’m also not crazy about the massive size. I will likely return the scooter and try the Niu KQi Air.
I asked for recommendations on a full suspension scooter with tubeless tires and “light” weight. One of my fave suggestions was the Yadea, so I pulled the trigger and wanted to share my first impressions.
DELIVERY
Shipping within CA was insanely fast. Item was delivered within 3 days of placing the order. Very secure delivery — FedEx would not deliver without a signature.
BUILD QUALITY
Pretty great build quality. Clamping mechanism on the folding stem is very secure. Zero play. Kickstand is sturdy. Even the charger seems well constructed.
COMFORT
Ride is comfortable and quiet. No noise from the polymer suspension. The large diameter air tires instill confidence when dealing with potholes and rugged road conditions.
OPERATION
Operation seems to be hampered by poor algorithms for power delivery.
Power delivery is uneven. When riding at speeds a bit below max, you can feel the motor briefly shutting off and coming back on to try and maintain a low speed. The subtly jerky ride resulting from this becomes annoying. Not sure if this is a software issue or a limitation of the motor.
The scooter requires some initial momentum for the power to kick in — you cannot start from a dead stop. The threshold seems a bit high. When starting on heavily crowned roads (ie going uphill), the power would not come on from a gentle nudge. I really needed to put in some effort. This was also annoying.
There are different power level settings with the highest setting needing to be unlocked. The initial acceleration in the highest mode is too strong when starting the ride. Extremely difficult to start riding without accidentally pulling a wheelie. The power delivery curve is too steep. It feels great when at speed, but from the initial start it’s
The rear disk brake has a pretty steep and sudden engagement threshold. Very difficult to feather the brake and gently reduce speed. It delivers sharp and abrupt deceleration.
Tactile feedback on the turn signal buttons is poor. It’s difficult to tell if the button was pressed, so I often struggle a bit when trying to turn off the signal after a turn.
PORTABILITY
Yadea promoted the Elite Prime as “the SUV of scooters”. I think the reason is in part because it is HUGE. Coming from an Unagi e500, I was a bit put off by the size of this thing.
The 60lb weight is heavy but not unmanageable. I can get it up and down my stairs.
Personally I think this scooter is too large. I think I placed too high a premium on suspension. I would go lighter and smaller — no suspension, but tubeless tires.
VALUE
I got the scooter for around $800 with a coupon code. It’s a lot of bang for the buck. That said, the annoyances around operation of the scooter harm my perception of value.
DECISION
I’m mostly unhappy with the operation of the scooter, some of which could possibly be addressed by a firmware update. I’m also not crazy about the massive size. I will likely return the scooter and try the Niu KQi Air.