Electric scooters are a great way to navigate through the busy streets of cities. To move around fast and conveniently, you need an electric scooter with a high range and a powerful motor for high acceleration and top speed.
These are some of the important factors that make a great electric scooter. If you travel uphill, then you need to consider the motor power. This is the key to getting you up hills easily. When it comes to long-distance traveling, you should consider the range of the scooter above everything else. Gotrax has been making electric scooters from a long time. We will be discussing more Gotrax GXL v2 further in this review.
It is hard to talk about electric commuter scooters without talking about the Gotrax GLX V2 scooter. This scooter is one of the best electric scooters for commuters and has even won awards for it.
It was released back in September 2019 and its design impressed the scooter community. Like the original GLX, this one is also well-built, the sturdy ad has a nice balance of weight and features. It uses high-quality pneumatic tires for comfort and stability.
The Gotrax GXL is known for its great value for money. For all the great features it offers, it sells at under $300 which is such a hard bargain compared to its competitors. It weighs just about 26 lbs, which ensures portability.
Gotrax v2 Electric Scooter – A Detailed Review
1. Range and Speed
The manufacturer of this scooter claims that this scooter can achieve a top speed of 26 km. But different commuters tested this speed on these scooters and achieved a maximum top speed of 21.7 km.
If you are not bulky, then you will get close to the claimed range of speed.
This top speed is on the low side for scooters in general but on par with other budget-priced scooters. We think this is fast enough for most urban commuters but might leave some wanting more. Scooters like the Xiaomi Mi M365, also have a similar top speed like 26 km.
Also, the GoTrax GXL Commuter V2 has a manufacturer-claimed range of 19 kilometers. Keep in mind that cold temperatures, hills, frequent stops, and higher speeds will all decrease range.
If you run out of battery power, the scooter is light enough, and the deck is low enough to the ground that you will easily convert this into a kick scooter.
2. Construction and Build Quality
The GXL Commuter V2 is a study in sound design. We weren’t expecting much, but were pleasantly surprised and are huge fans. Overall, the scooter has minimal and amazing controls.
There aren’t any unnecessary knobs, levers, or switches that plague many over-designed electric scooters. The folding mechanism is robust. When the scooter is unfolded, everything feels solid. When we road it for this review, we experienced no creaking or slop. Assembly is quick and easy with the included tools that come up with it. Even if you aren’t a mechanical person, it shouldn’t be a problem.
Finally, even the packaging is well-designed. We’ve received plenty of test scooters that get destroyed in transit because they use generic packaging.
The scooter gets bounced around during shipping, and you have to deal with the return when you excitedly open the package. GoTrax went with custom form-fitting packaging that ensured the GXL V2 arrived in pristine condition.
Overall, build quality is good. Upon considering the price, it’s amazing. The latching mechanism was a little fussy, but after some adjustment was solid. Unlike the original GXL Commuter, the plastic fenders are reinforced and less likely to break.
3. Portability and Compactness
Ability to fold your handlebars and fit it inside your car boot easily, also to carry up a quick flight. Tuck it under your table, keep it in your room. The portability empowers a different kind of freedom that is unheard of.
It folds down quickly and locks into a compact size of 99 cm by 43 cm by 36 cm. While the handlebars do not fold, it is still easy to throw into the back of the car, carry upstairs, and slip under a desk at work.
The handlebars are somewhat narrow, but still wide enough to allow you to assume a fairly natural posture.
However, keeping the handlebars somewhat short also allows the scooter to be portable and compact for storage. Being a foldable scooter, you’d expect to have problems taking it down and setting it up, but that’s not the case whatsoever.
You may fiddle with the latching mechanism a little bit more than you’d like, but once you’ve figured it out, it holds the folded scooter firmly enough to carry around without issues.
4. Appearance and Design
This scooter comes in a very sleek & minimal design. Since the designer has designed this scooter in such a way that all the extra redundancies have been removed.
Also, it comes with an LCD meter which gives speed and other such information. The GXL does this well with its sturdy design. To make this possible, the controls have been kept minimal and there are not many unnecessary switches and levers. Whether folded or unfolded, the scooter feels solid and this is something any commuter would want.
The Gotrax GLX V2 has a very simple cockpit. It is the area on the handlebar with all the controls. This scooter’s cockpit consists of a power button, a mechanical bell, a twisty style accelerator, brakes, and an LCD that shows the speed and battery level. The display LED is bright and minimalist. Brakes are controlled on the left of the handlebars via a lever. The accelerator is a thumb-operate knob on the right.
We like the feel and design of the accelerator knob. It allows excellent motor control, and you don’t risk accidentally accelerating when grabbing onto the handlebars.
Power on/off, lights, and “gear” are controlled by a single tiny red button located in the center of the stem. The handlebars are somewhat narrow, but still wide enough to allow you to assume a fairly natural posture.
However, keeping the handlebars somewhat short also allows the scooter to be portable and compact for storage.
5. Power Delivery and Battery Capacity
It is good to see that this model comes with a 250 W brushless DC motor, which is the most powerful motor in this price range. This is a very powerful motor that will provide decent acceleration and top speed. However, this performance can be slowed down by factors such as the rider’s weight or going uphill.
The GXL V2 packs a 187-watt hour (480-watt hour) lithium-ion battery pack which provides a maximum range of 16 miles after a full charge. This great range ensures you don’t need to charge it a lot during the day under heavy usage.
6. Safety and Off-roading experience
This scooter is a fun and swift scooter to ride on. Its tires are large enough to roll over many common road hazards yet not so large as to be cumbersome.
The GLX V2 doesn’t have a suspension, so all the damping comes from the pneumatic tires. The GXL is fitted with pneumatic inner tube tires. This is such a great feature as pneumatic tires are great for suspension and an overall comfortable ride.
The tires are 8.5 inches for stability and comfort. They provide bounce on slightly rough roads and therefore eliminate uncomfortable movements. On smooth roads, the ride quality is amazing. On rough roads, the tires will eat up a fair amount of bumps.
However, the scooter is not adept on terrible roads for long periods. Much of the vibrations will be transferred to your hands and legs, which can be uncomfortable and fatiguing. The scooter is ideal if you are spending most of your time on good-to-moderate quality roads.
7. Safety and Braking Mechanism
The Gotrax GLX V2 uses an electronic brake system that is controlled in a twist-style manner. The only problem with this brake mechanism is that it provides little control over braking modulation. However, when you apply the brakes, they grip tightly and efficiently. Some have even said the grip is too much and can be jerky.
At the front, the GXL V2 has regenerative brakes, which are pretty decent, but not as cool as the hand-operated rear disk brake. The scooter is 10 times safer to ride thanks to the hand lever on the left, which ensures that your left hand is always poised above the brake.
Disk brakes are also uncommon at this price range. Electric scooters with disk brakes and pneumatic tires typically cost a lot more than what the Gotrax GXL Version 2 goes for which depicts this is an indisputable mark of quality.
8. Weight, it can bear and Age group
At 12 kgs the GXL Commuter V2 is about as light as scooters get and very comparable to a Xiaomi Mi M365. It can bear a lot of almost 200 pounds (100kiols., which means it will be supporting the adult age group.
Specifications of Gotrax GXL v2
| Range | 9-12 miles (15-19 km) |
| Battery | 36V |
| Charging time | 3-4 hours |
| Motor | 250W |
| Top Speed | 15.5 mph (25 km/h) |
| Wheel Size | 8.5 inches |
| Weight | 27 pounds (12.2 kilos) |
| Max Load | 220 pounds (100 kilos) |
| Dimensions | 43.8 in x 17 in x 42 in |
| Deck Height | 38 inches |
| Shipping Dimensions | 39.3 in x 7.8 in x 14.9 in |
| Folded Dimensions | 15 in x 44 in x 6 in |
Pros and Cons of Gotrax GXL v2 Electric Commuter Scooter
Other Similar Scooters For You:
- eMove Cruiser Electric Scooter Detailed Review
- Unagi Electric Scooter Review – Get to Know Everything
- Xiaomi Mijia M365 Pro Review
- Glion Electric Scooter Review
- Nanrobot D5+ Electric Scooter Review
Wrapping Up
With this scooter, you do not need to worry about things like portability. It is one of the most portable scooters with a lightweight and easy foldability. The Gotrax GLX V2 allows a maximum user weight of 220 pounds which is quite a lot
It is an excellently built low-budget electric scooter that’s fitted with luxuries like pneumatic tires and a hand-operated rear disc brake is exactly what you’ll get when you spring for this scooter. Folded, it is small enough to fit under your desk at work, on the bus or train, and inside a large backpack or suitcase. Its size and foldable design address the demands of the urban landscape by allowing you to switch from walking to riding to kicking without a problem.