Daymak, first escooter?

[Bandit450]

Hello all! New member!
From Kitchener area.

I have my eye set on the Daymak Eagle deluxe 84v.

The usual pros and cons would be great to hear.

Daymak good people to work with?

 

[stevebriggs]

I have a three year old Eagle that was originally 72v, but that was converted to 84v about 6 months after i got it. The cells had to be replaced under warranty due to a charger malfunction (it never shut off). This was done through bikeandforth.com in Toronto. The upgrade gave me 10-15 percent more top speed. When new, the range of the lead acid cells was roughly 30km. I have about 9000 km on the 84v pack and the range has dwindled to about 17km now, which is my work commute distance, so time to replace. I was quoted about 650 for new lead acid cells, but really think i will go lithium. I had to replace the rear tire quite early on because of cracking between the knobs. Having a range of about 80km on my 84v lithium Chameleon is REALLY nice. In general, the Chameleon is super light, you can easily pick it up to go into a vehicle for transport, but not nearly as plush a ride as the much heavier Eagle. The Eagle drags its pedals in turns, but i have never had that issue with the C. There is a quite noticeable slow down on hills with the E that does not occur with the C. The C. Is much narrower which means checking mirrors takes some moving around for good views. If you ride on trails or gravel the E is much better. I love them both. My ideal would be a slightly wider C with tires double the size. I am 300 pounds and have been a motorcycle rider for 35 years, live in Owen Sound. . Daymak service can be hit and miss. I would highly recommend going to their store and test riding all the various models. I quite liked the Rogue, and am really curious about the Arrow.

 

[Ann M.]

EBR member stevebriggs wrote about his experiences with a 2015/2016 Daymak Eagle 84V scooter in his 2016 post. I checked the scooter out on Daymak's Youtube video on the 2017/2018 version and have a couple of observations:

The claim for easy climbing on a 20 degree hill is not totally honest. As Steve pointed out it will climb hills but slows down a lot. Your max speed on this scooter is only 32kph or 19.5 mph and with 227lbs plus rider to haul up a hill, the scooter will loose speed and climbing ability rapidly.

You are limited in power and speed with this scooter: 500 watts, even if a hub motor is not a lot of power for such a heavy scooter; however, I understand the legal motor size limitations in Canada. This would still be a "bike class" scooter (with the pedals required?) because of the motor size. And after watching the Daymak video on the Eagle, it was clear that just a little more leaning in a turn or curve would have you dragging those pedals on the ground; a safety issue since this could cause an accident.

The price of the scooter (approx. $2500 CAD plus shipping) is a lot for a scooter with a lot of style but minimal performance. The speedometer/battery gauges on the Eagle are retro styled to match the overall design of the scooter but those gauges are fairly inaccurate and might be in a plastic body that's vulnerable to breaking. My company's experience with Chinese mass produced type of scooters has been spotty - some are good, some look good but are prone to issues that can be time consuming to get help or parts to resolve.

I agree with Steve that it would be wiser to put the $$ into better quality Li batteries for a lighter scooter. There are a lot of benefits that come just from reducing the weight but keeping the same motor size. You can climb inclines better hauling less weight, better performance overall since Li batteries can output more energy for the equivalent amp rating of the SLA batteries and don't have as serious a power drop off as SLA batteries do once the charge level drops below 50% . They won't need to be replaced as often as the SLA batteries.

Court visited the Daymak Headquarters in 2016 and met with the founder, Aldo Baiocchi, an interesting video to gain some perspective on the company. In general, Daymak is an importer of Chinese designed products with okay but not super high quality components. One plus, they offer a wide selection of e-scooters & ebikes under one roof. If you're curious about some of the other Daymak scooter models, Court reviewed several of them on ElectricRideReview.com.

Without knowing a bit about what your transportation needs are, I hesitate to make any recommendations for comparison.

 

[Bandit450]

Thanks for the info stevebriggs!.

I'll actually be doing a mix of off road and zipping around town.

My plan is to head out to my hunting land and to mount my crossbow to the rear rack of the Eagle, which I've found the necessary hardware for already!.
It's a 4 mile trip one way, mostly road then last half mile of a smootish trail running between fields.
I've been looking at the Chameleon as well, but not sure if I'll have the same mounting capabilities.


Should I got with cell batteries or lithium? Heard lots of pros and cons but cant quite make up my mind.

 

[Bandit450]

Hey Ann! Thanks a bunch. That really helped.

My needs are fairly basic. As long as it has a rear rack, I'll be interested.
Very open to suggestions!

 

[stevebriggs]

Both the E and C scoots have very solid rear racks. I often use the C rear rack to lift the scooter in tight confines. Can't do that with the much heavier Eagle. If you are talking only 15km round trip save your money and get the lead acid. Much cheaper initially, but will need more frequent replacement. But on gravel, the Chameleon does not ride easily. I will take a couple of photos. I have a mount on the back of the C rack to attach a little bicycle trailer. It has no trouble pulling the trailer weight plus a couple of 19 litre water jugs, a total extra weight of say 40 odd kg. On the C it does not affect acceleration much at all.

 

[Bandit450]

Both the E and C scoots have very solid rear racks. I often use the C rear rack to lift the scooter in tight confines. Can't do that with the much heavier Eagle. If you are talking only 15km round trip save your money and get the lead acid. Much cheaper initially, but will need more frequent replacement. But on gravel, the Chameleon does not ride easily. I will take a couple of photos.

Ya I'll be riding old rail trails as well which can be loose at times.
15km round trip to hunting spot but will be using it as my main mode of transportation otherwise. Cost isn't much of an issue, if that's what stands in the way of lithium.

Would really like to see pics of both!. What connections do they have like 12v or Usb?

 

[stevebriggs]

Trailer on the Chameleon... Both scooters use a computer plug on the chargers. Lead acid is double the weight, only good for maybe 1/3 the number of charge cycles, and older tech. If you can afford it, the lithium is the much better option I would say. My Eagle does not have any app or wifi connection. The C does, but the Daymak app is very limited and has many obvious blunders, most notably it does not remember what setting you prefer for the LED strip lights. So every time you turn the bike on, you need connect it to your device via wifi and program in your desired lighting effect. In the real world this means that function is rarely used. BTW that is my ION Road Warrior 500W (same as the scooter) bluetooth speaker in back, only weighs about 12kg. Loud enough to wake up the neighbourhood!

 

[Bandit450]

Awesome!. That trailer is really cool! I have a Aosom brand trailer too but a bit different and I'm racking my brain trying to figure out how I could rig it up. I'll post a pic of it.

 

[saule]

Hi all! I'm a new member.
I'm looking for first e-scooter to teeager son and need your advice
Teenagers need to be protected from harm as much as they need to satisfy their thirst for adventure. Only the best scooter brands can do both. I'm right or not?
How to choose the right scooter ?