FWIW, I think you have narrowed down your final three to some fine and well reviewed ebikes. I have been ebiking for 22 years now and I also live in an area where even small traditional bike shops are rare. Only small towns populate the landscape in the area and only the largest of these small towns finally got a small bike shop earlier this year. A friend talked to the proprietor recently and relayed to me that the owner is seriously considering going out of business already because of his inability to generate any real traffic to his shop. The town has a small university and he indicated he was counting on that community of potential customers to help in his venture. Not so much when it came to reality, according to him. Likely there are quite a number of us out there who like you and myself have not the opportunity to visit shops and test ride ebikes. All the bikes I have owned over these 22 years of ebiking have been without hands on experience with test rides. But through luck or whatever, I have been happy with my purchases. I believe my positive experiences accrue primarily to good reviews of ebikes I found and studied on sites like this one. Agreed, it is not ideal, but there are those of us who have no realistic opportunity to do the 'hands on' thing.
Many bike shops continue to go under. 2017 was bad year for regular bikes. Trek CEO said if your IBD was down ONLY 3.5%, you had a 'good year.' Its so bad now, Trek is afraid of losing market share,as the owners in their 60's are selling, and there are no buyers. So Trek is looking to buy more shops. (they already own too many). Many people have told me Trek stores are not friendly,mostly arrogant, and few carry e-bikes. Even their own 'great brands.'
Anyhow, if you tell the audience what type of riding you are going to be doing, where (trails, roads ?), how often, we could make more appropriate suggestions. None of the ebikes you are looking at are bad per se, but there are certainly ebikes that provide a lot more value at those price points.
For example. If you are looking at the Tern, which is a folding e-bike, have you considered a fat tire folding e-bike ? They are super comfortable, super versatile, and can handle any terrain. The fat tires allow you to be safe under any condition, and then also provide some tremendous shock absorption. Also, you can get them with 15 AH batteries, that will easily get you 70 miles or more on a charge. With a 500 watt motor, you can hit the speeds you would most likely desire. They can be folded up and put in the trunk or hatchback of most cars. Personally, I think fat tire folding ebikes are a hidden secret of best e-bikes out there today for the money, and the most versatile in terms of terrain, commutability, fun, traction, compactness, and practicality. Your size is also not an issue with these, and you can be as upright, or forward as you wish. I think they are over-looked, bc they do look a bit goofy or cartoonish even, but I have yet to see a customer who tries one, not actually go ahead and buy one, even after looking at many regular road tire non-folding frame ebikes.
