Took the Vado SL 5.0 for a 26 mile ride today in the Santa Cruz area with around 2000 feet of climbing with some grades 10 to 15%. The steeper ones were shorter, but there were a couple of sustained climbs. Overall, I was happy with the bike. It handles very well, pretty much like a regular road bike, and that is what I wanted. However, I ended up using Sport mode (2nd level) and Turbo quite a lot and that sucked up battery charge big time. At the end of the ride, I had 40% battery left. It was a bit disappointing, but I am a 71 year old woman who hasn't ridden in almost a year. As I ride more, I will get better. That said, the biggest problem I had was using turbo mode up the hills, or when I just wanted an extra boost. The motor would regularly pause and cut out on me while climbing, then kick in again. It didn't cause the bike to be jerky, but it was very disconcerting. I checked with the bike shop and they thought that I wasn't pedaling fast enough or hard enough and when that happens the motor will slow down or pause. Assuming this is true, I think this is a downside of the bike. None of the other levels did this (Eco and Sport were fine), just the Turbo mode. This aspect was very disappointing. I also have a Levo emtb and the motor does not do that. Has anyone else had that experience on the Vado SL?