I couldn’t agree more, my most reliable board is a zealot (also the only board that wasn’t built by me but hey)
That I bought used for $400
There was a guy on this forum who documented deck swapping a zealot that, if I recall correctly had somewhere in the range of 2k miles on it, which is far and above what should be expected of any $600-700 board.
I love my DIYs, nothing rivals the power, smoothness, and versatility that is all combined in VESC but;
I love to see people get into the hobby and boards that are competent for under $1000 absolutely get MORE people into this hobby.
2k mile zealot: