Remote by PotatoSkaters is (almost) here [SERIOUS]

Esk8 Dev
#1

Remote-forum
Remote-forum1517×1366 549 KB

What? Another remote!?

This is our attempt to create the most awesome / bad-ass remote on the market. It has all the features that anyone would ever want and you won’t need to sell a liver to afford it. It’s built by makers. For makers.

Who the heck is Potato Skaters?

We’re a group of three engineers / product designers based in Latvia & Sweden. We got into e-skating around 2017 and have been super excited to bring some of our hardware experience to this market. The team consists of Mikus Upmalis (@practicalmike), Eriks Zaharans (@ErikNorth) and Janis Zaharans (@janisz ). For the past year and a half we’ve been quietly working on some really awesome products that we are finally ready to start revealing. This is a side-hustle for all of us but we all have serious experience in building hardware products and we are serious about bringing some awesome products to this space.

Let’s set some ground rules.

  • There will be no pre-orders. We will be selling products only when they are ready to be shipped and been made with our own personal investment.
  • We are all for 100% transparency. Every decision / feature / concern will be addressed and we will not hide anything.
  • While currently we are not planning to open-source our schematics and firmware, we respect the making and tinkering of DIY community and we will do our best to provide all the tools to make most of our products.

Show me the REMOTE already!

I could write a few bullet points and things but what better way to just show it in action? Here’s a video about most of the things you need to know:

We will do our best to keep this thread up to date with all the news but it would be wise to sign up for email updates. We promise - we are too lazy to spam you. You can do it on potatoskaters.com.

I don’t want to watch the whole video…

Well… here’s the short version:

  • We tried to create the most feature packed remote while keeping a reasonable price tag
  • It’s nRF52840 based - BLE for communication with CSA #2 (we’ve had literally 0 dropouts or issues over riding these for around 5 months now)
  • Small OLED for telemetry, configuration and profile switching
  • Customizable buttons and settings
  • Pair with up to 5 boards
  • Battery life for a few days (we will try to pack the biggest Li-Po we can in it)
  • Power off board from the remote (with compatible BMS / Anti-spark)
  • OTA Updates via companion app (and configuring / ride tracking coming later)
  • Wireless charging for the remote (optionally)
  • Ride data logging to SD card (will be available with future firmware release)
  • Option to add GPS module for completely offline ride tracking
  • We are working with guys from Metr.at to bring the kick-ass map viewing experience for rides
  • Price of around 150€ + shipping (remote + receiver)
  • Planned BETA batch of around 50 units around September / October
  • In-production by the end of the year (hopefully)

There’s more detailed information available on potatoskaters.com

We need your feedback!

We want to create the best remote we can so we need your input. What do you think we are missing? What could be improved? We are still a few weeks away from making the final revision based on the feedback we will get so your opinion matters and we want to make the best product we can. We will try to address as many questions as we humanly can!

Yours truly,
PotatoSkaters

P.S. Yes, we are quite serious about that :potato: life.

40 Likes
#2

My deepest apologies for double-posting. I couldn’t find the edit button for the post! :grimacing:

3 Likes
#3

better to move it to the vendors’s corner. Despite that good luck and I will look at your products :wink:

7 Likes
#4

Trigger?

9 Likes
#5

This is because only regulars have access to editing

1 Like
#6

How is the throw of the wheel compared to the vx1? remote looks good.

1 Like
#7

I’m a potato :grin:

4 Likes
#8

Heretic

#9

someone will have to test this lol

Also, is that a deadman switch in front? like those boosted remote has?

#10

unnamed (12)

That screen :expressionless:

11 Likes
#11

Yes and it can be turned on or off.

3 Likes
#12

just turn it around and use your finger on the thumb wheel :joy:

7 Likes
#13

We tried to squeeze in the largest diameter wheel possible. It’s significantly larger than compared to VX1 in terms of distance but the angle is the same.

4 Likes
#14

I agree, but should wait until it’s ready to sell.

2 Likes
#15

true, I thought the remote was basically ready and the rest to come.

2 Likes
#16

Yes. We are excited to to ship out some test units to try to break this. Stability is our #1 priority. We want it to get the base right and then move on to the cool features.

3 Likes
#17

We decided to focus on the thumb style for our primary design as we feel that’s what most casual riders preffer. But we will be making the CAD files public, so anyone with the internals can make any case they wish - including a trigger style one.

6 Likes
#18

im sure people in SF / NYC, and Nottingham UK would want to test this 0 dropout stability :smirk:

10 Likes
#19

when did nottingham become a RF hub? :joy:

6 Likes
#20

I’ll drive this under the airport tower at San Diego International. for science. For glory.

10 Likes