Note: Shootout to Turboant for sending me this unit for review. Even though this article is sponsored, I will still be honest with you and still point out any flaws I notice about this scooter, as you will see in a minute.

Electric scooters are a very convenient way of getting from point A to point B without the need to worry about traffic congestion and finding a parking spot. Besides, scooters have way lower maintenance costs than cars or motorcycles. eKick scooters might be weaker but they are also lighter and cheaper than cars, which is why scooters like the Xiaomi M365 became so popular and I would even say, iconic.

Now, even though the Xiaomi M365 did nail a lot of features and became the go-to commuter for thousands of people all around the globe, there is always ways to improve on something existing and the Turboant X7 was released to compete and maybe even dethrone the M365.

Turboant is a Chinese company based in Shenzhen. They specialize in manufacturing electic bikes and recently they have made their debut in the electric scooters market with their Turboant X7 model.

In this review, I will be tracing a lot of parallels between the Xiaomi M365 and the Turboant X7 simply because both scooters belong to the same price category. Besides, the M365 is probably the most popular scooter on the planet so having it as a point of reference might be helpful.

That being said, I will be explaining each feature in detail so those of you who never tried a scooter before can still find this review helpful.

Let’s start with a test drive, shall we?

Turboant X7 Review

Unboxing Turboant X7 Electric Scooter

Turboant X7 Unboxing Box

Turboant X7 Unboxing The Box 1

Turboant X7 Unboxing The Box 2 with logo

Turboant X7 Unboxing The Box Logo

Turboant X7 Unboxing Contents

Unboxing Turboant X7

Turboant X7 Locking System

Unboxing Turboant X7 no handlebar

Turboant X7 brake lever

Turboant X7 Handlebars Installed

Torboant X7 Unboxed & Installed

Unboxing Turboant X7 Deck

Handling

The Turboant X7 is a beginner-friendly scooter that’s very easy to handle.

Usually, beginners get intimidated by escooters since they look so squishy and are so fast. There is no seat and no protection for the driver, plus the standing deck is quite narrow, which means you have to place your feet one behind the other.

All of that makes a lot of people wonder whether it’s safe to ride those scooters and how easy is it to keep control over the vehicle. To many’s surprise, the Turboant X7 is easy to control. In fact, this might be the best model for a beginner for quite a few reasons:

First of all, the acceleration curve is designed on a way that it limits initial acceleration. Usually what happens is that people who drive gas vehicles (mopeds, motorcycles, cars) find electric vehicles weird to handle. Gas engines deliver power gradually, whereas electric motors tend to kick the vehicle forward as soon as you touch that throttle. Higher-end scooters usually feature different ways of limiting the initial acceleration. The Turboant X7 doesn’t lag behind; in fact, even on the highest setting, it still offers a very smooth, and some even call it, sluggish, acceleration curve.

Secondly, the X7 offers a smaller turning angle compared to the Xiaomi M365. This means that there is no way the front wheel can get perpendicular to the main body of the scooter. Since the front wheel is directly attached to the handlebar, your handlebar might sometimes turn if you collide with a particularly big bump. Having the turning angle limited to something less than 180 degrees can save you quite a few falls.

Turboant X7 Deck

Turboant X7 Deck

Last but not least, the deck is thinner, and therefore the driver stands closer to the ground compared to when riding a Xiaomi M365. This is only possible because the Turboant X7 has its battery in the stem, not in the deck as it is the case for the M365. As a rule of thumb, the closer you stand to the ground, the better you can control the vehicle. Plus, if the battery dies mid-trip, you can use the X7 as an old-school mechanical kickscooter, something you can’t really do with the M365 because of the higher deck it comes with.

These qualities come with certain downsides, though, first of which being the higher center of gravity of the scooter. The battery is the heaviest part of any scooter and the way the X7 has its battery so high, it makes the scooter a bit less stable than the M365. This is compensated by the fact that the rider is standing closer to the ground, however new riders might need a bit of time to get used to having the heaviest part of the scooter being so high.

Brakes

Just like the Xiaomi M365, the Turboant X7 features disk brakes on the rear wheel, though the disk on the X7 is larger, therefore making the brakes more efficient. Unlike the M365, the X7 does not have regenerative brakes. Those allow you to recover part of the battery charge back every time you’re braking, making your battery last a bit longer.

The X7 does however come with a very soft, yet often strong enough motor brakes you can use to control the speed of your scooter. In case of emergency, there is also a foot brake you activate by stepping on the rear mudguard. This one is more of a safety measure in case any of the other two brakes fail.

Turboant X7 Disc Brake

Turboant X7 Foot Brake

Tires

The Turboant X7 comes with on-road tubeless tires. Those offer a softer ride since you are riding on air, however they are also usually more durable than the tubed tires thanks to the lack of inner friction between the tire and the tube. Tubeless tires still get flats, though, so you should always be prepared for that and watch the surface your are driving on.

Turboant X7 Front Tubless Tire

Turboant X7 Rear Tubeless Tire

Comfort

For the money, the Turboant X7 offers quite the comfortable ride.

If you haven’t used an electric scooter before, you might not know what level of comfort to expect from this kind of vehicle. First of all, even the most advanced scooters with spring suspension and big wheels feel quite hard compared to, say, a car, or a good bicycle.

The small wheel size of this kind of vehicles limits the amount of cushion their suspension can provide. Which is why, the amount of comfort is usually measured on how well the scooter handles the smaller bumps, manholes and potholes found on paved roads.

Just like the Xiaomi M365, the Turboant X7 comes with no dedicated suspension. The only thing that stands between the driver and the road are the two 8.5 inch wheels. Those are average size wheels, not too small, not too big, they do offer enough cushion to smoothen out the smallest bumps, however you will still notice any cracks and potholes that you will happen to drive over.

In the price range, the only scooter that has a suspension is the Ninebot ES2, though it also comes with smaller wheels, so it’s still pretty much the same level of comfort. The cheapest scooter I know of that offers a good wheel size and suspension combo is the Zero 10x that happens to be 1000 dollars more expensive than the Turboant X7.

Portability

The Turboant X7 can be considered a last mile solution thanks to its lightweight and portable design.

Compared to the Xiaomi M365, the X7 is about 700 grams or 2 pounds heavier. While not too bad, the difference becomes more noticeable the longer you have to carry it.

The stem in the X7 can be folded and the grips can be easily unscrewed without any extra tools. This is a very useful feature that makes the X7 a great choice to carry around in a crowded bus or metro. The way you can easily remove the battery and place it in your backpack is also very handy. This way, you don’t have to carry so much weight in your hands.

In fact, this feature is very important since some people might find it harder to have a good grip on the colum. To trace a parallel, the Xiaomi M365 has its battery located inside the deck, which means the stem is pretty thin and easy to hold. The X7 has the battery inside the stem, which makes it way thicker. If your hands are like mine, you will probably struggle to hold it for a long time, so being able to carry a big share of the weight in your backpack can be a lifesaver.

The scooter comes with a kickstand, though sadly it’s a bit too short. The scooter tips too much to the side and because the point of gravity is so high, it often falls over. Especially if the surface it is standing on isn’t perfectly even or solid (gravel, sand, grass). If anything, I’d like the kickstand to be longer.

Additional Accessories

The scooter comes fully-equipped and ready to use.

Lights

As expected for the price, the lights are just enough but nothing to be excited about. When driving your usual city road with street illumination, the lights the scooter comes with are enough. If you need to drive somewhere darker than that you might want to purchase a set of bike lights. The scooter comes with tubeless tires so it’s very important to have good illumination and be able to spot any sharp objects on the ground.

Another reason to buy additional lights is that the battery in this scooter isn’t the biggest. It offers even less capacity than that of the Xiaomi M365. So I believe it’s a good idea to use external lights to reduce the impact on battery life.

The scooter also comes with brake lights.

Turboant X7 Front Lights

Turboant X7 Rear Brake Lights

Dashboard

Minimalist and stylish, the LCD dashboard the X7 comes with looks fancy and it offers most of the basic functions you need. I said ‘most’ because it lacks some essentials I personally like having on my scooters, let me detail.

The dashboard has a big, easy-to-read two-digit display for speed, a small icon that changes depending on the selected speed mode and a bar with four compartments that show current battery level. While those features are more than welcome, it would also be useful to have an indicator for trip distance either somewhere on the main screen or as an option that toggles speed and trip.

The battery indicator could use a few tweaks too. Since it has only 4 sections, it’s quite inaccurate. Say, if you have 2 bars left, that could mean that your battery can last for anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes. While not a deal breaker, this feature could definitely use some improvements.

Turboant X7 LCD Dashboard

Turboant X7 LCD Dashboard Top Speed

Looks

At first glance, the Turboant X7 looks pretty similar to the Xiaomi M365. Both scooters come in a formal dark gray finish, have similar sized wheels and share pretty much the same dimensions with the X7 being slightly taller and shorter than the Xiaomi M365.

Upon closer inspection, you can notice that there are indeed quite a few key differences between the two scooters, enough to make it easier to tell the X7 apart on the fly. The first difference is the thickness of the column. Unlike the X7, the M365 has its battery built into the standing deck so its stem is as thin as the handlebar.

The second key difference is that the curved piece that connects the deck to the stem is notable bigger on the X7 compared to that of the M365. On one hand, this allows the rider to have a more comfortable riding position, with a side effect that the concave part of the surface is facing the wheel. It gets filled with dirt really quickly and isn’t easy to clean afterward.

Aesthetically speaking, the X7 looks smoother and more modern thanks to its curvy design, compared to the straight lines and sharp angles of the M365. The Turboant looks like it’s more expensive than it is, which might be a pro if you care about leaving a good impression on people who see you ride it.

Turboant X7 Electric Scooter

Turboant X7 eScooter

Turboant X7 Electric Scooter Review

Turboant X7 eScooter Review

Turboant X7 Handlebar

Turboant X7 Front

Durability

The X7 was built to last. On paper, it says that the scooter can handle up to 125 Kg (275 lb) of weight and I can say that the number seems pretty accurate. The column locks in place firmly and I haven’t noticed any play or wobbling during the ride. The locking mechanism seems to be the same as in the Xiaomi M365 (with potentially the same weaknesses and downsides), however thanks to the thicker stem, the mechanism is also bigger and looks more robust on the M365. Time will show how exactly more robust it is.

The deck, even though thinner than that of the M365, feels rock-solid. I didn’t feel like I could break or bend it even if I jumped on it.

The tubeless tires are also more durable than the tubed ones, however my only concern so far is that the manufacturer does not seem to sell any replacement wheels for now. This is a new model though, so there is still hope.

Last but not least, the scooter does come with an IPX4 rating and I can see why. The electronics seem to be well-protected against water. There are plastic seals everywhere and the battery is safe under a metallic cover, something that cannot be said about the Xiaomi M365.

Overall, when it comes to durability, I have to give the edge to the Turboant X7.

Turboant X7 Locking System

Turboant X7 Folding

Power

The site advertises the Turboant X7 as a fast scooter with great acceleration and torque. In reality, the scooter is indeed fast (for the price and size), however it definitely lacks in acceleration.

The X7 comes with a powerful 350W motor that can output up to 600W on peaks; that’s 100W higher than of the M365. The battery on the X7 has decent specs too (6.4 Ah, 36V), however the acceleration curve is still very slow.

For a novice, this is a good thing since the scooter starts very gently and slowly, however after a few rides it becomes quite obvious that the scooter could use faster acceleration. I think this is caused by the way the power delivery microcontroller was programmed. The motors and battery are very powerful and once you reach top speed, you can climb pretty steep hills faster than the Xiaomi M365 could ever dream of.

The scooter comes in two configurations:

Overall, even though the acceleration could use some work, the scooter feels pretty fast and powerful. It’s fun to ride both for beginners and more experienced drivers.

Range

Despite having quite a heavy battery, the Turboant X7 offers less range than the Xiaomi M365. The most you can get from the X7 is 15-25 km (9.3-16 Mi), whereas the Xiaomi M365 offers 30 Km (18.6 Mi).

There is one thing that might be the X7’s saving grace though, which is the way its battery is easily swappable. You can buy and carry a secondary battery in your backpack and swap it mid-trip in a matter of seconds, no extra tools needed.

The only downside is the price of each battery. Coming at 210 dollars each, it’s not something everyone will be willing to invest into.

On the bright side, if you get to get a new battery, you can charge it on its own; you don’t have to have it installed in the scooter.

Turboant X7 Removing Battery

Turboant X7 Battery Charing Port

Charge Time

As you would expect for an average sized Li-io battery, the battery module on the X7 takes up to 5 hours to go from depleted to fully charged.

Turboant X7 vs. Xiaomi M365 vs. Ninebot ES2

(*) US version. The EU version comes capped to 25 Km/h (15 MPH)

(**) Discounted price until new year. Full price: USD 600.

Turboant X7 Specs

Where to Buy Turboant X7

Recommended Accessories and Upgrades

Join the forums to discuss more about the Turboant X7

In Conclusion

Would I recommend this scooter? In all honesty, yes.

Do get me right, the Turboant X7 is not a perfect scooter and it has its flaws just like the Xiaomi M365 and any other model out there. It’s impossible to find a flawless scooter in this price range, so I believe it’s important to know what you are getting and what downsides you will be dealing with.

I believe the Turboant X7 has a lot of positives that greatly outweigh its downsides. If its features are exactly what you are looking for, I would definitely say yes, go for it! The sale ends in two weeks from the publishing of this review so hope you will see it in time.

Thanks for reading and as usual, make sure to share your opinion in the comments section below.