Turboant X7 Pro Electric Scooter Review

Fans of Micro Mobility and the future of transportation know that while there’s plenty of hype around electric cars of all kinds, it was the mighty electric scooter that began much of the electric micro-mobility hype train. And before I get to our review of the Turboant X7 Pro Electric Scooter, I want to take a brief walk down memory lane and talk about the brief recent history of electric scooters.

It was the year 2017. That’s when two companies, Bird and Lime, began air-dropping their scooters in and around Silicon Valley and quickly expanding beyond, often without the permission of local authorities or municipalities. While Bird and Lime’s business model would eventually evolve to seek partnerships with hundreds of cities worldwide, the hype and quick uptake of their services kicked off a massive manufacturing race. Suddenly dozens and later hundreds of companies around the world began to spring up to produce their own electric scooters, bolstered by cheap and readily available Chinese manufacturing. 

Fast forward to now, and four years of refinement and development have resulted in countless companies offering their electric scooters for sale, often for as little as a few hundred dollars. Scooters for kids, scooters for adults, electric scooters for everyone! But in a crowded field, it’s hard to stand out and even harder to produce something that hits the sweet spot of providing enough value at the right price point. 

That’s where the Turboant X7 Pro electric scooter comes into play. Let’s get the first fact about this great little scooter out of the way. It’s a mid-range scooter and is accordingly priced at $499.98. That means you may not find some of the same bells and whistles as some higher-end electric scooters on the market. However, at the end of the day, you’ll still get an incredibly capable electric scooter that is the perfect vehicle for both pleasure cruising and relatively short everyday commutes.

The X7 Pro is an upgrade on TurboAnt’s first Electric Scooter, the X7. No longer available, the original X7 was a well-reviewed product but had a few shortcomings that TurboAnt has done a good job of addressing with the new X7 Pro. Amongst the new many upgrades from the previous generation, the X7 Pro has larger 10″ wheels, a higher capacity battery, faster top speed, smoother braking at top speeds and improved ground clearance for better off-roading capability. If you previously owned the X7, the new X7 Pro electric scooter makes for a compelling upgrade.

Why You Should Trust My Review of the TurboAnt X7 Pro

While evaluating this electric scooter, I had to take a very long road trip. As a result, I’ve now tested the TurboAnt X7 in two different major North American cities and put it through its paces amidst the hustle and bustle of both busy urban and suburban streets as well as bike lanes and parks.  

With a total of about 200 miles of riding both on flat, hilly and rough terrain, and perhaps a wipeout or two (though we won’t talk about that cause it’s rather embarrassing and entirely my fault), I can safely say I’ve put the TurboAnt X7 Pro electric scooter through a thorough review. 

Assembly

The TurboAnt Electric X7 Pro scooter arrives in a sizeable cardboard box and is well packaged to protect it during transport. Assembly is rather simple, albeit a bit unwieldy at first as you’re getting used to the scooter’s size and weight and its front-heavy nature. 

Assembly out of the box is quick, easy and accomplished in about four very straightforward steps. This was a welcome change from a few other electric scooters I’ve had to put together that involved a bit more of a cumbersome first-time setup. 

The scooter arrived with about a 40% battery charge, so I made sure to top it up with the included charger before taking it out for a spin for the first time. 

Design

The TurboAnt X7 Pro electric scooter’s aesthetic design is decidedly masculine, so it certainly won’t appeal to everyone. That said, their chosen colorway combination of black with red accents is right up my alley, at least aesthetically speaking. With beautifully integrated lines and smooth transitions of materials, this electric scooter hits all the right notes. Its colorway denotes an almost stealthy and, at times, menacing look. 

No part of the TurboAnt X7 Pro could be mistaken as cheap or poorly thought through from a design perspective. Everything about it denotes that this is a serious scooter for adults who want a great last-mile solution for their short commutes or jaunts around their city when they don’t feel like driving or walking. 

Perhaps my only minor criticism of the design is that the battery seems to be bolted onto the stem as an afterthought. TurboAnt, like many other electric scooter manufacturers, had to make a choice here. In this case, they chose the utility of a quickly and easily removable battery over the minor design hit that the placement of the battery on the stem imbues. 

Speed & Acceleration

Instead of producing charts and data points, I rather pass on my anecdotal impressions of the speed and acceleration of the TurboAnt X7 Pro. That’s because, as those who have experienced any type of electric micro-mobility vehicle, the speed and acceleration are often directly related to both the current battery charge and the weight of the rider. 

With a 350W front-wheel-drive motor, TurboAnt claims a top speed of 20 mph. With three modes, the X7 Pro offers various speed limits within each mode:

• Beginner Mode: 6 mph
• Eco-mode: 10 mph
• Sports mode: 20 mph

Naturally, I did try both beginner mode and eco-mode but didn’t spend too much time riding in those modes as I often found myself wanting to exceed the limits of 10mph in most riding situations. Once kicked into sport mode, I expected that I would easily take the X7 Pro up to 20 mph. And this is where I hit my first snag. You see, the X7 Pro electric scooter from TurboAnt comes out of the box with a cruise-control feature. The feature itself works wonderfully. Get up to a speed you want to cruise at, activate cruise control, and the scooter will attempt to keep you at that speed for as long as it can or until you hit a brake. 

How that cruise-control feature is activated, on the other hand, I don’t particularly like. By default, the X7 Pro initiates cruise control after the thumb accelerator is held down for six seconds. At that point, a noticeable audio chime will sound, indicating that cruise control has been activated. You can see the problem with this activation method. If, after six seconds of accelerating, you still haven’t attained your desired speed, how are you supposed to keep accelerating without the cruise control kicking in? Thankfully there are two solutions. 

First, there’s the solution of simply letting off the throttle for a second before the cruise control and then reactivating it again for about five seconds. Yes, this first solution is rather hacky. That’s why there’s the second and much better solution. After contacting the manufacturer, their representative was kind enough to send me instructions on how to activate a slew of secret commands and settings not included in the user manual. 

Amongst those hidden settings was the ability to turn off the cruise-control activation method, which then allowed me to hop on the scooter again and accelerate smoothly without having to worry about the cruise control kicking in. I’ve included the entirety of those hidden commands and settings in this review below, as they tend to be quite useful. 

I do not doubt that a person of a less portly nature than I, who comes in at well over 200 lbs, could easily get this scooter up to the 20 mph advertised limit in sport mode. But for someone of my weight, I was only able to get it up to 18 mph on a flat run of asphalt. That’s quite impressive considering how much weight the scooter had to haul. 

Range & Battery

The Turboant X7 Pro comes with an advertised range of 20-30 miles (32-48 km). It accomplishes this range on the back of a 360 Wh lithium-ion battery that takes about six hours to charge fully. 

In my endurance testing, I easily cruised around the entirety of Stanley Park’s seawall in Vancouver, which is 10km (6.21 miles) in length, with about 70% of the battery left after starting with a full charge. Does this translate to the advertised range of 20-30 miles? Yes, but it falls in the low range, which again doesn’t surprise me considering my weight, relatively cold (7 degrees Celsius), windy conditions and my insistence on going as fast as possible. 

The quality of the X7 Pro’s battery and subsequent range is more than sufficient for the average person’s commute within the city or even from not-too-distant suburbs. And remember that with a removable battery that is easily swapped out, you’re only one extra battery away from effectively doubling your range and saying goodbye to car traffic forever at a fraction of the cost.  

Portability and Weight

At 33 lbs, the TurboAnt X7 Pro Electric Scooter is neither the lightest nor heaviest electric scooter on the market. Here’s how it compares to some of the other leading electric scooters on the market. 

The TurboAnt X7 Pro is not something you’re going to want to lug up five flights of stairs every morning and evening. But its portability is decent enough that when folded, it’s easily stored in a regular car sedan’s trunk or tucked away in the corner of your room.

The folding process of the stem is a quick two-step process that takes no longer than 10 seconds. A small latching mechanism keeps the scooter’s stem, and deck folded nicely and redistributes the weight for carrying relatively evenly.

Suspension, Ride Quality & Handling

The overall ride quality of the X7 Pro is nothing short of excellent. And while the scooter has no active suspension, through the magic of 10-inch tubed pneumatic tires, the X7 Pro is quite capable of taking nearly any sidewalk or road bump in stride. The overall ride is smooth, and road vibration is kept to a minimum. I suspect much of the vibration is dispersed throughout the board nicely. 

The deck is a bit more narrow than some other electric scooters I’ve ridden, but that didn’t seem to affect the handling of the X7 Pro adversely. Like with many other electric scooters, the turning radius is limited for safety reasons. I quickly got used to it and realized that I could improve the turning radius by leaning the scooter during high-speed turns. 

I’ve now taken the X7 Pro on various surfaces, including smooth tarmac, not-so-smooth sidewalks, brick-paved roads, grass, and gravel. And while the X7 Pro is no fat-tire electric scooter, it still holds the ability to propel you at a reasonable speed through these surfaces without making you feel like you’re bogged down in molasses. The gravel road was most challenging as the X7 Pro would only achieve a max speed of 11 mph in my testing. 

Hill Climbing

Electric scooters in the 250W to 500W motor range aren’t known as the most powerful hill climbers. You definitely won’t find them winning any Pikes Peak hill climb competitions. That said, the X7 Pro offers more than respectable performance on most hills. 

Safety & Build Quality

Let’s talk about build quality first. You have to understand that I’m the type of person who would reject a car’s delivery if the gaps between body panels don’t line up or are not up to the manufacturer’s standards. When companies pay attention to the details of their products, it shows. There is a reason why organizations like Apple, who do this arguably better than anyone, sit atop the corporate world’s heap. 

That’s probably one of the most positive aspects of the X7 Pro scooter. This product is made by a company that clearly cares about the build quality of its components. There are no obvious manufacturing or design flaws, and every element and panel seems to be aligned perfectly and in the right place. A big thumbs up from me here.

As I mentioned previously, one of the TurboAnt’s safety features is a limited turning radius. Additionally, the scooter has three redundant braking systems. First is the front-wheel regenerative braking system. It’s got just the right tension not to make you feel like it’s biting too hard anytime you let off the accelerator. The 2nd brake is the disc brake activated by pulling the brake lever, which is attached to the main handlebar. This is the brake with the most stopping power and will get your scooter to a stop in a post-haste fashion. I would suggest playing around with how intensely you squeeze the brake before going out on a cruise at maximum speed. You’ll want to get used to the type of stopping power this scooter can produce. 

And finally, the third foot brake is activated by simply stepping on the back wheel’s fender. All three braking types will activate the back break light and force the three red LED lights to flash, a great nice-to-have feature for night-time riding. 

The Deck

Some people swear that the quality of an electric scooter is often far more tied to the quality of the deck you get to stand on than anything else. I’m not sure I agree with that logic, but nevertheless, the X7 Pro electric scooter deck deserves some scrutiny. As previously mentioned, the deck is slightly more narrow than other scooters I’ve tried, but there is nothing uncomfortable about it. I have size 10 feet and found the deck perfectly comfortable. It’s grippy in just the right way, has no discernible flex while riding, and includes a pretty decent kickstand. 

Handlebars & Cockpit

The handlebars on the X7 Pro are easily replaceable as they screw into the stem of the scooter. That said, they provide excellent grip and feel like they’re just the right thickness for longer rides. On some of my longer rides, they faded into the background of an enjoyable riding experience, as any good, unobtrusive, and well-designed handlebars on an electric scooter or electric bike should. 

The cockpit’s heart is an LED screen that is more than sufficiently bright in direct sunlight and visually integrates very nicely with the stem and handlebar. The LED displays the current speed in either miles or kilometres per hour, remaining battery charge in increments of five main bars, each representing 20% of battery, and the current speed mode. My only minor gripe with the speed mode icons is that they are somewhat inconsistent as far as GUI design language is concerned:

• Beginner mode = no icon (why no icon?)
• Eco mode = white “D” icon
• Sport mode = red “D” icon

Changing between modes is a simple as cycling through using the function button while pressing it twice rapidly will turn the headlight and taillight on and off. 

TurboAnt X7 Pro Electric Scooter Hidden Settings

There are five hidden modes in the menu setting: P0, P1, P2, P3, P4. Enter the P setting by pressing the function button and power button at the same time.

• P0 is to change the speedometer between mph and km/h
• P1 is to control close or open the cruise control function.
• P2 is to change the speed of activating the scooter (the speed at which the scooter will allow you to engage the throttle from a dead stop)
• P3 is to change the tire diameter
• P4 is to change the top speed of sport mode.

P0: how to change the mph to km/h:

1. Turn on the electric scooter, wait for a few seconds.
2. Press the function button and power button at the same time. You will enter into the menu setting mode. Then “P0” will show on screen, wait for 2 seconds.
3. Press the power button one time to lock the present mode at P0. Wait for 2 seconds.
4. Press the function button one time. You can switch the speed from mph to km/h.
5.  Press the power button to exit the present mode.
6. Press the function button and power button at the same time to exit the menu setting.

P1: Cancel or reactivate the Cruise control

1. Turn on the electric scooter, wait for a few seconds.
2. Press the function button and power button at the same time. You will enter into the menu setting mode. Then “P0” will show on screen, wait for 2 seconds.
3. Press the function button to choose from P0 to P4 when you want to adjust P1.
4. Press the power button one time to lock the present mode at P1. Wait for 2 seconds.
5. Press the function button one time. You can see the default parameter is 1, which indicates the scooter’s cruise control function is ON. You can then press the function button again to change the parameter to 0 to turn off cruise control.
6. Press the power button to exit the present mode.
7. Press the function button and power button at the same time to exit the menu setting.

P2 to change the speed of activating the scooter

1. Turn on the electric scooter, wait for a few seconds.
2. Press the function button and power button at the same time. You will enter into the menu setting mode. Then “P0” will show on screen, wait for 2 seconds.
3. Press the function button to choose from P0 to P4 when you want to adjust P2.
4. Press the power button one time to lock the present mode at P2. Wait for 2 seconds.
5. Press the function button one time. You can see the default parameter is 1, which means the scooter will activate the throttle when the speed is over 3km/h. You can press the function button again, parameter change to 0, which means the scooter will activate at 0km/h speed. (I would personally advise against this).
6. Press the power button to exit the present mode.
7. Press the function button and power button at the same time to exit the menu setting.

P3: Change the tire diameter.

1. Turn on the electric scooter, wait for a few seconds.
2. Press the function button and power button at the same time. You will enter into the menu setting mode. Then “P0” will show on screen, wait for 2 seconds.
3. Press the function button to choose from P0 to P4 when you want to adjust P3.
4. Press the power button one time to lock the present mode at P3. Wait for 2 seconds.
5. Press the function button one time. You can see the default parameter is 10, which means the scooter is set for a 10-inch tire diameter. You can press the function button again to change the parameter to 85, which means the scooter will be set for an 8.5-inch tire diameter.
6. Press the power button to exit the present P3 mode.
7. Press the function button and power button at the same time to exit the menu setting.

P4: Change the top speed of sport mode.

1. Turn on the electric scooter, wait for a few seconds.
2. Press the function button and power button at the same time. You will enter into the menu setting mode. Then “P0” will show on screen, wait for 2 seconds.
3. Press the function button to choose from P0 to P4 when you want to adjust P4.
4. Press the power button one time to lock the present mode at P4. Wait for 2 seconds.
5. Press the function button one time. You can see the default top speed of sport mode is FF, which means the scooter is set to be used at a top speed of 32km/h (20 mph). You can press the function button again to change the top speed to 25 km/h. You can press the function button again to change the top speed to 20km/h.
6. Press the power button to exit the present P4 mode.
7. Press the function button and power button at the same time to exit the menu setting.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a highly capable and affordable electric scooter that you can rely on and look good while cruising around on, there’s no need to look any further than the TurboAnt X7 Pro. For commutes, short trips around the city and for some general fun cruising on the weekends while taking in the sights of your town, the X7 Pro is a fantastic choice. And if this is your first time considering buying an electric scooter, the X7 Pro is an exceptional choice for beginners. 

Technical Specs

• 10-inch tubed pneumatic tires
• Deck length: 17.52″ (44.5 cm)
• Deck width: 5.51″ (14 cm)
• Removable 36V 10 AH battery pack
• The battery lasts 500 life cycles.
• Can charge by keeping the battery on the scooter or taking it off
• 350W motor at the front 
• 3-speed modes – beginner, eco mode, and sport mode
• Sized for adults or teens
• Weight: 33 lbs.
• Max load: 275 lbs
• Max speed 20 mph
• Max range: 30 miles
• 6 hour charging time
• Unfolded size: 42.6″ x 16.5″ x 46.7″
• Folded size: 42.6″ x 16.5″ x 18.1″
• LED headlight – 3 W
• Ground clearance: 4.5″
• Max slope: 15 degrees
• Price: $499.98
• Charged with a small, simple charger, you plug into a regular AC outlet.
• IP RATING: IPX4