Exway Flex Paragon Review: A Heavyweight Street Board With Unique Features

Introduction

The Exway Flex Paragon is the most powerful and longest range board in the Exway Flex series, but its main selling points are a collection of unique features that are hard to find on other electric skateboards. It is undeniably innovative and, for the most part, a very good looking product. However, there are quite a few things about this board that were not made for everyone. This review covers the standout features, the specs, and who this board is for and not for.

Ambient Lighting System

The Paragon’s ambient lights are far more sophisticated than anything seen on previous production e-skates. The lights have adjustable brightness, and you can choose from 24 different colors. You can even set the brightness for daytime use and schedule a different brightness for nighttime. There are 7 different ride effects to choose from, plus a bunch of effects for events like startup, shutdown, and braking.

In addition to the light strip around the deck, there are also lights on the battery enclosure and the hilt of the remote. While the lights and effects look awesome, many riders may prefer to leave them turned off or set to be as discreet as possible to avoid attracting attention. When using the lights for visibility in traffic, setting the color to amber is a practical choice that does not stick out too much.

Rexus Remote and Gear N

The Flex Paragon is Exway’s first board to ship with the new Rexus remote. While all of Exway’s previous remotes had just a single button, the new remote has three buttons if you include the trigger, and the display is a touch display. There is now a physical toggle for forward and reverse conveniently placed right behind the throttle wheel. The color display has a sci-fi looking interface, with the center showing your current speed by default. Double-tapping it changes the display to show power usage.

The main function of the trigger button is to bring the remote out of standby, which Exway calls “Gear N”. When the remote is in Gear N, the throttle control is disabled, similar to neutral on a car. Gear N is set to activate by itself when you have been at a full stop with no activity for 1 second, 5 seconds, or 20 seconds. To exit Gear N and start riding again, you just click the trigger once. Some riders may prefer leaving Gear N turned off, as it can be easy to forget to hit the trigger before accelerating at an intersection. There is also a pulsing ambient light effect on the board whenever Gear N is active, even if ambient lights are turned off.

Turn Signals

One of the most prominent features on the Flex Paragon is the turn signals. To activate a turn signal, you tilt the remote to the left or the right and double-click the trigger. Tilting left activates the left signal, and tilting right activates the right. It is an interesting feature and presented in a very attractive way, but the lights may not be noticeable enough in bright daylight, especially being just inches from the ground. Even at night, using your arms to signal may still feel more intuitive for some riders.

Quick-Swap Battery

The quick-swap battery can be swapped in less than half a minute and does not require any tools. The production model battery is about 500Wh and made up of Samsung 50S cells. For most rides, you could expect around 40 or more km of range, which is a lot for a street board on urethane wheels. Of course, many things affect range and your mileage may vary.

While the concept of a quick-swap battery is appealing, this is a very long range and heavy battery. The battery by itself weighs 3.9 kg, or 8.6 pounds. For context, 3.9 kg is about the weight of a complete longboard. You may want to consider if you will actually carry a spare battery that weighs as much as a complete board. The aesthetics of the battery also feel like a departure from what you would expect from Exway, specifically the cable that sits outside of the battery enclosure. On the other hand, the charge port and USB port are hidden behind flaps for a very clean look.

Specs and Performance

The motors are Hobbywing 4240s, the same motors as the ones on the OG Atlas and the Flex Pro, but there is more power going to them because of the higher power 14S 50A ESC. With the stock configuration, the top speed is 52 km/h or 32 mph according to Exway. The board ships with a 200W GaN charger which should recharge the board from empty to full in about 3 hours. If you get the dual charge adapter from Exway, you can use two of the standard chargers simultaneously to recharge twice as fast.

The trucks are the same 8-inch 45-degree Trist trucks as on the previous Flex models. The wheels are high rebound, 90 by 64 mm. The overall length is 972 mm, just marginally longer than the other Flex models. The deck construction is similar to the one on the Flex Pro, with the major difference being the ambient light strip sealed in translucent polyurethane. The concave feels similar to the Flex Pro, not too subtle but not too aggressive either. The deck does flex, but not a whole lot while riding, which is probably a good thing for a powerful board.

Weight Considerations

The weight of the Flex Paragon is 11.3 kg or 25 pounds, making it one of the heaviest boards in the street e-skate category today. For comparison, its direct competitor the Backfire Zealot X is 11.2 kg, and the Meepo Voyager is 10.8 kg. All of them are, in many opinions, way too heavy for boards in this category. They have neither the portability of boards that are lighter, nor the terrain versatility of all-terrain boards.

Who This Board Is For

The Paragon is not for people who want a board that can be easily carried around like a skateboard or longboard. If you live in a dense city where there are many places where you cannot skate, or you live in a building without an elevator, or you have to pick up your board while at school, you really have to take the board’s weight into consideration.

The Paragon is for people who do not need the portability and want a top-of-the-line Boosted style board with unique features that cannot be found on other boards. The most standout feature is the ambient lighting, which is far more customizable and well-presented than any LED lights seen on other boards. If you had to choose among the heavyweight street boards available today, the Flex Paragon stands out because of its attention to detail and the creativity that went into the design. There are little touches like the ports for installing fenders, the slot machine belts, the translucent bumpers, and the accessory mount on the remote.

Comparison With the Flex 2 Pro

The Exway Flex 2 Pro is being announced at the same time as the Flex Paragon. The Flex Paragon battery is 504Wh, 14S2P, while the Flex 2 Pro is 432Wh, 12S2P. The range of the Flex Paragon should be higher by approximately 15 percent. The peak power of the Paragon is 3058W, while it is 2520W on the Flex 2 Pro. The battery on the Flex Paragon is quick-swappable without using any tools, while on the Flex 2 Pro the battery is held to the deck by six screws. The weight of the Flex Paragon is 11.3 kg, while the Flex 2 Pro is 10.1 kg, a difference of about 11 percent.

As far as is known, the two boards are the same in every other way. Both use the Rexus remote, and both use Exway’s Bifrost lighting system. If you do not need the extra power, range, and the quick-swap battery, but you like the lights and would not mind carrying less weight, the Flex 2 Pro may be the better choice.

Conclusion

The Exway Flex Paragon is an innovative and well-crafted electric skateboard that pushes the street e-skate category forward. Its customizable ambient lighting, new Rexus remote, and quick-swap battery are features you will not find on other boards. However, its 11.3 kg weight makes it one of the heaviest boards in its category, which may be a dealbreaker for riders who need to carry their board regularly. If you do not need the portability and want a top-of-the-line board with unique features, the Flex Paragon is a compelling choice.