18 August 202417:222,911 views on YouTubeWatch on YouTube
This one starts with a single component and ends up being about a brand. The 32 Glide stabilizer that arrived did not match the Glide profile at all. Instead of the curved wingtips that define the Glide series, it had the flat profile of a Surf stabilizer, which raises the obvious question of whether it is mislabelled, or whether the naming is being stretched to move inventory.
Why the wingtips matter on the water
This is not a cosmetic complaint. Rotating the board left and right on the flat stab, there is a noticeable skip that is not there with a 36 Glide and its upturned tips. The working theory is that those tips release pressure as the board rotates instead of leaving flat turbulence behind, and that having the wing working on two axes makes it hold a little better through the turn. The flat one is slightly faster, which is genuinely useful, but it is not the thing that was ordered. If you own a 36 Glide and buy a smaller Glide, you reasonably expect the same profile in a smaller size, and nothing in the product description says otherwise.
The response, and the response that never came
The complaint went to Lift, along with a question about refunds for anyone who bought a 25 or 32 Glide expecting a true Glide profile. The reply arrived not from Lift but from Max Akselrad, an account manager at Verde Brand Communications, a marketing agency in Los Angeles, and it gave a history of the Glide series without addressing the mismatch. A follow up asking for a direct answer on the design and on refunds, including shipping costs, got no reply by the August 12th deadline. The fix suggested is not complicated: own the error publicly, and publish profile or rear shots of every wing so buyers can see the curvature before they order. The 3D viewers already used for boards would do the job.
Where Fliteboard is gaining
The competitive read is blunt. Fliteboard mounts its motor and prop lower, which lets riders come further out of the water and carve deeper without breaching the propulsion. Its Nano battery is lighter than Lift’s small pack, its styling and branding are stronger, and its marketing is significantly better. What holds it back, in this view, are its warranty terms, described as requiring the board to be shipped in for service at the owner’s expense in order to keep the warranty valid, and a throttle that is too digital to feather the way a Lift controller can. Lift’s own controller gets real credit here for being light, floating, and needing a battery only once a season.
The advice to Lift
Trust is the thing at stake. Once a customer cannot rely on the website to describe what is in the box, they stop making the small impulse purchases that keep them buying. Other claims get questioned in the same breath, including the idea that a shorter mast is easier for beginners, which is dismissed here: the real difference shows up once you can stay on foil, where a taller mast means fewer breaches and, later, harder banking. The commercial advice is to get boards in front of people locally, with booths, lessons and sponsored races at busy summer venues, and to stop running adverts of people cruising slowly in a straight line or carrying boards around, because that makes an expensive machine look like a beach toy.
Chapters
- 00:00 On-Screen Text Introduction
- 00:14 Review of 32 Glide Rear Stabilizer
- 01:50 Correspondence with LiftFoils
- 03:45 Transparency in Product Information
- 05:20 Fliteboard's Advantages
- 08:05 Disadvantages of Fliteboard
- 10:45 Market Trends in the Midwest
- 12:30 Predictions for eFoil Industry
- 14:33 Advice for LiftFoils
- 15:25 Final Thoughts
- 16:30 Correspondence with LiftFoils (Scroll)
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