27 March 20235:476,226 views on YouTubeWatch on YouTube
Lift’s Series 4 announcement covers a lot of ground, and not all of it is equally important. This is a walk through the actual changes, with the water still frozen and a fair amount of scepticism applied to the numbers on the spec sheet.
Ride time claims versus what you will get
The headline change is battery. The Full Range Battery is quoted at up to 2.5 hours and the Gen 4 Light Battery at 100 minutes. Take those as ceilings rather than expectations: ride hard and you will see well under half the promised time. The honest framing is that half of a bigger number is still bigger, so moving from about 33 minutes of real ride time toward something nearer an hour is a genuine improvement even if the marketing figure never arrives. Two less glamorous battery changes matter more day to day: the pack is easier to grip, which reduces the odds of dropping it on your foot on the way to the water, and charging times are shorter.
Wings, and how to choose one
The Lift4 stays backward compatible with the existing wings and stabilisers, including the Camber Pro series, described here as the smoothest wings the brand has made after testing them at the Lift factory in Puerto Rico. The 210 is the pick if you want control at speed, the 270 gives a gentler surf style ride, and the 160 is the sporty option. Be aware these run upwards of a thousand dollars each, so the wing quiver is a real cost on top of the board.
Board size, quiet running and the LCS system
Three board sizes are on offer: the 4’2″ Pro, the 4’9″ Sport and the 5’4″ Cruiser. The advice is unchanged, buy the smallest board you can and accept a harder learning curve, because the agility you get later is worth the early suffering. Quiet Ride Technology claims to halve vibration and noise, which is a promise worth checking on the water rather than in a brochure. The LCS system brings tool free click and lock swapping of propellers, shrouds, and fixed or folding props. Running without the shroud is faster and smoother, and it also leaves a spinning prop exposed, which is a trade each rider has to make consciously.
The cheaper Lift3F and its short mast problem
The other notable move is a new aluminium mast in the Lift3F line, which drops the cost of entry into a high quality eFoil setup below 9,000 dollars and reads as a direct shot at Fliteboard. The mast itself is judged as not terrible but not great. The extra weight will not trouble an entry level rider. The problem is that it comes in a 28 inch length only, when the 32 inch mast is the thing that lets both beginners and advanced riders carve deep without spending the entire session concentrating on their height above the water.
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