Varla Eagle One Review
It’s finally time to take a deep dive into the Varla Eagle One, a scooter I have been riding for many months and for hundreds of miles. If you are reading this then you probably want to know if this scooter is worth its $1600 USD price tag. I will run down all the things I like about this scooter and the things I wish could be improved, in hopes that you can draw a conclusion yourself based on your personal needs and wants. I will give my personal evaluation of the scooter at the end as well.
If you haven’t seen it already, watch my first impressions video on the Eagle One down below. This video will give you a good overview of this scooter and my initial thoughts of the scooter.
If you wanna check out the Varla Eagle One or purchase one for yourself, click the button below.
Let me start by looking at the positives. There are some impressive things about this scooter that make it potentially the most fun scooter I have ever ridden. Clocking in at a max speed of 40 miles per hour, the Eagle One is scary fast. Dual 1000w motors mean neck-breaking acceleration, especially for those who have never owned a scooter this powerful. Steep terrain is also no issue. There isn’t a hill I have ridden that this scooter cannot handle.
One of the things that makes this scooter unique compared to other scooters in this price range is the beefy suspension. This scooter boasts larger than average front and rear coil shocks, making for an extremely cushy ride. The suspension adds stability when going off the curb or hitting a speed bump. It helps with taking on potholes and other road imperfections. It is surprisingly hard to fully bottom out the suspension which further adds to the smoothness of the ride. Flying along, being able to jump off curbs, power through potholes, and go over whatever terrain I need to, including a wide variety of off road terrain, all while never slowing down makes this scooter a blast to ride.
The dimensions of this scooter are excellent for riders of all height and weight, with a nice tall handlebar height that suits taller riders like myself, and a tall platform height that helps the Eagle One get over whatever obstacles it needs to.
Adding to the stability of the Eagle One is the wide deck and convenient metal rear foot tail. Getting in a comfortable, stable riding position is easy and the wide deck makes lots of different standing positions possible. Slight adjustments to foot position and weight distribution on longer rides aren't an issue either.
The Eagle One is on the upper end of scooter weight, weighing around 80 pounds. But I think in this case it is a benefit, further adding to stability by lowering your center of gravity while riding.
All the clamps, bolts and screws have been holding up well for me over the life of the scooter. The stem clamp stabilizes the stem well and is fairly easy to lock and unlock. While checking screws and bolts regularly is an essential part of owning an electric scooter, I have not had any issues with bolts or screws loosening over time and I have had to do very little maintenance of the scooter.
One of the biggest issues I was having while using this scooter was the poor performance of the standard mechanical disc brakes that came with the first version of the scooter. The brakes became almost entirely ineffective after just a couple months. Luckily Varla set me out a pair of hydraulic brakes and I was able to upgrade them without too many issues. Check out the video of that swap below if you feel so inclined. Varla now ships the Eagle One with hydraulic brakes so you don’t have to worry about having the same issue as me.
I’ve been using the hydraulic brakes for a bit now and the difference between these and the previous brakes is night and day. In my opinion, the hydraulic brakes would be a huge selling point for me if I was considering purchasing a scooter in this price range. Not many scooters in this price range ship with hydraulic brakes. Braking power is a high priority for me and makes the scooter safer and easier to control.
The upgradability of this scooter is another strength of this scooter. Handlebars are easily swapped out for your handlebars of choice, and brakes are an easy enough swap, including the rotors.
The handlebar grips are swappable too, but I chose not to swap them out for my usual grips because of how much I like the grips that came with the scooter. They offer a solid platform for your palms and are made of a good grippy material.
The Eagle One is also customizable aesthetically through a number of swappable grip tape stickers. You could also customize your own grip tape and cut it down to size for installation. I really like the choice to have skateboard grip tape on the platform rather than a rubber mat or other choice. More customizability is also better and skateboard grip tape works better than other options for grip.
The option to choose some free add-ons when you buy the scooter is a cool feature that Varla has implemented that I would like more companies to do. It helps add to the feeling of being able to get exactly what you want out of your scooter. The free included pads, replacement tube and deck tape is another great inclusion by them so props to them. You can get a lot of the accessories you will want for your scooter when you order it.
During my time riding this scooter I have yet to have any major issues with it, but there are a few things about the scooter that fell a little short for me or that I would love to see changed in future iterations of the scooter.
First, for a scooter that weighs 80 pounds, these 10 inch wheels feel undersized and affect the otherwise impressive stability and ride comfort. 11 inch wheels, similar to the Kaabo Wolf Warrior I think would fit this scooter perfectly. Also the high weight means slightly slower acceleration than other scooters in this price category, though if you have never ridden another scooter at this power level, it will still feel extremely fast when you first start using the scooter.
I have spoken quite a lot about frame geometry in many of my videos. If you do not know what I am referring to check out point number 3 in my video about the changes I want to see to electric scooters:
On the topic of frame geometry, the stem angle of the Eagle One is quite steep which does detract from the stability of an otherwise extremely stable and solid scooter.
Another strange thing I noticed while riding is that going up curbs on the Eagle One causes the rear wheel arm to hit before the tires do . You can see in the picture below that my scooter is dinged up from trying to go up curbs and forgetting that the arm hits. A scooter this high off the ground seems like it should be able to handle curb hops better. The height of the scooter does allow the scooter to go OFF almost all curbs without hitting the bottom of the riding platform.
The last disappointment for me was the mediocre battery life in spite of the scooter size and weight. If you watch my Eagle One range test, this scooter only got about 16 miles of range on turbo, dual motor mode. The more I ride, the more I feel like I need closer to 20 miles of range to fully complete a lot of the rides I want to do. I’ve run out of battery on longer rides more often than I would like.
The Eagle One does include a couple quick switches to turn on eco mode or turn off one of the motors if needed and riding in eco mode or with one motor instead of both activated should give you a lot better battery life. This is a nice option, but I feel that most people who are interested in this scooter will be wanting to take advantage of the high speed, high acceleration that this scooter offers so keep the range of this scooter in mind if you are one of those people.
On their website Varla DOES clarify that the advertised max range of 40 miles is achievable only through ECO mode. I appreciate them being transparent about this when so many other scooter companies and distributors do not make the distinction between range in sport mode and range in ECO mode. Real world use almost never gets close to the advertised range of a scooter unless you are taking all measures to conserve battery life.
Overall, this is an electric scooter that I can recommend. But I must be clear that this is very much a recreational, enthusiast-level scooter. If you are looking for a scooter to commute to work or school with, or something to ride casually down to the grocery store on, this is not the best scooter for that. This is a scooter for someone who wants the thrill of riding a high-speed personal electric vehicle and is willing to full gear up and go out for a ride for the sake of riding. The scooter is way too big and heavy to be conveniently stowed at your feet on a bus, or put under your desk at work, or even regularly hauled up and down stairs to an apartment everyday as a commuter. However if you are a scooter enthusiast or want to become one, the Eagle One is a great choice of high-end scooter. A scooter like this is insanely addicting and will make you constantly look forward to the next time you can get out and ride!
Thanks for reading this review and if you are interested in purchasing the Varla Eagle One you can do that here:
This Review in Video Form:
