I own one. (I got it used from a fellow poster here.) I’ve only used it a couple times so far. No affiliation to the company. 6’4" 100+kgs.
I bought it primarily to help ease likely frustration in learning to downwind without having to rely on a friend for pickups / dropoffs.
My last session, I spent about an hour using it in bay-type chop. The wind was a bit too light and the chop a bit too small. I used Low Power to motor upwind while seated, then Medium power when pointed downwind to help get on foil.
So I would guess the Stoke Boost was “in use” – powered – possibly 75% of the time. The Low Power mode is slow, so going upwind was a long slog. I probably spent 30+ minutes total just upwinding. Medium Power has plenty of power. So much that you are ultimately holding the foil down with your front foot. Since the wind was a bit weak and the chop was a bit small, I was using Medium power probably 1/3 of the time downwind… I would come off of foil and then get going with medium power again. It’s not a “squirt” and then you are up. You ramp up to speed holding the foil down, and then you ollie up on foil and kill the throttle. I was sort of eFoiling around a bit more than I intended on Medium looking for a trough to angle in behind to start my unpowered glide / pump.
I had over 50% battery power left after the hour… when the thing was in use possibly 75% of the hour. Is that good or bad? I don’t know. I quit because I was spent in cardio and quads from pumping the big board so much, not because of the battery.
How great is it that you can do a self-downwinder like this? No pickups and dropoffs. No hassle.
There are plenty of obvious issues that eFoils / foil assists create. Setup time on the beach is longer for sure. Batteries are heavy (this battery is not small or light by the way). There’s drag from the motor / prop. The connection will be lost if the bluetooth connection on the deck of the board is lost due to water on it. Battery life will always be a limitation (no miracles as Rad Duke says). Those are obvious.
And there are plenty of issues that – if you haven’t used one – you will be surprised by. Like your weight distribution under motor power is much different than under “natural” power, and you have to learn to make those adjustments as you kill the motor power and try to foil. That takes a bit to adjust to for sure.
I have used eFoils unpowered in the surf. I have used FoilDrive the same way. I have used the Stoke Boost. I think they all increase your waveriding time in waves at higher tides where you can’t normally catch them. They all have pluses and minuses. With Stoke, the positioning of everything right under your stance is it’s big plus. It doesn’t affect your normal foiling feel that much. Another plus is it’s all pretty self contained – setup is easy as far as these things go – bolt it onto any mast.
In my time with it, Stoke Boost seems to have plenty of power and plenty of battery life. Is it worse than FoilDrive? I don’t know… maybe? I haven’t done an A/B test. Is the benefit of it being able to bolt on any mast and it being right under your feet while foiling worth a possible decrease in battery life? I don’t know… maybe? It is nice!
I don’t know why Stoke the company chooses not to publish certain technical data. I don’t have enough sessions to say anything definitive. Other than…
Does Stoke have enough power and battery to meet my needs at 100+kg? Yes. That’s all that matters to me. Is it nice to bolt it onto any brand of mast, to have fewer parts to maintain, and to have it directly under my feet while foiling? Yes.
Would I be just as happy if I had bought a used FoilDrive instead of a used Stoke? I don’t know. Probably!
I have only used the Stoke a couple times, as prone foiling and winging have been good for a long stretch lately without any boost… and the downwind bug hasn’t gotten hold of me yet (feels like more work than fun!). But based on my experience, the amount of power or the battery life of the Stoke Boost won’t be an issue for me.
