Splach Thunder 10 Review – Fastest Electric Scooter Under $1000

The Splach Thunder 10 is a dual motor electric scooter with hydraulic brakes, NFC locking, and swag lights for under $1000 bucks. It’s also the fastest dual motor scooter we’ve ever tested under $1K.

Splach Thunder 10 – $999

The Splach Thunder 10 is a brand new dual motor electric scooter from Splach, a company we first encountered four years ago when we tested the Splach Turbo. That was their very first scooter. This is their latest, and it’s fast, with some very premium features to boot.

The Thunder 10 has 1600W of power from dual motors, with 2400W of peak output. It’s got a battery 47% bigger than the comparably-priced Segway Ninebot Max G2, and it has one of my favorite kinds of suspension – a rare kind we usually only see on Dualtron scooters – rubber cartridge.

In our review, we tell you what’s good about the Splach Thunder 10, and what you should really know before you buy. Plus, you can see me scientifically test the performance of the Thunder 10 and compare it with similarly-priced scooters in our full video review.

Who Is This Scooter For?

This is a great scooter for anyone who’s been endlessly searching Amazon for the best deal on an electric scooter. They know they want dual motor performance, reliability, and comfortable dual suspension at the best possible price. Well, your search is over.

The Splach Thunder 10 over-delivers when it comes to performance-per-dollar. While it doesn’t check all the boxes we like to see when it comes to long-term reliability, the Thunder 10 comes from a brand we recommend and is well-built, stable, and very fun to ride.

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Splach Thunder 10 Specs

Our Full Video Review

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Splach Thunder 10: Performance

Top Speed

On my top speed run, the Splach Thunder 10 speedometer showed the scooter maxing out at 40 mph, but speedometers often exaggerate. Our data logger captured an average of 35.8 mph in two directions to cancel out the effects of wind speed.

It’s not quite the 37 miles per hour top speed Splach specifies, but it is the fastest dual motor electric scooter we’ve ever tested at this price, beating out competitors like the GOTRAX GX Zero.

Acceleration

The Splach Thunder 10 hit 15 miles per hour in 2.8 seconds, beating dual motor rivals like the new Circooter Cruiser Pro and the much pricier Apollo City Pro, both of which hit 15 mph in 2.9 seconds.

Hill Climb

I put the Splach Thunder 10 in turbo dual motor sport mode, all settings turned all the way up. It accelerated to 20 mph all the way our 10% grade ESG test hill, hitting the top in just 9.7 seconds.

The Thunder 10 is one of the fastest hill climbers you can buy for under $1000. The top honor goes to the Varla Pegasus – but the Splach comes very close at just two tenths of a second behind.

Range

The Splach Thunder 10 isn’t a range champ. First, I’ll just say that the scooter’s speedometer runs about 10% fast. At the end of the battery, I showed 23 miles on the odometer, and the scooter came with a couple miles already.

“Our data logger showed a total of 20.2 miles ridden on the hilly ESG range test course. The Splach has a bigger battery than most dual motor comparison scooters, but it lags behind many single motor scooters when it comes to range because it uses so much power for raw speed.“

By the way, if you weigh more than me, and I weigh 165 pounds, you should subtract 5% from your estimated range for every 35 additional pounds. 

Braking

The Splach Thunder 10 had one feature that we don’t see in comparison scooters, and that’s hydraulic disc brakes. And they’re nice ones, at that, with a little window on the reservoirs that shows your fluid levels.

The scooter also has regenerative braking, front and rear, and you can adjust the strength in the P settings. We tested them at the default regen setting (which is a bit strong) and the scooter stopped in just 10.9 feet, which is very good compared to other scooters in its class.

Ride Quality

There’s a lot that I love about the ride of the Thunder 10, and I have a few minor gripes. Let’s start with the good: a spacious deck, comfortable footrest, 6 inches of ground clearance, great fender protection, and, of course, the suspension. I really, really like this suspension.

Rubber suspension, which we never see at this price, is non-linear. That means the heavier you are, the stronger it gets. It’s self-optimizing for so many different rider weights.

I’m at the lighter end at 165 pounds. I think it’s going to work better and better as you go up in weight all the way up to the weight limit. But it just feels really good. And also over time, rubber suspension tends to soften up a bit, so it’s just going to get better and better for your weight as time goes on.

One minor gripe: the handlebars. I do love the portability of the folding handlebars, and while it takes bit of time to spin down their connectors and collapse them, this design seems to keeps them from wiggling over time like most other folding bars.

However, what I don’t like is that the bars are completely straight, which is not the best position for a longer ride. It would be nice to have a little bit of upsweep or back sweep, but we don’t get that here, and the handlebars aren’t super tall, either, at 38 and a half inches. These are minor issues, but they do impact on ride quality compared to more ergonomically designed handlebars.

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Splach Thunder 10: Design, Build & Reliability

This is a very well-built scooter. For one thing, the cable management is great. It’s got plug and play cabling everywhere, and it’s even got detachable motor cables that make tire changes easier. The grips are really comfortable. They’ve got tons of palm support and they have a locking clip so that they won’t rotate when you’re riding. And then I also really liked the throttle, not just because it matches my riding gloves, but it’s also in a really nice spot for my thumb.

The scooter has a nice bright color display that shows you all the usual stuff like speed and battery level. It also shows you your output power, which is unusual.

The Thunder 10 is far from ultra portable with a tested weight of 65.4 pounds, but it is lighter than other dual motor scooters in its class, and lighter than the Segway ZT3 Pro, which is a single motor.

And the folding handlebars, for all my griping, are very convenient. This is one of the first scooters in a long time I’ve been able to fit in my trunk without folding the seats down.

Splach Thunder 10: Is It Worth It? Our Verdict

What can I say? Thumbs up! This is a great ride, all around. There are a lot of pros and few cons to buying the Splach Thunder 10, especially at a price under $1,000. You get high speed, an app, quick acceleration, great build, hydraulic braking, top class suspension, IP54 water resistance, and the kind of stability that makes this scooter always fun and never fatiguing.

Cons include the shorter folding handlebars, tubed tires, and the lack of a UL rating for the scooter, although the battery cells are UL rated. We’ve given the Thunder 10 a reliability score of 7.9 out of 10 for these issues, which is very good for a dual motor scooter under $1,000 with premium features.

Watch our full video review further up for our full unboxing and more details, then check out the Splach Thunder 10 at the link below, and use our code RIDERGUIDE for the best price.