INITIAL REVIEW: First of all, I've had this board for exactly a month now and I want to say that I really love riding this board. I am 5'9 and weigh 170lb. It is very smooth and can swerve perfectly. I had never used a longboard before and after a day or two riding it I felt confident with it, so I'd say it's pretty beginner friendly if you have good balance (I did regularly use a normal skateboard for about 3 years during my undergrad years).The issue: I've been using it to commute to my graduate school which is exactly 1.9 miles from where I live. Unfortunately, it does not last the whole way back most of the days. I always take the same route. It is mostly flat ground with one slightly steep incline (distance of about 20 meters) that the skateboard can overcome, and one larger decline (distance of about 150 meters) where I don't even use the remote because of how fast it gets. Some days I am lucky enough to have the battery die about 1 minute walking-distance from my apartment, while other days I've had to walk about 13 minutes to get to my apartment. I've never ridden it in the rain or in different terrains; always in the street or sidewalk. I haven't dropped it or anything. I always fully charge both the remote and the skateboard. I thought maybe the green light on the charger was busted so I decided to leave it charging overnight one day and it still did not last the whole to-and-from school ride. I wanted to return it, but I needed a return label from the company and they never provided it for me.Take home message: Regardless of the massive problem that it lasts a little less than 4 miles for me, this eskateboard is very fun and relatively cheap compared to others. If you want it for very short distances or just for having fun riding it at a park, then this is a good choice for you. However, I don't have a car and this was meant to be my means of transportation to school and other nearby places I frequent. Because it fails to do that when it is advertised as lasting for 10-12 miles, I give it 2 stars.UPDATED REVIEW: The reason I am updating my review from 2 to 4 stars is solely due to the company's daily responsiveness and actions. The original skateboard never worked as intended due to the milage. After the company read my review, they contacted me trying to offer solutions to the problem. I did not start the conversations. I honestly would not have even contacted them because I was managing the battery issue by bringing the charger to school and charging the skateboard at the school. After some conversations with the company, I received a replacement. For one week, the replacement was able to go about 8 miles. I was ready to update my review to 5 stars since it was close to the advertised range, and I absolutely LOVED riding this skateboard. However, the second week of using it, it started to last between 1 mile to 1.5 miles. It was like this for a week and so I decided to talk to the company again and they were very helpful. They told me they could send me a replacement battery for free if I wanted. However, in order to replace the battery, I would have to strip the grip off of the skateboard to unscrew the cover for the battery. It did not seem too hard, but it did seem like an amount of work that I just don't have the time for, or the tools. Also, once the grip is taken apart, it's unusable. I told the company that I did not like the idea of having to do all that, and asked if they could repair it themselves. However, while still communicating with the company, after another week or so, the battery started dying in less than a minute (sometimes it would die in 5 seconds) from a full charge. I just gave up on it and told them that I would actually prefer a refund, and they were very respectful and understanding of the situation and gave me a refund. I can say that I exchanged daily messages (1 per day due to the hour difference) with the company for a few months. They were always very kind and respectful and always trying to help. The one message per day kind of sucks but I know plenty of companies that won't even reply to one message. I was very happy with how they treated my case. Sadly, the skateboards never worked as intended and that is why I am not giving this product a 5 star.