Dirt jumping electric bike review: The ONYX LZR Pro mid-drive e-bike
Electric dirt jumpers are a niche within a niche of the larger electric bike market. But while the ONYX LZR Pro e-bike doesn’t have much competition on either side of it as one of the models in its class, the bike still manages to stand out for its impressive build quality and ability to take it to the streets and the trails.
Now I’m not much of a jumper myself. I’ve seen the marketing images and videos from ONYX that show their team of pro riders flying across the sky on this e-bike and thought, “Well, there’s something I’ll never be able to do.”
And I was right. This isn’t going to be a review where I learn to defy gravity with the best of them. I’m not setting you up for a path-to-discovery type of story here, where the real dirt jumper was inside of me the whole time.
But what I did discover was just how much fun I can have on the trails and smaller jumps with a high-quality e-bike like the ONYX LZR Pro. I didn’t jump it off any loading docks or six-foot ramps, but I still had it nearly sideways on berms and slinging dirt in every direction. And if you’re a better rider than me, you could get some serious air time all day and night on this kind of bike without worrying that it won’t stand up to the abuse.
You can take a look at my own in-depth testing with my video review below. And if you want to dive even deeper, then keep on reading for the rest of my written review afterward.
ONYX LZR Pro video review
ONYX LZR Pro tech specs
- Motor: 900W Bafang M600 mid-drive motor
- Top speed: 28 mph (45 km/h)
- Range: 30-70 miles (51-112 km)
- Battery: 36V 14Ah (504Wh)
- Weight: 47 lb (21.3 kg)
- Frame: Aluminum alloy 6061
- Suspension: Front suspension fork with 100mm travel
- Brakes: Tektro hydraulic disc brakes
- Extras: Wood inlay LED dot meter for battery gauge and PAS level indicator, thru-axles, torque sensor, three color options (one for LZR Pro and two for LZR)
- Price: $1,999
Two bikes, two rides
First of all, you should know there are two different e-bikes in the LZR series. I tested the LZR Pro, which is the more powerful 900W version with the M600 Bafang mid-drive.
There’s also a slightly tamer 500W mid-drive version with a bit less torque (95 Nm vs. 120 Nm). They’re both quite similar otherwise, but you all know me — I’m going to opt for more power whenever possible.
Neither has a throttle, though, making these class 3 e-bikes in the purest form. That means that even though there’s good power here, you won’t be able to access it without some good old fashioned pedaling.
Build quality
The first thing you’ll notice about the LZR is the build quality. ONYX didn’t skimp on parts, and it starts right from the frame. They use something called Smooth Weld Additive Technology (SWAT), which somehow results in buttery smooth welds at the frame tube joints. I’ve seen beautiful frames before, and this one puts those other to shame.
Even down by the dropouts in the rear, where many nicely made frames tend to still have less-than-desirable weld finishing, the LZR Pro’s frame is immaculate. Whoever welded this thing took pride in their work and it shows.
The quality components continue around the bike. The bike uses BMX dirt jump hubs with true thru-axles instead of quick release skewers. The front is still a quick release to make it easy to pull out the wheel when necessary, but the thick thru-axles are designed to take the forces of repeated jumps and hard braking.
All the routing of cables and hoses is internal, including for the Tektro HD-M285 hydraulic disc brakes.
That front suspension fork offers 100mm of adjustable suspension with lockout for when you head back to the tarmac.
And there’s even a beautiful wooden inlay for the battery meter and pedal assist power level display. It reminds me of the wood on ONYX’s electric mopeds, and it helps create continuity in the company’s model lines, despite the very different designs and use cases.
Now as much as I love the way ONYX uses real wood in their products, the display on the ONYX LZR Pro is a bit simplistic because of that. You don’t get any speed readout with those five basics LEDs. Instead, you just get an approximate battery percentage with 20% increments and a 1-5 pedal assist level indicator. Does it work? Absolutely. Do I sometimes wish for more data? Also absolutely. I’m used to very detailed e-bike displays, and so moving to this simplistic display came with some adjustment period for me.
But I also get it. This is a dirt jumper. It’s a bike that will inevitably fly through the air and come crashing back down to earth. The fewer bits and pieces bolted onto it, the better. There’s less to break that way.
And that probably explains the lack of other parts like a derailleur, kickstand, LED lighting, or other added components that could become violently separated from the bike in a crash. You can add all of those (well, maybe except for the derailleur) if you wanted, but riders who use this bike for more extreme performance will likely accept that those parts are largely unnecessary. You’re not worried about being lit up for cars when you’re dropping in on a massive dirt ramp.
Since some riders will likely still use this bike for more commuter-oriented roles though, adding your own LED lights is probably a good idea.
How does it ride?
I tested the ONYX LZR Pro electric bike in a wide range of use cases. I took it commuting in bike lanes. I explored nature trails through the woods. I wound my way through singletrack switchbacks. And I even did a small amount of dirt jumping, at least as far as my primitive jumping skills would let me.
As a commuter bike, the fast and responsive pedal assist made it a great bike for taking the lane with cars or for slipping back into the bike lane when traffic got too heavy.
The bars are a bit wide for navigating some of the tighter areas in a city, especially if you frequently lane split like me and wiggle through cars in grid-locked traffic. But for anyone who mostly sticks to bike lanes, they’d be just fine.
The real fun starts when you head off-road. The powerful motor makes quick work of the trails. Most bikes can hold their own on relaxed nature trails, and the LZR Pro is no different. But it really shines when you get it on the more technical stuff.
The winding singletrack that I was riding was perfect for showing off how nimble the bike could be, and the up-and-down rollercoaster nature of the trails really accentuated the benefit of a powerful mid-drive for quickly climbing up inclines to get to the next downhill section. The responsive pedal assist gave me a nice boost, even when I only had time for a couple quick pedal rotations between switchbacks.
Since there is no hand throttle, I still felt like I was in the driver’s seat the entire time by providing my own pedaling. And I was still huffing and puffing a bit at the end of each trail, even though I had a powerful motor beneath me. I kept the pedal assist around level 2 out of 5 since the bendy trail made it hard to get going too fast. But on the straighter sections, I would bump the pedal assist up and really feel the wind in my face. And when back on the road, hitting pedal assist level 5 was a quick and easy way to get up to 28 mph (45 km/h) in a flash.
I’m sorry to say that I didn’t personally hit the big six-foot jumps that I’ve seen other people do with the ONYX LZR Pro. I wish I had those skills, but sadly I’ve always been more of an urban rider than an Evel Knievel. But a bike like this with such high-quality construction certainly gave me the confidence to get out of my comfort zone and get more air between my tires and the ground than I would normally feel comfortable with.
In case you’re wondering what it looks like when pro riders take to this thing, have a look at this.
What is this bike for?
So here’s the rub. Most people are probably more like me, in that you can have some fun off-roading but you’re more likely to be found on the streets and sidewalks than on a takeoff ramp.
In that case, the ONYX LZR Pro still works great as an urban bike. And we’ve seen plenty of stunt riding from ONYX’s pro rider team when they turn cities into bike parks and playgrounds. So we know it works just as well on the asphalt.
But for us average joes, there are still a few drawbacks. The lack of fenders or racks limit the bike’s utility for true commuter use. The nonremovable battery means you’ve got to bring the bike inside your apartment (or garage, if you’re lucky to have one of those) for charging. And the single-speed setup means you’re stuck with a single gear ratio (44T chainring and 14T rear sprocket). And all of that makes sense for a bike that is primarily designed to launch.
Even despite those drawbacks in the eyes of a more urban rider, the bike is so much fun as a dual-purpose runabout that I can look past those shortcomings. They exist not because the bike skimped in certain areas but because it’s specifically designed to be able to do more. And with the kind of build quality to make it rugged enough for that tougher riding that it’s designed for, it should last for years and years with normal city riding.
At its current sale price of just $1,999 (or $1,799 for the 500W version), the ONYX LZR Pro feels like a solid deal to me. That price is more than fair when you consider the quality parts and attention to detail in the construction of the bike.
This type of riding and this type of e-bike isn’t for everyone, that’s for sure. But for those looking for a bike that can handle this type of use, the ONYX LZR Pro is absolutely built to take it.
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The Anthbot Genie 3000 brings automated mowing tech to your backyard without the need for old-fashioned perimeter wires. It has GPS-grade precision and AI-powered vision, and I got to check out how well it works. With a mix of impressive strengths and a few growing pains, it’s a compelling entrant in the smart‑lawn space worth a closer look.
Setup and specs
There are a few models in the lineup, ranging from $699 to $1,399. I was testing the larger battery version since my parents have some land, and the extra battery makes quicker work of larger plots.
Unboxing the Genie, you’ll find the mower, charging base, RTK GPS station with pole (the mushroom-looking thing), power cables, spare blades, tools, and a quick‑start guide. Unlike some electronics I’ve set up, the quick start guide was actually really well laid out and useful.
The three models in the Genie line:
- 600 – up to ~600 m² (0.22 acres)
- 1000 – up to ~2,000 m² (0.49 acres)
- 3000 – up to ~3,600 m² (0.89 acres)
The 3000 bumps up the battery to 10 Ah, but they all share the same core specs: a 20 cm (7.9 “) cutting width, adjustable electric deck height (30–70 mm or 1.25 to 2.75 inches), IPX6 waterproofing, and the ability to handle steep slopes, though my Florida testing didn’t exactly put the hill-climbing claims to the test.
Navigation and mapping
This is where the Genie shines. The combo of full‑band RTK GPS plus four AI‑driven cameras enables wire‑free navigation. That means no boundary cables, freeing the mower from the biggest problem with old-fashioned alternatives. Instead, GPS-based boundaries set the limits and your mower is free to do its thing without worrying about a boundary wire breaking one day and your mower making a run for the county line.
Mowing occurs in mostly clean, straight lines, avoiding the chaotic randomness older robot mowers often exhibited. It did seem to have a few areas where it missed on the first run, though it actually went back and got them (mostly), and that got better on subsequent mowing sessions.
Obstacle avoidance is solid. Within its 300° camera field, it claims to detect upwards of 1,000 common objects, sidestepping everything from garden hoses to pets. For me, the occasional potted plant or other obstruction in the yard was pretty easy for the robot to spot.
There are even headlights that seemed quite bright at night (and the very quiet electric mowing meant that it doesn’t disturb anyone when mowing at night).
App and smart features
The Genie app is used for setup and lets you define many different mowing zones, draw no‑go zones, tweak cutting height, schedule operations, and monitor battery and progress live, even when you’re away. During setup, I did find that I had to move the mower closer to my router for it to successfully update its firmware, but afterwards it was fine just stealing some signal that leaked out the walls of the house. I guess for the bigger download, it wanted the stronger signal closer to the router.
There are also anti‑theft features, including device‑binding to your Wi‑Fi and account, and a PIN lock so that someone else can’t just take and use your robot. That may be a concern if you live in an area with lots of neighbors, but out in the boonies, I don’t think anyone is looking for robo-mowers.
Performance and real-world use
The first thing that impressed me about the Genie is how quiet it is. They say it runs at about 58–66 dB, whisper-quiet under normal conditions. You can literally hear the individual grass blades being cut – something I’ve never heard before in all my gasoline-powered mowing years.
The battery seems to last for around 450 to 500 m2 of mowing, or around 3-4 hours, depending on how thick the grass is in that section. Then it returns home to recharge and starts up again where it left off. The mowing width might seem hilariously narrow, just 7.9 inches. But since you’re not actually the one mowing, it doesn’t really matter. My robotic vacuum also has a very narrow vacuum width, but I’m not the one walking around vacuuming, so what do I care? The passes all seem straight and good-looking, so you still get the nice lawn stripes look, though they’re a bit narrower.
The robot performs quite well, and it fulfills my goal which was to make it easier on my 70-year-old parents. It’s not perfect at edging, but if my dad can do 3 minutes of cleaning up along the fence line once in a while instead of an hour of lawn mowing, that’s a major improvement for him.
I don’t know how long these little razor-style blades will last, though they’re pretty cheap and easy to swap out. And I do wish the company made the cable longer between the RTK mushroom and the mower’s base station, so you can get the RTK out a bit further if you need it, but I found a spot that seemed to work for optimal signal for me.
I would say that the Genie 3000 is great for anyone who wants an easy setup process and wire-free operation. There’s no boundary wire to install or to check for breaks. It just works (as long as you have a clear view to the sky for the satellites). But if you’re trying to mow several acres, this little guy probably isn’t the one for you. Anything up to around 3/4 of an acre is where it will shine.
Now I just need to find something that can handle several acres in the pasture behind the backyard…
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A new review of US Energy Information Administration (EIA) data by the SUN DAY Campaign reveals that solar delivered almost 9% of US electricity in the first half of 2025. Wind and solar combined produced just over one-fifth of the country’s electricity, while renewables as a whole hit nearly 28%.
Solar’s record-breaking growth
EIA’s latest monthly Electric Power Monthly report (with data through June 30, 2025) confirms that solar kept its streak as the fastest-growing major source of US electricity. In June 2025 alone, solar soared. Utility-scale solar power plants cranked out 30.1% more electricity than in June 2024, while rooftop and other small-scale solar systems grew by 10.5%. Combined, solar generation jumped 25% year-over-year and made up 10.2% of US electricity that month.
Looking at the first six months of 2025, utility-scale solar expanded by 37.6%, and small-scale systems rose 10.7%. Together, they grew nearly one-third (29.7%) compared to the same period in 2024. That meant solar provided 8.7% of all US electricity in January-June, up from 6.9% the year before.
That’s a milestone: Solar is now producing almost 45% more electricity than hydropower (6.0%), and it’s generating more than hydropower, biomass, and geothermal combined.
Wind is still a front-runner
Wind turbines supplied 11.6% of US electricity in the first half of 2025 — a 2.4% boost compared to the same time in 2024. Wind’s output was almost double hydropower’s contribution.
Wind + solar are beating coal and nuclear
Together, wind and solar accounted for 20.3% of total US electricity in the first half of 2025, up from 18.6% last year. That’s a bigger share than coal or nuclear. In fact, wind and solar generated 25% more electricity than coal and 15.6% more than nuclear over the same period.
Renewables overall are surging
All renewable sources combined – wind, solar, hydropower, biomass, and geothermal – generated 27.7% of US electricity from January through June 2025, up from 26.1% a year ago. Their output grew three times faster than total US electricity generation overall (9.2% vs. 3.0%). Renewables are now second only to natural gas, whose generation actually dropped 3.7% in the first half of the year.
Ken Bossong, executive director of the SUN DAY Campaign, added that this growth happened before the passage of the Trump/Republican “megabill,” which could slow future renewable expansion. “Nonetheless, EIA notes that US developers expect half of new electric generating capacity to come from solar in 2025 and another 13% from wind.”
Read more: EIA: Solar outproduced wind for the first time ever in May
The 30% federal solar tax credit is ending this year. If you’ve ever considered going solar, now’s the time to act. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
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The new and improved Hyundai IONIQ 5, or the hot-selling Chevy Equinox EV? Which electric SUV makes the smarter lease? Here’s the rundown.
Over 607,000 electric vehicles were sold in the US in the first half of 2025, thanks to some big discounts. Many automakers are currently offering generous savings, as Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” is set to end federal EV incentives at the end of September.
According to Cox Automotive’s latest EV Market Monitor report, EV incentives reached a record of nearly $8,500 in June, or about 15% off the average transaction price (ATP).
That’s more than double the incentives offered on gas-powered vehicles. Seven electric vehicles had an ATP below $40,000, including the Chevy Equinox EV. The Equinox EV was the top-selling EV in the price range.
Starting at just $34,995, GM calls it “America’s most affordable 315+ range EV.” The electric Equinox has already propelled Chevy to become the number two EV brand in the US behind Tesla.
Through the first half of the year, the Chevy Equinox EV accounted for nearly a third of GM’s electric vehicle sales. And it could have sold even more. A dealer in California reached out to Electrek, claiming they had to wait over a month to receive Equinox EV models. It’s now on track to be among the top three selling EVs in the US.
Which EV to lease: Chevy Equinox EV or Hyundai IONIQ 5
With leases starting at just $289 per month, it’s no wonder the electric SUV is flying off the lot. The offer is for 24 months with $3,909 due at signing.
Alternatively, you can opt for 0% APR financing for 60 months, which Chevy is offering on all 2025 electric vehicle models.
| 2025 Chevy Equinox EV trim | Starting Price | EPA-estimated Range | Monthly lease Price (August 2025) |
| LT FWD | $34,995 | 319 miles | $289 |
| LT AWD | $40,295 | 307 miles | $351 |
| RS FWD | $45,790 | 319 miles | $416 |
| RS AWD | $49,090 | 307 miles | $453 |
The base 2025 Chevy Equinox EV LT starts at $34,995 with up to 319 miles of range. The interior boasts up to 57.2 cu ft of space and a 17.7″ infotainment screen.
How does it compare to the IONIQ 5? Hyundai has upgraded its best-selling electric SUV with major improvements, including increased range (now up to 318 miles), a revamped interior and exterior, and a built-in NACS port to access Tesla Superchargers.
After cutting lease prices again last month, the new and improved 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 is now listed at just $179 per month.
In some places, such as California and other ZEV states, Hyundai is offering leases starting at as low as $159 per month.
However, that’s for the base SE mode, which has an EPA-estimated driving range of 245 miles. The longer-range IONIQ 5 SE RWD, with 318 miles range, can still be leased for just $199 per month right now. Both offers are for 24 months with $3,999 due at signing.
| 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 Trim | EV Powertrain | Driving Range (miles) | Starting Price* | Monthly lease price August 2025 |
| IONIQ 5 SE RWD Standard Range | 168-horsepower rear motor | 245 | $42,500 | $179 |
| IONIQ 5 SE RWD | 225-horsepower rear motor | 318 | $46,550 | $199 |
| IONIQ 5 SEL RWD | 225-horsepower rear motor | 318 | $49,500 | $209 |
| IONIQ 5 Limited RWD | 225-horsepower rear motor | 318 | $54,200 | $309 |
| IONIQ 5 SE Dual Motor AWD | 320-horsepower dual motor | 290 | $50,050 | $249 |
| IONIQ 5 SEL Dual Motor AWD | 320-horsepower dual motor | 290 | $53,000 | $259 |
| IONIQ 5 XRT Dual Motor AWD | 320 horsepower dual motor | 259 | $55,400 | $359 |
| IONIQ 5 Limited Dual Motor AWD | 320-horsepower dual motor | 269 | $58,100 | $299 |
Hyundai is also throwing in a complimentary ChargePoint Level 2 home charger with the purchase or lease of a new 2025 IONIQ 5. All IONIQ 5 trims are listed with 1.99% APR financing for up to 60 months.
The 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 offers up to 59.3 cu ft of cargo space with a dual 12.3″ driver display and infotainment system setup.
Both the Hyundai IONIQ 5 and Chevy Equinox EV are hard to pass up right now, with lease prices expected to be as low as they will ever be.
Looking to snag the savings while they last? You can use our links below to find offers on the Chevy Equinox EV and Hyundai IONIQ 5 near you.
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