Tech Trend 247

The Ninebot by Segway miniPRO is not a hoverboard. Instead, it’s a true descendant of the original revolution in personal transportation, the Segway.

Fifteen years ago, dungaree-wearing inventor Dean Kamen introduced the first Segway. His person-sized, self-balancing, rideable platform was supposed to change human transportation as we know it.

A few years later, Kamen had sold just 6,000 devices (they cost roughly $2,500) and had suffered through a recall and bad press as riders — including then President George W. Bush – took tumbles when the Segway’s power abruptly ran out. Segways were legislated off the streets and became ultimately best known as a prop in Kevin James’ Paul Blart: Mall Cop movies. The company was eventually sold off and is now owned by the Chinese firm Ninebot.

Fast forward to 2015 when hoverboards (ahem, self-balancing rideable platforms) became the hottest gadgets on the planet. Compared to the original Segways, these were ultra-tiny riders. They had six-inch wheels and small, pressure-sensitive pads used to accelerate and decelerate. They were split down the middle so you could steer by pressing down one foot or the other, and they shared some of the Segway’s self-balancing technology. They were an instant hit.

However, like the Segway before it, the hoverboards would soon crash and, literally burn. By February 2016, all hoverboards had been banned, at least until they could get Underwriters Laboratories Certification for the rideable devices and their chargers.

First of a new breed

The $1,299 ($999 on Amazon) Segway miniPRO immediately sets the bar for what all self-balancing riders should be.

Hoverboard manufacturer Swagway claims to be first back to market with its redesigned Swagtron, but I have yet to see one of those out in the wild. The company has promised to ship us one for testing.

Officially known as the “Ninebot by Segway miniPRO," the device bears only a passing resemblance to previous hoverboards. First of all, at 21.5-inch wide x 10.3-inch deep x 20-inch high, with a pair of inflatable 10-inch wheels, the 28 pound Segway miniPRO is considerably larger than any hoverboard model.

It arrives in two parts. There’s the wheeled base/platform and then the steering bar, which you attach to what Ninebot calls the “mainframe.” It easily slides onto a metal neck and then locks into place. You can adjust the height of the steering bar to meet the inside of your knees. We’ll get to why this is important later.

(Flip over the Segway miniPRO, and you’ll see the holographic UL sticker. Without it, the product, which is manufactured in China, couldn't even make it into the U.S.)

Our Segway miniPRO arrived fully charged, but you’ll want to charge yours overnight with the included, UL-certified charger.

The Segway miniPRO body has just one button, for power, and a few indicator lights: battery level, lock, Bluetooth connection and one to indicate if you’re going too fast.

Safety and learning

Before you even get on the Segway miniPRO, the manufacturer recommends you install the app on your iPhone (or Android device) and pair it via Bluetooth with the rider. If you ride it without doing so, the Segway miniPRO will prompt you, non-stop, with an annoying beep until you finally install the app and finish the initial product walk-through.

To pair, turn on the Segway miniPRO, find it in your Bluetooth device list on the iPhone and then hit connect. The app immediately takes you through seven screens of safety and riding advice. You cannot skip this, and each screen displays for five seconds. I found the information pretty useful. 

The safety tutorial warns you that inappropriate riding could kill you and that the Segway miniPRO will automatically slow down if you’re going too fast. It cautions against accelerating too abruptly and advises you on speeds at which you should take small bumps (don’t go too fast or too slow). It lets you know that children under 3.37 feet and 88 pounds shouldn't ride the device. There’s also some obvious advice, like not letting two people ride a Segway miniPRO at once.

Even after you’ve read through all that, Ninebot is not quite ready to remove the training wheels: For the first kilometer of your ride time, the system will keep you to a max speed of 4.3 mph.

Ride time

To power up the Segway, I pressed the power button and it immediately started balancing itself. The instructions recommended that I step onto one platform side with one foot, wait for a beep, then step onto the other side. I’ve ridden a lot of these personal transportation systems, so this turned out to be quite simple. If anything, this riding platform, though higher off the ground than a hoverboard, was easier to mount than anything else I’ve ridden before.

The steering column, which extends up from the center of the Segway miniPRO, is topped with a pair of cushioned knee pads. I had to adjust the bar up a few notches before they were positioned right between my knees.

The bar and pads serve two critical purposes: steering and stability. To ride the Segway miniPRO, you bend your knees ever-so-slightly, lock them onto the pads, then lean slightly forward or backward, depending on your intended direction. To steer, you gently press one knee or the other into the steering bar.

Initially, I had trouble steering this way because I am used to steering with my feet, as I have with virtually all hoverboards. This, of course, is not a hoverboard, and it took me a moment to remember that this is exactly how all Segways have steered since they were first introduced in 2001.

It didn’t take long for me to get comfortable steering this way. Even so, I could only travel at a max speed of 4.3 mph for the first kilometer. Every time I went too fast, the Segway miniPRO would beep and lean back a little. I have to admit, this felt odd, but it also got my attention and I slowed down in a hurry.

When I had finally passed the apprentice mode, I could ride at speeds of up to 10 mph. Let me tell you, 10 mph feels a lot faster than 4.3 mph.

No matter the speed, the Segway miniPRO is quiet, smooth and responsive, a real joy to ride. It could stop on a dime, and it allowed me to weave in and out of groups of people with the subtlest of body movements. It handled going up and down hills with ease — I never felt like I was going to pitch forward or backward off the rider. (It's rated for 15-degree inclines.) I could have ridden all day — or at least for 13 miles (that’s how long the charge is supposed to last).

The Segway miniPRO is heavy. Fortunately, it comes with a lift guide bar that slides up out of the steering bar when you're not riding. When I turned on the Segway, I could use this to guide the miniPRO with just one finger. I still have to carry it to go up and down stairs, though.

App fun

The free Ninebot app is pretty simple but has a few interesting features. First of all, it let me see in real time my speed, direction, battery life and the miniPRO's temperature. It instantly alerted me if I was riding too fast or in an unsafe manner. In addition, I could lock the device through the app; if anyone tried to move it while it was in locked mode, the app would vibrate my phone and the Segway would sound an alarm and tip over.

My favorite app feature, though, is the remote control. I could drive a riderless Segway miniPRO around using just the app, steering with a virtual and super-responsive joystick. No one can be on the Segway when it’s in the mode. Why is this useful? It isn’t, but it is good fun.

Ninebot’s Segway MiniPRO is not the cheapest self-balancing board on the market, but it is clearly the best. Even with the world’s most confusing product name (seriously, choose one name), it’s easy to use, fun to ride and feels safer than virtually everything else in the hoverboard space.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.