Product Review: The Ninebot by Segway MiniPro
Ever try a Segway? I tried it once when I was on a city tour in New Orleans. My family and I rented Segway scooters and went with a group around the city. The tour was fine but the Segway was awesome!
So when the MiniPro arrived at my office, I didn’t think it would be any less of an amazing experience as the one I tried in New Orleans. The big difference, the MiniPro has no handle bars!
Set up was very simple, much simpler than I would have thought. You take it out of the box and insert the stand. You turn it on and it’s ready to go. It was that easy.
My husband, son and I decided to ride it inside the house before embarking on our outdoor adventure.
At first, we all needed to lean on someone. The instructions called for one foot first, then you hear a beep and then you easily place your other foot on the foot pad. If you lean forward, you go forward and if you lean back, you go backwards. If you shift your weight to the right side, the miniPro goes right and if you shift to the left, the miniPro goes left. You use your inner thighs to move the miniPro but you don’t put your hands on the bar and you don’t lean on the bar either. To stop it, you stand straight, although I wish there was a stop button because it didn’t actually stop.
Once we felt comfortable, we decided to take it on the street. The miniPro was fully charged when we took it out of the box so we just needed to take it outside and go.
As my husband stood on it, he said, “this is the new way of modern transportation. I think I’m going to take this to work!”
I decided to give it a try. I think the boys found it much easier and intuitive than I did. I found there was a bit of a learning curve. Holding my hands out kept my balance and I leaned forward. I went around 6 miles an hour but when my son used it, he went up to almost 10 mph. (That’s actually the maximum. The maximum weight to put on it is 185 pounds.)
The miniPro works with an app (of course, what doesn’t?). The app tells you how fast you’re going and the direction you are taking. It also helps with the set up and tells you how much mileage you have left on it.
After a little time, I got the feeling for it too and found it to be quite fun! I wouldn’t go on it without a helmet though. I may even recommend wearing knee pads and elbow pads too.
Funny, my son’s friend came over and he went on it and found it quite easy to use. He even said he liked it more than the hover board he tried.
Would I recommend this? I certainly would. It’s a great holiday gift, birthday gift or an anytime gift. It retails for $799 on Amazon.
