Ninebot Mini, Self Balancing Hands-free Segway, Hoverboard 2.0! - REVIEW

Those old school balance boards, are out! The Ninebot Mini is part of the NEW wave of hoverboard technology!

Current price: ~ $600

Specs:

• -Max speed: ~10 mph (16 km/h)
• -Distance: 13.5 Miles (22km)
• -Weight: 28 pounds (12.8kg)
• -Click here to view the full list

Right off the bat, the NINEBOT looks and FEELS EXTREMELY well built.

And before any of you start thinking, "oh its gonna catch fire like the others", this ain't like the others!

XIAOMI (Sh-ih-ow-me), that worldwide tech company valued around $40 BILLION dollars, invested $80 MILLION into NINEBOT, and NINEBOT bought SEGWAY. These are LEGIT companies, with legitimate products, not cheap knockoffs!

The Ninebot Mini comes with that fresh new car smell, and a ton of little details that I really appreciate - like the easy open flap for the battery plug, plus another rubber seal on the inside. The padded foam on the middle leg bar is plush and soft and high quality. The 10inch Tires are large and durable, with plenty of tread. There's dual headlights in the front, plus 2 pulsating color LED strips in the rear. There's glance-able LED indicators up front to show battery life, bluetooth status, lock status.

The main specs include a max speed about 10 miles per hour. It can go up to 13.5 miles on a SINGLE charge. Its portable and easy to carry, weighing 28 pounds and fits easily in the trunk of your car.

First time jumping on it, SUPER easy, especially if you're familiar with any self balancing scooter. POSSIBLY even easier than the original hoverboards, because the leaning of your body weight ONLY effects forward backward movement. To turn left or right is all controlled by subtle nudges of the middle control rod with your legs or knees.

When you first turn it on, you're locked in beginner mode which limits max speed, but thats actually a nice feature to force beginners to learn and get the hang of it. To unlock ALL the features, you'll need to download the app, Android or iphone, connect via bluetooth, and then you're guided through a step by step tutorial.

Once you've completed that introduction tutorial, as a final step, the app requires you to travel 1km before it unlocks full speed!

From the app you can Control and View a WHOLE assortment of cool details. It shows your current riding speed, mileage, distance remaining, in-depth battery info... you can even calibrate the sensors and tweak a whole load of other settings!

You can set certain speed limits, say you're letting your noob friend jump on and dont want them to injure.. the ninebot :).

You can ALSO fully customize the Light settings: change different animation modes like breathing, or rainbow.. really cool!

Another Really Nice feature is that it detects when theres a new firmware version for the scooter, and it'll update Over The Air for you.

Now the performance of the Ninebot mini, is IMPECCABLE!! Very fast, zippy, and reactive. The smallest weight transfers forward or backward it responds instantly. If you need slow and precise movements, which for example, are PERFECT for steadycam control, it can do that, OR if you need fast moves, it responds without a hiccup.

The ride is extremely smooth and silent.. (PAUSE) With the large 10 inch tires it glides effortlessly over the ground, you can barely feel the sidewalk bumps and cracks.., and flying up and down hills, off roading, no problem, feels durable, strong and powerful!

One of my favorite features! You can REMOTE  CONTROL the mini segway from the app. Perfect for those times that you want to look like a total bad A and magically sumon your scooter to your side, jump on, and ride off. Now THIS will turn heads. :D

Another great bonus that's a lot bigger deal than it sounds.. when you lift UP the scooter WHILE its powered ON, it AUTO DISABLES the motor so it doesnt start spinning the tires like other scooters. Then when you place it back down on the ground it auto engages and stands upright. 

Another related feature, if or when you fall or jump off it won't topple over like the old ones used to and get all scratched up, this will stay upright the Entire time, while powered on.

I went for a quick Ride down to a local juice shop, about a mile and a half away. Google maps said it'd take 35 minutes if I walked there, 15 minutes if I BIKED there, and when I rode my Ninebot... Took only 12 minutes! And no, I wasnt flying at max speed, I casually took my time.

In terms of USABILITY and QUALITY, you can just feel that its a HUGE step up from the OLD "hoverboards".

So any negatives?! Well, I guess the ONLY feature I WISH it had would be the option to steer in TWO different ways. One with the AS-IS rod control, but sometimes I feel like I'm crouching just a tad too much to steer left and right,  so itd be really cool if I could flip a switch in the app and steer with the foot pads only, that way I can stand up straight the whole time.

However, I admit that after a few days of riding around, it becomes a very natural motion.. as you lean into the turns your legs naturally press against that rod to steer in that direction.

Overall, performance and features of the Ninebot Mini are SO COOL! I DEFINITELY rank this one as one of my FAVORITE scooters!!