I bought this to take some of the fatigue of walking (I am required to cover over five miles per day at work) after an injury, and I have been pleasantly surprised by how well this has worked over the first week of use so far.
First off, I believe that the claims of it being able to go 11 miles between charges look to be the most optimistic estimates possible, i.e. very light person on smooth cement traveling at constant rate of speed and with very little turning or other maneuvers.
However, with that said, I'll provide a more representative value using myself, a large guy of 6'4" and 265 lbs, getting at at least five miles with varying slopes and surfaces, considerable maneuvering and turns with variation of speed, and frequent stops and starts before I get the power indicator to one bar and plug it back in for a full charge.
That's a more realistic number, and I consider it acceptable.
I'll run through some of the features for those of you who might want to know:
1) There is a blue LED digital speedometer.
2) The controller can toggle between three speed settings, with setting 1 topping out at just a bit over 5 mph, setting 2 topping out at just a bit over 10 mph, and setting 3 topping out (with me riding on smooth surface and fully accelerated) at 17.5 mph.
3) If the thumb throttle is held in at a constant rate of speed for five seconds or longer, the scooter will go into "cruise control" and you can take your thumb off the throttle until you want to stop or decelerate, with the cruise control switched off with either an application of the hand brake or by briefly activating the throttle once again.
4) Charging from fully depleted does indeed seem to go about 3.5 hours, so that seems to be accurate as per the product description, although my findings are that it takes more like 4.5-5 hours if the battery is completely depleted, so bear that in mind.
5) The folding mechanism is very good, but be aware that it is VERY stiff releasing the latch to fold it the first few times using it, so be sure that you either have very strong hands, or (especially women) be sure to have a strong wooden stick to act as a lever to release the release latch on the first few times using it until it breaks in and smooths out a bit, as it has done for me after about 24 fold/unfolds.
6) The tires are "honeycomb" rubber (for cushioning) instead of pneumatic, which makes flats or having to reinflate non-issues.
7) This particular scooter is heavy duty, rated to be usable for people up to 320 lbs, and I believe it. This is one stout ride.
8) The accelerator is nicely responsive without being overly sensitive to avoid jerky acceleration and deceleration, and the hand brake is decent, but it should be mentioned that brake application (goes only to the rear wheel) should be done judiciously to avoid getting thrown off the scooter, especially when moving at speeds beyond about 7 mph.
9) I would highly recommend not wrenching back or putting much weight on the handlebars to avoid wear and tear on the bar and latch and on the handlebars themselves, with the preferred way of driving it of having your hands just resting lightly on the handlebars and leaning back on the balls of the feet to carry most of your weight, as you would do while standing unaided on a flat surface off of the scooter.
10) Another recommendation would be to make time to coast down to a more manageable approximately 5 mph before GENTLY applying the brake, both to reduce wear on the brake pad and to avoid getting thrown off with overly aggressive brake use that is harder to not do while moving at higher speeds. I prefer to coast down to even lower speed -- about 2mph -- then step off gently, which makes dismounting much easier and starts a natural walking motion while doing it.
I'm impressed with this scooter, but I wanted to mention that it's significantly (in my opinion) tougher to avoid wrecks on an electric scooter than on a bike, namely because the wheels are too small and too low to provide a gyroscopic effect that the much larger wheels of a bicycle provide.
That's not a knock on this scooter specifically, but it's something to always keep in mind for all scooters of this type, especially if you've only ever ridden bicycles.
The single most important precaution I can recommend for these scooters is to be very careful about the surface you are riding on and to studiously avoid even small rocks the size of grapes or bigger, never riding on gravel (obviously), and to be especially careful about even small cracks/holes on the surface you ride across.
Riding a normal bicycle with wheels at least 20" - 26" diameter across rocks cracks and holes (within reason, of course) will usually only cause a bumpy ride, but attempting to ride across those with a scooter's 8" wheels can be catastrophic, and the rider will get badly hurt.
Also, be aware that it's a very bad idea to attempt to do anything with your hands except steer and control the throttle and brake, as just taking one hand off suddenly makes it handle differently; so no, don't even THINK of touching your phone while riding.
I occasionally have to do very minor things such as scratch my nose while riding, and I can say that it takes a much greater degree of caution to avoid over-steering and the inevitable outcome of that.
I don't want to end my review making it sound as if this is an inherently dangerous way to travel, but it's of critical importance for riders to know.
| Brand | Swagtron |
|---|---|
| Color | Black |
| Age Range (Description) | 12+ Years |
| Weight Limit | 320 Pounds |
| Item Dimensions LxWxH | 41.5 x 17 x 45.3 inches |
| Number of Wheels | 2 |
| Model Name | SG-5 |
| Wheel Material | Rubber |
| Frame Material | Aluminum |
| Item Weight | 26.5 Pounds |
| Handlebar Type | Foldable |
| Handle Height | 41.5 Inches |
| Wheel Size | 22 Centimeters |
| Wheel Type | Never-Flat 580 Honeycomb |
| Suspension Type | Rear Suspension |
| Grip Type | Contoured |
| Brake Style | Rear Braking |
| Item Package Dimensions L x W x H | 43.1 x 20.3 x 6.9 inches |
| Package Weight | 15.47 Kilograms |
| Brand Name | Swagtron |
| Warranty Description | 90 Days Manufacturer |
| Material | Aluminum |
| Suggested Users | Unisex-adult |
| Number of Items | 2 |
| Manufacturer | SWAGTRON |
| Part Number | SG-5 |
| Model Year | 2019 |
| Style | Swagger 5 |
| Included Components | SWAGTRON electric scooter, Charger, User manual |
| Size | Medium |
