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My review of the Segway HT!!
OKAY!!! Where do I sign?
Today I had the opportunity to test ride the Segway HT (Human Transporter) a.k.a. "IT" a.k.a. Ginger, and it was awesome! It was in a large conference room at Hotel Sofitel in Los Angeles. They had four areas roped off, 1 per Segway but there must have been 2 dozen units lining the walls some plugged in charging, others standing straight up under their own power.
After a brief wait I was greeted by my trainer as she rode up on the Segway, she leaned back slightly and came to a smooth stop right in front of me. I followed her (on foot) to my quadrant where she gave me a brief intro, explained some of the technologies of the device and the basic fundamentals of how to control it. She powered on the unit with a key that looks like a watch battery the size of a nickel, by placing it in a matching key hole with metal contacts. A smiley face on the LCD readout let us know it was ready to ride, and so I eagerly hopped on and stood still. I leaned forward slightly it moved forward, leaned back, it stopped, back further it went it reverse. As simple as it sounds it was amazing!
When I first got used to the controls my natural reaction was to overcompensate as if I were about to fall, but by doing so the Segway starts to slowly go in reverse, so I would re-adjust and after a few small jittery corrections I had the hang if it. The steering is controlled by the left hand grip much like the throttle of a motorcycle. I flipped a few 360's with the slightest of ease, and it was smooth like butta.
The person in the opposite quadrant had left so I got to check out the speed and acceleration by zipping across to the other side of the room, and let me tell you... it is quick! And that was only the black key! There are 3 key's Black, Yellow, Red. Black is the 6mph key with slower turning, Yellow is 8mph, Red will propel you down the street at 12.5mph and allow you to turn on a dime, literally. So naturally I asked for the red pill, er key. She let me try turning with the red key and it had some serious zip! I could easily see how a novice rider could get thrown from the device while operating with the red key. Even at the lowest speed of 6mph I could cover a lot of ground in very little time at all. Unfortunately we were in a closed area so I couldn't max out the Segway and really test it's abilities, but I can tell it's got some zing!
If anyone has the opportunity to try one, I highly recommend it! I am now taking donations and charitable contributions to help support the 'Buy Jason a Segway Fund'. Right now they are slightly too pricey at $4950 from Amazon.com, but I would easily pay in the neighborhood for $2500 for one, with the gas money I would save it would pay for itself in about 3 years. Besides, after riding the Segway once I got back into my Lexus GS300, the Lexo felt like a tank!
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