I haven’t spent much time riding this scooter yet but I am enjoying every minute of it so far. I’ve ridden Bird/Lime rental scooters before so I have something to compare from as far as performance goes. Overall, the main advantages with the rental scooters are slightly better power and range, but at the cost of being heavier, not to mention that you never really know what condition the scooter will be in before riding; the battery level, brakes, other adjustments may be less than ideal since these things are getting a lot of use and bearing the elements outside. I can see why people like these because it is a low commitment option compared to having your own scooter (although over time it’s obviously cheaper to have you own). Personally, I much prefer having my own, where I can maintain it myself and always know it’s ready to go when I am. That being said, just like any machine (even bicycles) there is some self maintenance that is unavoidable.Performance: ( I am a 160 pound rider)On my last ride I went about 5 miles through a hilly college campus with lots of elevation change, starting from a full charge. The scooter performed well with good acceleration and only struggled on the steeper hills (not sure what angle the hill was, but it’s difficult to walk up these hills for a long period of time). The brakes worked great as well and I always felt like I was in control (see suggestions below). When I returned I still had 3 out of 4 bars, even though I suspect that it may be approaching 2 bars (see cons below). The handling was nimble enough to move around other pedestrians with ease, and yet still sturdy at higher speeds. I did not get a reliable top speed measurement since I wasn’t able to find a stretch of flat road that was long enough, but even so, I reaching about 16 mph easily without full throttle. (rider weight, hill angle, and battery level will be the main deciding factors for top speed)Pros:-Great performance/quality for the price-Sturdy construction, without being too heavy-Simple/ergonomic designCons:-Battery gauge could have more bars to help show battery level more accurately. *It will also dip down temporarily while going up steep hills and then back up once you get to level ground. This is normal! Every battery powered device will do this when there is a high demand for electricity. You are fighting gravity going up hills which takes a lot of power depending on your weight.-Throttle is very sensitive, which makes it hard to engage the cruise control. To enable cruise control, hold a steady (very steady) speed for a few seconds and then you will be able to remove your hand from the throttle while it maintains that speed. To disengage, bump the throttle and it will immediately turn off. (I did not know about this feature before I got this scooter but it is very nice to have)Suggestions:-This scooter comes with a “safety pin” which screws into the scooter (near the red latch which folds up the scooter). I would definitely use this pin, especially if you are going on a long and/or bumpy ride. It’s not technically necessary, but it gives me piece of mind knowing there’s an extra solid piece of steel keeping the scooter from folding up when I don’t want it to. The only problem is that it’s annoying to have to do frequently. The next design should have a quick-release safety pin.-The first thing I did when I realized that the magnetic brake and disk brake were controlled by the same brake handle was add another brake handle on the other side next to the throttle (see picture) so that I could control them separately (like the version 1). I just used a standard bicycle brake handle and it worked like a charm. They probably went with a simpler design like this to make it more ergonomic/easier for the rider, but I like having the option to use either brake independently or together. As a side note, the magnetic brake works great overall and provides good stopping power, but works less and less as you slow down. This is why I typically only use the disk brake at lower speeds and when I need to come to a complete stop.***Only do this if you are comfortable/competent with making such modifications and know that your safety is your own responsibility (not mine).Clarifications: (almost lost one star for this)-One thing that annoyed me was the implication that there was a gearing system included with this scooter and that “gear” 1 would climb hills better while “gear” 2 would be better for top speed. I COULD BE WRONG, but I’m preeettty sure(99.99%) that this is B.S. and the 1 and 2 refer to an electronic power limiter. Don’t get me wrong, I think this is a great feature to be able to bump it down to 1 for someone who is learning and/or a young rider, but let’s call it what it is and not be misleading. I do not plan on opening it up to confirm this, but I have tried going into “gear” 1 to go up hills better and have noticed that “gear” 2 is better for both hill climbing and top speed.*Update 4/1/19: There is a weird resonance vibration that happens at one very specific speed/throttle. It doesn’t really bother me, but it is strange to go from almost completely silent to a louder vibrating sound. I think this might just be a thing that happens with variable electric motors, since this also happens with my electric bicycle. I will update again if anything else develops.*Update 4/23/19: I’m still commuting daily on this scooter and enjoying every ride. My tire pressure was getting low so I had to pump them both up. The back one is easy, but the front one is quite difficult to get just right. The tire valve adapter that comes with the scooter works fine, but it is hard to remove it fast enough to not let air out of the tire. I had to practice several times to try and do it as fast as I could and eventually got it.What I would recommend: pump it up above 50 psi ( I did around 60) and then remove the adapter as quickly as you can. It will let some air out and hopefully stop around 50 psi. I gave the back tire a squeeze with my hands after setting it to 50 psi and then compared it to the front to make sure it was close enough.This scooter definitely rides different depending on tire pressure. I can go faster with normal pressure, but also feel more bumps. Lower pressure will give you a smoother ride, but limit your speed (and range). I would check this at least every two weeks, but just know that if you release air for more than a second then you will likely already be too low and need to pump it back up. I can fill up the whole tire in about 5 or so pumps.

I spent quite some time doing research on which scooter would be the cheapest yet efficient one I could find that met my needs. I use this to commute to work while I save up for a car and it’s been pretty good so far. The ride is about 40 minutes and since it is 99% almost flat terrain (concrete, asphalt, etc.) I don’t mind it being that long of a ride.WHEELS: I was a bit nervous since these are air filled tires and many reviews said they are a pain to replace. However I have no complaints so far. I’ve had it for almost 2 months now and I’ve ridden over glass & they are still standing strong. I am always trying to be careful of where I ride and not to be careless. Yet sometimes it is inevitable. Due to having air in them, I guess it helps with the bumps and rocks. Although I still feel them and it gets rough on the ride, having hard tires would definitely make the ride more difficult and less smooth.WEIGHT: I’m a 4’11 woman weighing barely over 100 lbs. this scooter is about a quarter of my weight and with uneven distribution of weight it’s no wonder that it gets awkward to carry it sometimes. For me, it is a bit heavy. I recommend getting a handle or a shoulder strap. Or go to the gym and workout more so you can handle it.BATTERY LIFE: instructions say it takes 4 hours to fully charge. Today I only had 3 out of 4 bars because I forgot to plug it in last night and my 40 minute ride was okay since I didn’t go full throttle like I usually do. It goes 15.5 mph max (your weight will also affect how fast it goes and how much it’ll pick up speed) and going 13 mph -or less- my way there allowed me to make it with still a little bit of battery life left. Had I left with only 2 bars I would have barely made it, I’d have to walk or push the scooter with my foot a couple of blocks to my job. This has happened to me once. So yeah I hope that gives a visual on battery life. It’s not too shabby.DESIGN: Super basic looking, nothing too fancy it’s a very straight forward looking scooter. There are little guides at the bottom of the base where the scooter folds that guides the scooter towards the hook which is found on the back wheel so that it stays folded for easier pick up or to put away. Pretty neat except when you’re kind of in a rush , sometimes it doesn’t go straight into the guides but rather outside of them. And that could be a nuisance. The throttle at the handle is in a convenient space, however over a long period of time my thumb will cramp and at the end of the day it even twitches which honestly kind of concerns me.CRUISE CONTROL: This is my biggest and only real complaint. There is no on/off switch or button. Instructions say to hold it down for 10 seconds and it will activate cruise control. However this doesn’t always happen. There are numerous times that people have said it just doesn’t work at all in their review. For me it barely ever works when I really need it to. Especially when I’m on a route that goes straight for a while and my thumb needs a break. It almost never works when I need it to. And sometimes it goes on without me realizing it. It’s unclear, am I supposed to hold it an an angle? Press hard on the throttle? I have no idea. One whole star undeserved.PRICE: I spent a little over $200 for this scooter. Not a bad price at all. The saying goes, you get what you pay for but I feel like even for a cheaper scooter I feel lucky to have it. Cruise control needs work for sure though.

Edit: Just 30 days past the 90 day warranty, the battery in my scooter failed. I guess I’m not surprised for such a low cost device. Good batteries are expensive. A new battery from Gotrax is about one hundred dollars. Yuck.—–I’ve had the Gotrax GXL V2 for about a week now. Summary: This scooter is a bargain at sub-$300.Build quality is quite good. It comes mostly assembled. All you need to do is attach the brake cable and the handlebars. Go to the Gotrax website for assembly videos and instructions. The instruction manual that came with the scooter is out-of-date. There was a little bit of paint inside the threads for the safety pin which made it a little difficult to install the first time. Everything else seemed great.I gave it a full charge before riding the first time. It was mostly charged out of the box and only required about an hour on the charger. The light on the charger turns green when the battery is full. I did a 10 mile ride on residential streets and a bike path. I weigh 160lbs and the terrain here is mostly flat. I was at maximum speed for most of the ride, and returning home the battery gauge was between one and two bars, depending on the throttle. It was at two bars cruising and would drop to one bar when accelerating. I didn’t notice any slowdown of the scooter through the trip.The speedometer shows a top speed of between 15 and 16 mph. However, I believe this is generous and the actual stop speed is closer to 13 mph. Regardless, this seems like a reasonable speed on a vehicle with small wheels. The scooter has two “gears” as Gotrax calls them. They really aren’t gears, they are just the controller limiting your top speed. Speed 1 is the default when you first turn the scooter on. Its top speed is about 8 mph which is perfect for navigating sidewalks or anywhere that you’d have to be careful when riding. Speed 2 tops out at an indicated 15 mph, but I believe it is closer to 13 mph. The acceleration is quite good for a 250 watt motor. I have no doubt that the motor is capable of moving the scooter faster than 15 mph, but the controller keeps you there or below. Not only is that safer, but much easier on the batteries and all the components on the scooter (tires, bearings, welds, etc.). I think Gotrax did a great job here.As for range, I’m perfectly happy. My 10 mile trek was about as far as I’d want to go without a break. You’ll see some poor reviews complaining about range. Keep a few things in mind. It is possible to have a defective battery that could cause severely limited range. Open a problem report with Gotrax and get it replaced under warranty. However, even with a good battery, range will vary with several factors. The heavier the rider, the more energy required to move them. A large part of the energy expended is accelerating to speed and climbing hills. The heavier you are, the more battery that takes to do. If you weigh 80 pounds and live where it is flat and you never have to stop, you will get great range. If you weigh 220 pounds (scooter’s rated maximum) and live where there are many steep hills and lots of stop-go, then you will get much less range. That’s just the way the science works.I did notice that Gotrax has fixed some things that people have complained about in the past. There was a bug that if you press and hold the power button to turn off the scooter, if you keep it pressed too long it will turn back on. They fixed that bug. Also, I was impressed to see that they filled the tubes with some kind of sealant from the factory. I bought a bottle of “slime” for these tires but didn’t need it. Thanks Gotrax.The scooter uses regenerative (engine) braking on the front wheel and has a disk brake on the rear. I wish that the regen brake had a separate button to engage as that would make smooth braking easier. Even the way it is, it’s fairly easy to brake quickly. Just lean back a bit. But when the regen brake kicks in you can really feel it slow down. Practice braking a bit before venturing out into traffic. Also, I really dislike the throttle lever. It is a little thumb-operated lever where you push to accelerate. It is very difficult to hold a constant speed at anything other than “full throttle” because as the scooter bounces, so does your hand. That also makes using the cruise control difficult because the throttle needs to be held constant for 5-10 seconds. Good luck doing that at anything other than full throttle.Those are my only negatives. Gotrax did an excellent job in designing this scooter. All the electronics are in the handlebars. The battery is very easy to replace. It is fairly light, smooth and stable. A great buy at this price.