"hoverboard with one wheel"

[Andrew]

@utsu said:

yawwwwwwn "it's like a sport"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBTQ5WTsziE
:-1: :-1: :-1: :-1: :-1:

I thought you were talking about OW for a second there:

"Onewheel is an entirely new boardsport"

This new competitor and OW both like to jump onto the "sport" claim.

If OW didn't exist I would think this was awesome. But the ability to stop and balance completely stationary on the OW sets it apart in the real world which has traffic lights and pedestrians.

Pricing? gawp! I (and everyone I've spoken to) thought the OW was expensive... Given the price the competition here isn't OW vs Gyro Skate it is 2 x OW vs 1 x Gyro Skate. Personally can't imagine a scenario where 2 OneWheels would not win that comparison. Priced out of my range, couldn't justify 4K, just 2K for the OW was a significant hurdle.

@TechCrunch website said:

Robert Bigler invented this gyro skate After selling his robotic automation startup Animatics for a bunch of loot. He had dreamed of a hoverboard and was intent on birthing it into reality. He tells me that if the Kickstarter fails, he’ll just make a few dozen boards for friends and family, then call it quits.

http://techcrunch.com/2015/09/01/hoverboard-technologies/

I would suggest that this is the most likely outcome. To be a serious product he'd need to cut range, speed, weight in order to get the price way down.

[Banjo]

Actually it'll be really interesting to see if the Kickstarter does work. I reckon it would be a shoe in if the Onewheel didn't exist. With the price point being 4 grand and the Onewheel already being available the odds don't seem to be great though.

[Polle]

I'm wondering if he indeed has never heard of the Onewheel...
If he does, and would have any commercial insight, he should know that it is as crazy as stupid to start a Kickstarter campaign for a product that is this similar...

[forzabucks]

You will not catch me skateboarding on a single giant rollerblade wheel. And if you can somehow manage to ride that 20mph, you better be heading in the general direction of a hospital to save the paramedics some time.

[Leperkonvict]

I'm gonna guess that this can't go off-roading...

[OneDream]

he should forget about the idea releasing his own product and try to start working together with FM. Those speed/range claims look very nice.

[forzabucks]

@Leperkonvict said:

I'm gonna guess that this can't go off-roading...

Or on-roading for that matter.

[MichaelW]

@Andrew @Banjo Where did you see that the price was $4000?

[DVO]

That guys hair makes me want to punch him....and this thing is gonna suck. Way behind in the game, imagine trying to take that POS off road

[Banjo]

@MichaelW Its in the tech crunch article mate. Second paragraph. @forzabucks Defo, me neither, haha, a giant rollerblade wheel! @OneDream If the kick starter failed it would be pretty cool if he collaborated with OW though, I reckon they could learn a couple of things from this for OW 2.0 :)

[Andrew]

@MichaelW 4K price was here:

@Techcrunch said:

Hoverboard Technologies comes out of stealth today with a preview video, and will go on Kickstarter September 17 for around $4,000, shipping next year.

http://techcrunch.com/2015/09/01/hoverboard-technologies/

Maybe the price will be dfferent at release or when the Kickstarter actually happens but the only number we have so far is 4K.

[MichaelW]

@Banjo Thats nuts! There is no way!! I don't think it will do well at that price point. Love the lights though...

[Chance2Ride]

Just came here to thank "Hoverboard" and their "lil runabout that might" for re-introducing me to the OneWheel which I'd seen during it's KS campaign but passed on due to being more interested in the more traditional e-board layouts at the time. After giving the "Hoverboard" a nice look-see, I backtracked to the OneWheel, watched the vids, read the stuff you all write and despite waiting for the STARY with baited breath, finally decided to pull the trigger about 5 minutes ago. Sooo, Thanks "Hoverboard" (I'm sorry but I have to use quotation marks for that bought-and-paid-for-but-not-truly-owned branding of theirs). Oh and young Mr. Simen! That young man's videos were the final push, thanks dude, stay stoked! ...............and now the wait begins! :)

[kbern]

[
we should probably consolidate the other thread to here:
http://community.rideonewheel.com/topic/386/competition-coming
]

The Kickstarter campaign has started:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/552747221/hoverboard-the-next-evolution-in-personal-electric
$3,775 now, over $4,000 after launch, which isn't even for another year.

Not only do I doubt this can go offroad (or be water resistant), I don't think you can even be on it and not be moving. It's a very thin wheel, and if you look at the video, the second they stop, they get off. That would be really annoying when trying to ride it on a crowded sidewalk with all the stop-starting.

The sonar thing is cool, though.

[SC720]

$975 hoverboard academy lol

[kbern]

@utsu said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBTQ5WTsziE

Wow... that is lame! I knew there'd be a problem going slow or standing still. How can that guy stand there and say "there is nothing like this on the market"? And how can he expect anyone to pay $4k for it!

[utsu]

amusingly this $4,000 board will do nothing but drive even more business and press into the OW..

Things would be different if it was a superior luxury product, however he has priced himself so far out of the market that I don't think anyone's going to bite after seeing the OW and this side by side.

For that price you could buy almost 3 onewheels and everyone being first timers could be riding on the beach together by the end of their first day. And this guy is saying this is harder, and thrice as expensive, not waterproof, and has zero off-road capabilities. Way way too short sighted.

[lardnicus]

I am definitely not the target market, but I'm having a hard time imagining a market at that price...

However, it does have some stuff that is interesting like the sonar to detect and react to road surface variations. That said, more features needlessly complicates a board and leaves it open to having more things go wrong with it...

There's a reason I bought OW and not any of the other toys etc that have come before :)

But I am not sure it will get people to buy OW... A lot of people will be seeing this for the first time. Everyone has seen those little hawk wheel toys but there are not that many videos of OW on youtube (yet).

[Andrew]

@Banjo said:

a giant rollerblade wheel!

Looks like a solid / non-pneumatic wheel which means no shock absorption at all. Not great on uneven sidewalks.

@Banjo said:

I reckon they could learn a couple of things from this for OW 2.0 :)

Hopefully the OW team do buy one and see what's in there that could possibly be used.

Does look cool though!

[BadWolf]

I just feel sorry for those (7 at the moment) that probably dont even know about onewheel, and is going to pay shitloads for a obselete product.

[Brutha Man]

http://youtu.be/jn4CFVhcTe4

One of our own had a chance to ride it

[kbern]

@Brutha-Man way to go, enjoi! I wanted to go to that thing too, but was not in town for it.

[enjoi408]

Hahaha! uh oh! I've been caught! hahaha. Actually, I wasn't the first one OneWheeler that Robert (Founder of Hoverboard) has come across. He mentioned that there was a kitesurfer (not sure if hes a member on this forum) who had a OneWheel and was testing out the Hoverboard.

[rainynite]

So what's the verdict? How does it compare? What did the Hoverboard owner say about the Onewheel?

[Brutha Man]

@enjoi408 what are your thoughts on the Hoverboard compared to the OneWheel?

[Franky]

I'm also interested in hearing feedback but even if it was somehow better than onewheel(impossible), the price and toy look is a joke. I cannot believe they have a prayer getting fully funded.

[BadWolf]

wait, whaaaat? Have you guys read the comments? They want 1200$ for international shipping!? Thats almost a whole onewheel?

[BadWolf]

And now on the kickstarter page there is a comparison of a few skateboards, and it says faulty that onewheel is built from wood :P

[Chance2Ride]

So here's their brief take on the differences, quated directly from their comments page:

Creator Hoverboard Technologies about 2 hours ago
Hey, Me,
Two major things make the Hoverboard different from a Onewheel - which is also awesome in its own right. The first is that the Hoverboard pivots on a narrow, very precisely round wheel. This gives it an entirely new dimension of freedom and agility - and is also why you can't just get on it and ride your first try, like you can a Onewheel. The second is that the Hoverboard is amped-up in every other respect, over twice the power, over twice the range, tons more features and all coming in at the same weight. This is costly to do, or Onewheel would have done it also. The Hoverboard is the Tesla of PEV. Obviously, a Tesla, however great, is not the car for everybody. And you don't have to be "rich" to buy a Tesla. You just have to be comfortable, - and then REALLY want it.
We would love to sell the Hoverboard for $500, but we would be out of business in about 5 minutes.
$1,200 for International is worst-case shipping and duties. We know duties aren't normally included, but maybe the fact that we do include them tells you more about who we are. Under best-case international shipping cost situations, we would definitely be willing to rebate or offer a credit in our store for the difference. We are just very busy and don't have the bandwidth to create separate shipping programs for every country up-front.
We will take excellent care of our loyal Kickstarter FIRST-ADOPTERS. If we actually make our ambitious goal, and the Hoverboard makes it to market, we will never forget precisely who joined our team and made that happen.

[ThatGuy]

He missed some points, but it's not his job to be complete about the OW.

Seems like it would be easier for the rider (i.e. less "like a sport") if he used two parallel wheels (one toward the left edge of the board and one toward the right edge), allowing the board to rotate on the roll axis between the wheels. You'd have passive roll stability, the capability to turn around in place, and still let the rider carve. You couldn't go off road, but you'd retain the range and speed enjoyed by his hard wheel design.

[SkateFirst.SamT]

Ive adjusted my veiws on their company, would be an awsome toy if i had the money but for now I am beyond pleased with OW and their company, they have been incredibly helpfull and their product is outsanding in its own ways

[enjoi408]

@rainynite @Brutha man The hoverboard is very similar to the OW. As you can see the tire (gigantic rollerblade wheel) is much skinnier than the OW. What I noticed from this was that the center of balance buffer was much smaller. You had to be spot on with your foot placement or you would be fighting yourself finding the perfect balance point. The other thing was that it was incredibly easy to pivot the board in circles because of it. I would describe this feeling like doing a twirl spin on rollerblades.

I let the owner ride the OW and he loved it. He said it was very easy to ride and was impressed with the offroad capabilities. In fact, here are some key differences between the 2. OW - Easy to ride, offroad capabilities, hill climbing power, overall tough / ruggedness, and can stand in one spot. Hoverboard - incredible speed ( top speed and acceleration), mileage, maneuverability (pivoting really easy, riders were able to sliver between tightly spaced cones), easier to carry.

I have done a lot of research on rideables and I have still come to the same conclusion. Each rideable is advantageous in their own area, but there is not one that is set up to excel in all areas (milage, power, rider experience, indoor / outdoor, offroad, maneuverability, easy to carry, charging times) even the OW. I have ridden Boosted, OW, Hovertraks, and Hoverboard. I have to say I enjoyed them all for their own reasons.

I have footage of the Hoverboard but I haven't gotten around to it. A lot of my footage just ends up on my hard drive :/ One day.

[Franky]

@enjoi408, thanks for the mini review!

Here is one big difference....price! Lol
Not sure what in the world they are thinking with that.

[enjoi408]

@franky Yes. You are right, I forgot to add that. I talked to the Founder and he said he doesn't care how much it is. He wants his product to be considered the Tesla of hoverboards. He says he paid about $20,000 per board. I don't know how true that is but I'm just quoting him. An interview I saw, he mentioned that if his Kickstarter doesn't make it, he's just going to sell a few to his friends and call it. When I talked to him, he kept mentioning he's not here to make a dollar. He's not in it for the money but rather a push forward in future of transportation. I see Robert similar to Kyle in that they both make multiple products and are not fully 100% involved in their hoverboard. They both are pushing for a better future at whatever cost, utilizing their engineering background. I suggested to Robert that he should help take a stand against the the bill AB 2054 banning all motorized skateboards of any form in California. Hopefully we can all come together to overturn this bill.

[Franky]

@enjoi408, can't say I understand his logic about the money. He is saying he paid 20k per prototype unit so he wants to sell them for 4K but on the other hand he isn't interested in making money and wants to advance transportation. I interpret that as they guy either doesn't understand the marketplace or he is just saying screw it, I'm tired of this long project and I'll be glad to be done with it after it fails by selling what I've got left to friends.

They guy will at least meet the goal of not making any money but if nobody buys his product, he is not advancing transportation unless someone buys the rights and puts together a realistic business model.

[rainynite]

@enjoi408 thanks for the review! You're pretty lucky that you had the opportunity t to try so many of these boards. I'd say that he's pushing it claiming to be the Tesla of the industry - he'd have to prove that the Hoverboard is a game changer industry wise.

[jim]

I got to try the Hoverboard last week at their office in Santa Clara. There is defiantly a learning curve to get over but I felt I could comfortably ride it after 20-30 min practice. I have almost 500 miles of riding on Onewheel so my balance is good. Yes it was bumpy on cracks and rocks but not as rough as I originally thought. The one area it beats Onewheel hands down is the easy to carry it when you run out of battery. The hole in the center of the wheel makes for a great handle and the weight is evenly distributed and you felt almost no effort to hand on.
They are still running beta software and the sensors did not always detect when you picked up the board and the motor was running. I am sure they will fix these small things in the production boards.
If the cost was the same as Onewheel I would buy one just for variety but at $3k+ it's priced out of my interest.

[enjoi408]

Looks like he got another interview.

http://mashable.com/2015/10/07/hoverboard-hands-on/#ENVzaq0lmSqT

[Crashem]

@frankly

I don't know if founder is telling the truth about the 20k (could be factoring his RD in there). I will tell you this. Tesla lost a ton of money on each of the roadsters they sold, not including all the RD expense which was substantial. Roadster was a carbon fiber body car for 100kish. Hard to find any other carbon fiber car for under 300k. It's a business strategy. Not sure if smart in this case or even accurate. But doesn't necessarily mean anything negative even though it could.

[craiger123]

What I liked about this is you could change batteries at home. Even upgrade it to a better model at home.