Riding Swagway's New Swagtron 'Hoverboard' Scooter

LAS VEGAS—"We have completely redesigned everything."

CES 2022 Bug Art One of the more reputable brands to sally out of the Great Hoverboard Swamp of 2022, Swagway fabricated the X1, our favorite two-wheeled scooter of the year: inexpensive, but easy to command and unlikely to explode. But company president John Zhu knows that he needs to do more if Swagway's going to survive into 2022, a tough environment which has already seen a patent lawsuit from rival Razor and all scooters banned on major U.S. airlines.

Thus, the Swagtron, Swagway'due south new $499 scooter. It looks like a hoverboard, but it's been subtly redesigned to be safer, more durable, and easier to use.

How It Rides
The redesign starts with the outer cover, which is a more durable plastic than on the original X1. My X1 tended to scratch up a lot when I was first learning it, and the new model looks less easily marked.

Swagway Swagtron

The Swagtron volition come in ii models: one with quad Bluetooth speakers under the body, and one without. Both models have a handy carrying strap, which the original Swagway X1 and competitors did not. The Bluetooth model will work with an Android or iOS app that includes an odometer and speedometer, as well as controls to switch between the Swagway'due south like shooting fish in a barrel-handling "learning" and jumpier "sport" modes. That really demystifies utilize.

I took a ride on two of the units. They're still prototypes, and the steering on 1 was quite stiff. In learning fashion, they're piece of cake to step on to—they don't jump abroad from you. They rode similar Swagway X1s, so, pretty comfortably. They max out at most 8mph and have the aforementioned battery capacity equally last yr'southward units, Zhu said—that's nigh 7.5 miles with slight hills, or 12 miles on a flat surface. It no loger beeps repeatedly when you get fast.

Legal Flames
I asked Zhu directly nigh the two biggest problems his company faces: lawsuits, and the whole industry's tendency for products to go up in flames.

Razor and Ninebot now claim to have patents that employ to almost all hoverboards. Segway is suing Swagway and Razor, and Razor is suing the other ii as well. Lauren Vocal, a spokeswoman for Swagway, said "legal counsel strongly feels [Razor's] patent is going to exist invalid once they come down to it."

Swagway Swagtron

Swagway, meanwhile, is fighting its own battle against apocryphal models that utilize its name. Song has said that supposedly Swagway-branded hoverboards that have gone up in flames, such as one in New York City, were probably counterfeits. While Swagway and the counterfeits await alike, changing the design will help Swagway differentiate itself, Zhu said.

The company has also "introduced a lot of safety features to make sure that rubber is the primary concern," Zhu said. While Swagway has always used Samsung batteries and insulated wiring, the new Swagtron is made of a more rugged, fire-resistant plastic, and it will accept a "picket shield," a physical component that protects the battery.

"It'south a specially designed chamber to contain the fauna of lithium [batteries]," Zhu joked.

Swagway is besides working with the Consumer Production Safety Committee to create a set of all-time practices and testing standards for the industry, he said.

The Swagtron will launch in February at $499. Nosotros'll accept a review.