TiVoAussie
11-08-2003, 07:49 PM
Hi Folks
Well, it's here, many thanks to Ben Bethel, a true gentleman. We spent 3 hours with him at the Sydney Airport Hilton assembling and demo'ing the Segway and I feel we gained a good friend!
As some of you know, it was purchased mainly for my wife, Clair, who like a number here has a very slight mobility problem, and we had some concerns if it would "work" for her. Well, we needn't have worried! It took only a few attempts and a little practice before she could mount, ride, and dismount with ease.
A tip for others: although she wanted to try standing on it first off unassisted, it made it a lot easier when I held it rigidly so she could mount and get the feel for how to balance and control the "bucking". Once she had learnt how to bring it into balance she was able to do it easily as she mounted and from then on there were no problems!
First impressions:
Before even riding, it was obvious that the Segway was well engineered, I had read a comment somewhere that it had the feel of a top quality power tool and I couldn't agree more! Strangely, compared with other "first comments" I've read, it didn't seem as big as we expected.
On riding: Had the first ride in the hotel room, probably not the best place! I had sworn to myself I wouldn't let it buck, but I did, darn it! But not for long! After a little messing about in the room (we'd already watched the safety video in advance) we went down to the carpark for a "real" glide.
It sure does attract attention! Ben rode it expertly through the lobby (no hands, and with arms outstretched, looking strangely like Christ walking on water!) and into the carpark, where a series of high speed slalom turns astonished a busload of Japanese tourists, and elicited what I now know are the standard questions... What is it? How much? How far/fast?
My go next! Black key... Fun! Fun! A few laps around the carpark, demoing stick push back and reverse vibrate and I'm riding (I think) like a pro, although watching the video footage later reveals that I'm not looking as expert as I feel! This is huge fun! The power is surprising, I'm amazed to feel it hold me rock steady half way up a speed bump.
Clair doesn't feel ready to try it in public yet so Ben lets me try the red key, there's plenty of space and it seems safe. First thing I notice is the turning is really twitchy compared to the black, I might need to get the gear to burn some custom keys with a slower rate.
Anyway, the speed surprises me, I'm not sure I'd want to go faster, even with the Seg's redundant systems, in a fall you could seriously hurt yourself. After riding around for a while, and having a ball, Ben took it for a farewell ride, then it's time to pack up, drop Ben at the airport and return to Canberra. Oops, it doesn't fit in the Audi's boot (trunk to you guys:)). Never mind, fits on the rear seat so we're off!
Back in Canberra, Clair has her first ride in the back yard, and in no time is doing great, after an hour she's ready to go public (there's only so much fun you can have in a backyard!) and she heads off along the sidewalk outside our house. Every car that passes does a double take, one even goes around the block and returns for a second look!
When we finally call it a day her comment is "That was the most fun I ever had in my life!" I think we can call it a success!
Gripes: Very few and minor... The charging LED's could have used multi-coloured LED's at very little extra cost, feedback by blink rate is an engineer's solution, better would have been say, white during the 2 minute initial pulsing, red during the main charge phase, amber during the cell balancing and green on completion. Should also have been above, not below the charging socket. Minor issue, once you've seen it cycle through the varios phases once it's not a problem, but first time we tended to think "is that a slow blink or a rapid blink?"
I would have liked to see the control shaft etched with "person height" settings, like 5'0" 5'2" 5'4" etc, it'd make it easier to get the initial setting roughly correct.
The 16mm deep socket required for wheel removal should have been supplied, in quantity they'd only cost a buck or so, and they're not the easiest thing to find, not in Canberra anyway!
The instruction video should have been on DVD, seriously, can there be anybody who owns a Segway but not a DVD player?
These "gripes" are pathetically trivial, but I felt like I was gushing too much praise :)
In conclusion, a great machine, a credit to DK, and all those who worked on it!
At last I can add the "Segway owner" icon to my posts!
I could write more, but it's a sunny, late spring morning in beautiful Canberra... Guess what we're going to do!
Cheers
Ron
I like Spam, it's like a dial tone for email!
If the spam's coming in then I know everything's okay!
Well, it's here, many thanks to Ben Bethel, a true gentleman. We spent 3 hours with him at the Sydney Airport Hilton assembling and demo'ing the Segway and I feel we gained a good friend!
As some of you know, it was purchased mainly for my wife, Clair, who like a number here has a very slight mobility problem, and we had some concerns if it would "work" for her. Well, we needn't have worried! It took only a few attempts and a little practice before she could mount, ride, and dismount with ease.
A tip for others: although she wanted to try standing on it first off unassisted, it made it a lot easier when I held it rigidly so she could mount and get the feel for how to balance and control the "bucking". Once she had learnt how to bring it into balance she was able to do it easily as she mounted and from then on there were no problems!
First impressions:
Before even riding, it was obvious that the Segway was well engineered, I had read a comment somewhere that it had the feel of a top quality power tool and I couldn't agree more! Strangely, compared with other "first comments" I've read, it didn't seem as big as we expected.
On riding: Had the first ride in the hotel room, probably not the best place! I had sworn to myself I wouldn't let it buck, but I did, darn it! But not for long! After a little messing about in the room (we'd already watched the safety video in advance) we went down to the carpark for a "real" glide.
It sure does attract attention! Ben rode it expertly through the lobby (no hands, and with arms outstretched, looking strangely like Christ walking on water!) and into the carpark, where a series of high speed slalom turns astonished a busload of Japanese tourists, and elicited what I now know are the standard questions... What is it? How much? How far/fast?
My go next! Black key... Fun! Fun! A few laps around the carpark, demoing stick push back and reverse vibrate and I'm riding (I think) like a pro, although watching the video footage later reveals that I'm not looking as expert as I feel! This is huge fun! The power is surprising, I'm amazed to feel it hold me rock steady half way up a speed bump.
Clair doesn't feel ready to try it in public yet so Ben lets me try the red key, there's plenty of space and it seems safe. First thing I notice is the turning is really twitchy compared to the black, I might need to get the gear to burn some custom keys with a slower rate.
Anyway, the speed surprises me, I'm not sure I'd want to go faster, even with the Seg's redundant systems, in a fall you could seriously hurt yourself. After riding around for a while, and having a ball, Ben took it for a farewell ride, then it's time to pack up, drop Ben at the airport and return to Canberra. Oops, it doesn't fit in the Audi's boot (trunk to you guys:)). Never mind, fits on the rear seat so we're off!
Back in Canberra, Clair has her first ride in the back yard, and in no time is doing great, after an hour she's ready to go public (there's only so much fun you can have in a backyard!) and she heads off along the sidewalk outside our house. Every car that passes does a double take, one even goes around the block and returns for a second look!
When we finally call it a day her comment is "That was the most fun I ever had in my life!" I think we can call it a success!
Gripes: Very few and minor... The charging LED's could have used multi-coloured LED's at very little extra cost, feedback by blink rate is an engineer's solution, better would have been say, white during the 2 minute initial pulsing, red during the main charge phase, amber during the cell balancing and green on completion. Should also have been above, not below the charging socket. Minor issue, once you've seen it cycle through the varios phases once it's not a problem, but first time we tended to think "is that a slow blink or a rapid blink?"
I would have liked to see the control shaft etched with "person height" settings, like 5'0" 5'2" 5'4" etc, it'd make it easier to get the initial setting roughly correct.
The 16mm deep socket required for wheel removal should have been supplied, in quantity they'd only cost a buck or so, and they're not the easiest thing to find, not in Canberra anyway!
The instruction video should have been on DVD, seriously, can there be anybody who owns a Segway but not a DVD player?
These "gripes" are pathetically trivial, but I felt like I was gushing too much praise :)
In conclusion, a great machine, a credit to DK, and all those who worked on it!
At last I can add the "Segway owner" icon to my posts!
I could write more, but it's a sunny, late spring morning in beautiful Canberra... Guess what we're going to do!
Cheers
Ron
I like Spam, it's like a dial tone for email!
If the spam's coming in then I know everything's okay!