Quote:
Originally Posted by DarthSegVator
The battery rebuilders are having excellent results with repacked NiMh batteries. Range can equal or even surpass Li-Ion's when rebuilt properly. NiMh are also a great value and help keep depleted batteries out of the waste stream.
Some users need the ability to fly with their machines and cannot currently do so commercially with Li-Ion batteries.
It seems like the only reason they cannot be used on Gen 2 machines is a software issue. Inc. must have some reason for this. As Gen 1 machines become harder to find (including parts), this is going to be a major issue for some.
Do anyone know why they decided only Li-Ion's on Gen 2's?
And any idea if/when they will re-think their position on this and offer a software version for Gen 2 machines that supports both Li-Ion and NiMh?
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I think they went with lions on the gen two's because they were the best solution available for extended range at the time. Keeping in mind that the lions debuted with the launch of the 05' product line, one can see that among "average users" the vast majority sprang for the lions due to the extra range temperature window, and simpler maintenance that they afforded. As time went on and lions became more ubiquitous among the gen ones, INC. began to see that NIMH weren't really in that high of demand so they went with lion for the gen two's. Now keep in mind that that was 2.5-3 years ago which is a lifetime as far as tech is concerned, the re packers have only started with the high capacity NIMH this last year so perhaps at the launch of the gen two's, those cells hadn't even existed yet. I don't think we are going to see NIMH made available for the current gen machines because it would encourage the disabled market, as well as rack up the re-tooling costs required to re manufacture the nihms. However I do think we will see a NIMH powered seg in future generations based on Norrod's remarks at SegwayFesT. If they are really gunning for a smaller model, they're going to have to cater to the needs of a captive audience which I think will include airline travelers. IMO, nimhs are far from dead, merely evolving.
-segsurfer