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Old 03-18-2017, 09:45 PM   #1
Pescador12
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Default Mini Pro rental tours

Just saw my first youtube video promoting Segway tours that use Mini Pros. Pretty funny since they are such little things. I image the tour operator following along on a full size Segway with a pair of mini pros strapped on the fenders to swap out if needed.

They were charging $25 for the 90min tour. Value would be the quality of the guide. Is that the going rate for full size?
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Old 03-19-2017, 09:58 AM   #2
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Originally Posted by Pescador12 View Post
Just saw my first youtube video promoting Segway tours that use Mini Pros. Pretty funny since they are such little things. I image the tour operator following along on a full size Segway with a pair of mini pros strapped on the fenders to swap out if needed.

They were charging $25 for the 90min tour. Value would be the quality of the guide. Is that the going rate for full size?
How about when one of them fails and like a resent poster, takes a header and breaks there arm?
With out redundancy this is far more dangerous than a bike!

I will bet this owner has no idea the danger till its to late!
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Old 03-19-2017, 12:09 PM   #3
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How about when one of them fails and like a resent poster, takes a header and breaks there arm?
With out redundancy this is far more dangerous than a bike!

I will bet this owner has no idea the danger till its to late!
Always a possibility. Lots of people wear helmets and wrist guards on Mini Pros just in case.

I am sure it will look just like a full size segway crash. Like the video of the lady going to cross the street, on a tour, who clipped a bullard and went down. Or the camera guy, crossing a football field on a x2 segway (no handlebars), who ran over a football and went down.

I worry more about novices and the smaller Mini Pro's wheels. They aren't as smooth over obstacles, pavement heaves, roadside gutters. etc. Without ever riding a big segway, I think there would be more platform pitching and unexpected movements on a mini pro due to the 10" wheels.
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Old 03-19-2017, 03:35 PM   #4
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I will repeat what I said.....There is no redundancy and these are far more dangerous than a original Segway....

If you dont get a warning how do you know your going head first over it?

YOU DONT!


Please look at this thread. http://forums.segwaychat.org/showthread.php?t=34957
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Old 03-19-2017, 06:51 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by airdale View Post
I will repeat what I said.....There is no redundancy and these are far more dangerous than a original Segway....

If you dont get a warning how do you know your going head first over it?

YOU DONT!


Please look at this thread. http://forums.segwaychat.org/showthread.php?t=34957

I saw it. Fair enough that the lack of redundancy is a big issue for some people. I don't think it is far more dangerous. I don't worry about that specific failure mode when I ride.

I might have second thoughts if it shuts down and I spill my coffee
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Old 03-20-2017, 09:28 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by airdale View Post
I will repeat what I said.....There is no redundancy and these are far more dangerous than a original Segway....

If you dont get a warning how do you know your going head first over it?

YOU DONT!


Please look at this thread. http://forums.segwaychat.org/showthread.php?t=34957
I'm not exactly clear why you keep referring to that thread. Are you aware that a Ninebot Elite is totally different from a MiniPro?

I don't have any proof that a MiniPro is safer than an Elite, but I have also never seen any proof that it isn't. Have you seen any sources that address this?
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Old 03-20-2017, 11:21 AM   #7
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When you develop a new technology, you have to be very careful of the end result of any failures once you start selling them - If you don't, the public perception of your new gee whiz thing can turn 180 degrees almost overnight and the many millions you have invested are gone in an instant

For example, electric cars - Occasionally we read about a good ole gasoline car which catches fire in the garage and burns down the house - Doesn't happen very often, thankfully, but there was a problem with a brake light switch on a certain model that actually caused a few houses to go up in flames. If this happened even once to a newly marketed EV, the 'stain' on all EV's would be catastrophic and would set the industry back many years.

Three Tesla's caught fire as a result of an accident breaching the battery pack and the public was up in arms, calling them 'unsafe' even though not a single person was burned or killed - Never mind the fact that 17 gasoline powered cars catch fire every hour in the USA, killing more than 200 people every year. Public perception of anything new is critical and you've got to get it right the first time

Hoverboards - Everybody was tripping all over themselves to get the cheapest hoverboard on the market in time for Christmas not too long ago. Obviously, they cut corners everywhere they could to save money so they could sell their model for less than their competition. Various models caught fire all over the place and finally this month, one burned down a house and killed a three year old. Many recalls, but obviously the problem still isn't 100% fixed. I would NEVER have one of those in my house!

When Segways were first developed it became obvious very quickly that there was a real probability that almost any malfunction in the machine could toss the rider off and maybe even kill him/her depending on what they got tossed into. A product that they had hoped to bring in quickly and at a much lower cost became much more complicated as they sought to make it safe for anyone to ride. In the book, they relate how in the early development stage nearly everyone who tried it had an episode of getting tossed into a wall or worse

Back to the drawing boards! Each time they discovered any malfunction that could seriously harm the rider, they went to work to eliminate that possibility . . . . . and the complexity and price kept soaring. What they hoped would be simple and cheap to build so that everyone could afford one, making it possible to revolutionize personal transportation ended up being so complex and expensive that almost nobody could afford one - Just like the wheelchair that preceded it - Great wheelchair, but at a price of $25K there weren't many buyers. It had to be literally perfect . . . . if a wheelchair killed even one disabled occupant, the news would have literally shot down the entire project and every dime they had spent developing it would have been lost

What we got with the Seg was a very safe machine *because* they eventually found the only safe way was to have dual everything - If a failure of any single component or series of components could toss the rider into traffic, there are two systems so that when one fails, the redundant system can sound the alarm and safely bring the machine to a stop - Very few riders ever get tossed because the machine has a failure. You should be able to ride a Seg on only one battery for about 10 miles, but you can't, can you? For 12 or 14 years, Segs have built up a remarkable reputation as a very safe means of transport with few problems

'Segway' has been sold now a couple of times. What did the current owners actually pay for? Mostly that reputation, and now they're beginning to trade on it - They are making the cheap, affordable machine that Dean Kamen dreamed of and they're selling them for only a few hundred dollars - Why couldn't Dean have done that?

Mini-Pro buyers see the 'Segway' brand on it and assume it's built to the same standards as the machines that built up that reputation. If I didn't know a darned thing about the technology (and most buyers don't) I would see all these cheap Chinese attempts at building a $500 Segway-like device and steer clear of all of them, especially after seeing all the Chinese hoverboards catching fire, *but* when I see the Segway name on a $750 'personal transporter' I'm automatically impressed . . . . by the name, even if I don't have a clue exactly what I'm buying. Surely Segway wouldn't sell anything that's unsafe . . . . would they? They never have before

I hear "It's better than a real Segway because it only weighs 28 pounds and you can carry it with you" and I guess some people actually think that - All of the amazing Segway safety technology has been reduced to 28 pounds and $750. Truly remarkable!

Do you think they left anything out?

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Old 03-20-2017, 12:41 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SegNerd View Post
I'm not exactly clear why you keep referring to that thread. Are you aware that a Ninebot Elite is totally different from a MiniPro?

I don't have any proof that a MiniPro is safer than an Elite, but I have also never seen any proof that it isn't. Have you seen any sources that address this?
I guess by personal experiance isnt good enough for you?...sigh
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Old 03-19-2017, 05:51 PM   #9
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Always a possibility. Lots of people wear helmets and wrist guards on Mini Pros just in case.

I am sure it will look just like a full size segway crash.
I kinda doubt it. Crashes on Segway tours are fairly rare because they are so much easier to ride - They rent them to 65 and 70 year old customers . . . . I can't imagine that with Mino-Pros. It's a recipe for disaster if they try

2 hour Seg tours in most cities are $60 to $90 depending on what else is included. We paid $75 in Nashville and the tour included entrance to 3 museums. We were novices then and had never set foot on a Seg and our tour guide was excellent!! She made sure we didn't ever get into a situation that might result in a dismount. Helmets are mandatory on every tour we've seen

I would guess Mini-Pro 'incidents' might be described as 'crashes' some quite possibly with injuries, whereas most Seg incidents would be better described as 'dismounts' where the operator doesn't always wind up on the ground. I think the odds of a face plant would be much greater on a Mini just because of the difference in the machines

Anyway, good luck to them with the Mini tours - I hope they make enough money to cover their insurance payments!

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Old 03-19-2017, 06:52 PM   #10
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They seem to require a bunch of stuff before letting folks ride:

https://www.segintown.com/4dptdcp

(Number 5 of those lets me out - I don't have a smartphone).

And then, I'm confident that they require that folks sign a legal form saying they understand it's dangerous, and they won't sue the company.
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