Wow!
Guess the price of segways will finally come down. WAY down.
...so will the quality and reputation??

Oh well, the writing was on the wall.

I'm curious, how would you describe Segway's current reputation?

An american company with a product unmatched, even after all these years, in reliability and technical innovation. hence, all the chinese knockoffs.

The $3199 price is still at least a couple thousand less than an a Segway-branded equivalent (in the US. Other places, Segs are MUCH more expensive), and that price is from the previously exclusive NineBot dealer in the US.

With regards to quality and reputation, keep in mind that it is likely that your smart phone is produced in China (not to mention a significant fraction of the components in your car or truck). If Chinese factories can produce smart phones, they can easily produce the Seg, which is 10-year old "yester-tech" by today's standards.

But cell phones don't run on wheels, and have crappy aluminum wound motors?...
I would say....Look at a ceiling fan made in China, then look at the innards of a Casablanca....

Every corner will be cut, the cheapest products used...all to increase one thing profits!!!

Well, Segway was, until late 2013, a UK-owned company.

Serious "technical innovation" of the HT/PT products essentially ended in 2006, with the release of the I2. There's been nothing since that qualifies as "technical innovation", in my book. The basic concept of a balanced inverted pendulum is AGES old. Engineering students sometimes have to create their own inverted pendulum control systems as part of their curriculum. To his credit, Dean Kamen/Segway patented the implementation of the inverted pendulum into the two-wheel, self-balancing products. That, and LeanSteer, form the basis of their patent protection, and have (largely) protected Segway from competitors building two-wheeled self-balancing rides.

Regarding reliability, how reliable ARE Segs? Anyone who visits this site regularly can point to known issues that have affected reliability in the past, so Segs are not perfect. The radio killing the rear battery is a good example!

I am not aware of any published quality reports, such as Dead-On-Arrival or Customer Initial Quality Satisfaction reports. How does Segway reliability compare to their competition? Is there anyone on this forum who has facts to substantiate "unmatched reliability", or is this just an individual perception?

Finally, there are a lot of complaints about service. Many dealers seem to be incapable of actually working on Segs. Far too many issues require the Segs to be sent back to the factory, instead of being fixed locally.

...keep in mind that it is likely that your smart phone is produced in China (not to mention a significant fraction of the components in your car or truck)

Your observation is correct, but your conclusion is not.
Segway INC would not allow dealers to repair Segway products.

Sure, dealers were allowed to bolt on a new fender to replace a cracked one, but they were not permitted to any serious service work.
That alone, was a deal-breaker in this part of the world.

It will be interesting to see what the new company line will be.

Michael
www.dgbint.com

In my opinion, the perception of everything Chinese being junk is basically just racism at this point. When it comes to working with Chinese manufacturers, you get what you pay for. Apple's iPhone is produced in China, and the people who use them consider them to be of the highest quality. Apple pays for this level of quality control. When Home Depot has one of their cheap fans or fixures made in China, they probably aren't very selective.

Racism? You due understand the definition right?

Its about the all mighty dollar! Period end of story....If you can pay someone $1.25 and hour with no benefits....
You get a few CEO's and stockholders reaping the benefits of the slave labor camps....I mean factory's!

Americans have become so cheap and its only about price!...

An IPhone has no moving parts a Segway does...Apples subs out there product to a company that builds there products, over works there employee's and has netting outside so the people who try to kill themselves, fail....Then get fired!

Its been a long time policy for American manufactures to go to China, Japan, and other countries and get tax breaks...

Have you seen the market flooded with Chinese cars yet?