View Single Post
Old 08-24-2014, 05:17 PM   #13
KSagal
Glides a lot, talks more...
KSagal has much to be proud ofKSagal has much to be proud ofKSagal has much to be proud ofKSagal has much to be proud ofKSagal has much to be proud ofKSagal has much to be proud ofKSagal has much to be proud ofKSagal has much to be proud ofKSagal has much to be proud of
 
KSagal's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Pelham, NH, USA.
Posts: 10,356
5 yr Member HT/PT Owner SegwayFest Attendee
Default

We can get political about this, but the issue is really how we value and perceive the segway as owners.

As to the previous arguments, I believe it is easily possible to get a Toyota or even a Mercedes having been touched and assembled by more United States workers than a Chevy or Cadillac, even though they may not be union workers. Union workers and the middle class are not at all the same thing, and the unions are the owners of the current crop of politicians, regardless of the letter after their name, D or R. BUT THIS IS not my point.

My point is that as owners of segways, we have to decide for ourselves just what we own.

I was an early buyer, and in 2003 I bought what was new technology to me, new to the market, and an item that had no equal or alternative. I liked it. In 2006, I bought again, newer technology, still no equal available, so if I wanted that technology, I had one place to shop.

By then, I had surely tried a q scooter, pretty much a rad-to-go, and other names for a stand up knock off from China, with two large wheels to make it look like a segway, and two smaller casters or wheels under the rear of the platform to make it stay upright.

So, cheap knock offs did exist, but the core technology had yet to be duplicated and available for sale. (individuals had made individual units and prototypes, but only as projects, not competition)

Now, we have a different story. There are alternatives. Clearly, a stolen concept. Or a copied one, if you would rather. Not so clearly if it was a reverse engineered copy of patented work, or just a copy. Over the shelf technology now does exist to make a copy of a segway, without stepping on the intellectual property of the segway...

So, what do we own?

Is it a transportation device that is using technology that is now purchasable from multiple sources? Is it the same as a laptop computer that the off brands can be arguably comparable to the big names? Or is it something more?

I owned a 1964 1/2 Ford Mustang. If I added anything built after or with newer technology, it would reduce its value.

I owned a 1999 Volvo C70 convertible. If it broke and I added a newer technology alternator, as an example, it would not reduce its value, but increase it.

I loved both cars. But they were different in my eyes. I miss them both, but not the same ways.

We can all value our segways because of what they do. Most of us will agree, they do what they do very well.

But while some of us also value our segways because of what they are, where they came from and who made them, not all of us see that the same way, or value it to the same degree.

The computer I am typing on is an HP, using windows. I do not feel lessened by the fact that it is not an IBM or Apple. I do not feel lessened because the windows operating system was clearly a copy of the apple product of that time period, and once developed, it evolved along its own path.

For those who are condemning the Chinese copies, I ask who built your computer to complain with? Did they invent it, or at some time in the past, was it a copy of something someone else invented?

I like my Segway, and am very happy it is a real one, and not a clone or copy. I generally do not endorse (with my purchasing dollars) a product I know is a clone or copy to save money, but that is not at all absolute.

My segway is somewhat between the mustang and the C70. It is between a collector's item and a transportation device. It is between a cherished possession, and a functioning tool. How much of one or the other changes by day.

This is a Segway Enthusiast site. It is not a stand up transportation device enthusiasts site. I can understand that here, it is often thought of as inappropriate to tout some other device over the segway. I even mostly agree. But at the same time, I also enjoy honest comparisons between ying and yang, and invite that here as well.
__________________
Karl Ian Sagal

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


"Well done is better than well said." (Ben Franklin)
Bene factum melior bene dictum

Proud past President of SEG America and member of the First Premier Segway Enthusiasts Group and subsequent ones as well.
KSagal is offline