The Worst Gift Idea of the Holiday Season [Segway Scooter]

Tech Central Station ^ | December 21, 2001 | Brock Yates

[aculeus]

IT may find a market in airports and warehouses but who the heck wants to stand while commuting. Even a bicycle offers the rider a seat!

[ihatemyalarmclock]

A whole bunch of points are being missed here. When the personal computer was first proposed at IBM, the forecasted a market of less than 10. LOL

Point well taken. My first computer (bought in 1990 for $700 on sale) had no hard drive, 64K of RAM and ran at about 8 mhz. No Internet; you connected to local bulletin boards. There was Compuserve, but at $12.50/hour, it was a damn expensive chat.

Nerdness coming out here: As heard from the man who claimed to be "turned into a newt" in Monty Python and the Holy Grail...

"It got better."

Automobiles were something between a joke and a rich man's fad for their first 15 years. Those got better, too.

My point is, that while Kamen maybe has invented nothing worthwhile here, maybe he has. It's too early to tell.

"640K ought to be enough for anybody"

Bill Gates actually said that in the early days.

[IowaHawk]

"...do men who like those bikes attract chicks?"

It usually helps if you're wearing a beret, smoking a Galois, and swilling cheap wine.

Vehicles and their estimated Hot Chick Attraction Factors:

Segway scooter: 0.4 (4.8 at TrekCon)
'74 Custom Astrovan w/ murals, bubble portholes, waterbed & shag carpet: 1.3
'86 Mazda GLC with 'Dominos Pizza' sign: 1.9
'91 Honda Civic with ground effects, spoiler and 4" exhaust tip from Pep Boys: 2.6
'86 Chevy 4x4 mudder with peeing Calvin sticker and rifle rack: 3.3
1971 Buick Electra 225 Superfly Pimpmobile: 3.7
Cadillac Escalade w/ 21 inch Gangsta rims: 5.3
Deuce roadster: 6.3
Jesse James Coast Chopper: 6.8
Jag X-8 7.5
Ferrari 360 Modena: 9.6
Gulfstream V: 29.8

[mitchbert]

No offence taken. I sheepishly admit that the oddity of the device strongly appeals to my geekier side; the balancing technology fascinates me, though. I can't convince myself of the logical practicality of the machine for specifically the reasons you cite, but I still think it has to be really cool to pilot. The only advantage over a bike for me would be ease of storage in my condo (bike in locker, Segway in closet) but even I can't use that as justification for the price differential. Still want one.

In all honesty, I think the biggest obstacle to consumer acceptance for the current design, even for early technology adopters that will but anything new, is theft. That's an expensive little toy to leave out on the street even if it won't operate without the "key"

Cheers!

[IowaHawk]

I'll amend my last post with a clarification. The proper vehicle for attracting women depends on the kind of quarry you're trying to bag.

For instance, Vespas are handy if you're seeking a slightly insane, Sylvia Plath-type beatnik poetry chick. Jacked-up 4x4 are a good lure for rural Missouri trailer honeys. Lap dancers at Scores go for them NFL-gangsta rim Escalades.

I think the Segway might be a powerful afrodesiac for all those hot chicks in the Dungeons & Dragons club.

[big gray tabby]

You could pick up the Sylvia Plath chick, but you probably couldn't do her unless you committed a crime, like in Restless. She's just going to suspect that you're as big a geek as you likely are.

That's the universal "you," not the 'Hawk "you."

[big gray tabby]

In my neighborhood, the proper vehicle is the Volvo Cross-Country with the pet cage in the back. Rainbbow suspenders complete the West Side Jewess-stalking Trick-Out.

Make sure you make a bad impression on her friends--it guarantees first date sex because there ain't gonna be a second one.

[IowaHawk]

Them Volvo XCs are big around these parts, too. Along with Benz M230s/M430s, Lexus RX300s, BMW X5s and Audi Allroads.

Very useful for attracting the middle-aged harridan J.A.P. Cell Phone Soccer Mom of your dreams.

[big gray tabby]

That Audi All-Road is a stank-ass ride. Ugly as a Sumo's butt inside and out.

[Number_Cruncher]

Can you operate the Segway with one hand? If not, it excludes me from using it. Not that I am that interested anyway.

[aabbccddeeff]

It has alway been viewed as a niche device.
The inventors are interested in profit.

Personally I see it as a golf cart alternative.
This is more an urban very short distance vehicle.

Of course if you own a theme park to you really want
these two wheel wonders ziping all over the place?

Finally note: any vehicle which is individual based
and not mass transit is good.

[r9etb]

It has alway been viewed as a niche device.

That doesn't square with their hype about "redesigning cities" around it.

The inventors are interested in profit.

Probably so. However, in its current form I can't see it supplanting its primary competitor, the bicycle.

[aabbccddeeff]

Here get on my segway, I get behind you.
Now I just need to lean forward and off we go...

[ez2muz]

"To put this into context, for $8000 I can buy two Boattail Buick Rivieras..."

We all know this thing will BE a Riviera in know time.

Soon will come the airbag, seatbelts, AM/FM/8-track/Cassette/CD-changer-DVD player, cell-phone mic/speakers/dc-adaptor, power-lumbar, etc accessories and before you know it, you're checkin' the color charts to try and make your "Segway-Riviera" look different than your neighbors.

[aabbccddeeff]

all valid points
remember betamax vs vhs.
My real interest is if this tech can be
transfered to other areas.

When the car was invented who could predict superhighways?
Did the wright bros. envision the 747?
Henry ford never envisioned the mustang gto.

Besides with a bicycle I have to stradle and peddle.
With the segway I stand and lean.

On a real personal level, I wish I could invest in the
company.

[eno_]

Meow and hissss! I semi-lived on Long Island for a while (if you call that living) and the place with thick with these bored loooking JAPs driving their Lexuses to/from nail salons (I ain't never seen so many nail salons) and plastic surgeon (I ain't never seen so many plastic surgery clinics neither). I can't imagine being married to one. It is a vision of hell on Earth and that's with two car windows between me and them and I haven't heard them talk yet. Land of the Screeching Harridans.

[IowaHawk]

The happy man has a French girlfriend, a Jewish accountant, an Italian cook and a German bodyguard.

The miserable man has a Jewish girlfriend, an Italian accountant, a German cook and a French bodyguard.

[Old Professer]

The only power mower I know of that looks remotely like the Segway is the Toro Greensmaster used at golf courses; maybe one of the many "journalists" who insist on using this simile will take a walk in my neighborhood one day, there isn't a two-wheeled mower on the block.

[IowaHawk]

Check that...

The happy man has a French girlfriend, a Jewish accountant, an Italian cook and a German car.

The miserable man has a Jewish girlfriend, an Italian accountant, a German cook and a French car.

[Old Professer]

When battery technology improves, and it will, subsequent designs could prove much more appropriate for widespead consumer use

People have been saying that since the 19th century and the only promising vehicle today is a refined Edison battery, instead of Edison's nickle/iron plates and grids we now have the nickle-metal hydride (iron and nickle) cells that are expensive, heavy and have low energy-density.