Screw the Segway!!!!

[Deja Q]

The new Segway HT, and at a lower price!

$4,500 plus shipping and taxes for this joke?! Bloody hell, that's almost 2/3 the price of a Kia and at least the Kia has a 10 year warranty and is close to a price a car ought to cost!

It only goes 12.5MPh, even a bike you pedel with your own energy costs $4,400 less!

They don't look all that sturdily built either...

Leave the battery for electric and hybrid cars and do some bloody walking for pity's sake!

[HEyHEY]

1. I'm sure you can beef it up!

Maybe get that puppy to run an even 13 miles per hour

[Deja Q]

12. Yeah man, overclocking!

:D

[DS1]

13. Redneck mod-chip it to make only left turns

:evilgrin:

[FauxNewsBlues]

2. If it's good enough for Dick Cheney

I will take a pass on it.

[name not needed]

3. read this

http://maddox.xmission.com/c.cgi?u=segway_more_complicated_than_it_needs_to_be

[terrya]

4. The Bush family owns several Segways

Which alone makes me even less inclined to buy one.

What a stupid invention, IMO.

[BlueJazz]

5. And another thing...the Bag that they are selling for 100.00

is made out of Genuine Nylon with plastic hooks....
Christ, you could buy the same thing at any store for 12-16 dollars.

Seems these products are made for suckers.

[Old and In the Way]

6. I think you're missing the point.........

What makes the Segway special is the technology. You have 12 micros that are sensing position via gyro's and making instanteous adjustments.

Dean is a brilliant inventor. This same technology is in wheelchairs. He's developed insulin pumps and is now working on an energy cell the size of small refrigerator that will deliver power and clean water. He started this after seeing the need for such decentralized systems and clean water in Bangledesh.

Maybe the Segway is expensive today, but you're talking about initial production costs where the design engineering and start-up manufacturing costs are being recovered. I expect that the costs will come down considerably as volumes increase. Seems to me that if this device or similar ones can replace gas powered scooters, that is a good thing.

[Deja Q]

14. #5 makes a better point...

But that's all beside the point. What good is the Segway for? You dare not use it in a large office building. It's not easy to carry groceries on it. You have to concentrate while on it, which means you can't use it and talk on your cell phone or what not.

Yet alone the issue of exercise, I like to walk.

I certainly fear for the day that these things take off and people are whizzing on public trails, meant for pedestrians and bikers and people with dogs (or cats, though that makes for a very weird sight...)

His gyros and micros and things are all better suited for more practical things, which you also mentioned. For a cheap unhealthy alternative to walking, I'd maybe spend $1000 max, but even then I'd rather put the money elsewhere.

Besides, you make it sound like anyone can use it and not trip. Remember the idiot who was selected by the partisan supreme court of the united states on 12 December 2000 to become president, which was the stupidist choice they've ever made? He used one and tripped over. Must've been a defective model.

Gas powered scooter?! Why isn't the GOP lobbying to protect those instead?

If he's so brilliant, why did he put the Segway higher up on his list of things to do than the small energy cell that can deliver water to people in a country who'll probably get an influx of cheap American jobs over the next decade? Jobs or not, water and its distribution to people seems to be of a higher priority than something to make the rich CEOs even more lazy.

[Old and In the Way]

21. You seem to have a real hatred for this product.

I don't know if it will revolutionize anything, but it seems to me he's on the right track of using non-polluting electric motors as an alternative to urban smog/pollution. Perhaps this country is not ready for this technology, but I can think of plenty of places in the world where this would be an incredidle improvement of noisy, polluting 2-cycle engines.

Maybe the Segway is a non-starter, like other 1st generation products developed on cutting edge technology. But maybe the core technology will find it's way into other applications that will be far more revolutionary.

Sadly, the idiot in K'Port who fell off the Segway probably did more PR damage than he realizes. He showed it is possible to fall off one of these things....no small feat from what I've seen.

Sure it's a toy novelty now that only those with lots of cash to burn can afford. But they are paying the initial costs that may allow this to get to a price point that will make this an affordable mode of transportation in developing countries.....if so, I think he's doing this world a great service in promoting options to hydrocarbon based transit systems.

[ProudGerman]

7. sigh......

The Segway itself isn't the engineering breakthrough. Its the fact that it'll keep itself upright, and moving almost no matter how hard you try to fall off. (someone should tell Bunnypants that it only works when turned on)

Now I'll agree that a people mover is a piss poor implementation of this technology. But that doesn't make it a stupid invention. Eventually someone, or the inventor himself, will come up with a brilliant implementation of the technology.

[Akbar]

8. The Great Thing About America!

If you don't want to buy a Segway, you don't have to!

That doesn't mean that those of us who have bought one shouldn't continue enjoying the heck out of them.

To each his own.

[Deja Q]

16. True

But that wasn't my argument.

[KG]

9. well, it was hyped as something that would revolutionized the way we live

the way computers did.

but it looks like it will just be historic curiosity.

[Akbar]

10. Yeah--It Didn't Take Off as Quickly

As airplanes,cars or the computers did. Heck, what was it, like two moonths after the TRS-80 came out before everyone had a P.C. in their house? The Segway's been out for nearly a year and only sold 6000.

[Castilleja]

11. Not only that but...

Everyone I have ever seen riding one looks dorky. Sorry if anyone here might have one, but they do. I think it is the standing straight up despite the fact that you are moving. Plus for that price you can get a helluva bike! Or an entire used car. when someone figures out how to help people to fly on their own, THAT will be ground breaking transportation.

[Deja Q]

18. But it's the cost of development...

The chap who made that post is correct.

Assuming enough people are dumb enough to buy these, the price will go down. I wonder what they'll think then... Okay, "dumb" is a bit harsh. But given the point that they're not good for much as they are and take away from rudimentary exercise, the users aren't bright. Case in point: George W Bush. :evilgrin:

[Akbar]

19. George W. Bush Eats Pretzels

Does that mean that everyone who eats pretzels is a dimwit?

Hey, there are plenty of people who want Segways but can't afford them. Heck, I would love a Ferrari, but it's not in the cards right now.

Did you know that you used to have to pay several hundred dollars for a floppy drive for your home computer? Did you know that at one time, a VCR could cost you nearly $1000. A CD player ran about $500-$600. If you wanted one, you had to pay a premium. If you couldn't afford it, you didn't buy one. Eventually the price came down, allowing yourself to hit yourself in the head and say "geez, if only I had waited a few years longer, I could have gotten it for a fraction of the price." However, waiting a few years longer meant you had to wait a few years.

As far as the exercise issue goes, that's the kind of argument that is worthy of the Free Republic. Do you realize that driving a car isn't exercise. Do you know that riding a bus or a subway isn't exercise? Of course you do, and you'd probably be insulted if someone suggested you didn't. No one thinks the Segway is exercise, and the only people who mention that issue only seem to be people who have an axe to grind over the Segway.

If I want exercise, I'll walk, run, ride my bike, or go to the gym. I won't jump in my car or on the Segway--that's not exercise.

Finally, the dorky appearance. What a great important issue. I admit it, people riding Segways look almost as dorky as people sitting at a computer. Nothing we can do about it. Perhaps God needs to hire a new designer for the human body. I suspect that if most people in the world worried too much about how other people thought they'd look, few people would ever leave their homes. So, I look dorky on my Segway. I can't imagine how I'd then not look dorky off my Segway.

Don't worry, they just released a newer cheaper model. In a few years, lots more people will be able to afford them. When you get yours, drop me a line.

[Clete]

15. Don't scooters, roller skates and skate boards accomplish the

same thing? They don't need batteries either. Anyone else, who could possibly use a Segway, really needs a wheelchair or a golf cart to get around.

[Deja Q]

17. Ah, a post I've been waiting for!

O8)

[Book Lover]

20. I wouldn't put my mom on one

She is the perfect customer - elder, diminished use of lower limbs, has a great desire to stay mobile. But they are not fall-proof, can only be used in nice weather, and do not inspire confidence. I understand the USPS uses it in their large buildings, and that makes sense to me. I just don't see the civilian use...

[Old and In the Way]

22. The applicationmay very well may not be here.

But at the right price point, this could be a BIG deal in developing countries that are choking on the smog of polluting 2 cycle engines.

[Ellen Forradalom]

24. Sprawling film lots is another possible application

but I don't know if the studios are using them.

[7th_Sephiroth]

27. Skateboard

Skateboard- $150 for a top of the line *trucks, wheels, bearings, deck and hardware*
Bicycle-$250-$500 wal-mart
Segway-the price of a used jeep plus geek factor and instabilities
Bush falling off one and injuring self-priceless

[grasswire]

23. I know someone who uses one.

He has post-polio syndrome and limited mobility. It's extremely useful for him. He can now zoom around on camping trails and the beach and flea markets etc. Everywhere he goes he's the center of attention.

[moof]

25. Screw the Segway ????

Yikes HypnoToad, moof knew that the segway was battery operated and stayed erect while people rode on it but are you saying the device has other more personal attachments ?? This might explain why people are willing to pay so much money, they are really lonely.

[newyorkdork]

26. Segways would be good

if they were solar powered. Produsing electricity in this country is one of the biggest polluters, with only 40% of the gas and coal generators converting their energy into electricity.

Cars have a higher efficiency percentage in converting gas to travel power.

Just cause these generators are way out in the countryside doesn't mean they should pollute so much.

[Old and In the Way]

28. Technically, they are.

They run on batteries. Batteries can be easily recharged with solar panels. I suspect that the Segway is one of the most efficient non-human methods of transportation, both on power use and material consumption to produce, per person.