Onewheel Pint motorized scooter rolls on easier, for less
It's a pint-size single-wheel scooter with a pint-size price. Well, relatively speaking.
One of my favorite new modes of personal transportation is the Onewheel Plus XR, a self-balancing one-wheeled motorized scooter that I used to terrorize the streets of New York last year. But the XR model is $1,800 -- a hefty price for avoiding the subway.
Now Onewheel creator Future Motion has a new, cheaper version. This smaller, lighter model is called the Onewheel Pint, and it comes with a smaller price tag as well: $950 (about £730 or AU$1,340 converted). The board comes in three different colors: sage, slate and sand. Sage is a limited-edition color during the launch window.
I was one of the few people invited to take the Onewheel Pint for a test ride at a recent Manhattan launch event, and I have to say I was quite impressed.
For anyone who's ridden the XR, the first thing they'll notice is how much smaller the Pint is. This makes it lighter, easier to carry, easier to ride and simpler to dismount. But they'll also see that it's more agile and still has plenty of torque.
Future Motion CEO Kyle Doerksen said he wanted a Onewheel that was more intuitive for new riders. The Pint implements a new feature called "Simplestop" that allows novice riders to tilt the board back and come to a complete stop so they can step off. On previous models, riders had to perform a tricky heel-raise move or just jump off the board.
The Pint is available to preorder now and starts shipping in May. Note CNET may get a share of revenue from the sale of the product featured on this page.
Originally published March 12.
Update, April 5: Adds video and hands-on impressions.