adampj Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 Hi All, I have been riding the Fastwheel Eva Pro for the last 4 weeks, although it's been a great training wheel in some respects, it regularly receives negative feedback, particularly on ride quality. I think it's been a useful machine to learn the basics on, practicing turning, riding in general, but now with my falls becoming increasingly less (and the hopeful reduction in chances of accidents!), I'm thinking about where to go next. I have set a budget of upto £1k for my next 'investment' machine - I've caught the EUC bug and I spend most days thinking about where I can ride next . I'm interested on hearing your views/comments/recommendations for the best value for money machine I can buy for around this price tag. What would you do if you £1k to spend on a EUC? Important Considerations Reliability & Build Quality - I'm looking for something that is solidly built, that feels like a quality bit of kit and ideally is known for its reliability and lack of cut-offs comparable to others. Range - I'd like to be able to get into my local city on occasions, this is 15 mile journey. I guess I would then look to find somewhere to recharge before the trip back. Off-Road Abilities - Although predominately I'll be using this in an urban environment, I would also like to know it's a good runner if I decide to take it on a little off-roading, dirt tracks, grass etc on occasions. I think as a natural upgrade to my current 12-inch wheel, a 14-inch or a 16-inch would be a good bet I think. I'm not talking entirely through the middle of forests, just comfortable enough to use down cycle tracks etc. The local commute avoiding 60mph main roads involves tracks between fields, often used by walkers through relatively muddy sections. A few models that I've considered for the running are (but not limited to): Inmotion V8 Kingsong KS-14D Ninebot ONE S2 I appreciate everyone will have different opinions and views on 'the best' EUC that can be bought in this price range, but any and all views and recommendations/pros & cons, will be gratefully received! I look forward to hearing what you think. Thanks for reading! (and any help in advance!) Edit: If it makes any difference, I weigh around 11st/70kg, perhaps with a few extra KG's when I'm with a rucksack. Terrain is generally pretty flat throughout a majority of my trips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meepmeepmayer Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 8 hours ago, adampj said: What would you do if you £1k to spend on a EUC? Save 300 to 500 more and get a vastly better wheel than you can get for 1000 Sorry for that reply, but 1000 is a really bad price point. A ton of money, but you still get much less than better models and barely more than cheaper ones. EUC market is dumb For up to 1500 (rough prices in GBP) you can get: KS16S for 1350 ACM2 1300Wh (if you can still find one) for 1400, the undisputed best value king Tesla for 1500 Inmotion V10 for 1400 Ninebot One Z6 for <1500 KS14S for 1050!!! Under 1000, you can get: V8 for 1000 KS14D for 850 Don't buy an S2 for the European prices! Don't buy an S2 for over 400 at all In the first category, you can get twice the battery and significantly more power and speed for <50% more money. The second category just isn't very price-effective. Especially with European prices extra-inflated at the lower end (in the U.S. a 14D is 650GBP!) And 15 miles means you need about 500Wh battery, so that's already critical for the V8 (480Wh) or 14D (420Wh). 1000Wh easily gets you there and back. The 840Wh of the 16S or 14S with maybe a short charging break. The V10 gets you there with lots of reserve. What I would do if I were you: Get a 14D for "cheap" (cheap means stay as far away from 1000 as you can) as a compromise between better and not-too-expensive. But tbh, I'd go for a 14S then. Inmotion V5F for 350€! When you want to upgrade a bit but not spend much. Save more and get one of the better wheels. V10F, 16S, ... or simply a 14S (at 1050, it's much better than the V8 or 14D for 50 above your price limit). In the end, it's a money question, but unfortunately you can spend much more effectively at the upper end. Prices see here https://www.speedyfeet.co.uk/collections/electric-unicycle or simply google the model you seek. TLDR: 14S or better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esper Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 What about the Mten3? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meepmeepmayer Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 Not sure if that is a suitable only wheel for offroad and distance. For the 1000 it costs (!), you could spend your money better. Prices are extra stupid here in Euroland for the "cheaper" wheels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esper Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 10 minutes ago, meepmeepmayer said: Not sure if that is a suitable only wheel for offroad and distance. For the 1000 it costs (!), you could spend your money better. Prices are extra stupid here in Euroland for the "cheaper" wheels. Ah. yes, Offroad. I used mine offroad for a little while this past weekend. It worked fine for me. I'm not gonna be able to hit the huge bumps as easy or fast as a larger wheel. I think for the range it offers, it works well for me in an urban setting. It is super fun to ride and yes there are much better wheels for more money, but I'm actually suggesting a wheel within the budget OP has set. For wheels in that budget range, we have the lower end Ninebots, a Luffy, a couple IPS wheels and maybe some used wheels of higher range, I'm sure there is a Rockwheel in there too we can fit as well as this Gotway Mten3. Of those, I'd either go for the Mten3, a higher end used wheel, or a rockwheel if there is one in that budget range. I think there is also a solowheel glide 3 or solowheel extreme in that range too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thai-lad Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 I'm no expert, but I'd suggest a minimum 800 watt motor to reduce the chance of an overlean cutout when hitting small obstacles. I'd look for a battery capacity of about 30 wh per mile of intended range, and no bigger than 14" wheel to maximize torque for off road riding. A used wheel might be a better option than new. This was my own criteria for getting my first wheel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
litewave Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 All three of your choices are great wheels, more or less. Ninebot One S2 - sleek, sexy, slow. Not going to last 15 miles on a single charge unless you ride gently. Not great for off-road due to low power and 14" wheel. Too pretty to get dirty. Awesome wheel for what it is, if you can adjust your expectations. Buy only at a (steep) discount. KS 14D - sleek, sexy, snappy. Good power, great design, battle tested. Probably OK for smooth dirt trails; 15 mile range depending on your speed. Kingsong neurotic personality; tiltback speed reduction kicks in too early. Don't pay full retail. Inmotion V8 - sleek, snappy, 16". Not going to last 15 miles either. Better than the 14" for off-road. Reasonable power and battle-tested; great quality and great design. Buy on sale only; new V8s have been discounted many times. You will probably want to upgrade after 1-3 months after buying the S2, and after 3-6 months of buying the 14D or V8. May I suggest the GT16 if you can find one in your price range? It's not quite the same quality as the above three, but it has a lot to offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mkygod Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 1 hour ago, litewave said: All three of your choices are great wheels, more or less. Ninebot One S2 - sleek, sexy, slow. Not going to last 15 miles on a single charge unless you ride gently. Not great for off-road due to low power and 14" wheel. Too pretty to get dirty. Awesome wheel for what it is, if you can adjust your expectations. Buy only at a (steep) discount. KS 14D - sleek, sexy, snappy. Good power, great design, battle tested. Probably OK for smooth dirt trails; 15 mile range depending on your speed. Kingsong neurotic personality; tiltback speed reduction kicks in too early. Don't pay full retail. Inmotion V8 - sleek, snappy, 16". Not going to last 15 miles either. Better than the 14" for off-road. Reasonable power and battle-tested; great quality and great design. Buy on sale only; new V8s have been discounted many times. You will probably want to upgrade after 1-3 months after buying the S2, and after 3-6 months of buying the 14D or V8. May I suggest the GT16 if you can find one in your price range? It's not quite the same quality as the above three, but it has a lot to offer. I've had the KS14D for a few months. It is indeed quite capable on on smooth dirt trails and uphill trails as well. It does not inspire much confidence on more moderate bumpy/rocky trails. The best thing about it is its lighter weight and zippiness. You can stop and change directions on a dime. Construction seems very solid as well. However if I had to do it again, i'd probably wouldve saved up for something like a KS16 or a Tesla. Once you've experience the speed warning beeps on the KS14D, you'll immediately think about upgrading to something faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adampj Posted October 10, 2018 Author Share Posted October 10, 2018 14 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said: Save 300 to 500 more and get a vastly better wheel than you can get for 1000 Sorry for that reply, but 1000 is a really bad price point. A ton of money, but you still get much less than better models and barely more than cheaper ones. EUC market is dumb For up to 1500 (rough prices in GBP) you can get: KS16S for 1350 ACM2 1300Wh (if you can still find one) for 1400, the undisputed best value king Tesla for 1500 Inmotion V10 for 1400 Ninebot One Z6 for <1500 KS14S for 1050!!! Under 1000, you can get: V8 for 1000 KS14D for 850 Don't buy an S2 for the European prices! Don't buy an S2 for over 400 at all In the first category, you can get twice the battery and significantly more power and speed for <50% more money. The second category just isn't very price-effective. Especially with European prices extra-inflated at the lower end (in the U.S. a 14D is 650GBP!) And 15 miles means you need about 500Wh battery, so that's already critical for the V8 (480Wh) or 14D (420Wh). 1000Wh easily gets you there and back. The 840Wh of the 16S or 14S with maybe a short charging break. The V10 gets you there with lots of reserve. What I would do if I were you: Get a 14D for "cheap" (cheap means stay as far away from 1000 as you can) as a compromise between better and not-too-expensive. But tbh, I'd go for a 14S then. Inmotion V5F for 350€! When you want to upgrade a bit but not spend much. Save more and get one of the better wheels. V10F, 16S, ... or simply a 14S (at 1050, it's much better than the V8 or 14D for 50 above your price limit). In the end, it's a money question, but unfortunately you can spend much more effectively at the upper end. Prices see here https://www.speedyfeet.co.uk/collections/electric-unicycle or simply google the model you seek. TLDR: 14S or better. Hello @meepmeepmayer! Wow, thanks so much for your comprehensive comments. You have given me a lot to think about. I particularly liked your comment on twice the battery for <50% more money. I like to try and get the best value for money (as I'm sure we all do) and that point in itself has some considerable weight in the argument. Thanks very much also for the recommendations at both price points, I have taken onboard everything you've written. To the extent that I may have watched a good hours worth of review videos on some of the models you've recommend (the Inmotion V10 currently a particular favourite!) I will keep you posted. Once again, really appreciate your thoughtful reply! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adampj Posted October 10, 2018 Author Share Posted October 10, 2018 7 hours ago, Thai-lad said: I'm no expert, but I'd suggest a minimum 800 watt motor to reduce the chance of an overlean cutout when hitting small obstacles. I'd look for a battery capacity of about 30 wh per mile of intended range, and no bigger than 14" wheel to maximize torque for off road riding. A used wheel might be a better option than new. This was my own criteria for getting my first wheel. Thanks for this @Thai-lad - I'm particularly concerned regarding cut-outs and this is especially what I want to reduce the risk on. When you do an off due to poor riding skills, thats one thing and chances are you may well know it's coming - it's the offs when you have absolutely no idea it's about to happen that worries me most. I think the power is a key issue here as you've highlighted. To be honest, I've not considered a used wheel, but may well be something I need to look into a bit further. Thanks for your post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adampj Posted October 10, 2018 Author Share Posted October 10, 2018 13 hours ago, Esper said: Ah. yes, Offroad. I used mine offroad for a little while this past weekend. It worked fine for me. I'm not gonna be able to hit the huge bumps as easy or fast as a larger wheel. I think for the range it offers, it works well for me in an urban setting. It is super fun to ride and yes there are much better wheels for more money, but I'm actually suggesting a wheel within the budget OP has set. For wheels in that budget range, we have the lower end Ninebots, a Luffy, a couple IPS wheels and maybe some used wheels of higher range, I'm sure there is a Rockwheel in there too we can fit as well as this Gotway Mten3. Of those, I'd either go for the Mten3, a higher end used wheel, or a rockwheel if there is one in that budget range. I think there is also a solowheel glide 3 or solowheel extreme in that range too. Hello @Esper, thanks for your comments, particularly around the Mten3 - not a model I had even looked at but will certainly add it in to the mix. Just weighing up the pro's and con's right now across all suggested models. I'm also going to have a look into the used market as you've mentioned, however I'm just a little hesitant because you really don't know what condition you're getting and what history the EUC has had. But for the cost savings and ability to procure a higher model the trade-off may well be worth it. Thanks again, will keep your points in mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Hollinghurst Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 the best way to get good value is to buy second hand. check ebay for gotways, there's currently a basically unused gotway VS3+ for sale on there for £900. best value in UK new is inmotion v8. but honestly you should shop around on ebay for second hand ones, sometimes they're practically untouched but half the price of new. a good EUC will see 2000 miles without ever even needing to change the wheel. so a year old is not old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meepmeepmayer Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 Used wheels are rare, but someone else eats the depreciation and you might get a lot of wheel for a fantastic price. Unless the wheel is in a physically bad state (broken shell, bent motor rim, general wear and tear, such things) or the seller is hiding something (always ask why they sell, and where they bought should you need the original seller's help), used only means someone tested the electronics for you and they worked. So essentially a 50 mile used wheel is better than a new one. And more distance just lowers the price. At lower price points, if you're lucky and find the right offer, used may very well be the best use of your money. An msuper 1600Wh for 900, if nothing's wrong with it, is hard to beat (if you want an 18 incher and can live with the not-so-good quality of the shell). If you want new or a specific model, I'd just like to repeat that bigger (price) is unfortunately better. For example, A V8 for 1000 has 480Wh (25km range) and a 14S for ~1050 has 840Wh (45km range). It's clear that the 14S is the better use of money (very comparable specs otherwise). Also, this: 9 hours ago, mkygod said: However if I had to do it again, i'd probably wouldve saved up for something like a KS16 or a Tesla. Once you've experience the speed warning beeps on the KS14D, you'll immediately think about upgrading to something faster. Yep, you might want to upgrade after getting a slower wheel soon, but nobody yet seems to have regretted going for a faster/stronger/bigger battery wheel right away. -- Safety wise, it's less about motor power and more about battery size. A 2p battery (2 blocks of battery cells in series, like in the V8 or 14D or any <500Wh battery wheels) is less resilient to sudden demand spikes than a 4p battery (4 blocks like in the V10, 14S, all of the others really). It's not a real problem or something you have to worry about, but people managed to overpower a V8, for example, that has been traced back to (presumably) a 2p battery. Just something good to know. Don't worry about cut-outs on modern wheels, the only model you might have to be concerned about here is your Fastwheel (though it has quite the nice specs, I was surprised, it seems quite good). So again, I think the 14S is definitely worth the slightly-more-than-1000 price in comparison to <1000 wheels, it only gets better from there on (what you get for the money), and if you're lucky with a good used wheel offer that appeals to you, it may very well beat everything else by a wide margin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Hollinghurst Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 Good prices for new wheels under £1000: aliexpress - gotway mcm5 ~£900 gearbest -ninebot z6 ~£750 Inmotion V8 eBay/gumtree ~£550 Search around, you’ll get a decent deal somewhere. To clarify V8 isn’t best value if you pay £1000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adampj Posted October 24, 2018 Author Share Posted October 24, 2018 Hi All, I wanted to provide a quick update - thanks to all of you for your help - I spent a lot of time with your recommendations and all of the various comments, tips and advice - thank you. I am pleased to say I have now placed my order for my upgrade! (Very excited). [UPDATE 4/11/18: Gearbest have confirmed that the Inmotion units are region locked in some instances. They specifically mentioned the USA region will not work with their wheels. Before pursuing such deal with Gearbest or any retailer, please check the region compatibility before you purchase. I am now awaiting confirmation for UK usage.] In the end, I went with the InMotion V10 from Gearbest (paid for the shipping insurance and also with CC for extra protection). I appreciate the lengthy shipping time, which means I'm unlikely to see it this side of Christmas, however I feel I got a cracking deal on it in the end - £658.00 delivered! ($848 USD, €745) (+£20 Gearbest Shipping Insurance) Price on the Gearbest website was initially £1050, however I received an email only deal for £699/$899(!) - coupled with a 6% off voucher, it brought it down to £658.00. ($848 USD, €745). For the Inmotion V10 I thought this was a great deal. UK distributors are selling this unit for around £1400 delivered, so a worthwhile saving of over £700! (I appreciate I'm going to have to wait FOREVER to get it. A belated January Christmas present to myself maybe?) Once again, a big thank you for all of your comments. It really helped me out! Adam. @meepmeepmayer, @Esper, @Thai-lad, @litewave, @mkygod, @Daniel Hollinghurst Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meepmeepmayer Posted October 24, 2018 Share Posted October 24, 2018 Wow, that's half the regular price. Nice! And you're on the "good" side of the market and won't need to upgrade for a long while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRide Posted October 24, 2018 Share Posted October 24, 2018 Smokin' deal if you get it for that price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcitant Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 13 hours ago, adampj said: Hi All, I wanted to provide a quick update - thanks to all of you for your help - I spent a lot of time with your recommendations and all of the various comments, tips and advice - thank you. I am pleased to say I have now placed my order for my upgrade! (Very excited). In the end, I went with the InMotion V10 from Gearbest (paid for the shipping insurance and also with CC for extra protection). I appreciate the lengthy shipping time, which means I'm unlikely to see it this side of Christmas, however I feel I got a cracking deal on it in the end - £658.00 delivered! ($848 USD, €745) (+£20 Gearbest Shipping Insurance) Price on the Gearbest website was initially £1050, however I received an email only deal for £699/$899(!) - coupled with a 6% off voucher, it brought it down to £658.00. ($848 USD, €745). For the Inmotion V10 I thought this was a great deal. UK distributors are selling this unit for around £1400 delivered, so a worthwhile saving of over £700! (I appreciate I'm going to have to wait FOREVER to get it. A belated January Christmas present to myself maybe?) Once again, a big thank you for all of your comments. It really helped me out! Adam. @meepmeepmayer, @Esper, @Thai-lad, @litewave, @mkygod, @Daniel Hollinghurst Hi Adam, If you don't mind me asking, how did you get that excellent deal from Gearbest? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adampj Posted October 25, 2018 Author Share Posted October 25, 2018 4 hours ago, xcitant said: Hi Adam, If you don't mind me asking, how did you get that excellent deal from Gearbest? Thanks! Hi Xcitant, Here's the step-by-step: 1. Firstly, I visited here: https://uk.gearbest.com, found the V10 and hit "Add to Favourites". 2. A few days later, I received a Promo e-mail from Gearbest (I'm on the mailing list), with the following offer inside: 3. After clicking "Buy Now", it took me back to the Gearbest website, and displayed the e-mail offer (in my case, in GBP): 4. I had a 6% voucher as a result of a previous Gearbest purchase. I found that you might want to buy a few very cheap items, which may result in a few coupons to apply against your purchase. In my case, 6% off (in this instance would be £42.17 off), with a final sales price of £660.69 (excluding optional insurance). Hope that helps @xcitant! Adam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibo993 Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 Wow thats a great price. I have just ordered a V8 from InMotion global shop for £710. My concern about ordering from Gearbest was this statement on the Inmotion website about support for grey imports: https://m.inmotionworld.com/blog/inmotion-official-statement-for-app-and-after-sale-service Hope yours arrives ok, I went for the V8 as I really want a Z10 but it wont be available in UK till end of the year and I plan to sell the V8 once I have learned to ride as its my first EUC The 2nd hand market keeps prices quite strong in UK so hopefully wont lose too much as its a good learning wheel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcitant Posted October 27, 2018 Share Posted October 27, 2018 @adampj, much appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Hollinghurst Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 Excellent deal, really good price, well done!! update us when it arrives Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanghamP Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 On 10/27/2018 at 12:16 PM, Gibo993 said: Wow thats a great price. I have just ordered a V8 from InMotion global shop for £710. My concern about ordering from Gearbest was this statement on the Inmotion website about support for grey imports: https://m.inmotionworld.com/blog/inmotion-official-statement-for-app-and-after-sale-service I signed up for the Gearbest site just to see what I could get the V10 for. And today I got the $500 off coupon for the V10, for $840 for the 650 wh version which seems great. The Inmotion statement seems dire; if I'm reading that right then it seems the wheel is purposefully crippled via the application. I wonder if I can GPS spoof the Inmotion app but that seems like trouble. Anyone yet got a grey-market V10? Honestly I feel that warranty service that requires shipping takes so much longer and costs so much more that one might as go warrantless with the understanding that the wheel needs to be turned on. Consider: Grey V10 costs $840. Legit V10 costs $1300. Shipping for warranty costs $70-100 + 1 month out + aggravation. Therefore the cost difference between grey and legit is really about $150-200, assuming you simply junk your grey import and buy another one, but if you are lucky then you might spend $450 less. Anyway, anyone have problems with their Inmotion app? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanghamP Posted November 3, 2018 Share Posted November 3, 2018 Whoops, apparently the Inmotions do not work outside of China. I just got an email from Gearbest saying their wheels do not work outside of certain geographical regions. They specifically mentioned the USA region will not work with their wheels. You might try to geographical spoof your wheel if you're in the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Hollinghurst Posted November 4, 2018 Share Posted November 4, 2018 https://m.gearbest.com/activity-weekly-supersaver.html?title=Electronics%20and%20Outdoor%20Gear&language=en&type=app&platform=ios&ver=3.3.1&appPipeLine=GB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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