noggie Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 Hello all, One week ago I saw the first ever person riding an EU in Trondheim, Norway. It was really awesome, and I have spent the last week reading up on EUs. This site seem to be the best spot for discussions, reviews etc. So far the IPS 132 is at the top of my whish list, as many of you seem to be happy with it, and the available power, battery specs and pricing seem to make good sense. So far the only Norwegian site I have found is selling Airwheel EUs only. That brand seem to have very few fans on this forum. What I worry about is getting support, spare parts etc, if I just buy the EU on a random site. I have a strong feeling that I will break something on my first EU. To be honest I am now thinking that I would like to buy the cheapest EU possible for me to see if EUs are something I could really use in day to day activities and transport. On Banggood an EU named TG-T3 have been getting fairly good reviews, and I am wondering if this might be the cheapest way to get up and running. Does anyone have any suggestions about what to do? Does is make sense to buy the cheap £340 EU (shipping and VAT included) bike first. If I like the concept (and when I break the first one) I will know more about what I actually want and need from my EU, and I can then invest in a more expensive EU. Any thoughts on this matter are very much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yes8s Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 You will crash and drop your first EU many times while learning how to ride and finding it's limitis. With that said, the TG-T3 can take a beating. I've crashed mine many times and it's still going strong. The unit is well built. The 14" seems to make it really nimble and agile and I can comfortably navigate the congested footpaths of Melbourne CBD with many pedestrians etc. I was able to get the hang of it within about 3-4 rides - for me it just clicked all of a sudden. I didn't bother with training wheels (these don't come with the TG-T3 anyway) or the strap and I think that helped accelerate the learning process. Eventually I ripped of all the padding I had added as none of that is really needed once you are up and going. The downside, as I said earlier, is that I dropped it many times and it's got a couple of scratches on the corners that are barely noticible BUT who cares, I paid very little for it. I would be more pissed of if I had spent more and then dropped it and got sratches. (See my thread "Some advice please" for my journey into EUs and the TG-T3). I got a pretty good deal on the TG-T3 from banggood. I found an awesome coupon that really made my decision for me about what to get because I got the TG-T3 for about $260USD inc shipping. I think this coupon may still work for you so PM me and I'll hook you up. The TG-T3 is generally the cheapest out there as it is and for what it is, it's a good buy. Like you, I wanted to first see if I would like riding to which the answer is 100% YES. I also wanted to see if I would get hassled by the police because I'm not sure if they are legal here so I didn't want to invest too much only to find out I would get stopped and or fined every time I ride - so far it's been ok. Most times they don't even notice what it is - No problems so far. There are only thing a couple of things that bug me with the TG-T3: 1. Battery life is really short. I get on average about 1 hour or 7-8kms of riding but pretty consistently. This sometimes just feels a little short to me but it's acceptable for what it is. Note: Any 132Wh unicycle will have pretty much the same range so your Airwheel X3 or IPS132 etc will more or less have the same REAL range +/- a couple of kms. 2. 350W motor power is just a touch low. You feel it when going up road-footpath slopes and cobblestone/rough surfaces. 3. Max speed is about 15kms. It starts to beep and tilt at 12kms as specified. The max speed thing only gets annoying on long straight flat roads. You do learn to cruise just below the max speed anyway so it's not that bad. The above points get better if you are lighter than me (I'm about 85kgs) and they're not deal breakers, just a couple of observerations I thought you should know about. It seems to do ok over long streched inclines like a hill but it just struggles with short sharp inclines.You do learn to work around that and ride it within it's limits My advice is go for it and just get a TG-T3 to start with. When you outgrow it and upgrade, you will have a cheap backup for yourself or an EU for a friend to ride on. Win-Win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
^tom^ Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 Hi and welcome you have a good question. First wheel a cheap wheel or not!? If you maybe like to have more then one wheel at the end it make sense. If you glad with one wheel it make no so sense to me. The IPS 132 has a 132wh battery? I think you will not be happy with this wheel if you not buy one with a biger battery. Depense at your weight. With a 132wh you have a radius max of 5 Kilometer or 25 Minutes to ride. I think a 1 hours ride is ideal as averange. Even my 340wh battery I get it to only 1 LED of 4 and have to make sure I do not drive to far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riding Rev Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 The IPS 132 has a 260Wh battery and 1330W motor. I'd go for the better wheel straight away. As soon as you're comfortable riding a cheap one, you'll wish you spent a bit more on a good one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StridAst Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 i myself bought one with only 118wh. within two weeks i decided i needed one with a lot more battery life. a lot more. you wont get anywhere near as many kilometers traveled in real life as the ads claim. when its cold the distance is even lower. with outside temp around 10 degrees C i was getting about 7 kilometers distance on mine. divide that in half for 3.5 kilometers going down a bike trail, then another 3.5 coming back. i weigh 80 kg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noggie Posted March 5, 2015 Author Share Posted March 5, 2015 Thank you for all comments so far. I realize that many of you might not think of the IPS wheel as a "high end" EU. But as a beginners wheel it seems more than good enough. I am a big, heavy guy at 185cm and 90kg. If I come to love this way of transportation I probably will end up buying more EUs, the same way I have many bikes and skis (I live in Norway remember . Let me rephrase - What EU should be my first? - Cheapest possible (TG-T3) - IPS 132 - Any other brand (in the low to medium price range) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gimlet Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 I started with a cheap wheel which is fine for messing around on but I bought an IPS 132 three days after the cheap one arrived. I found that holding the training belt impractical as I needed my arms to flail about madly to keep my balance at first, my solution was to fasten the belt around my trouser belt and adjust it so it had just a little slack when I stood on the wheel. I still use a smaller belt now for the safety of other pavement users. This saved the IPS wheel from any major damage and only added one or two extra minor bruises to my ankles. Try contacting Jason at wheelgo in London to see how much he could ship one out to you for. His after sales support is second to none! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planetpapi Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 Some one here said IPS 132 is 260Wh battery and 1330W motor? Is that correct? If that is true, that would be the best bet. But I doubt it. I also bought the Tg-F3 few days ago. Still learning. It has a 264wh battery compared to 132 wh of Tg-T3. Question for Tg owners. When I try to put my feet on right pedal, ( holding onto the wall) the wheel spins and wants go backwards, even before I put my left foot. This is driving me crazy. Any tips? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Eucist Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 Put less weight on the back of the pedal and more in the front to keep it from moving backwards . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason McNeil Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 New Solowheel S300 has 24 Sony US18650V3 cells which has a claimed power rating of 1,500Watts. The IPS132 has 32 (8 more) of these same cells & claims to have 1330W. Although there are two other factors, the primary underlying question is, 'can the batteries provide enough current for the claimed spec?' For the S300, I'm not too sure the numbers add up. The two other components are: 1) Control-board: needs to be able to support/regulate/control the power of the motor 2) Motor: that there are a sufficient quantity & strength of the permanent magnets & that enough copper wiring is bound around the electromagnets I'm afraid in all three of these areas the TG-FS doesn't hold a candle to the high-end units: their control boards are the same that are in nearly all OEMd 350W units. The motor is a a light-weight cannot provide that sustained or peak power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planetpapi Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 I think I'm impressed with IPS 132 specs. Hopefully I will get this for my next wheel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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