trevmar Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 A few months ago, realizing that the miniPRO was never going to have enough power to carry my weight while navigating obstacles (even tiny stones), I went looking for a similar device that had more power in its motors. I didn't want the gearbox-driven off-road Segway clones, both because they were too wide to fit through my front doorway, and because I like the silence and reliability of direct-drive motors (like in the miniPRO). I bought a device from Airwheel called the S5. It has 19" (OD) tires with 3" width and the motors are rated at least 1500Watts. Depending on what datasheet you look at, it is rated either at 100Kg or 130Kg capacity (so I assume you wouldn't want to go off-road with more than 100KG on board). It has a 680Wh battery with redundant BMS. The only problem was that it had been discontinued from production, so the one I bought was an orphan I have failed to find a second new unit until I saw a seller on the flash-ecom website. After calling his cellphone (it was in China) he told me he could get me a second S5 (for my wife), so I ordered one. The handlebar has just arrived by DHL from China, it has a manufacturing date of 17-Sept-2019 stamped on the box (8 days ago)! So it looks like Airwheel have just made another production run of these excellent PEVs! Additionally, the Canadian reseller seems to be taking orders for this new manufacturing batch. I guess they will pop up on Ebay in a few weeks (the boat trip from China is a little slower than DHL). The S5 (on the left below) are not fast, they are limited to 17Km/h and like to cruise at 12-15Km/h. But the ride is solid as a rock, and the display panel lets you know when you are stressing your battery hard (uphill). I still need to play with it more on off-road surfaces, but it is a much surer ride than the miniPRO (of course) and it is great to be able to relax and not have to worry about whether the next pothole is going to throw you. There is a 'twitchyness' in the steering, but much, much, less than with the miniPRO. So the S5 is proving to be exactly what I was looking for! It is the one on the left below... And now they seem to be making more of them 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRide Posted September 26, 2019 Share Posted September 26, 2019 Nice! Happy that this type of device is surviving. Pickings are pretty slim here at the moment. Maybe you can list a contact in case other want one. If I didn't have my Elite+ I might consider one of those for offload, but I seem to be gravitating more to the e-bike it's just simple and works well on and off road. Battery swaps in about 30s and standardized batteries means prices are reasonable. This Spring/Summer I didn't do any really long Segway trips yet so this weekend it looks like I'll try a combination or road and trails for 45-55km. My feet won't like it I suspect, but I want to see how the MiniPro does, it's just pretty amazing to go those distances on such a device. I have a nice route planned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trevmar Posted September 26, 2019 Author Share Posted September 26, 2019 (edited) @FreeRide, The only website who implied they had stock was https://flash-ecom.com Well, It turned out that they didn't have US stock, but they got the S5 to me in under a week, so I can't complain. To check that they were real I sent an email to the long.tan address on their webpage, and he sent me his phone number in China. I had previously bought Ebay stuff from long.jennie (apparently all part of the same marketing organization) so I was comfortable with dealing with them. I have been to Shenzhen half a dozen times, and have had no trouble with the businesses there... Well, the Flash website had discounted the $1600 down to $1420 (not sure why), but he asked for an extra $200 for air delivery, or told me he would have US stock in about 30 days by sea. Because I still thought the S5 had been discontinued I decided to pay for the airfreight, which was actually a good price for the 100lb item! It turned out that the handlebar stalk arrived by DHL in just 3 days, the heavier body by FedEx in 5 days (but the body had been through the 'flash' organization in Hawthorne/LosAngeles before being transhipped to FedEx). They said the body had to come via a slower freight service because the battery is 680Wh, over the 300Whour size limit for airfreight. So the body is marked manufacture date of 17th, and it was just delivered here on the 26th. Not bad... I am a happy camper... Now my wife and I each have an S5 and we need to get out and use them, rather than post here See ya! ps: Why did Airwheel send the handlebar stalk in a separate box?? The best suggestion I can come up with is that the lack of integrated handlebar might make the device look less like a Segway at Customs, and therefore be allowed through despite any possible patent violation issues... pps: The S5 weighs around 70lbs, but is easy to manhandle using the aluminum bars over the mudguards. The motor in each wheel is large and heavy, as are the 3.5" wide tires. The battery is 64 cells. Although the aluminum alloy body is strongly built, most of the weight is in the battery and wheels... Edited September 26, 2019 by trevmar 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRide Posted September 26, 2019 Share Posted September 26, 2019 42 minutes ago, trevmar said: @FreeRide, The only website who implied they had stock was https://flash-ecom.com Well, It turned out that they didn't have US stock, but they got the S5 to me in under a week, so I can't complain. To check that they were real I sent an email to the long.tan address on their webpage, and he sent me his phone number in China. I had previously bought Ebay stuff from long.jennie (apparently all part of the same marketing organization) so I was comfortable with dealing with them. I have been to Shenzhen half a dozen times, and have had no trouble with the businesses there... Well, the Flash website had discounted the $1600 down to $1420 (not sure why), but he asked for an extra $200 for air delivery, or told me he would have US stock in about 30 days by sea. Because I still thought the S5 had been discontinued I decided to pay for the airfreight, which was actually a good price for the 100lb item! It turned out that the handlebar stalk arrived by DHL in just 3 days, the heavier body by FedEx in 5 days (but the body had been through the 'flash' organization in Hawthorne/LosAngeles before being transhipped to FedEx). They said the body had to come via a slower freight service because the battery is 680Wh, over the 300Whour size limit for airfreight. So the body is marked manufacture date of 17th, and it was just delivered here on the 26th. Not bad... I am a happy camper... Now my wife and I each have an S5 and we need to get out and use them, rather than post here See ya! ps: Why did Airwheel send the handlebar stalk in a separate box?? The best suggestion I can come up with is that the lack of integrated handlebar might make the device look less like a Segway at Customs, and therefore be allowed through despite any possible patent violation issues... pps: The S5 weighs around 70lbs, but is easy to manhandle using the aluminum bars over the mudguards. The motor in each wheel is large and heavy, as are the 3.5" wide tires. The battery is 64 cells. Although the aluminum alloy body is strongly built, most of the weight is in the battery and wheels... That all sounds great! that's great service, Get out there and enjoy them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trevmar Posted September 27, 2019 Author Share Posted September 27, 2019 (edited) The S5+ I was sent has much bigger tyres, and, I think, a bigger motor, than the version they made in April 2019. The tires are now 130/70-12 Tubeless, which are the same as many scooters use. It does have a good off-road pattern: https://www.csttires.com/int/tire/cm502/ The outside tyre diameter is now just over 19" and they look nicely wide as well. Unfortunately it won't fit through our front-door like the earlier S5+ version. But the tyres look really business-like... Edited September 27, 2019 by trevmar 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Airwheel S5 Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 On 9/26/2019 at 10:33 AM, trevmar said: @FreeRide, The only website who implied they had stock was https://flash-ecom.com Well, It turned out that they didn't have US stock, but they got the S5 to me in under a week, so I can't complain. To check that they were real I sent an email to the long.tan address on their webpage, and he sent me his phone number in China. I had previously bought Ebay stuff from long.jennie (apparently all part of the same marketing organization) so I was comfortable with dealing with them. I have been to Shenzhen half a dozen times, and have had no trouble with the businesses there... Well, the Flash website had discounted the $1600 down to $1420 (not sure why), but he asked for an extra $200 for air delivery, or told me he would have US stock in about 30 days by sea. Because I still thought the S5 had been discontinued I decided to pay for the airfreight, which was actually a good price for the 100lb item! It turned out that the handlebar stalk arrived by DHL in just 3 days, the heavier body by FedEx in 5 days (but the body had been through the 'flash' organization in Hawthorne/LosAngeles before being transhipped to FedEx). They said the body had to come via a slower freight service because the battery is 680Wh, over the 300Whour size limit for airfreight. So the body is marked manufacture date of 17th, and it was just delivered here on the 26th. Not bad... I am a happy camper... Now my wife and I each have an S5 and we need to get out and use them, rather than post here See ya! ps: Why did Airwheel send the handlebar stalk in a separate box?? The best suggestion I can come up with is that the lack of integrated handlebar might make the device look less like a Segway at Customs, and therefore be allowed through despite any possible patent violation issues... pps: The S5 weighs around 70lbs, but is easy to manhandle using the aluminum bars over the mudguards. The motor in each wheel is large and heavy, as are the 3.5" wide tires. The battery is 64 cells. Although the aluminum alloy body is strongly built, most of the weight is in the battery and wheels... ive an older S5 that powers on (via the power button on unit) but no longer fully powers up with remote? any ideas? replaced the remote battery... no luck... wondering if anyone else has had simular issue.. unit worked fine last year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trevmar Posted February 27, 2020 Author Share Posted February 27, 2020 (edited) Maybe your older unit has lost the key-coding, and needs to be re-paired with a new coding. The YouTube video showing how to do that is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceLkAwDZa7k The board on which the pairing switch is located is the power relay board, controlled by the remote control. So if you need to look further to get the S5 working, that would be a good place to start... The S5 has been discontinued, AFAIK, and last time I looked, it was not available on Flash-Ecom either. Incidentally, I notice that the Airwheel Aliexpress store is selling spare S3/S5 handlebars for $90 shipped, and I am tempted to get a spare. Problem is, these machines are so reliable I haven't started to crash and crush ours yet Edited February 27, 2020 by trevmar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Airwheel S5 Posted March 18, 2020 Share Posted March 18, 2020 On 2/26/2020 at 7:16 PM, trevmar said: Maybe your older unit has lost the key-coding, and needs to be re-paired with a new coding. The YouTube video showing how to do that is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceLkAwDZa7k The board on which the pairing switch is located is the power relay board, controlled by the remote control. So if you need to look further to get the S5 working, that would be a good place to start... The S5 has been discontinued, AFAIK, and last time I looked, it was not available on Flash-Ecom either. Incidentally, I notice that the Airwheel Aliexpress store is selling spare S3/S5 handlebars for $90 shipped, and I am tempted to get a spare. Problem is, these machines are so reliable I haven't started to crash and crush ours yet On 2/26/2020 at 7:16 PM, trevmar said: Trevmar, I was able to fix that issue...now wondering if anyone knows how to calibrate the S5? Mine will always power up thinking neutral position is 35 degrees leaning forward....after some left and right turns it corrects itself...but it's a challenge to get on initially Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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