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Solowheel vs Rockwheel


GQS

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Well, I've gone for the IPS, delivery due Wednesday! :P 

I do take the specs with a pinch of salt, hence spending a lot of time searching the net & You Tube for customer comments and thus ending up on here!

I presume the questionable specs are mainly down to their originating in China and the apparent lack of specific laws for EU use in this country....

 

Martin, if you don't mind my asking: where are you based, where did you get your IPS from & did you have an EU previous to this?

 

 

If anyone's interested in a 2nd hand Airwheel X5, get in touch!! ;)

Well, we both came to the same conclusion.

RE Specs:

IP ratings are both to prevent access to dangerous parts (injury) or damage to the machine. The casing may prevent dust access that damages the electronics but doesn't prevent you fingers getting jammed under the mudguard see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_Code.

The second digit x5 means that the enclosure protects against strong jets of water whereas x4 is water splashing against the enclosure and 2 is "rain". The connector or motor may be rated to IP 68 but the edge of the wheel hub may be damaged if it passes through a puddle and so is under water. Riding through a puddle may submerge one part and splash another so an overall rating for the EU is difficult to interpret.

When it comes to motor wattage, you can safely supply more voltage to a motor to get more power, either for short periods of time or with additional cooling etc.

A 500W rated motor can output 1000W

The control circuit may use some of the power to maintain smooth acceleration but lose some output power (micro stepping or sine wave drive).

 

I'm just North of London so probably got my IPS from the same place you did and it's my first one, bought a week ago. I managed about 8 miles in the past couple of days.

Hope you got yours today and please let us know how it compares to the Airwheel

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I'm just North of London so probably got my IPS from the same place you did and it's my first one, bought a week ago. I managed about 8 miles in the past couple of days.

Hope you got yours today and please let us know how it compares to the Airwheel

 

Interesting thoughts about the IP ratings.  Having never had the Airwhel apart, I'm not sure what (if any) parts are not encased and therefore, how well sealed it is.  I have been out in very light rain and gone through very small puddles and never had a problem...

 

Mine's been delayed until Thursday due to Parcelforce failing to collect - allegedly!

 

8 miles already?! You took to it quite easily then?

I struggled to find enough time at the beginning so it took me approx. 1 hour a week for 3 weeks before I could ride sufficiently, so 3 hours total I suppose!

However, I think it helped me enormously taking it so slowly as each time I got back on, I felt so much better then the previous time I got off!

 

I hope to enjoy finding a few plusses with the IPS over the Airwheel - it will be interesting to see how much distance you manage on a single battery charge as, when you get more comfortable, that available battery capacity will play a huge part in your overall experience/enjoyment.

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I was wondering about sand. I know it kills chains on bikes but I can easily clean those.

I was thinking of going off roading in a local sandy woody area but was wondering if anyone knows if this will kill the bearings etc?

Medium puddles at around 8 Kph haven't killed the IPS yet though I might want to spray the electronics with "conformal coating" (waterproofing rubber for circuit boards) to be on the safe side.

 

I had to get it for the Christmas hols and got through on bike leathers, Skate pads and beginner's enthusiasm. Covered it in gaffer tape & drinks bottle plastic and ditched the strap.

I did three hours the first day going round a basketball court finishing with a 200m run. Second day I did an hour and about a mile along cycle paths, two miles the following day and 4.8m  back from work on the fourth, nearly 3.5m yesterday. Can drop off curbs but not jump up them yet. speed bumps & potholes are a pain and occasionally I forget how to steer and wind up in a ditch but overal yep, I love it.

 

With an advertised 28Km range I was surprised to get a fast bleep (low batt warning) after approx 7 miles on one charge at the top of a fairly long, fast steep hill but it recovered back to slow green flashing (2/3 charge) when I paused for a few seconds.

 

Still blown away by what a brilliant bit of control system engineering it is. Sorry for going a bit off topic.

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They do say that batteries are affected by cold weather & that's definitely what I've found with the Airwheel.  Starting in Winter, you should find it gets better as the year progresses.

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  • 2 weeks later...

When it comes to motor wattage, you can safely supply more voltage to a motor to get more power, either for short periods of time or with additional cooling etc.

A 500W rated motor can output 1000W

 

I think that the voltage effect on motor power output is demonstrated very clearly when climbing steep hills on a full battery and then climbing the same hills on half battery power.

The warning beeps come in at a much slower speed. I assume this is because as the battery drains the voltage drops and therefore the power also reduces.

For this reason I assume that with a bigger battery the power will be greater for longer.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Have to say that, electric unicycle have become more and more popular in Europe, and we can see that many Chinese manufactures start to make lots of brand unicycle and sell them to the world, so we also can make sure that the price for electric unicycle will decrease.......

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

I am not proper to comment other brands.So I can only talk about my rockwheel since I am the maufacturer.

Rockwheel is powerful and fast.It has good abiltty in climbing and using on tought road.But like you guys said,the geared is loud and maybe run out after long time using.Which can't avoid.

So we are going to promote new Rw 14,gearless.But more powerful and faster than old GP14.

I hope I don't bother you.

Also hope you can find a nice wheel you like.  :)

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Although Rock Wheel is just awesome. Powerful, fast, etc. Just everything in the video, it can not, at least not so quickly.

The question is, when Rockwheel manufactures 18 inch really effective and really fast tire? :)

 

 

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