KS16 first impressions: Awesome dealer; still serious product reservations

[ErikT]

*** UPDATE *** I'm not going to remove my original post (original version below) as I don't want to be accused of hiding something I regret posting to save face. But for any new arrivals to this thread, please take this to heart first: I wrote the below rant after an extremely frustrating day. My new wheel arrived after weeks of anticipation, but there was no user manual. My order was processed out of eWheels' usual process, and this understandably led to them forgetting to send me a very essential e-mail explaining how to use the darned thing (manufacturer manual that I never received is widely reported to be completely useless). So I got the thing in a color not the same as I ordered, no documentation, no idea how to set it up, and got really, really frustrated and lost my cool with an overly emotional "review" that was more an angry frustrated rant!

Tempting as it might be to delete the original content to save face, I'll leave it in tact below, unedited. But before you read on, the thing I want to most stress in this update is that @Jason McNeil is absolutely a pleasure to work with, and is bending over backward to "make it right". I actually did emphasize that I was very happy with Jason in the original version, but it seems that some readers were so put off by my rant that they never got that far.

If there is one really STRONG bit of advice I have to offer newcomers to this sport, it's DO YOUR HOMEWORK. The real issue here is that I live in Mexico where there's no way to try before you buy, so you have to research online and pick your best guess, then spend a shitload of money finding out if it was really the right choice. These things are not all created equal, and I am now guilty of TWO rounds of not doing my homework thoroughly enough before buying the wrong thing. (First Airwheel then Kingsong). My other advice is work with a reputable dealer like Jason! Had I bought this thing off eBay and gotten it with no documentation and no support, I'd be totally screwed!

Original rant follows:

After much anticipation and excitement, my brand new KS16 arrived today from eWheels. Admittedly, I've only had it for less than 24 hrs, but already I deeply regret the purchase and am totally and completely dissatisfied with the quality of this product.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I'm a novice rider and my only prior EUC experience is riding my AirWheel X8, which I've had for about 6 months. Many of the other posters here have far more knowledge and experience than I do, and have ridden all the different brands.

I wanted to upgrade from Airwheel to something much nicer. I was considering Gotway Msuper3, but talked myself out of it because I fear I would hurt myself on such a fast (45kph-capable) EUC, and also there were reports of the motor noise being pretty loud. I really like the near-silent aspect of the Airwheel, and after several forum interactions on this site I became persuaded that the KS16 was a better fit. I should have done more homework! It really sucks living in a country (Mexico) where the only way to try out something new is to buy it and pay for international shipping and import duty.

The KS16 is made of cheap, soft plastic. Despite ordering the matte finish, I got the high gloss black. In less than an hour and only dropping it once at very low speed, it already looks much worse than my 6-month airwheel which I've dropped countless times. Just dropping the KS16 once at about 2mph resulted in a scrape that looks far worse than anything on the 6-month airwheel.

My biggest objection is the placement of the side pads, which are extremely uncomfortable. You steer the airwheel with your calves, but the KS16 is steered with your ankles. I could imagine it being more maneuverable by an expert rider because you can tip it side to side much easier than airwheel, and I suppose that could yield great maneuverability if you put the work into it, but I care much more about a comfortable cruising ride, not doing tricks. Ironically the KS18 would probably have been a much better choice in this regard because it has higher pad placement, but frankly I can't imagine ever buying another KingSong product after this regrettable experience.

I have a huge disdain for talking electronics. When you turn this stupid thing on, it announces "HELLO KINGSONG!" over its built-in speakers. I'm sure there are teenagers who think this is cool; I see it only as making the device impractical to use late at night in a residential neighborhood. Surely there must be a way to turn it off! Better check the manual... Oh, there is no manual in the box! Great. e-mail eWheels and ask if it's available online. Response: It's worthless "chenglish" anyway and I'm not missing anything! Great. ** UPDATE ** When eWheels sent me this response, neither of us realized that I never got their very comprehensive welcome e-mail which explains everything. I eventually got that after this rant pissed everyone off /update **

When you turn it on, it defaults to headlight on mode. You have to push the little mode button about a dozen times to turn it off. I would have hoped this setting would be sticky, meaning that it would remember my light preference at next power-on. No such luck. Is there a way to program it to power up in headlight-off mode? Maybe, but I didn't get the "useless" manual and don't know.

Any time the device is on, there's a very high pitch sound. Almost like a flyback transformer. One of the main reasons I chose this model over Msuper3 is that it was supposedly quiet like airwheel. Simply not true.

The trolley handle is a nice feature but poorly designed and implemented. Fully extended, it's still about 2" too low for me (6 feet tall) to walk with it without having to crouch over. But more importantly, when you get to an obstacle and need to lift the wheel with the handle to get over it, the wheel spins up to max speed and "lays rubber" when you touch back down. In my short experience this makes the handle feature almost useless. You still have to bend over and turn the power off, pick it up to clear the obstacle, then put it back down and turn the power on again to continue walking it with the trolley handle.

There is no visible battery level indication on the wheel itself. My guess is that it's in the smartphone app, but without the "useless" manual I really have no way of knowing. Frankly I wasn't at all psyched about the phone app to start with, and don't want to need a phone to use my wheel. I would guess that there are audible warnings for low battery, but in my experience with airwheel, you really need to know "how much gas is in the tank" for navigation/planning purposes. The four little red LEDs on airwheel are "So 1980s", but they work and solve the problem. KS16 has a whole bunch of completely useless "decorative LEDs" that probably look cool to sub-adolescent teens, but serve no real purpose. Meanwhile apparently they didn't think it necessary to provide a visible battery level warning on the chasis of the wheel itself. This thing is designed to be a children's toy, not a well engineered modern transportation device for grown-ups.

One of the biggest selling points was the "MUCH bigger pedals", which was very important to me because my feet get cramped on airwheel's small pedals easily. Reality: The KS16's pedals are admittedly cooler looking, but they are only very slightly longer than Airwheel's and no more comfortable to ride.

In summary, if you're attracted to "cool LOOKING" stuff, or are a teenager who just thinks lots of colorful LEDs that serve no real purpose are way past cool, the KS16 might be a fit for you. Similar to Apple computer products, this thing LOOKS much sleeker than other wheels on the market. Until the first hour or so after you get it, that is, when the cheap, soft, easily scraped up plastic looks like crap.

Before closing, I want to stress that Jason at eWheels seemed like a perfect gentleman, and my gripe is with the product, not the dealer. Obviously other people like this thing, and I have no doubt that Jason meant well and was sincere when he recommended it enthusiastically as a huge step up from Airwheel. But I'm afraid I disagree. Total landed cost here in Mexico (after paying international shipping and import duty) was about $1700. Frankly I think my $450 airwheel is a far higher quality product, and it still looks brand new after 6 months of regular use. The KS16 is scraped up (cheap soft plastic housing) and looks like crap after less than 6 HOURS!

Living here in Mexico, the international shipping and import duties are sunk costs. So even if I return it, I'm still out several hundred bucks on this experiment. I wish there were a place (even if I had to fly there) to ride and test out all the different brands of wheels. Is there an annual convention or something where you can actually ride all the options before buying?

Erik

 

[Greg Spalding]

1 hour ago, ErikT said:

In summary, if you're attracted to "cool LOOKING" stuff, or are a teenager who just thinks lots of colorful LEDs that serve no real purpose are way past cool, the KS16 might be a fit for you. Similar to Apple computer products, this thing LOOKS much sleeker than other wheels on the market. Until the first hour or so after you get it, that is, when the cheap, soft, easily scraped up plastic looks like crap.

Erik

 

First of all, I'm sorry for the way you feel about that wheel  and I know that you're upset but when you start ripping on Apple products and comparing them to your experience with this KingSong item I'm pretty sure most people will stop listening to the rest of what you said.

And it okay will do you take care of 80 will do just that is a you are in a you use a longer is.

 

And if you a lot high volume 800 for 100 and I never stayed in her that he holds it is that there is

My point is and I've had a bad habit of this over the course of my life writing such a lengthy soliloquy about your disdain regarding this product. After only owning it for 24 hours seems a bit shortsighted... While you may not end up loving it. Certainly you will like it a lot more can you do a week or two from now, I realize of course that because of the major scrape after dropping it. Once you are disgusted by the entire product , but there are many many happy customers of that product on this forum can be of assistance to you. Remember all the thought that went into you purchasing it in the first place. I wish you luck and I hope you will talk to Jason about the way you feel as well.

 

Once again, I respect what you said, but entering all of that information after only 24 hours of owning a product and then ripping on the manufacturer of computer products with a great reputation in comparison makes no sense to me. You should've taken time to put all of the phone on the wheel because every wheel is different and you need to learn how to write this we'll so from it up to protect it and get out there and enjoy it and get back to us in a week or two and tell us how you are doing, but in the meantime put on a helmet and elbow pads and wrist pads and knee pads to protect yourself. Please

I wish you the best of luck

[Stuart]

I stopped reading when you go on about the LED's and that they serve no purpose... Just from this, I doubt it very much that you have read up on anything about the wheel even on this forum as you would have most definitely found that the LED's act as the battery meter when stationary. You would also have found out that by downloading the kingsong app you can turn the voice off as well as the lights and yes, the wheel does remember the setting.

You should read up on how to update the firmware on the wheel but this time really read up on it because there are safety updates and other bits to add. I'm not going to list them all because I think you do need to do some research about the best wheel on the market that you just bought.

I came from an IPS to Kingsong and the riding position was very weird at first but you adapt to it. Once you have a good feel for the wheel the rest just follows. I'll never regret my purchase from Jason!

Good luck and keep on rolling.

[Jason McNeil]

Obviously this is not an ideal situation. Some of Erik's complaints are easily solvable, I've reached out to him to see if we talk some of this stuff through.

[Paddylaz]

If you think a couple of scratches on a ks16 makes it look worse than an air wheel x8, I would suggest a checkup with your local optometrist.......

[Greg Spalding]

21 minutes ago, Jason McNeil said:

Obviously this is not an ideal situation. Some of Erik's complaints are easily solvable, I've reached out to him to see if we talk some of this stuff through.

you are the best

that's why we trust YOU

i appreciate you posting here and i'm sorry that he WENT OFF on EVERYONE and EVERYTHING after 22 hours of ownership

[HEC]

2 hours ago, ErikT said:

After much anticipation and excitement, my brand new KS16 arrived today from eWheels. Admittedly, I've only had it for less than 24 hrs, but already I deeply regret the purchase and am totally and completely dissatisfied with the quality of this product.

I'm sorry to hear that you're dissatisfied so early after obtaining your KS-16 and suffer form "buyers remorse"

2 hours ago, ErikT said:

 I should have done more homework!

I agree with that but mainly for a different reasons. Please see bellow comments to your points and complains:

2 hours ago, ErikT said:

The KS16 is made of cheap, soft plastic. Despite ordering the matte finish, I got the high gloss black. In less than an hour and only dropping it once at very low speed, it already looks much worse than my 6-month airwheel which I've dropped countless times. Just dropping the KS16 once at about 2mph resulted in a scrape that looks far worse than anything on the 6-month airwheel.

I strongly disagree here. While you might have suffered (and for sure will more) some minor surface scratches which are now sore in your eyes and upsets you (as would me) it's unfortunately part of riding EUCs. The KS-16 shell is (while certainly not indestructible) fairly resilient and of much higher quality than many other wheel I've rode or saw so far. I've witnessed (not on my own KS-16 though) it being dropped and hit hard multiply times without any major damage to the casing.

2 hours ago, ErikT said:

My biggest objection is the placement of the side pads, which are extremely uncomfortable. You steer the airwheel with your calves, but the KS16 is steered with your ankles. I could imagine it being more maneuverable by an expert rider because you can tip it side to side much easier than airwheel, and I suppose that could yield great maneuverability if you put the work into it, but I care much more about a comfortable cruising ride, not doing tricks. Ironically the KS18 would probably have been a much better choice in this regard because it has higher pad placement, but frankly I can't imagine ever buying another KingSong product after this regrettable experience.

As with any other wheel - every time you change to another model and make it takes some time to accommodate to the new wheel. At first I've also fell highly uncomfortable coming from other 3 wheels to KS-16 and first two days I've suffered extreme feet and shin pain before becoming more comfortable and now I don't even realize I stand on the wheel. It needs time. While there are some (IMO) more comfortable wheels out there KS-16 certainly still belong to the group of the better ones in regards of comfort.

2 hours ago, ErikT said:

I have a huge disdain for talking electronics. When you turn this stupid thing on, it announces "HELLO KINGSONG!" over its built-in speakers. I'm sure there are teenagers who think this is cool; I see it only as making the device impractical to use late at night in a residential neighborhood. Surely there must be a way to turn it off! Better check the manual... Oh, there is no manual in the box! Great. e-mail eWheels and ask if it's available online. Response: It's worthless "chenglish" anyway and I'm not missing anything!

Same here - that's why first thing after receiving the wheel I've done was turning the voice prompt off (though you'll need to use mobile app for that)  Missing manual while unpleasant is minor issue as the electronic copy could be easily obtained or question here in forums would result in a prompt answer / advice from knowledgeable forum members. I do agree that manual is brief and poorly translated though it's actually worse with many other wheels.

2 hours ago, ErikT said:

When you turn it on, it defaults to headlight on mode. You have to push the little mode button about a dozen times to turn it off. I would have hoped this setting would be sticky, meaning that it would remember my light preference at next power-on. No such luck. Is there a way to program it to power up in headlight-off mode? Maybe, but I didn't get the "useless" manual and don't know.

The default light mode after powering on the wheel is "Auto" which controls the light based on the light sensor placed below Power and AUX buttons. To switch to another mode it takes only two or three presses of the AUX button - this was discussed in details at another thread here in KS sub-forums. Unfortunately the wheel always reverts to "Auto" mode after power off (apart of the FW 1.21 where it was possible to save the light mode but this feature was again removed later on in FW1.22 due to the "memory limitations").

2 hours ago, ErikT said:

Any time the device is on, there's a very high pitch sound. Almost like a flyback transformer. One of the main reasons I chose this model over Msuper3 is that it was supposedly quiet like airwheel. Simply not true.

This has been also discussed multiply times here in forums and the high pitch PWM sound is same as on Gotway wheels so I do wonder how did you arrive to the believe that KS wheels are "silent"?

2 hours ago, ErikT said:

The trolley handle is a nice feature but poorly designed and implemented. Fully extended, it's still about 2" too low for me (6 feet tall) to walk with it without having to crouch over. But more importantly, when you get to an obstacle and need to lift the wheel with the handle to get over it, the wheel spins up to max speed and "lays rubber" when you touch back down. In my short experience this makes the handle feature almost useless. You still have to bend over and turn the power off, pick it up to clear the obstacle, then put it back down and turn the power on again to continue walking it with the trolley handle.

Again I disagree. While the trolley handle might be far from perfect it's actually one of best (and longest) built-in handles on current wheels though still a bit short for us "Westerners". No wheel can / should be carried or lifted while powered on so you'll always need to turn it off. There is a couple of wheels with built in "motor cut" switch in the handle (but not extendable ones) like Inmotion and Ninebots. Also no wheel shall be ever carried with extended trolley handle (even turned off) as those are not designed for such weight and mainly torque.

2 hours ago, ErikT said:

There is no visible battery level indication on the wheel itself. My guess is that it's in the smartphone app, but without the "useless" manual I really have no way of knowing. Frankly I wasn't at all psyched about the phone app to start with, and don't want to need a phone to use my wheel. I would guess that there are audible warnings for low battery, but in my experience with airwheel, you really need to know "how much gas is in the tank" for navigation/planning purposes. The four little red LEDs on airwheel are "So 1980s", but they work and solve the problem. KS16 has a whole bunch of completely useless "decorative LEDs" that probably look cool to sub-adolescent teens, but serve no real purpose. Meanwhile apparently they didn't think it necessary to provide a visible battery level warning on the chasis of the wheel itself. This thing is designed to be a children's toy, not a well engineered modern transportation device for grown-ups.

Those side LEDs much "hated" by you (as well as me and many other mature / western users) are actually also battery voltage level indicators and one of the best with 9 levels. While I do agree that side LED circus is not appreciated by many myself included it could be actually turned off since FW 1.21 and will lit up only when wheel is stationary and showing the battery level. This actually is also well described in user manual.

2 hours ago, ErikT said:

One of the biggest selling points was the "MUCH bigger pedals", which was very important to me because my feet get cramped on airwheel's small pedals easily. Reality: The KS16's pedals are admittedly cooler looking, but they are only very slightly longer than Airwheel's and no more comfortable to ride.

The KS-16's pedals surely belongs to category of large ones though still small for our westerner's feet. There is very few wheel with larger ones. The actual comfort of riding is very personal perception and also changes a lot with experience.

2 hours ago, ErikT said:

. Total landed cost here in Mexico (after paying international shipping and import duty) was about $1700. Frankly I think my $450 airwheel is a far higher quality product, and it still looks brand new after 6 months of regular use. The KS16 is scraped up (cheap soft plastic housing) and looks like crap after less than 6 HOURS!

Living here in Mexico, the international shipping and import duties are sunk costs. So even if I return it, I'm still out several hundred bucks on this experiment.

With such high "risk" investment" the thorough research prior purchase is a must. Once again I'm sorry that you're disappointed with your purchase.
Please try to give it a bit of time and see how it goes. KS-16 is praised by many as good to very good wheel so there is still a chance you'll find it's magic too

 

 

[US69]

On ‎21‎.‎09‎.‎2016 at 1:40 PM, ErikT said:

BLA BLA BLA Led are crap and for nothing...lights are on

BLA BLA I scratched it and it looked bad

BLA Battery is not visible !!!!!

Erik

 

 hahaha....i never read such a crappy Review..." i should have done more homework" Sure...especially before posting such a nonsense....LOL...???

Sure: LED Lights are for nothing...

No battery indicator...Hmmmh...Seams this belongs together?!

Headllight don't went off??? What about driving at daylight then... as this are Auto-lights! Or turn them off

It speaks to you...Holy Cow!!! What about turning it off?

Thousand words for LED, scratch, Sidepad....None word about driving?

 

I offer you something:

Give me your KS16...i buy 2 or 3 Airwheel X8 for you....

Aaah....and a tip: Never buy a Gotway or something when even a KS is nothing for you qualitywise :-)

 

An Insiderjoke for all others: Master255 is back!

 

Sorry to all! I really could not answer seriously to this!

[Keith]

28 minutes ago, Greg Spalding said:

you are the best

that's why we trust YOU

i appreciate you posting here and i'm sorry that he WENT OFF on EVERYONE and EVERYTHING after 22 hours of ownership

+1 with those above comments, what I wanted to add was I've, just this week, hired an IPS LHOTZ, I'll tell the full story in a week or so's time but the bottom line is that although I was very pleased with its performance, it's padding, particularly the hard narrow curved pad near the top of the wheel had my calves in absolute agony after an hour or so riding and I stil have the marks 2 days later. I will not be complaining about that though as I know that every wheel is different and almost everyone will find a change of wheel very uncomfortable at first until the rider, and his/her legs get used to it.

Getting on your existing wheel (if you only have the one) is like an old comfortable pair of shoes and a different wheel hurts just as badly as that new pair of army boots. And just like the boots, once the new wheel is worn in you wonder why you ever bothered with the old one.

Finally, it is difficult to have too much sympathy for someone, riding a brand new, and expensive, wheel for the first time without bothering to put some protective padding on it first!

[johrhoj]

2 hours ago, ErikT said:

I deeply regret the purchase and am totally and completely dissatisfied with the quality of this product

Sometimes (no ... always!) before one goes on an all negative rant, I think it is best to restrain oneself from doing so, at least doing so too quickly.

I hope you will redeem yourself a bit, by admitting that most of the negative stuff you posted came from initial disappointed (I am feeling sorry for you, really), product ignorance and lack of experience.

You will get used to your new machine, and will eventually have to admit that it is better than your previous wheel. I am sure of it.

[Jimi00]

+1 

The KS16 is the best wheel i've ever ridden (before last week-end and mSuper3... )

This review is all but serious... Sorry ErikT

 

[Greg Spalding]

18 minutes ago, Keith said:

+1 with those above comments, what I wanted to add was I've, just this week, hired an IPS LHOTZ, I'll tell the full story in a week or so's time but the bottom line is that although I was very pleased with its performance, it's padding, particularly the hard narrow curved pad near the top of the wheel had my calves in absolute agony after an hour or so riding and I stil have the marks 2 days later. I will not be complaining about that though as I know that every wheel is different and almost everyone will find a change of wheel very uncomfortable at first until the rider, and his/her legs get used to it.

Getting on your existing wheel (if you only have the one) is like an old comfortable pair of shoes and a different wheel hurts just as badly as that new pair of army boots. And just like the boots, once the new wheel is worn in you wonder why you ever bothered with the old one.

Finally, it is difficult to have too much sympathy for someone, riding a brand new, and expensive, wheel for the first time without bothering to put some protective padding on it first!

great words of wisdom, my friend

extremely well put

[JoyRide]

Hi ErikT,

I have put here a similar (well, not that long) first impression of my new ACM some time ago. Also, after having it for less than one day. I was complaining about peddals, awfull sound and terrible app. Now, after 100 km I find the peddals ok (still getting used to that skateboard grip). I got used to the sound as well. So, the only thing which remains is the application. But I can live with that as well. Why? Because I found the wheel to be really supperior to that I had before when it comes to speed, range, smoothness of ride, etc. I am happy I got it.

[Jimi00]

I'm adding that comparing your Airwheel X8 to the KS16 is like comparing this : 

to that : 

 

[ErikT]

It would seem that after a very frustrating day I posted an emotionally charged and partly misinformed review, and now it is I who have lost credibility with the more experienced users here and look like a complete ass! Yikes, you'd think at my age I'd know better than to post a review late at night after a very frustrating day.

I'd like to publicly apologize to this community for losing my cool. Most importantly, I want to re-emphasize something that I really did say clearly in the original post: I think Jason McNeil at eWheels is a good guy and I absolutely do NOT intend to criticize him personally. I hope nobody missed that part.

For me personally, the combination of the product arriving with no documentation, not the color ordered, and then getting an e-mail back saying not to worry because the owner manual I never got was pretty much worthless anyway... It set me off on a rant which I regret and apologize for.

I clearly need to go spend more time sorting out the phone app, read more of the threads about issues with this model on this forum, etc. I don't mind saying that even after "sleeping on it" I remain pretty unimpressed with the quality of the product, but it's also quite clear that I'm speaking from very little knowledge and need to go do my homework before making an even bigger ass of myself and commenting further.

Erik

p.s. Jason I got your e-mail and will call you later this morning.

[Rehab1]

3 hours ago, ErikT said:

After much anticipation and excitement, my brand new KS16 arrived today from eWheels. Admittedly, I've only had it for less than 24 hrs, but already I deeply regret the purchase and am totally and completely dissatisfied with the quality of this product.

Oh Wow Eric! Please take the time to read 'How To Win Friends and Influence People' by Dale Carnegie!! Just take a look at your negative Reps!  Not the best way to develop friendships here! 

Please first admit that @Jason McNeil offers excellent customer service! (you might win back a few friends). Just some advice, it is best to reach out to Jason personally first before posting a phone book of complaints on this forum. We all get along here and attempt to welcome everyone's comments along with offering advice., but the post should be both diplomatic and civil!

[Questor]

Erik T.

Your apology and truthful comments about your initial post are a tribute to your character.  Well done.

We all have bad days, and all do things that we later regret.  But it takes a person of strong character to admit a mistake, especially publicly as you have.

Give the KS16 some time.  According to it's specifications and user reviews it is one of the best wheels currently on the market.

Ask questions of the members of this forum, and Jason McNeil, and I'm pretty sure you can make the KS16 work for you.

Q~

 

[Greg Spalding]

40 minutes ago, ErikT said:

It would seem that after a very frustrating day I posted an emotionally charged and partly misinformed review, and now it is I who have lost credibility with the more experienced users here and look like a complete ass! Yikes, you'd think at my age I'd know better than to post a review late at night after a very frustrating day.

I'd like to publicly apologize to this community for losing my cool. Most importantly, I want to re-emphasize something that I really did say clearly in the original post: I think Jason McNeil at eWheels is a good guy and I absolutely do NOT intend to criticize him personally. I hope nobody missed that part.

For me personally, the combination of the product arriving with no documentation, not the color ordered, and then getting an e-mail back saying not to worry because the owner manual I never got was pretty much worthless anyway... It set me off on a rant which I regret and apologize for.

I clearly need to go spend more time sorting out the phone app, read more of the threads about issues with this model on this forum, etc. I don't mind saying that even after "sleeping on it" I remain pretty unimpressed with the quality of the product, but it's also quite clear that I'm speaking from very little knowledge and need to go do my homework before making an even bigger ass of myself and commenting further.

Erik

p.s. Jason I got your e-mail and will call you later this morning.

Erik, how nice of you to post again

You have lost no credibility with us and I meant you know disrespect earlier. The truth is you spent a lot of money and you live very far from the country of origin of this product and the place from where you bought it. Everybody including you knows how honest Jason is or you would not have purchased from him in the first place... We have all posted emotionally before we should have... Not one of us here is immune from that phenomenon. As I mentioned above I hope that you will put some protection and go back and ride as long as you promise to put 10 times more protection on your body/head. Such great words of wisdom above reminding us while a person can often go from an old card when you car to a hiccup, the same cannot be said about these newfangled electronic unicycles. I truly believe that in time you will learn to love this wheel even more than your old one if you give it a chance.

 

Please report back to us after you speak to Jason and we are very impressed that you took the time to write this note to us.

Good luck and as I said protect the wheel but more importantly protect your self

The very best you,

Greg

[Jason McNeil]

Jumping to Erik's defense, there were some mistakes made on my end: his order was processed outside the normal ordering process, so I forgotten to share the standard Getting Started information with him—it talks a bit about the App, recommendation to use Kevin's WheelLog for daily running, tire inflation, sounds, etc. 

It looks like the manual may have been misplaced by Mexican Customs when it was inspected at the boarder; sourcing the electronic copy to send to him.

After speaking with him again this morning, I wanted to just say that he's not some completely unreasonable individual, but had the misfortune to be caught up in the unenviable position of receiving a higher than expected Customs bill, incomplete information, & maybe a bit of time to become familiarized with the idiosyncrasies of a less than perfect Wheel. 

[US69]

39 minutes ago, ErikT said:

It would seem that after a very frustrating day I posted an emotionally charged and partly misinformed review, and now it is I who have lost credibility with the more experienced users here and look like a complete ass! Yikes, you'd think at my age I'd know better than to post a review late at night after a very frustrating day.

I'd like to publicly apologize to this community for losing my cool. Most importantly, I want to re-emphasize something that I really did say clearly in the original post: I think Jason McNeil at eWheels is a good guy and I absolutely do NOT intend to criticize him personally. I hope nobody missed that part.

For me personally, the combination of the product arriving with no documentation, not the color ordered, and then getting an e-mail back saying not to worry because the owner manual I never got was pretty much worthless anyway... It set me off on a rant which I regret and apologize for.

I clearly need to go spend more time sorting out the phone app, read more of the threads about issues with this model on this forum, etc. I don't mind saying that even after "sleeping on it" I remain pretty unimpressed with the quality of the product, but it's also quite clear that I'm speaking from very little knowledge and need to go do my homework before making an even bigger ass of myself and commenting further.

Erik

p.s. Jason I got your e-mail and will call you later this morning.

Respect for this!!! Reputation given on the green side this time!

[Greg Spalding]

3 minutes ago, Jason McNeil said:

Jumping to Erik's defence here that there some mistakes made on my end: his order was processed outside the normal ordering process, so I forgotten to share the standard Getting Started information with him—it talks a bit about the App, recommendation to use Kevin's WheelLog for daily running, tire inflation, sounds, etc. 

I've also ordered 20x replacement shells that we can arrange to replace.

Jason,

Thank you for this information as well

This once again shows what an outstanding member of this community you are

We appreciate all of these clarifications and the fact that's a replacement shells can replace what has been damaged because that really will make everything right again with Erik

I guess I can only give positive reputation marks 20 times a day so I couldn't give you one here, but i'd like to 

[Rehab1]

1 hour ago, ErikT said:

It would seem that after a very frustrating day I posted an emotionally charged and partly misinformed review, and now it is I who have lost credibility with the more experienced users here and look like a complete ass! Yikes, you'd think at my age I'd know better than to post a review late at night after a very frustrating day.

Excellent Eric! All is well! We all have overwhelming days ! Jason will tend to your customer service needs with professionalism as he always does! You may want to change your post title to something like 'Jason at Ewheels.com Is Awesome

[flass]

1 hour ago, ErikT said:

For me personally, the combination of the product arriving with no documentation, not the color ordered, and then getting an e-mail back saying not to worry because the owner manual I never got was pretty much worthless anyway... It set me off on a rant which I regret and apologize for.

I can confirm and guarantee you that when you get that owner's manual you will understand why you do not need it.

[ErikT]

1 hour ago, Rehab1 said:

Please first admit that @Jason McNeil offers excellent customer service! (you might win back a few friends). Just some advice, it is best to reach out to Jason personally first before posting a phone book of complaints on this forum. We all get along here and attempt to welcome everyone's comments along with offering advice., but the post should be both diplomatic and civil!

Respecfully, sir, there's no need for me to 'admit' that @Jason McNeil offers excellent service, which I agree he does. Here's what I actually said about Jason in the original post:

"Before closing, I want to stress that Jason at eWheels seemed like a perfect gentleman, and my gripe is with the product, not the dealer. Obviously other people like this thing, and I have no doubt that Jason meant well and was sincere when he recommended it enthusiastically as a huge step up from Airwheel." 

If there was something about that comment you found to be less than 'diplomatic' or 'civil', I'm afraid I missed what that might be. To your comment that it's best to reach out to Jason personally before posting a 'phone book' of compaints, I agree completely, and had already done that before posting.

Erik

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

Welcome to the forums!    Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, and I just interpreted ErikT's review as just his early opinion on the wheel.  I think we've all jumped to some hasty conclusions once or twice about a product before gaining more experience with it.  I know that I certainly have done so!    It's good to see some opposing viewpoints to get different perspectives on a product.  There must be some good reasons for why he mentioned a few critical points.

I've seen people hate Ninebot One's, and that's perfectly fine as they have their reasons to.  I actually like mine, but I do admit it does have some quirks (eg. loose battery, openings where water can splash in, low speed, etc).  I think a common mistake is that considering the price of these one wheeled wonders it's easy to think that they should be perfect from the get go.  If I'm spending over $1000 USD on something I would hope that it's pretty darn good!  Unfortunately I don't think we're quite at that point yet where every feature is ironed out, and there's plenty of room for improvement so I actually welcome personal reviews, good or bad, so we can see what problems others are having with their wheels.  Whether people agree or disagree with those points is where forum discussion comes in handy.

It's always a learning process with these wheels to discover their strengths and weaknesses.  Online, I find that 50% of reviews love a product while the other 50% hate it so it's not surprising to see some variation in reviews on the forum.  Personally, I like to read both and filter out what I think is valid from what isn't.