FreeRide Posted December 3, 2016 Share Posted December 3, 2016 Purchase my MiniPro on Black Friday From Amazon, had it on the following Monday. Completed the tutorial up until the 10m ride part indoors a couple of days later. Today I took it outside, it made me repeat the tutorial from the beginning, but it was quick enough except a pain to have to be holding the iPhone. I later turned off the Auto-Lock which is what I should have done earlier. It was cold to have to have my bare ands to manipulate the phone, The good news is no Spills!! did one ride of 2.x km around a little turnabout for a small subdivision, but road there along a short gravel road and there was an incline and it all went smooth. Took it out again for a longer right I drove it on the side of the road for 1km or so to a larger parking lot for more practice. Added another 5.x km to the distance for a total of 7.7km. I'm pretty happy with it the MiniPro for my first real ride. Everything was very easy and even the uneven gravel road and some grass at one point was quite easy to navigate although it's surprising how much did roads can tilt. The only thing that I found difficult was transitioning from going reverse to forward, the bot just want to keep going reverse. Strange as going forward was easy, stopping was easy, starting reverse was easy, but once going reverse stopping or changing to forward was difficult. Maybe by feet are tougher back on the pads? I don't know, but that is the one thing I need to practice. Of course spinning around is easy that one can just to that and forward which is certainly preferred. Go reverse slow for a few feet is fine, but just once it get really going I had trouble. Glad I spotted the deal, but now I've spend days looking at EUC videos. The MiniPro might be Gateway-Tech (drug) to an EUC. Great to find this Forum with people from so many different regions. Stay on the upside! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoother Posted December 3, 2016 Share Posted December 3, 2016 15 hours ago, FreeRide said: Glad I spotted the deal, but now I've spend days looking at EUC videos. The MiniPro might be Gateway-Tech (drug) to an EUC. Yep, I think you hit the nail on the head. Any plonker can ride a mini pro ( except Mike Tyson, oops, no, that was a hoverboard) but it takes skill, determination and perseverance to ride a FPV (face plant vehicle) welcome to the club... FPVics anonymous Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jojo33 Posted December 3, 2016 Share Posted December 3, 2016 @FreeRide You're welcome, good ride with your mini Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRide Posted December 10, 2016 Author Share Posted December 10, 2016 With the cold weather below freezing I'm only on my third outdoor trek. I now have 19km logged. Hitting the 16.9km speed limit all the time on straight aways or any real road travel. That is definitely a limitation on this device for many different commutes. This is more of a slow site-seeing transporter. The soles of my feet still hurt though riding just a short 9km. I updated to the latest firmware, no change for my riding that I noticed. The mini pro has basically worked exactly as expected. The cold temperature definitely impacts the battery capacity... so something to remember if one's commute was near the limit of the battery. I'm still wearing safety gear like kneepads, gloves and helmet. I also have heavy coat. My gloves or mitts don't fit over my wrist guards so I have not been wearing them, but I use one medical wrist brace because i have one previous wrist injury before getting the minipro, I can get the gloves of its over that. No spills yet, I think the mini-pro is safe enough to ride without much protection gear, but of course if you are on the roads or around other vehicles such as bikes or even roller bladers it's still a good idea. Rocks, and pot holes can still get you into trouble as well even at 10mph. I had one short 2.5km night ride. I used a headlamp on my helmet and it worked perfect. Can't decide on an EUC just yet. There is the S1 at a great price right now to learn and nice to carry on transit. The 14C has the nice battery capacity and good speed for adventures ones one gets past the learning curve The V8 just appeared and is a larger wheel might be nicer of trails and has a later design (although 14C seem like it can handle basic trails). There is the axle issues that worries me on the 14C. Many of the others are not available in the US right now, but the MCM and ACM I believe are also available and are good options. Oh and a mSuper-V3 is available in the 820Wh version, but that seems just a little much for me to learn on. I've been reading lots, but it's hard to know on something so different that may take some time to master and winter snow is on the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
codersarepeople Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 8 hours ago, FreeRide said: Can't decide on an EUC just yet. There is the S1 at a great price right now to learn and nice to carry on transit. The 14C has the nice battery capacity and good speed for adventures ones one gets past the learning curve The V8 just appeared and is a larger wheel might be nicer of trails and has a later design (although 14C seem like it can handle basic trails). There is the axle issues that worries me on the 14C. Many of the others are not available in the US right now, but the MCM and ACM I believe are also available and are good options. Oh and a mSuper-V3 is available in the 820Wh version, but that seems just a little much for me to learn on. I've been reading lots, but it's hard to know on something so different that may take some time to master and winter snow is on the way. Looks like you've done a lot of reading, something I should have done before I bought my first EUC. For the record, I ride both my 14C and my V5F+ on bike trails all the time, so I'm sure the V8 would also work on the trail, though we've had only a bit of snow here in Princeton so far, so I can't really speak to that...hopefully Boston doesn't have another year like 2 years ago! As for the S1, I'd suggest the V5F over the S1...it's prettier, goes faster, better battery, and has a nicer handle, for only $150 more at ewheels ($750) than the S1 at Amazon ($600). And the pedals are way nicer too, higher and built-in griptape. Good luck figuring out a wheel to buy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRide Posted December 11, 2016 Author Share Posted December 11, 2016 11 hours ago, codersarepeople said: Looks like you've done a lot of reading, something I should have done before I bought my first EUC. For the record, I ride both my 14C and my V5F+ on bike trails all the time, so I'm sure the V8 would also work on the trail, though we've had only a bit of snow here in Princeton so far, so I can't really speak to that...hopefully Boston doesn't have another year like 2 years ago! As for the S1, I'd suggest the V5F over the S1...it's prettier, goes faster, better battery, and has a nicer handle, for only $150 more at ewheels ($750) than the S1 at Amazon ($600). And the pedals are way nicer too, higher and built-in griptape. Good luck figuring out a wheel to buy! Yes, have done a lot of reading. I think the S1 is pretty much off the list unless I want the cheapest/easiest purchase to see if I can learn to ride. Other than that I'm back to my original two main choices getting the 14C or wait until January and get the V5F+. Leaning heavily toward the 14C as other than it's looks, missing a nice trolly handle (add on is pretty ugly) and being a bit heavier than what i would like, it has all the specs I would want for a 14" wheel and with the fast charger from ewheels it's really a nice total package. Of course the electronic could be improved, but that's pretty much the case for all the wheels right now. It's available now which means I might get a chance to stand on it before spring which would be nice. I also favor a high-amperage over high-voltage battery pack, but it's more challenging to develop a good high amperage system, and it looks like these small companies are learning as they go rather than paying for expertise. I should decide very soon if I'm going to do it before spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRide Posted December 11, 2016 Author Share Posted December 11, 2016 I got in another ride today, just over 10km. The last one before another snow fall. Total now just over 30km, and tried some smaller gravel road today it handled it great, but it was not comfortable to ride on. Tried the wavy New England asphalt sidewalks and no problem, but annoying to ride. Beeping all the time so I averaged 13.3kph for the first 7 or so km, and then averaged out to 11.8 in the end probably due to the gravel road. It was able to cross train tracks without a problem so over all very good handling. If the minpro had double the battery capacity (or triple to put the icing on the cake) and 50% increase in speed it would be quite a bit more versatile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRide Posted December 18, 2016 Author Share Posted December 18, 2016 The deep freeze and 8" of snow gave way to rain and over +10C temperatures so I took the MiniPro for a short 7km ride to the store. Streets were quite wet but only very light rain falling. It handled the roads and the rain without any issues. Definitely the limited speed greatly reduces the units suitability for any type of committee that's not at low speeds on sidewalks. Since there are few sidewalks where I live the road is essential, and it just has to be able to get to 20km/h without beeping to be practical for longer trips. It handles gravel, grass, and bumps just fine, but it's just beeping all the time when traveling on the road flat, uphill or downhill. Control is very natural, except when they try to slow you down with tilt-back. I'm beginning to hate tilt-back as it feels very unnatural and my body is not always sure how to compensate, it's easier for me to slow down if it hasn't tilted the pedals back. For me right now, 25km/h max with first warning beeps at 21km/h without tilt-back would be very reasonable. 37km total now; I hope I can reach 50km before I open my EUC Chistmas present. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRide Posted December 23, 2016 Author Share Posted December 23, 2016 Maybe my last ride before Christmas, 51.2km on the MinPro now. I wanted to reach 50km before Christmas incase it sits a lot while I learn to ride the EUC. Tried some alternate terrain again and it does really well on slopped grass that is quite ruff. When I lived the MiniPro the knee bar separate from the base without the quick-release opening. Inspection shows blue locktite, and small lock washers, but it didn't hold. When I went to tighten the quick release (looks like a pretty good design), I noticed the both screws were loose, but one the driver would not pit the end of the screw, on further inspection it could be seen that the hex head had not beed cut clean with a thin piece os slag like material in there. I managed to get both tightened, but I'll have to find my locktite, it looks like they applied that after the screws were set rather than before so it may not have been in the actual threads, just on top. Used the battery does to 3%, and confirmed this device needs twice the battery and 50% more speed and it would be amazing. The devices is very easy to ride even on rough terrain and still stays very stable, quite impressed with how it handles uneven terrain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky Romero Posted September 9, 2017 Share Posted September 9, 2017 On 12/23/2016 at 2:08 PM, FreeRide said: Maybe my last ride before Christmas, 51.2km on the MinPro now. I wanted to reach 50km before Christmas incase it sits a lot while I learn to ride the EUC. Tried some alternate terrain again and it does really well on slopped grass that is quite ruff. When I lived the MiniPro the knee bar separate from the base without the quick-release opening. Inspection shows blue locktite, and small lock washers, but it didn't hold. When I went to tighten the quick release (looks like a pretty good design), I noticed the both screws were loose, but one the driver would not pit the end of the screw, on further inspection it could be seen that the hex head had not beed cut clean with a thin piece os slag like material in there. I managed to get both tightened, but I'll have to find my locktite, it looks like they applied that after the screws were set rather than before so it may not have been in the actual threads, just on top. Used the battery does to 3%, and confirmed this device needs twice the battery and 50% more speed and it would be amazing. The devices is very easy to ride even on rough terrain and still stays very stable, quite impressed with how it handles uneven terrain. That you ride in the winter is fascinating, especially with my first upcoming winter for riding. ➰ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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