On April 16th 2017 early Sunday morning a hoverboard battery exploded in the Tri-Cities WA area. A man who is yet unnamed was the unfortunate victim of this terrible explosion. It happend as he was changing the battery in the scooter device. The man sustained sever burn injuries covering over 50% of his body. We have no word on his current condition.
The NBC editorial found here covering this story was once again lacking in many key important elements about the incident. NBC opted instead to re-hash the same old sensationalized bad inaccurate reporting style of many others in the past. The way this was reported on is disgraceful to say the least, and a dis-service to the public.
For example they fail to say which brand or company the board was from. They fail to mention if the battery came with the device, or if it was purchased separately from somewhere else. They fail to mention if the scooter was UL 2272 certified. In other words they failed to mention even one thing that consumers needed to know to prevent it from happening again. They mentioned to buy scooters that meet “government standards” but failed to mention what those are or how to find out. And worst of all instead of accurately reporting WHY this hoverboard exploded NBC crafted the story to make it seem like all hoverboards are dangerous and will explode. Nothing could be farther from the truth and they should be ashamed for distorting the truth in this way once again.
Stories like this NBC report mentioned above are not intended to give people actionable accurate information that people can use to protect themselves. They are just capitalizing on an unfortunate incident to get more ratings. As we mentioned many times before there are devices that explode on a regular basis for ANY type of electronic product that uses lithium ion batteries. Virtually all battery powered electronics use lithium ion batteries. This includes cell phones, lap tops, watches, and the recent electronic cigarettes craze. With any type of electronic product there are cheap dangerous knock offs. And then there are high quality well made products that will not explode if they are cared for and treated properly. So to single out hoverboards as being more dangerous than other electronics is simply not true. It is not the type of product that is more dangerous. It is who makes that product and what kind of parts they use to make it.
Chances are high that the Tri-Cities hoverboard that exploded was not a tested and certified UL 2272 hoverboard. It was probably made of cheap parts from China and should not have been allowed to be sold in the first place.
Similar Dangerous Hoverbaords Are Still Being Sold
Despite all the hoverboard explosions and fires since 2015 there is somehow still a very large amount of scooter products on market that are untested and dangerous hoverboard brands. These are being sold all over the world (and especially in the US).
We also noticed a disturbing trend of many scooter companies selling a select number of UL 2272 certified hoverboards mixed in with non-certified products. This can confuse consumers to trust that all the products from te company are UL 2272 certified. As a consumer you need to be aware of these facts and stay away from these types of products. DO NOT BUY A HOVERBOARD THAT IS NOT UL 2272 CERTIFIED! Check our article here on how to tell if the certification claim is real.
This is one of the reasons we created Hoverboards Electric review website. It is to help people avoid dangerous cheap scooters, of which there are many. The 2 wheel standing scooters we promote are all tested and UL certified because we see reports of this all the time. We don’t want the same thing to happen to you or your family.
This is a story we keep seeing over and over again like a broken record playing. Some people never learn and don’t take advice about the dangers of cheap hoverboards that are not UL 2272 certified.
Or worse still unethical companies continue getting away with selling uncertified hoverboards that use cheap dangerous parts. Please see our extensive explanation on why hoverboards are catching fire exploding found here.
Don’t Shop For the Cheapest Scooter
So if are you someone who is always looking to the cheapest priced product and you want to buy the cheapest hoverboard STOP NOW! A hoverboard is not an item where you should be looking for the cheapest price.
Low priced hoverboards are almost certainly made of substandard batteries and parts that will eventually fail, potentially with catastrophic consequences. We urge you to do yourself a huge favor and look for reasonably priced well tested scooters that have proven safety certification.
Throw Your Dangerous Hoverboards in the Garbage
If you have already bought a hoverboard that is not UL 2272 certified we strongly urge you to throw it in the garbage right now. DO NOT try to sell it on Craigslist or Ebay. Do not try to give it away. Doing so is putting other people’s lives and property at risk. Many people are reselling their old hoverboards and those are exploding with the new owners. Properly dispose of it at your local refuse center for recycling of the battery and electronics. Please do not throw the battery directly in your home garbage because the chemicals from the batteries will leak out into the ground and pollute the surrounding area.
Go here for some of our top rated reviews of UL 2272 safety certified hoverboards.
But anyway we'll stop with the jokes and get on with the review.The reason for the name change seems to be because they were forced after Segway (which is another company entirely) sued for trademark infringement, due to the similarity of the name Swagway to Segway.Regardless though, the company has an overall good track record for making quality products. The company reputation shows they have been dealing honestly with customers. We are not saying anything bad about the name. All we are doing is making sure you know which products we are talking about.Also keep in mind the term “Segway board” is often used as a general catch all phrase to describe any 2 wheel electric self-balancing scooter. So we will continue to use all these names interchangeably throughout this review article.The main point here is that there is no Swagtron vs Swagway, because it is essentially the same company. Unless of course you are referring to the old Swagway scooter models, versus the new ones. Swagtron is still selling the old inventory (under the old name) on some websites. But we do not recommend that you buy any of those scooters (such as the Swagway X1 or X3). The reason is explained below.Ok, so now that we made that clear let’s get right into the rest of this T1 and T3 review and comparison.
What does that mean? And why should you care? To be approved for UL 2272 certification, an electric self-balancing scooter must go through months of stringent scientific fire and explosion safety testing. This testing covers every aspect of the scooters electrical and charging systems. It will only be certified after repeated and prolonged tests prove it won’t catch fire. Many hoverboard companies have to go through 2 or 3 cycles of testing and redesigning before they are approved. The process can take months.You should only buy approved UL 2272 hoverboard scooters. NEVER to buy any hoverboard without the UL 2272 seal. Having the full certification ensures it has been tested for virtually ALL possible electrical system flaws that could cause it to combust.
Beware though many scammers are putting fake certification labels and stickers on cheap scam products. But with the right information to empower you there is an easy way to see past this scam. You can prove easily whether or not the seal is real. Go to UL’s website to check and make sure if it’s real. Here is how you do that:
Considering the fact that most hoverboard fires start with the battery pack, this is a major plus. Having a strong metal casing (as opposed to combustible plastic) will prevent any fires from the battery due to damage or malfunction. Even if the battery were to explode (which it will not because it has been tested and certified by UL against explosion) the metal casing would contain any spread of flames. Even the best constructed batteries can be damaged from accidents or abuse. Puncturing any lithium-ion battery can cause it to explode. This aluminum casing is an added extra layer of protection that can give you greater peace of mind.The proprietary lithium-ion design from Swagtron is called Sentry Shield™. This one feature alone makes the Swagway Swagtron one of our tops picks and best hoverboards for 2016.
The T3 model is the only one with the app. And the T3 is the only one with built in Bluetooth speakers. And last the T3 is the only one with the advanced riding mode.In our opinion it is well worth it to pay a little bit more for all the extra features of the T3, especially the app.
To sum it up in scientific nerd speak the Airwheel X8 is a unicycle that adopts an aerospace attitude control theory, has a fuzzy software algorithm and gyroscope system to help in maintaining balance.Basically that means it has a lot of tech in it for balancing and sensitive control, much like the Ninebot One. Both scooters have aspects of artificial intelligence software, coupled with advanced balancing technologies. We will touch on this a little bit below but read the longer reviews we have on these two scooters for more details. They are linked at the very top of this article.
We are thrilled with so many new hoverboards hitting stores that are finally UL 2272 safety certified. Such as the Ninebot Mini Pro N3M320 model. This is great news for the industry and for consumers alike. Many more are set to hit the market soon. Such as the Razor Hovertrax that has the UL 2272 certificate, but is not yet back on the market.UL 2272 standards is amazing news for hoverboard lovers because it will transform the industry into a market with safer better products for everyone. The new UL 2272 safety standards will allow the sale of quality standing scooters to finally move forward. We no longer have to worry about which ones are safe or unsafe. We no longer have to worry about fake Samsung battery labels, or fake UL battery certification labeling on counterfeit scooters.The new standard is simple and easy for everyone. All you have to know now is if it's not tested for and passed UL 2272 classification don't buy it. The equation is as simple as that.As we previously reported for February 2016 the US Consumer Product Safety Commission has
hoverboards are not safe unless they have the proper UL 2272 fire safety certifications. And although we are a hoverboard review site we don't believe this was an unfair declaration at all. In fact we agree with it 100%. We don't endorse any hoverboard scooters that are not tested and safety certified.Unfortunately many people then and now still continue to ignore that warning. They keep buying cheap garbage unsafe ticking time bombs that often times explode in their homes. As a result a hoverboard recall for over 500,000 scooters has been issued recently as a precaution.As most people are already well aware, many hoverboards have indeed been experiencing safety issues since they were launched into the market. These issues understandably have caused a lot of fear and uncertainty for people in general. In fact, several major airlines in the United States, as well as the US Postal Service, have declined to ship the items because they have deemed them unsafe for transport.
be due to their convenience, a feeling of unique freedom, and new exciting experiences. Regardless of the reasons one thing we know for sure is that the popularity of them has literally exploded overnight. In less than a year it has become one of the fastest growing trends ever in the history of the world. This is not an understatement or exaggeration. The industry has sold over a billion dollars worth of hoverboards in less than one year. And that is from an industry that didn't even exist the year before!If people want something bad enough no amount of danger or safety warnings are going to deter them. So the only solution is to remove the bad apples and start making safer scooters available to the population.Well that is exactly what is currently happening with UL 2272.
**It is very important to note that the UL 2272 safety certification doesn’t deal with safety issues caused by having accidents with the board while riding. Hoverboard riders have to take precautions for safe riding and balance. If you are on a road and ride into oncoming traffic for example no certification will protect you. If you don't have good balance you need to get that right before you can safely ride a self balancing board.Again we would like to stress that you can identify UL 2272 certification by the holographic image seal and Enhanced Mark on the product itself.
10 major hoverboards companies have now recalled 500,000 hoverboards sold over the last few months. This was due to the possibility that certain models might not be safe because they don't have UL 2272 fire safety certification.If you bought a hoverboard in the past from anyone of these companies you should return them for a full refund, exchange, or repair. 
Are you ready for an Airwheel Review? If so you've probably been looking into getting one for yourself. It's amazing to see how far the technology has come for these electric self balancing little scooters. Just 5 years ago no one ever even heard of a “self-balancing” unicycle scooter. When you mention a unicycle most people still picture those contraptions clowns ride at the circus. They are nearly impossible for most people to learn to balance or steer.Comparing a unicycle like Airwheel to early prototypes of self-balancing unicycles is like night and day. The early inventions were large, cumbersome, and clumsy. Today however we see a far different picture. Scooters like the Airwheel Mars Rover are so small and compact - it boggles the mind to see how far they have evolved in such a short time.
It didn’t take long either for this technology to explode onto the marketplace. Especially in the last few years. With so many electric unicycle scooters out on the market today it can be hard to decide on the best, or more importantly, the safest ones.One problem is the sheer number of fake and dangerous knock offs that catch fire and explode, many of which look exactly like the high quality brand name scooters.Aside from safety issues though what does the word “best” really mean when we are talking about electric self balancing scooters? The fact is it can mean many different things to people. It all comes down to deciding what is best for yourself really.Regardless though you’ll probably want to know if there is anything unique or superior about the Airwheel X series scooters. Things that could make them the best in your eyes.Hopefully this review will help you to decide that because we are going to cover every single thing about these little electric one wheel self balancing spaceship looking scooters. 
both the good and bad points of the products and/or the company that makes it.If you’re thinking about buying an electric self-balancing unicycle you will need to decide which products have the most of what you do want, and the least of what you don’t want. With the correct information you can make the best informed decision for yourself. This of course will be based on to your own needs and wants.You can rest assured this Airwheel review will cover pretty much everything about these scooters. We can guarantee you that you won't find a more extensive review on Airwheel X series scooters anywhere. If you don't believe us then just try and scroll down the page. You will find that it is a VERY long web page! To help you with this we have installed a Table of Contents with links you can click (which you will see shortly down the page).
electric battery powered scooter. Sometimes people get so caught up with the features and performance of a product they forget the most important factor. Fire safety should trump any other points of interest. Why? If it’s not safe enough to be stored in your home you shouldn’t even consider it. We hammer this point over and over because it is the biggest problem in the industry right now. The fact is - over the past year hoverboards have been catching fire and exploding left and right. Don’t let it happen to you! We use software to scan the news stories daily for stories about battery powered scooter fires. Unfortunately we are seeing reports about another electric scooter fire literally every day. This is because of cheaply manufactured scooters made with substandard parts and practices. Nearly all of the fires are caused by the hoverboard 2 wheel standing scooter types. Those are being sold mainly by startup companies who are all buying from the same dangerous factories in China. But some scooter fires are also caused by the one wheel electric unicycles (although this is much more rare).Despite new US government scooter safety regulations and regulations in other countries, the cheap dangerous scooters continue to be sold all over the world (as if the laws don’t even exist). The only way you as a consumer can protect yourself against this is to take matters into your own hands. You must do your own research on the electrical safety of a scooter before buying it.We are trying to do our part in educating people so we can help put a stop to this madness. A major part of every review we do is about the products fire safety. But don't get the wrong idea. Not all scooters are dangerous. So we need to determine which ones are the safe ones. 
For this hoverboard vs Airwheel comparison let’s take a look at the company history of Airwheel. This will help us to determine if the company has a trustworthy track record for producing scooters that are safe against fires.Airwheel has been around long before the invention of the popular electric 2 wheel self-balancing scooters (which are mainly the causes of most of the explosions).The actual company name is Airwheel Technology Holding Co., Ltd which is a China based company established in 2004. They have offices in LA., Colorado, and China.The Airwheel electrical technology that is present present in both its unicycle style scooters and the Airwheel Segway type scooters, has been implemented in the scooters since 2011. That’s about a half a decade of making and selling scooters with the current type of Airwheel electrical systems inside them. This is a good amount of time we can look at to give us an idea on the quality of the products they make.As mentioned above part of all the reviews we do on this website is to try to find bad reports on the products. During all the time Airwheel scooters have been sold we have not been able to find ANY reports of fires caused in the scooters after looking and researching for days about this. We searched every area including forums, social media, news sites, other review sites, reviews on sites selling Airwheel, and many more places. No stone was left unturned.We did find one news story of a certain unicycle fire incident. But we were not able to substantiate that it was an Airwheel model. Many people call all similar looking unicycles an Airwheel because it is such a popular name. Even when you search in Google you will see many generic scooters using the name Airwheel falsely. The video footage in the news story we found mentioned the word "Airwheel" one time, but didn’t really establish if it was indeed a real brand name Airwheel. They only said the word Airwheel one time really quickly.In fact there is evidence to show that it probably was NOT a real Airwheel. For one thing we are aware of many unicycle scooters which look exactly like Airwheel. They have the same shapes and sizes of the Airwheel designs. It would be easy to confuse them with the real Airwheel brand name scooters. In fact here is one such scooter called an IPS 101 that exploded in a hallway and ejected the rider from it:
As you can see the shape of it looks almost exactly like an Airwheel X3. Here are the images of the IPS scooter explosion - which according to IPS was caused by some type of paper deposited around the battery pack:[caption id="attachment_1007" align="aligncenter" width="684"]
this review would be more like a book than an article (in fact it’s close to that point now). So we’ll instead need to stick to a list of the most important things we liked, which we think most people would want to know about these scooters. 
innovative technologies and designs. Most other brands look like cookies cutter copies of all the other products out there (because they are). They don’t have anything unique or better to offer and are just the exact same thing with a different name stamped on the product.Also as we mentioned these cookie cutter replicated scooters are mostly made from cheap dangerous parts that can cause fires and explosions!Although some of the Airwheel scooter models look a lot like other brands in some ways, they also add their own unique twist in design, features, software, and materials. This is unlike almost all hoverboard scooters, which look exactly the same with the same cheap parts.The importance of this point goes beyond just innovations because innovative unique scooter technology is a sign of a safer better built product.
Overall all the X series models offer a quiet, smooth, and super fun ride.
handle on the top of the device.Even better they are so small you can carry them inside a backpack or shopping bag. For the best carrying option Airwheel designed a special backpack that's round inside to conform to the scooters shape. You can get it as an accessory if you wish.
lightweight aluminum metal alloy (which resists corrosion). The last thing you want is rusted heavy foot pedals that are cumbersome and add a lot of weight to the scooter.The pedals easily fold up for hassle free carrying and storage. 
The main differences in all the X series models are the batteries and motor power. They all look very similar besides the colors which are black, white, carbon fiber, and orange for the X3. Depending on your needs and budget you have a good variety to choose from.All Airwheel models have slightly different powered motors but all can safely go uphill on a 15° slope for a person with an average adult body weight. For people or kids weighing less than 132 lbs. (60 kg) the scooters can easily and safely go up an 18° slope. Going downhill re-charges the battery.Generally speaking all Airwheel models can go off-road over gravel and grass. But as you go up in the more expensive models (with more powerful motors) they will be able to better tackle the more extreme gradients and terrain.All of the X series models have only a single wheel, which makes them a true unicycle or solowheel. These one wheel X Series models are a little harder to learn to ride because you need to have more balance from left to right. But once you learn them they are more agile, and easy to turn on a tighter radius. The exceptional maneuverability of these types of self-balancing unicycles make them super fun to ride.If you are looking for a scooter that’s easier to learn to ride (or if you have bad balance) you might want to check out Airwheels Q series scooters. The Q series scooters are actually dicycles because they have two wheels close together (as opposed to the one wheel of the X series), giving them a wider base that is easier to balance on.
As for the Airwheel Mars Rover X3 it is the original base rate unicycle model. It is the cheapest cost scooter out of all the Airwheel scooters. And it is also the lightest weight model. X3 is a great model to start off learning to ride electric unicycles with. It can go 10 to 14 miles in distance. But (as with all battery powered scooters) this depends on the weight of the rider, the speed you are going, the type of terrain, the temperature outside, and the inclines.Also if you are looking to buy your kids a gift the X3 Airwheel model might be a good scooter to get for kids since they can handle a lighter weight and will travel farther with a lighter load. Plus the size is a little smaller which is better for kids. 
This section is short because there is not a lot of difference in the X3 vs X5 aside from a few minor differences. The X5 is the big brother to the X3. It is a very similar model. It is slightly wider at the top of the scooter shell to accommodate a slightly larger battery pack. It can go for a distance of approximately a 10-14 mile range. The Airwheel Mars Rover X5 is similar in weight to the X3. You can see all the weight and dimension differences for the models in the “
The X6 is a step up from the X5 in its size and has the bigger 16 inch tires (like the X8). It has a larger body than the X5 and closer to the size of the X8. But the speed and range are basically the same as the X5. However the X6 is a newer model and hard to find for sale as many authorized distributers don’t carry it. Basically the X6 seems almost the same thing and very close to the X8 in size and weight but with a step down motor and battery. 
batteries in Airwheel are Sony and Panasonic which are Japan made batteries. The X3, X8 and the rest of the X series models have these batteries. They are not cheap knock off batteries, but manufactured from trusted long established companies. Having a high quality battery and charger is the single most important factor that will prevent fires and explosions in any electric scooter. Don’t underestimate the importance of this. It is a major plus in our book. 
to know and how to use it the right way. It’s just human nature to want to rush into things. About 15,000 people have been sent to the hospital that last year alone due to electric scooter related injuries. This is small in comparison to some other activities but still significant enough to be aware of the need to ride in a safe way.Airwheel has taken this into consideration and developed systems to prevent certain things from happening. Things that can injure you or your scooter. 
battery power is reached. This is a safety feature to prevent serious damage to the battery packs. Damaging the batteries can cause them to not work, or even worse to catch fire. This shut off feature can prevent dangerous electric failure due to overheating and possibly a battery explosion.Unfortunately the BMS which protects the battery is the same system that can possibly cause random shutoffs and bodily injury to the rider of the scooter. You don’t want a scooter to just shut off suddenly with no warning. Sudden automatic shutoffs will cause the wheel to lock up causing the rider to be thrown forward off the scooter. As you can imagine a sudden shutoff like this can cause the rider to be seriously injured.
mobile Bluetooth app that can connect to some of its scooters. The ones that have Bluetooth connectivity will work with the app. But none of the X series have Bluetooth and so won’t work with the app. It’s disappointing that the company failed to add such a simple thing when they already made the app. It doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense.The app could be invaluable in simplifying the calculation of the distances traveled. This would help to more easily avoid the BMS automatic shutoff mentioned above. It would also be a great way to check the exact battery level at a glance.
For one thing Airwheel has made it almost impossible to call them from any country besides China. They only have Chinese phone numbers listed on the main company website. Those phone numbers are only to call the factory if you are interested in becoming a distributor or are already one and looking to buy wholesale in bulk. But they have NO phone number listed anywhere for product inquiries, or for customers to call.Also we tried to call the Chinese numbers listed on the main website multiple times at our own expense. The only thing we got was a very short one sentence voice message in Chinese. A few seconds after the recorded message was played the line was automatically disconnected with no way to leave a message. In fact we called multiple times, on different days, and during Chinese business hours. The phone was never answered any time we called.This makes no sense because Airwheel is doing business all over the world in different countries. You would think when they open up a country for distribution they would hire a representative to answer the phone from a number that people in that country can call.
Nope you can’t call them. We spent a lot of time researching and trying to find a number to an office for the company. Unfortunately they seemed have worked very hard to hide the corporate headquarters phone number and don’t want any potential customers trying to contact them on the phone. We have not been able to find any phone number to call for any offices besides the number for the factory in China.
We ended up sending a contact request to the Skype username listed on the main company website. Suffice it to say the experience we had with the representative on Skype was very bad. The lady took days to provide any kind of a reply and in the end was very rude and seemed incompetent to answer any questions we had about the products. She made it clear she didn't want to talk unless I was either a distributor or wanted to become one. She refused to answer any questions about the products or give out any information on who else I could contact for help. She would not even tell me where I could go to buy the products.
Airwheel supposedly provides online product support via live chat on the main website. But that is only for people who want to become a distributor. not for anyone who bought the products, or people who are interested in the products. We tried to use the website chat box as well. But still no reply for the four times we sent a message through it. It's basically a fake live chat.The feeling we continually got when contacting the company is that it’s virtually impossible to get a hold of anyone to talk to about the products, either before or after you buy them. If you do happen to somehow get a hold of someone you had to jump through hoops for days to make that happen.
So finally the last resort was to contact the email addresses listed on the website. We tried to send several messages to those emails with NO reply after a week of sending the messages.If bad or non-existent customer support is a deal breaker for you then we are sorry to have to break the bad news. Check out the next subheading below for a Ninebot comparison. The customer support for Ninebot is an excellent alternative if this is something important to you.