With the holidays around the corner, there are some great rideable options that you can gift loved ones, or even yourself! I am taking a look at four different electric scooters that were sent to me, with the fun starting for riders as young as 3 years old! They are the Segway Ninebot ZING C20 scooter, Segway Ninebot KickScooter E2, Segway Kids Ninebot ZING A6 escooter, and Droyd Romper ride-on electric tricycle.
Your child’s first rideable: The Romper electric trike by Droyd
The Romper electric trike is hours of fun for your little one, but definitely puts the age-old holiday tradition of “Parental Assembly required” to the test! If this is a holiday idea for your small rider, you might want to unbox and assemble it. You’ll see what I mean by a quick look at the image on the right. That picture’s also hidden all of the axles and connectors behind the red seat! Thankfully, all of the pieces you need to pull apart (like the axles and connector bars) all come bagged together, but the instructions I’d say are only about 75% as clear as they need to be. That said, it’s not very difficult to assemble and get out on the road. All the necessary tools you need are included in the box as well.
I timed myself and it took me about 35 minutes to put together. You’ll then need to charge the battery for about 5-6 hours before using it and then at minimum once a month to preserve maximum battery life (as explained in the instructions). The charger’s AC adapter has an LED indicator to tell you when charging is done, and then the power switch (located on the seat) tells you how much battery life is left. You’ll get about 45 minutes of operation out of a full charge.
The finished product is really cool and any tricycle riding-aged kid will love it! It’s extremely sturdy with a wide base and can’t tip over without a lot of effort. It’s safe for your young one to get on and off themselves. The front wheel lights up red and green and has its own perpetual motion power (so it doesn’t rely on the electronics to work.) Operating the tricycle is easy and safe. The throttle button is located on the right front handle and all your child has to do is push the button down to go, and release to stop. There are two speed settings (Lo and Hi) which allow parents to choose whatever they’re comfortable with (3mph or 6mph.) The top speed can only be changed by (included) metal keys so your tot can’t shift gears mid-ride even if they wanted to. For an added element of safety, there’s a giant red flag attached to the back so (in addition to that spinning lighted front wheel) you don’t lose sight of your child since the trike is quite low to the ground. Lastly, it has adjustable holes for the backrest of the seating so that the tricycle grows as your child does, meaning you’ll definitely get a few years out of this. The Romper supports kids from 21-66lbs.
Like any low powered battery operated rideable of this sort, I’d recommend sticking to flatter surfaces and pretty flat terrain. The wheels are made of plastic, so your mileage will vary on uneven surfaces and hills. In addition, do keep in mind that this is a fully electric rideable with no pedal power. If the battery runs out, your child will have to walk it home.
In the video for this feature, I show you some of the setup elements and demonstrate the capabilities, but you won’t see a child-specific demo. Unfortunately, my daughter’s a little too old and a little too tall for this one, even at its farthest back settings.
The next step up: The Segway Ninebot Zing A6 for kids
Once your child is ready to try something new and more upright, there’s the Segway Ninebot eKickscooter series. The first Segway we tried was the Zing A6 model, which is recommended for ages 4+ and has a max speed of 12 km/h. Weighing around just 9 pounds, this one is really easy to learn and easy to use. Best of all, there’s very little assembly required for parents. You just have to crank the bolts at the bottom of the handlebars onto the foot base and you’re done. It’s about 5 minutes work and then just charge the battery for a couple of hours. You’re going to get approximately 5km range per charge, so depending on your child’s preferred riding mode, it’s anywhere between a half hour and a couple of hours outside.
To start the scooter, your child just has to press down on the middle of the foot rest, which will power the lights on and wake the motor. From there, it’s a standard kick scooter, but the scooter will remain running at whatever speed your child has kickstarted it to (or capped at your top speed setting.) The scooter is somewhat built for wet weather as well. It has an IPX4 rating, which means that it has good water resistance, though avoid immersing it and riding it too often through large puddles. There’s a graduated speed program on this scooter. While it caps out at 12 km/h on the highest setting, it can be set lower and gradually set higher. To change speed settings, click the fender while the scooter is stopped and you can adjust top speeds.
In the video for this feature, you’ll see us test this at a fairly low speed at night. The reason for this is because we were more interested in seeing how this looked visually in the dark and whether the lights were noticeable from far away for safety purposes (they are). Also, my daughter is a little tall for this model and the foot boards were small for her, but she wanted to give it a go for this video anyway.
The Segway Ninebot Zing C20 for pre-teens
The Ninebot eKickscooter Zing C20 is the perfect in-between rideable scooter for someone accustomed to kickscooters but who is ready to move onto fully electric options. Recommended for ages 10+, this one looks, feels, and functions closer to a grown-up scooter than a kids’ one.
The product comes basically assembled out of the box, but you’ll still need to do a little bit to put it together. While the handlebars and the foot rest are connected by the wiring assembly, you’ll still need to clamp them together. You just need to align the bottom of the handlebars with the screw on the top of the foot rest, clamp it into place, then use the allen key to tighten it all together. The clamp also acts as a fold down handle, and the bell on the handlebars doubles as a clasp to hold the two pieces together so that you can hold and carry the scooter around quite easily.
One of the nice things about the Zing C20 is that it gives your rider graduated entry options from manual kickstarts at a low top speed (Cruise Mode, which has more of an emphasis on foot pedaling) to higher top speed modes (Safe Mode which caps out at 10km/h and Turbo Mode, which goes at full top speed) through the use of a built-in throttle on the handlebars. The Zing A20 also carries a battery/riding range of 20km. My daughter had never ridden a scooter with gradually accelerating speed before, and she was already ready to cruise at the top speed within about 5 minutes.
Given that this looks more like an adult scooter, there are still some visual features that will appeal to the kid at heart. You won’t get the crazy flashy fluorescents the Zing A6 has, but there are still some lights onboard which are really noticeable in lower lighting.
The initial reviews I got from my daughter riding this were very positive. The scooters we’ve reviewed in her age range to date (including the Zing A6) have been ones she’s slightly outgrown, and so she hasn’t been as comfortable standing on the foot boards. On the Zing A6, her feet took up almost the entire board, and half of her left foot was hanging off it. On the Zing C20, she’s able to stand and ride comfortably, with tons of room to grow. On the drive home from our first paces around the track, she said “Maybe I should ask for one of these scooters now that I’ve ridden around on one that’s my size. This is a lot of fun”
Maximum riding weight on this model is 165lb before having to move up to the next step. This is a great graduated entry toward more serious scooters, but if your rider will be using this to ride in darker conditions (or to/from work,) the next model I’m about to touch on is more for them.
Congratulations! You’ve graduated to the Ninebot eKickscooter e2!
The Ninebot eKickscooter e2 is a hefty model, quite literally. Weighing in at just over 35 pounds, this is the one model in this blog that’s made for adults, which means I was able to ride it around and play with it! This has a similar appearance to the Zing C20 with a few other additions. The footboard is longer and wider than the Zing C20, but like it, requires minimal installation with just the need to slide the handlebar into the housing and clasp it shut. It too has a fold down handle for easy storage, a small kickstand and charges easily within a few hours. There is also a mobile app (Ninebot-Segway) where you can sync up via Bluetooth, track ride data, and check out your battery life and expected range left. It’s not required, but it’s a nice to have. When you download the app, it implies that the G30 and Go Karts are the only models it supports, but just tap “search device” and follow instructions. It’s a simple sync up.
The e2 attains the same top speed (20 km/h) as the Zing C20 and is fully electric with a simple throttle stop and go. The battery has an approximately 25km range in total and supports riders up to 90kg comfortably. This is also the most road ready model of anything I’ve previously discussed, with a bright light in the front and rear reflective lights so drivers can see you at night. It is also IPX4 water resistant, which again means you can take it in some rain and minimal puddles, but try not to immerse the footpads and bottom hardware. You come to a complete stop using the two brake pump system on the left handlebar and the LCD screen on the console keeps you updated on how fast you’re going, what battery life you have left and which riding mode you’re on. If conditions aren’t great at night with your scooter, there’s even a walk mode with a top speed of 5 km/h where the lights stay on the whole time. The tires on this model are both full hard puncture proof rubber—so they’re built to last. As always, I’d recommend keeping this to flatter terrains, though I’ve heard from many scooter riders that you should get enough power on a vehicle like this to climb light hills. I’m on the heavier side of the weight requirement, so the scooter slows down on uphills and I can’t maintain my balance on it, so I just walk it up.
At a top speed of 20 km/h, this scooter is still meant for beginner riders. One of the biggest concerns I’ve always had on these is the ability for me to maintain my balance. The E2 is the perfect scooter for that with a low barrier to entry. You can start with a safe mode that caps out at 5 km/h, and then graduate your way up to sport mode which is where you get the max speed.
If you’ve always wanted to dip your toes into an electric scooter, this is definitely the right model to do it with. It travels at a decent enough speed that you won’t get disoriented right away, and you can get a lot of riding experience on a model like this before jumping up to more serious and faster models. While it’s wider and longer than the Zing C20 and the Zing A6, it should still fit width-ways into a normal car trunk in case you need to tote it from place to place. It might be a bit tight depending on what you drive, but it fits into the back of my crossover-sized vehicle just fine.
This is the first time that my daughter (riding the Zing C20) and I were able to ride together at the same time, and by the end of the experience, she told me both of us should get these scooters so that we could do it together more regularly. Well, I guess it’s a good thing that the holidays are just around the corner right?
I had a lot of fun exploring different levels of Segways throughout this blog, and I hope it’s given you some great ideas about where to get started too! As always, I remind you to adhere to the rules of the road and your local city’s regulations around scooters on streets and sidewalks as they vary from place to place.
The Droyd Romper and the three Ninebot scooters discussed in this blog are all now available at Best Buy, ready for a spin no matter what your age and your experience level!
