Hoverboard, the new walk

Hoverboard, this is a new variety of  2-wheels balancing scooters which had came out in fad in 2015.
Some interesting facts about these self-balancing boards / balance scooters:

• Nifty machines able to travel up to 10-12km/hr
• 2 self-balancing pads with gyroscope to determine balance actions
• Ideal gift item to family/friends
• Relies on lithium ion batteries and are relatively dangerous
• Newer versions has bluetooth speaker built-in
• Incidents had occurred which resulted in device exploding

Its origin stemmed from year 2013: based on a older name – Hovertrax

How did it started?

Who is Shane Chen? He’s the one person whom had came up with the idea of the self-balancing scooter and realising it to reality.

However since the inception of the product release, it had been copied over by many vendors whom had produced multi-facets of the original products. The original prices intended for the product was set at $1000 USD, imitations of the product have since been able to be sold at around $250 – $400 USD.

Imitated and cheaper

When a product price such as the hoverboard is set for cheaper than its intended margin, quality of the product is symmetrically drawn down as well. There has been many incidents that had devices exploded and catching fire, causing devastation to some dwellings because of product inferiority.

It is a ‘less price you pay, the less you get’ scenario. Because lithium ion batteries are highly unstable and is highly combustible upon overheating.

Where does it go from here

Although there are safety concerns triggering a public outcry over Balance Scooters which are deemed as dangerous, the fad for these devices are still present.

Many celebrities have promoted the hoverboards popularity, including Justin Bieber, Chris Brown, Jamie Foxx, Wiz Khalifa, Usain Bolt & Kendall Jenner.

Hoverboard/Balance Board may not be as cool as the actual futuristic hoverboards we perceive, but its popularity will be here to stay for awhile.