Segway Ninebot F2 Pro – a super scooter for commuters

Nowadays, councils seem hellbent on making cities as car-unfriendly as possible. Free parking has gone the way of the dodo, and a dribble of petrol costs the GDP of a developing country. Then there’s traffic. Lots and lots of traffic going nowhere fast. Sigh.

Walking might shave a few inches off your waist and help with cardio fitness. However, for treks beyond your hood without a car, your options are limited to taking a punt with public transport. Sadly, the reality in most New Zealand cities is that buses and trains can be notoriously unreliable.

A better option is Segway’s Ninebot F2 Pro electric scooter. It’s an all-electric beastie, so there are no harmful emissions when scooting about. I went hands-on (erm, scoot on?) to see if it was the business.

The F2 Pro is the latest in Segway’s line of scooters which I reviewed a while back. It’s more affordable and offers more comfort, weighs less, and has more speed and range than previous models. There’s lots to like.

The F2 Pro is Nanobot’s mid-market offering and promises serious bang for your buck. Its top speed is about 33kph, and its range is around 55 kilometres. The F2’S motor has been upgraded, which means it feels zippy and can handle hill climbs and heavier riders (according to the blurb, the F2 has a max rider weight of 120kgs).

The other, not so obvious, but really useful thing with the F2 is the Ninebot App (iOS/Android). Using the app, I could gain access to a bunch of riding statistics and even remotely access the scooter or lock it. If you’re a fruity phone user, the other big tick is that the F2 also plays nice with Apple’s “Find My” to track it down should someone be stupid enough to try and steal it.

Taking the F2 out for a test run, I was immediately struck by its acceleration. Thanks to its 450-watt motor, the F2 takes off like a rocket. I managed to go from 0 to 25kph in just five seconds. Intuitive controls also make it a lot of fun to zip around on. Keeping the throttle on full, I quickly hit its top speed of 33mph, which matches the marketing bumf’s claimed speed.

There’s a good reason why most Wellingtonians have larger-than-average calf muscles: Wellington is a series of progressively steep hills, and hill-climbing (which I rate right up there with DIY cranial lobotomies) is a soul-draining part of our everyday existence. Thankfully, the F2 took the hassle and sweat out hill climbs once I switched from its default Eco mode to Sports mode. I was still accelerating when I reached the top of a 61-metre test hill.

In terms of its range, the F2 Pro managed a solid 55km with a full battery, carrying me at an average speed of about 15kph on the pavement, and road where cycle paths were unavailable. I noticed that its speed and acceleration dropped as the battery charge neared single digits. I didn’t find this a huge concern as the likelihood of me scooting beyond its 55km range limit is pretty low.

The other big selling point of the F2 Pro is its front disc and rear electronic brakes. They both use anti-skid traction control technologies so they wouldn’t lock up, no matter how strongly I yanked on the brake (don’t try this at home, kids!) This has the added benefit of minimising brake wear and tear and adds a heap to safety, meaning I never worried about falling off from hard braking. I usually got a decent 2-3 second stop time, which is pretty good.

The ride quality of the F2 Pro was also a high point. Throughout my testing, I got a smooth and comfy ride, regardless of whether I was riding on a smooth footpath or the road. Crucially, stability was also great, giving me added confidence as I hurtled around at 30kph. Much of this comes down to the F2’s front suspension, which helps smooth the ride. The other key factor figuring in this is its self-healing, tubeless tyres which have what Segway calls a “jelly layer”. The jelly should (in theory) seal up punctures automatically. Compared to the solid tyres used with many other scooters, these jelly wheels helped hugely with ride comfort levels.

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Another factor scoring the F2 Pro some brownie points is its portability. This is a rarely appreciated thing with e-scooters, but as the F2 Pro weighs in at just 18.6kg and has a fold-down handle that locks into the rear wheel mudguard, it can be easily packed up and flopped under a desk when not in use, making it ideal for commuters wanting a scooter.

Last (but by no means least) are the F2’s safety features. These come in the form of a handlebar headlight and a taillight (that also does double duty as a brake light) and indicators built into its handlebars. With this setup, other road users can see where you are and what you’re doing at a glance.

Clever Tyres and the F2’s front suspension make for superb ride comfort while its powerful wee motor gives oomph to burn. Add in a decent range and it isn’t hard to see why I scored it a well-deserved 10 out of 10.

https://www.segwaynz.co.nz/