Hi Don!
Glad to hear you and the wife enjoyed riding an electric scooter! Ready for my very, very long response?!
First, do you recall what kind of scooter your nephew has?
Since you liked it and she loved it, the specs for it might be a good base for what you both would like most.
We have a PLETHORA of resources on our website for riders of all sizes, and you can start with scooters that we’ve performance tested, focusing on hill climb stats and range.
Since you mentioned a $1300 EMOVE scooter, I’m guessing you meant the Cruiser! The EMOVE Cruiser ($1300) is a performance-level scooter for riders up to 352 lbs and should be durable enough and provide the power you need for daily commuting/joy riding. It could be a great scooter for you and your wife.
In our performance database, I filtered by fastest hill climb speed and got the results below.
Although you have to cross-reference cost, it’s pretty easy to see that if you want a powerful hill climber, you have to spend more money. The Kaabo Wolf King is second on the list and $3000.
Here are some more details on the Cruiser from someone that’s ridden it:
- Hill climbing: Our 165 lb rider got up the 200-foot, 10% incline in 12.1 seconds at an average speed of 11.3 mph. This feels fine, it’s not fast – but is definitely faster than walking up hill. When you get below 5 mph uphill, it feels really silly.
- Range: The Cruiser is the king of range, still holding as the longest we’ve ever tested at 50 mi. We’ve heard the newer build gets slightly less range (and it will for you as you’re heavier than our test rider) but still has exceptional range. Not only that, the Cruiser has dual spring suspension – which I doubt was included on your nephew’s scooter. This will help reduce the leg fatigue you experienced the following day, along with riding more frequently (and building up those riding skills to cushion some of the bumps by bending your knees and sitting into the ride).
- Build quality: EMOVE/Voro Motors frequently updates their components to ensure the best quality, and will work with you if you unfortunately receive a lemon (it happens in every industry!). They also have tons of tutorials and a guide for screws in case anything gets loose.
- Female friendly: Another thing I’ll mention as a female rider is that the Cruiser (and Touring) have very “smooth” builds around the edges even though they’re performance level scooters. Although there are a lot of exposed screws, the edges of the deck are tapered so won’t get caught on your clothes/bags. There are also set screws in the deck, so you can add a seat if you want (we didn’t love it tho). We’ve also seen riders add over-fender baskets and carrying things with you, since it’s such a long-range scooter.
- Customizability/Portability: (Handlebars) For your height, it’s nice that the Cruiser has telescoping handlebars but they hit a max height of around 39 in, which isn’t particularly tall. However, it’s a good standard for most heights. (Weight/Dimensions) It’s not very lightweight, but can become more compact than some scooters at its weight because it also has folding handlebars. (Colors) It comes in more stock colors than most popular models we’ve seen – so you and your wife could pick your favorite: red, orange, purple, black and white. (Throttles) If you used a thumb throttle on your nephew’s scooter, the built-in finger trigger throttle of the Cruiser may be difficult to control at first. You can tune acceleration down with p-settings but can also upgrade to another style of throttle with the Cruiser (thumb or twist). Of the three options, we liked the twist throttle the best.
- Water resistance: IPX6 is one of the higher ratings we’ve seen. If you watch our video review, you’ll see Chuck just spraying water all over this scooter, including the throttle controller. It’s not the best idea to flood any electronic with water, but the Cruiser is well protected and includes plug-and-play components, making many of them more replaceable. We’ve also checked inside the deck and it’s pretty well protected.
- Safety: (Brakes) It has dual disc brakes and electronic braking with a braking distance of 11 ft when coming to a full stop from 15 mph. This is really good, if you consider the average length of a car (15-16 ft) and wanting to be able to avoid hitting it in your path. (Lights) The Cruiser is one of the few scooters that came out quite awhile ago that includes built-in turn signals, headlight, and taillight, especially at this price point. The turn signals are separate from the headlight and brake-responding taillight, and this is exceptional among lighting in scooters. We’d recommend more, higher-mounted lighting on your scooter and your body for better visibility at night, but it’s got great built-in lighting.
Your weight will absolutely affect a scooter’s hill climbing ability, but this is the best baseline we can offer for how scooters feel/perform uphill.
REALLY, really not trying to “sell” you on the Cruiser, just want to give you more specific information about this scooter since you mentioned you are interested but concerned w/ cost, and I recently updated our review.
I know it may seem like a lot to spend on an electric scooter, but if you consider using it like you would a real vehicle or form of transportation, then the investment makes good sense to purchase something at a higher value for a better package. You could try buying one and see if you both like it and your experience with the seller, then get a second.
I’m so happy you’ve both discovered value in the PEV (personal electric vehicle) industry. Not only are you helping the environment, it’s so much fun feeling the wind (helmet-covered head), making an adventure of exploring your own backyard, and getting a little physical activity/exertion/adrenaline! Don’t forget to have some budget for full-face helmets and any other safety gear you need.
I hope to see you post your scooters/rides to the Forum soon! It’s a great community, glad you joined!
