OneWheel Pint S Overview: The Good, the Unhealthy, and the Crashy

I used to be prepared to like the brand new OneWheel Pint S.

Although I sometimes gravitate towards non-electric transportation, there’s an plain attraction to those hoverboard-like creations. Because the EV market has grown crowded with electrified scooters, bikes, and skateboards, OneWheel has earned — and maintained — a loyal following.

And that’s regardless of ongoing controversy over the relative security of those gadgets. After 4 individuals reportedly died whereas using them, the corporate was compelled by federal regulators final yr to recall each unit out there (that’s greater than 300,000).

That is the context during which OneWheel has dropped the Pint S, an up to date entry-level mannequin with an off-road-capable tire and a bigger platform. It comes with further security options meant to forestall lethal accidents — in addition to greater speeds than the unique Pint.

My expertise with the Pint S was outlined by polarizing extremes: At its greatest, OneWheel delivers a transcendent using expertise in contrast to the rest I’ve tried. However I additionally don’t suppose the brand new security options change the basic dangers related to using these highly effective electrical skateboards.

Briefly: The OneWheel Pint S presents extra energy, efficiency, and security options than the model’s earlier entry-level fashions. It’s quick, responsive, and (when you’ve bought the grasp of it) deeply pleasing on both clean streets or straightforward off-road trails. Nevertheless, they’re additionally dangerous machines that may get you critically harm — as I found first-hand.

OneWheel Pint S Overview

To be clear: I view myself as an apparent goal for OneWheel.

Not solely do I like being outdoors and pursuing excessive sports activities, I grew up with media that fantasized about futuristic gadgets like OneWheel lengthy earlier than they turned a technological actuality. That normally got here from popular culture targeted on time journey.

From Marty McFly cruising on his hoverboard in Again to the Future: Half II to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rushing down cyberpunk streets in Turtles in Time — the “float life” had received a everlasting place in my psyche by the point I used to be 12 years previous.

Nevertheless, it shortly turned clear that utilizing the OneWheel Pint S within the context of real-world physics is one thing else completely. Studying the fundamentals of those machines takes time and dedication. Mastering them would possible take for much longer.

You’re not simply studying the way to stability atop a single wheel — you’re studying the way to collaborate with intuitive software program that’s making guesses about what you need primarily based solely on the motion and placement of your toes.

Diehard OneWheel followers with years of expertise could dismiss any criticism of the machines as mere alarmism. Nevertheless it’s truthful to level out that the OneWheel isn’t a grab-and-go gadget just like the rentable e-scooters or e-bikes which have proliferated in main cities. For me, the Pint S was each extra enjoyable than these — and extra sophisticated.

Day 1 Testing: The Issues of Crowded Streets

In the case of the educational curve of the Pint S, or any OneWheel, your mileage will possible differ.

I used to be initially shocked at how a lot problem I confronted on my first day. Fortunately, I’ve a grassy, lonely path close to my house that served as the right runway for locating my stability.

The Pint S, like the entire model’s new S-Sequence, comes with 4 using modes accessed by the OneWheel app in your smartphone. The primary of those, Redwood, serves because the newbie’s mode, with a high velocity of 12 mph and medium responsiveness.

It took me about an hour to seek out my middle of gravity on the Pint S. Because of the treaded tire (an improve from the unique Pint), I may follow within the relative security of a straightforward path the place falls had been unlikely to harm.

I quickly graduated myself to relax neighborhood streets, the place the concrete proved a neater, if riskier, floor. Then I made a decision to make a visit to the nook retailer utilizing a motorbike path that navigates intersections and a mixed-use path of walkers, runners, and cyclists. This, it turned out, was a really dangerous selection on my half.

Dismounts and Risks

First off, the OneWheel “fender,” which covers the middle wheel, turned out to be completely important. OneWheel was good sufficient to ship me a fender, however they’re bought individually, and I needed to know the way it labored with out one.

My recommendation for these trying to attempt these? Purchase the fender. On a number of events, the uncovered wheel sucked within the backside of my denims, sending me sprawling into streets with shifting vehicles earlier than I may react.

My different first-day conclusion was the essential significance of mastering the dismount. Like touchdown an airplane, stopping the Pint S felt like essentially the most tough (and most essential) a part of the approach.

Early on, a OneWheel consultant suggested me to depend on the SimpleStop operate. When turned on, the function permits the rider to lean again on the rear toes, inflicting the gadget to decelerate, roll backward, and are available to relaxation on its “tail.”

Regardless of the title, SimpleStop nonetheless takes time to excellent — and solely labored for me in very best circumstances. So that you’ll additionally have to be taught the emergency “two-foot hop-off” dismount. This model requires a small leap from the board, and carries its personal dangers.

For any velocity over 1 mph, the Pint S will maintain shifting with one foot on the board. Practising the “hop-off” resulted in loads of laborious falls for me, because the OneWheel zips out from beneath your toes when you dismount incorrectly. Even when I leapt off with out damage, the OneWheel typically saved going — typically proper into the road or off the trail.

This made me really feel like an imminent hazard to each particular person or automobile round me. After my third laborious fall into the concrete from dangerous dismounts, I made a decision to vary the context of my testing.

Day 2 Testing: Driving Modes & Haptic Buzzes

To be clear, the options described above aren’t new. They’ve been a part of the fundamental options of OneWheel fashions for at the very least 5 years.

After spending 4 hours on a Friday afternoon studying these fundamentals, I continued my Pint S journey with extra targeted testing the next day. As a substitute of glorified sidewalks close to busy streets, I drove to a lonely bike path in southeast Atlanta, the place I may follow on clean concrete away from different individuals or automobiles.

This time, I’d check out some completely different using modes, and see if I may perceive the extra security options added by OneWheel in late 2023 after the recall. The change included two updates: haptic buzz and Pushback.

The primary is a vibration meant to alert riders when the board detects a state of affairs that would lead to a crash. It’s meant to activate when riders expertise high speeds, excessive torque, or low battery. These haptic buzzes work together with Pushback, which lifts the board’s “nostril” to let riders know once they’re pushing the boundaries.

At first I saved to the Redwood using mode. After a number of hours of using (I’m getting higher!), I lastly felt a “haptic buzz” as I reached the mode’s high velocity. With some hesitation, I converted to Pacific, the primary of three different modes, all with an elevated max velocity of 16 mph.

As I experimented with greater speeds, I discovered that the haptic buzzes turned a bit extra frequent, particularly if I used to be going uphill at a good clip. Solely two or thrice did I really feel the Pushback. Typically, these options felt like a good approach to attempt to forestall accidents from both overzealous novices or hardcore tricksters.

In my case, nonetheless, they nonetheless didn’t forestall a debilitating crash.

A Be aware on Comfort

Maybe I’m lacking one thing, however I don’t suppose the phrase “comfort” belongs inside a metropolis block of the OneWheel Pint S. I’ve seen the phrase used many instances to explain OneWheels, together with for commuter use — however I don’t actually get it.

The Pint S weighs 27 kilos and is awkwardly formed. It does have a metallic deal with for one-handed carry, however that will get tiresome actual quick. As quickly as you encounter an impediment you may’t “float” over — just like the closed part of path proven beneath — you’ll have to hold it. And that’s simpler holding it like a child than by the skinny metallic deal with.

Should you run out of battery, or the machine overheats, you’ll additionally end up hauling this round. There’s little question that it’s enjoyable as hell to journey. However making an attempt to make use of this virtually, like operating to the nook retailer, appears a bit foolish.

Perhaps that works for somebody residing in San Francisco. It’s laborious to think about safely locking this up at a motorbike stand, or stashing it beneath a cart whereas procuring on the grocery retailer. However to every their very own.

Day 3: Chic Day Ends Badly

By the third day of my weekend with the Pint S, I had largely gotten over my beginner hesitations. I’d taken many falls in my first and second days, and got here near critical damage. However now I used to be fortunately cruising, pulling off SimpleStops and hop-offs and not using a downside.

I returned to the bike path close to Panola Mountain, and spent 3 hours of practically uninterrupted using by 20 miles of a concrete path surrounded by stunning fall foliage. This was the second I lastly grasped the hype about OneWheels.

Positive, it’s not precisely train. Your toes and legs really feel a bit sore after extended using, however that’s about it. Fairly than targeted bodily effort, the Pint S introduced me to a relaxed, meditative area. I began imagining how I’d get pleasure from using a OneWheel after long-distance path runs or bike rides, giving my physique a break whereas nonetheless having fun with the outside.

I additionally bought to check out the off-road tire on a variety of surfaces, because the bike path was typically lined in piles of leaves, mud, or sand. The Pint S traversed the primary two admirably, however couldn’t handle even shallow patches of sand with out problem.

At one level, I took it off-trail for an hour, testing it in opposition to steep granite inclines lined with free pebbles. At gradual speeds, the Pint S proved sturdy and dependable, touring over the rocky terrain and not using a hitch. I even experimented with small jumps off rocky cabinets, although I shortly realized that pulling off stunts with a OneWheel was a stage of talent that would take months or years to grasp.

The totally charged battery lasted for over 3 hours of steady use — however I nonetheless wasn’t able to cease using. After I arrived again at my automobile, I nonetheless had 14% of juice and determined to maintain going till I drained the battery. This proved to be one other mistake.

About 10 minutes later, as I used to be using uphill on the concrete bike path and going about 15 mph — I hit one thing. I nonetheless don’t know what it was. Maybe a burly pine cone or an sadly formed rock.

Regardless, it proved an immovable object for the Pint S and popped me straight down into the pavement. The impression was strongest in opposition to my palms and wrists, ripping aside the strap of my protecting gear and partially dislocating my left elbow.

My transcendent journey — and Pint S testing — had instantly come to an abrupt finish.

Closing Ideas

Any outside sport comes with dangers, and OneWheel’s leaders — compelled to confront claims of accidents and deaths on their boards — argue that the model has gotten a foul rap. Responding to final yr’s recall from the U.S. Shopper Product Security Fee, founder and CEO Kyle Doerkson stated, “OneWheels are as secure as any board sport.”

I can’t declare to know if that’s true. Nevertheless, I don’t suppose the Pint S is in the identical league as a skateboard or scooter. And it’s clearly rather more sophisticated than e-bikes or e-scooters. It’s bought a motor with a thoughts of its personal, which is the supply of each profound pleasure and critical threat.

For these desirous about making an attempt out a OneWheel, the Pint S is a transparent improve from the authentic Pint. And at $1,400 MSRP, it solely prices few hundred {dollars} additional. Should you fall in love and journey it for hundreds of miles, maybe you’ll get to get pleasure from the additional velocity as much as 20 mph. If not, even newcomers like me will respect the burlier tire and talent to keep away from paved roads.

Only a week after my damage, I drove previous Atlanta’s Halloween bike journey, with a whole lot of costumed cyclists and at the very least a half-dozen OneWheelers, typically using the model’s bigger and quicker fashions. I used to be impressed by their skill, although I can’t think about ever utilizing these in site visitors.

To be truthful, I already miss using the OneWheel Pint S, and a sensation nearer to flight than something I’ve skilled. However I received’t be hopping again on one any time quickly.