Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

First, for those that haven't tried one of these devices before - they are great. Kids, adults, everyone has fun using them. Now specifics. This is my third type of Hoverboard I purchased. I purchased two of the original Razor Hovertrax, and I bought a FutureSaw board from StreetSaw and now a Hovertrax 2.0. The Hovertrax 2.0 is quite different from the Hovertrax 1.0 and the StreetSaw and I'll point out the differences here. These tests are while running the 2.0 in normal mode. Power: I have a 58" long ramp in my house that rises 18 inches (that's a 31% slope) which is a good test of how much torque or power the board has and gives you an indication of how good it is on climbing hills. For a 150 pound person, the Hovertrax 1.0 climbs the ramp fine, but slowly. The FutureSaw easily tackles the climb while the 2.0 barely, barely eeks over it with an experienced driver. A beginner wouldn't be able to climb it with the 2.0. Stability: The 1.0 is rock solid, never twitches back and forth. The 2.0 is more touchy, and can jitter with the left wheel, then right wheel, then left etc. rapidly moving at slightly different speeds. The FutureSaw is even worse. These aren't deal breakers, just annoying. Operation: When you turn on the 1.0 and FutureSaw they don't start self balancing until you put weight on it. This takes some practice for beginners, but doesn't take long to master. The 2.0 behaves differently, it immediately starts self balancing when the power button is pressed making it far easier for beginners to start using it. However this causes other operation differences. When you step off the 1.0 and FutureSaw you can just walk away and they will turn off by themselves after 1 minute (the 1.0) or 5 minutes (the FutureSaw) with a single warning sound. The 2.0 waits a minute then starts this really annoying beep countdown with rapidily escalating beep cadence. The sequence lasts about 20 seconds and sounds like a bomb timer. Then it shuts off. I guess it is trying to warn you that the unit is no longer self balancing, but the 7 LEDs on the top should be enough indication of that! The 1.0 and FutureSaw are nicer in that you can just walk away from it and not to have to worry about turning it off. The 2.0 does have an easy to find and reach button on the very top of the unit to turn it on and off, whereas the other two hide their buttons on the side and you can't tell which side of the unit they are on. If you use these units frequently for around house or property transport, then some kind of remote control to click on or off the unit would be very nice rather than having to bend down every time to turn on/off the unit. By the way, TURN ON NORMAL MODE. The beginner mode for the 2.0 is just awful. I don't know why they bothered. Quality: The FutureSaw tires were built out of this rubber that still give off an odor 8 months after purchase. NOT APPRECIATED. Both Hovertrax tires are fine. One of my two Hovertrax 1.0 units died 4 months after purchase. The FutureSaw is still working 8 months later, but the battery is noticeably weaker and it is getting to the point where battery range has degraded to an almost unusable level. Overall build quality for all three units is fine. China Weirdness: All hoverboard brands are made by a bunch of Chinese manufacturers. Razor is probably the best at making sure the units are up to spec (they did recall all the 1.0 units and gave us new ones, free of charge, due to new battery fire regulations, StreetSaw has not done this), but even here you can see inconsistencies in the manual - the power adapter shown in the 2.0 manual is not the same style as the one shipped with the unit. The FutureSaw model I got looked a bit different from their web site picture and in fact has some random dude's name painted on the footrests - supposedly some Chinese hoverboard celebrity. Other features: Both Hovertrax units are essentially the same shape, they both have low ground clearance, which actually isn't a problem even going over transoms, big cracks, ramp lips, etc. The FutureSaw has a much higher ground clearance, but I haven't found a use for it. If you wanted to go offroad, you'd have to choose a model that had bigger tires and lots of torque either way. DLX: Razor actually makes two versions of the Hovertrax 2.0. One called a DLX version (deluxe?) for about $160 more. I've got an email into Razor is find out what the differences are, and certainly the really bad Razor website is no help, but from what I can tell the DLX has a cooler LED light and case coloring package, and can go 1 mph faster, and is 2 pounds heavier. Does it have better hill climbing ability? I don't know, hopefully Razor will respond to my email. In the end, my 12 year old son says he likes the Hovertrax 2.0 slightly better than the Hovertrax 1.0 for ride quality, fun, agility, etc. He finds the FutureSaw too twitchy, and now the battery isn't up to par. The only big negative for the 2.0 in my mind is lack of power for climbing ramps and hills and the stupid turn off warning sounds.