M365 electric scooter. M365 electric scooter

Review: Xiaomi Mi M365 Pro Electric Scooter

Over the past several months, I have been disappointed with the availability of scooters, even in downtown Minneapolis, where they seem to be on every street corner. In the afternoon, as scooter batteries start to deplete, the nearest one with a full battery can sometimes be blocks away in the wrong direction. If you want to travel outside downtown, your ride may be commandeered by another eager rider as soon as you park.

So I ordered an electric scooter of my own.

The 2019 Lyft scooter, which is M365 standard model by Chinese maker Xiaomi.

The Xiaomi Mi M365 Pro

After a lot of research, I decided on the Xiaomi Mi M365 Pro. It’s the upgraded version of the Xiaomi Mi M365, which is used in the Lyft electric scooter fleet. The handlebars on the Pro are about 39 inches (99 centimeters) above the ride platform versus 37½ inches (95 cm) on the Lyft scooter. The front wheel motor on the Pro is 300 watts (0.40 horsepower) versus 250 watts on the standard model. The battery capacity on the Pro is 474 watt hours (Wh) versus 280 Wh for the standard.

LCD display panel of the Xiaomi Mi M365 Pro. Photo: Author

Riding Range

All of this makes a critical difference when the rider is a bigger person like me. Although Xiaomi advertises a 28-mile (45 kilograms) range, my actual range going from 70 percent battery to 2 percent was 7.39 miles, so theoretically a full charge could get me about 10.6 miles. If you weigh 130 pound (60 kg), then the 28-mile range may be achievable.

My friend had a wild time with my scooter. Video: Author

Performance

The scooter, even in its top “Sport” mode, is software-limited to 15.5 miles per hour (25 kilometers per hour). Going down a hill, I got up to 17.4 mph (28 kph). On my trip to the Venture North bike shop and café, I noticed the scooter straining to climb the many hills, and I helped by pushing. Venture North mechanics do not work on scooters. This scooter is not made to stand up against the beasts that you can find for thousands of dollars more.

Manufacturer screws on left, hardware store-bought high-strength steel screws right. Photo: Author

Customizing

Out of the box, the only assembly required was attaching the handlebars to the steering column. This is done with four screws. The included screws are cheap and degrade as you are trying to screw them in. Even when everything was tight, the handlebars still wobbled a bit. I went to an Arden Hills hardware store that carries an array of parts. I bought six high-strength screws in the same size and also bought a medium-strength threadlocker to apply to screws for tightening and the assembly itself too to firm things up. With 16 in hardware-store parts, I fixed the issue.

A tubeless tire that is made for the M365 scooter family. Photo: Amazon

The next project I want to tackle is swapping in tubeless tires for my scooter. My research revealed a common complaint, that the pneumatic tires often got punctured while riding. I have been on the wrong end of bicycle tire flats over the years, so investing 57 in tubeless tires seems like a Smart strategy.

I also may apply safety orange or yellow reflective tape on the steering column and along the chassis.

Securing the Scooter

The best way to lock up this kind of scooter is with a big U-lock for your bike, but instead lock around the frame joint near the front tire and secure to a pole or bike parking. The Xiaomi Mi M365 Pro does not come with a simple digital lock. There is a Mi Home app, but you have to set China as your home location for it to work, and it asks for so many permissions that warning lights were going off in my head, so I just switched the scooter display from kph to mph and deleted the app.

Final Thoughts on Day One

It rubs me wrong that I have spent 16 and could spend an additional 57 in just parts for a brand-new scooter. I expected more. I did consider buying the upcoming Bird One or Ninebot Kickscooter Max, but neither is here today and there is no guarantee they will be here soon. Minnesota summers are short, and I want to enjoy riding to my meetings and down Nicollet Mall while I can. So far, I am reasonably happy with the compromise I made. My friend riding the scooter above spent over 2,000 on his long-range electric bike that rides like a motorcycle. Two months in, he loves it. Maybe I can learn to love mine, too.

Day Two: Xiaomi Mi M365 Pro charging at Freewheel Bike on the Midtown Greenway. Photo: Author

Riding to Bde Maka Ska on Day Two

During the evening of Day One, I charged up my Pro to 90 percent, then unplugged it for the night. I was paranoid about it catching fire if I left it charging all night. The Pro charges at a rate of about 68 W straight from the wall, according to a third-party app. So for the 474 Wh battery, it would theoretically take seven to eight hours to charge from 0 percent to 100 percent. Xiaomi advertises a charge time of eight to nine hours, so we would have to test more to know for sure. For comparison, a new 15-inch MacBook Pro has a 83.6 Wh battery and a 87 W charger.

I set out in the morning for Bde Maka Ska. I would normally take the Cedar Lake trail from downtown, but that’s closed after Target Field for now. So I headed south along the Hiawatha trail to the Midtown Greenway. One notable success: The Pro can power up the incline at the Sabo bridge, albeit at 9 mph (14 kph). Yes!

Xiaomi Mi M365 Pro rear disc brakes. Photo: Author

When I had the Mi Home app, I also set regenerative braking to the middle setting of “Medium.” This has greatly improved efficiency when going from stop sign to stop sign or charging up while coasting down the Sabo bridge. The Pro has great rear disc brakes, but I will avoid using them if possible.

The Xiaomi Mi M365 Pro scooter at Bde Maka Ska. Photo: Author

Challenges at Bde Maka Ska

I made it to the lake! After charging up from 57 to 65 percent at Freewheel Bike, I rode three-quarters around the lake before the rear tire went flat and the battery started to overheat. I immediately turned off the scooter and walked it to a coffee shop. A friend later picked me up in a car for a fossil fuel ride home.

Final Thoughts on Day Two

I am now left without a working scooter. A family friend who works on cars and motorcycles wants to help work on it, so I think we will install some tubeless tires from Amazon.

I hope the battery temperature issue was just incidental. It may have cascaded from the flat tire.

The electric scooter market is nascent, so if you are pondering whether to buy one, I recommend holding off for a year or two until higher-quality scooters enter the market and battery technology improves. Scooters, like electric cars, will benefit significantly from solid-state batteries, but those may be a decade out.

Riding on the Greenway with reflective stickers and tubeless tire in the back. Photo: Author

Riding to Muddy Waters on Day Three

A week after my initial two days on the scooter, I was ready to ride again. I had replaced the rear pneumatic tire with a tubeless tire, which required two people for the leverage necessary to work the solid rubber onto the 8.5-inch rims. The new tire seemed to affect performance, or the scooter was degrading overall. On flat ground, I was able to get up to only 13 or 14 mph, and inclines were more of a challenge.

To ride to Muddy Waters on Lyndale, I rode down Portland to the Midtown Greenway and took that trail to Lyndale. Halfway along the Greenway, the scooter battery overheated and I waited a few minutes to cool down before proceeding. I charged up by 5 percent at Muddy Waters and went back via the Greenway and up Park. I arrived home with 9 percent battery. The calculated full battery range for the trip was about 8.1 miles, 23 percent reduced from before. The trip was very flat, so I think the scooter is starting to wear down after just a few trips.

I hope this scooter can handle downtown appointments within the “range anxiety” circle. I plan to replace the front tire with a tubeless tire as well, which may further reduce performance. As of day three, I am dissatisfied, but am also unwilling to pay much more for a better scooter with more range.

Do you own an electric scooter or electric bike? Do you have a favorite rental scooter? Share your own reviews and challenges in the Комментарии и мнения владельцев.

Turboant X7 electric scooter review. a Xiaomi Mijia M365 killer?

An electric scooter review? Well, yes. If it wasn’t painfully obvious from our content already, we are major geeks here at the GSMArena office and we don’t really discriminate in that passion of ours either. From servers, cameras, drones to cars and even appliances, chances are you can easily find at least one expert in the team. And when it comes to electric scooters, we kind of have an entire team going with around 7 different electric scooters owned and scrutinized, maintained and modded on a daily basis.

The video review will give you an easy to digest look at the scooter’s Pros and Cons. For a deeper dive, the full review follows below.

Turboant X7 specs

• Body: Folded: 105.664 x 41.9 x 44.958 cm; Unfolded: 105.664 x 41.9 x 116.6 cm, 13.47 kg.
• Motor: 350W, 36V.
• Battery: 6.4 Ah, 36V; user-removable, chargeable independent of scooter. Full charge takes 4 to 6 hours.
• Tyres: 8.5-inch, tubeless air tyres.
• Brakes: Motor brake, disk brake, foot brake.
• Performance (Advertised numbers): Max speed: 32 km/h (EU units capped to 25 km/h); Max range: 25 km; Max load: 125 kg.
• Additional features: Brake light, front torch; Cruise control; Display with speed readout, mode indicator and battery level (bars); 3 speed modes.

So, yes, we jumped on the opportunity to review the Turboant X7 when the manufacturer reached out to us. That being said, we aren’t quite sure exactly how to approach the review process. The biggest problem here being that if you have never been on an electric scooter before, it’s kind of hard to convey exactly how better or worse certain aspects are. If you do happen to have some experience with electric scooters, however, chances are that you have encountered the Xiaomi M365 due to its massive popularity. And, conveniently enough, it’s a pretty good point of reference for the Turboant X7.

Check out TurboAnt’s Spanish product page (ships from EU).

Check out TurboAnt’s US product page (ships from USA).

Design

Starting with design, the two even look rather similar. Which, to be fair, is not uncommon the electric scooter niche. than a few manufacturers are trying their best to mimic and improve or tweak or sometimes even downright copy the Xiaomi M365 and its successful design. The Turboant definitely falls in the former category, but the similarities are there and rather apparent in some cases.

Since we are already on the topic of inspiration and design borrowing, sot to say, it is worth pointing out that the Turboant X7 can also be found under a number of other names online. Most notably, the HX X7. In fact, if you search for a X7 electric scooter on something like Alibaba, you can easily find brandless units straight from a factory. Again, definitely not uncommon for electric scooters and many Chinese goods, for that matter. Also, not necessarily a bad thing.

So, continuing with the comparison, you definitely get a similar silhouette as the M365. That initial impression is a bit deceptive, though. Once you really start analysing the finer details, the differences become apparent.

Since we are already using the Xiaomi M365 as a frame of reference, the Turboant X7 might have about the same general look, but the angle of its steering column is a bit more relaxed, which, combined with the fact that the bottom deck rides a bit lower and the stem a bit taller, makes for a slightly different riding position, which the majority of test subjects around the office found ot be a bit more comfortable than the M365.

That’s hardly the only difference in the body. The overall frame has a different design and most-notably, the angled pieces that connect the tech to the column appear to be much bigger and made of solid metal.

Well, it’s solid but it’s hollow on the inside. We can’t exactly say whether this design is more structurally sound than the one on the Xiaomi. It is definitely different, though. And one nasty side effect of this kind of setup is that it leaves plenty of room behind the front tyre to accumulate hard to clean dirt.

One of the things that allows for the extra posture height on the Turboant X7 is definitely the different position of the battery. Unlike the M365, the X7 has its pack stored in the steering column. That’s the reason why the stem is so thick. This does, however, has its pros and cons as well.

Chief among these is the significantly higher centre of gravity on the X7. That means less stability, especially in turns. Also, grabbing the stem with one hand to pick the scooter off the ground when you need to run down the stairs or to pass an obstacle, is a bit more difficult with such a thick stem.

Left: Turboant X7, Right: Xiaomi m365

On the plus side, once you do get a grip on the stem and lift the X7 off the ground, there is a lot less flailing left and right to worry about, since less weight is in the deck. You do need to lift a bit more weight overall, though, since the Turboant X7 tips the scale at 13.47 kg, while the M365 comes in at 12.7 kg. Not a major difference, but still not insignificant, especially since the X7 has less battery than the Xiaomi. But, more on that in a bit.

Left: Xiaomi m365, Right: Turboant X7

Just to be clear, the balance situation is not bad at all. Even though the Xiaomi M365 generally feels a bit more secure, since most of the weight is close to the ground, the Turboant X7 feels perfectly adequate on the road. In fact, due to its extra-tight steering column and wide surface area on top of the stem, where the display is, it can actually be driven one-handed. Something we definitely would not recommend, but is still doable.

One important thing worth mentioning as well is that the steering is limited in its radius. In fact, even more so than on the M365. This is essential for novice drivers, since it limits the ability of the front tyre to suddenly end up parallel to the rest of the scooter. The opposite would have meant a significantly higher risk of falling and accidents.

Just like most other electric scooters in this class, the Turboant X7 folds down. Its folding mechanism is pretty reminiscent of the one on the Xiaomi M365 as well. Which, to be fair, is not the best design out there in terms of both ease of use and stress on individual components. That being said, due to the sheer girth of the X7’s stem, the components in this lock are simply bigger than on the Xiaomi and probably more durable.

We definitely appreciate that little detail, since the folding mechanism is a well-known weak point in the M365. The one on the Turboant just feels more solid, with less play and no need for additional spacers and dampers. At least not from the get go.

The lock on the back mudguard that actually keeps the stem in place while folded is also a massive improvement over the one on the Xiaomi.

The lock mechanism on the rear mudguard is also an improvement over that on the Xiaomi M365. It is just a lot easier to snap in and out of. Combined with the hook on the steering stem, of course.

If we had to point out some areas that could use some work, one would be the steering handlesbars. We do appreciate they can be screwed in and out quickly and easily for transportation. Something the M365 can’t do. But, on the flip side, the handle lenght is a bit short for a full-grown adult rider.

Also, we would have definitely appreciated a slightly taller kickstand since the Turboant X7 is rather unstable when resting on the stand. This is mostly due to weight distribution with a lot of it grouped into the stem of the scooter. What we are getting at here is that the X7 is a bit wobbly and can fall over pretty much on its own.

Just to round things off and since we are already on the topic of dimensions and portability, the Turboant X7 scores pretty well in this regard. Most of the major design changes it employs compared to the M365 work well towards a smaller form factor while folded. 105.664 x 41.9 x 44.958 mm., compared to 108 x 43 x 49 mm on the Xiaomi. When unfolded, the Turboant does have a couple of mm over the M365 at 116.6, compared to 114. But, remember, this one’s got a more comfortable riding position.

Rocking basically the same size 8.5 tyres, the two scooters end up very close in dimensions both folded and unfolded, with the X7 definitely taking the edge in this department. Despite being just a bit narrower, the X7’s deck has more actual usable length thanks to the sloping stem joint design. That makes it easier to ride since most people will have their two feet one behind the other in a sort of skateboard style arrangement on such a small deck. Every mm counts.

Features, bells and whistles

Describing features on an electric scooter is a bit hard since we aren’t quite sure what can or even should be considered a feature.

Tubeless pneumatic tyres must definitely be a feature worth noting. Just like the Xiaomi M365, the Turboant X7 travels on air, which definitely cushions the ride, especially in the absence of any other suspension. After riding it on all sorts of rough terrain from cracked asphalt through potholes to straight out going offroad in a park, the TurboAnt X7 provides the best ride comfort we’ve seen on a scooter without any suspension.

The worst aspects of a pneumatic tire is that eventually you get a puncture and you have to change the inner tube. That’s the risk we pay for the ride comfort.

The Xiaomi M365 is quite bad in this respect because not only does it suffer from punctures but with heavier riders the innner tubes also frequently get worn out due to friction. There is no risk of that with the X7. But, of course, if you puncture the tire, you will get a flat in no time so you better pour in some slime or other liquid tyre protection from Day 1.

Unlike the Xiaomi M365, you can remove and swap-out the 6.4 Ah, 36V battery pack inside the X7 with a few simple steps. We also appreciate the fact that there is a charging port on the battery itself, which means you can simply charge it without the presence of the scooter.

The removable battery enables more than a few interesting potential use cases. You could, of course get an extra battery for yourself and stick it in a backpack for when you need longer range. interestingly, however, that can scale up quite nicely for a fleet of Turboant X7 scooters. If you, for example, offer them as rentals or use them for deliveries. You can simply get more batteries than scooters and constantly cycle and charge the packs as needed.

On the flip side, however, you can never feel too safe when leaving the Turboant X7 unattended since the battery compartment is not locked in any way. The way it works mechanically is that you press a button, flip open the central display area then turn a secondary battery cap to pop that as well and then simply pull on a convenient lanyard. And, unfortunately, with prior knowledge, anyone can do the same and walk away, leaving you with a barely usable scooter.

And by the way, the batteries are not particularly cheap either, which does make sense, since there are typically the single most costly bit in any electric vehicle. Especially a scooter. Currently, Turboant will sell you an extra pack for 300. And that’s about as low as we managed to find a compatible replacement battery, short of ordering 1000 on Alibaba. That’s kind of unfortunate since the Turboant X7 itself is currently selling for 499.99, down from an MSRP of 599. And as of writing this review, there is even a Black Friday deal for 399.99. At that price point, the rest of the scooter works out to just 99, which is ludicrous.

Then again, if you need a replacement, you need a replacement. As a small consolation, though, we did find that you can use the X7 as an old-school kick scooter pretty efficiently, due to its relatively low sitting deck and the lack of any friction from the electric motor. This is not the case with the Xiaomi M365, which tends to exert some force back and has a deck that sits too tall to kick from. We believe this partially has to do with KERS or kinetic energy recovery system. While we can’t necessarily confirm for sure, there seems to be no such system in place on the X7, which consequently enables the electric motor to spin a lot easier when not powered on.

The Turboant X7 does have motor braking of some sort and does a pretty swell job at braking, but it still falls short from the Xiaomi M365. Turboant has placed more FOCUS on the mechanical braking. The rear disk is a lot bigger than the one on the Xiaomi M365. Also, the rear mudguard is meant to be stepped on as an additional mechanical brake. The inside of the mudguard is lined with a rubber material that seems well made to facilitate manual breaking.

For lights, you do get one on the front of the scooter. It is nothing to phone home about and you can easily get a bicycle-geared battery torch that outshines it a multitude of times. Still, it is perfectly usable and decent. We also like that it is angled in a proper way to actually shine a fair bit in front of the vehicle, instead of a few cm from the front tyre.

Speaking of perfectly adequate, it is true for the tiny bell next to the brake lever. We are no experts by any means, but it’s loud and it has the benefit of being integrated into the brake lever, which makes it look quite neat.

The only other thing left to discuss are the actual controls on the Turboant X7. First, the throttle-button combination. It is serviceable, but we can’t really say we like how it feels. That is, a bit cheaper and less sturdy than the rest of the scooter. Our biggest gripe with it, though, is the horrible mushiness of the two buttons.

You can use the buttons to choose 1 of 3 speed modes. The current one gets indicated by a symbol on the display. But, you probably won’t be changing these too often since only the most powerful mode is really usable. But, more on that in a bit. Pressing the two buttons together takes you to a hidden menu of flags and values for different options. This is not uncommon on scooters. Especially those that lack any app or other connectivity that would allow controlling the system parameters.

To run down these options quickly: P0 lets you change the speed readout between km/h and mph. P1 toggles cruise control on and off. It is on by default. P2 lets you enable or disable the minimum speed for activating the scooter. Setting this to off can be a bit of a hazard since it allows you to simply start the motor from a halt, which can happen by accident. P3 offers what our best guess is a selector between 8.5 inch tyres and 10 inch ones. Apparently, the latter might be an option on the Turboant X7 or another scooter that uses the same controller. And finally P4 controls the maximum speed cap. There are 15, 20, 25 options, as well as off.

Before we round the section off with the display, we should note how the cruise control works. It tends to activate rather quickly, perhaps 3 seconds after holding one particular point on the accelerator. Once it does kick in, it takes that point as a relative value for the speed you want. That is to say, it won’t just stick to the speed you are currently at, but instead keep accelerating. Since the X7 is quite slow at accelerating, this is definitely an appreciated feature, since you can simply turn the accelerator to the max position, wait for the beep and then let go and wait for the scooter to reach full speed. Whatever that might be in your current conditions, charge level, incline, etc.

If you keep holding the throttle down after cruise control has activated, it will keep beeping every second or so, which does get really annoying but it’s also safe as inexperience riders will know that if they release the lever, the scooter will not decelerate.

Finally, we get to the display. It is a really nifty addition to any scooter, but most manufacturers tend to miss some of the important features. The same is true for the Truboant X7. We definitely appreciate the large segment readout for the current speed, as well as the small color dot indicating the current mode. The annoying bit is that you only get a few bars as a battery level indicator and that really isn’t enough to go by. Seeing how there already is a two digit display why can’t there be a way to switch between speed and battery level? Perhaps even automatically when the scooter comes to a stop since that is when you are most likely to look down at the display anyway. We hope at least somebody is taking notes.

Performance, range and battery

The Turboant X7 resides in what we would refer to as the mainstream/entry-level niche of electric scooters. The best way we can explain it is definitely a grade above a toy and actually good enough for commutes. All the while, not realistically a bike replacement for a number of different reasons. Think of it as great last mile solution, since that term has mostly been accepted at this point and maybe substitute mile with miles.

As such, power was never really going to be a main priority. 350W might sound like a lot on paper, but that can be a bit misleading. We can’s really be quite sure how this figure is attained. For instance, the Xiaomi M365 has a nominally smaller 250W motor, which is capable of 500W of peak output. As for the M365 Pro the figures are 300W and peak 600W respectively.

In reality, the actual power, as in torque and acceleration are mostly going to come down to the motor controller, the acceleration curve and its power output at every point in said curve.

And the acceleration curve is our biggest gripe with the Turboant X7. It’s painfully slow to accelerate once you’ve taken your finger off the accelerator paddle. Even at the highest performance setting, the start is so slow that it can be troublesome if you ride with cars in the city traffic.

Even in the high performance mode the acceleration curve is tuned strictly for beginners and unfortunately can not be tweaked.

On the plus side, this makes the X7 a great scooter for renting as it will cater for short rides by riders of any experience level. For personal riding however, it would mean your skill will quickly outgrow the capabilities of the scooter as you get more experienced and and gain confidence handling it.

Turboant’s manuals mentions that the lowest speed modes are meant for hill climbing. We were pretty eager to test this out since in our mind it suggested they might have found a way to optimize for max torque output in the lower modes instead of max speed. Unfortunately, the lower modes only appear to adjust the main power output.

While on the subject of hill climbing, with a heavy rider in the 100kg range, the Turboant X7 wont even start going up an incline on anything other than the top setting. Again, that does not appear to be due to lack of power in the 350W motor. It just comes down to low torque output. We know this since the same rider managed to climb up a 15-degree, or so hill, which is the maximum Turboant advertises for the X7, at a respectable speed of around 16 km/h. So, the power is there, it’s just not available in the lower modes.

The benefit is that they can allow the battery to last you a bit more and they also limit the max speed if that’s a safety consideration.

Turboant advertises a rather typical for the particular scooter category 25km. While that might be achievable on a flat surface, with a light driver and no particular care for the Rapid drop in performance you start experiencing in the final bar of the battery capacity, in reality, the X7 is good for about 15km. After that it becomes unbearably slow and you even need to switch to the lower mode as it wouldn’t even move in the top mode.

While portable and convenient in its design, the 36 V, 6.4 Ah 230 Wh battery can apparently benefit from a bit of a capacity upgrade. Circling back to our comparison with Xiaomi’s popular electric scooter, the M365 has 280Wh to work with, wile the M365 Pro gets an impressive 474 Wh. And that’s at 12.7 kg on the M365, which is lighter than the Turboant X7 and 14.2 kg on the M365 Pro, which is just 700 grams, or so, heavier. What we are getting at here is that maybe Turboant sacrificed some battery capacity for a convenient form factor for the pack itself.

As for maximum speed, the advertised 20mph is a bit generous. We get that it looks good on a specs sheet, but 15 mph or 25 k/h would have been a more true to life number. That’s just about what you can expect with an M365 and is the legal limit for electric scooters in most places anyway, so no real complaints there. We did remove the limiter from the hidden menu, just to test the X7 and the best we managed was about 30 km/h on a steep slope with a heavy rider, which is still short of the advertized max speed.

Charging? Well, it’s pretty much in line with what you can expect from a 36 V, 6.4 Ah battery and hence with most competitors in the niche. it’s 4.5h or so. That’s one of the great things about these kinds of potent yet still portable enough scooters. Wherever you take them, you can usually find both space and time to charge them up and have their full range available going back.

Final thoughts

The Turboant X7 definitely stands on its own within the modern electric scooter niche. If we had to point to it’s killer feature, it would definitely be the neat removable battery design. It’s both a blessing and a curse, since the form factor did require some compromises in capacity. Still makes for a unique enough trait to popularize the Turboant X7 for certain very specific use cases and scenarios in our mind.

Beyond those, however, there are plenty of similarities and comparisons to be made with the Xiaomi M365 family of scooter. We leaned heavily on those during the review for a number of reasons, including the obvious design inspiration on Turboant’s part as well as the massive popularity of the M365. Let’s face it, if you are considering the Turboant X7 then the Xiaomi M365 is bound to be on your choice list as well.

That being the case, here is a short list of pros and cons for the Turboant X7. Most of which relative to the Xiaomi M365.

Pros

• comfortable upright riding position can facilitate a taller rider better.
• Easy to unscrew handle bars for better portability.
• Having less weight in the deck makes it easier to keep the scooter stably in the air while carrying with one hand.
• Steering column feels very sturdy and secure, turning radius is safely limited, just like on the Xiaomi.
• Folding and locking mechanism feels like a bigger and sturdier version of that on the Xiaomi.
• Great max weight carrying spec of 125kg.
• The deck is not appreciably bigger than on the Xiaomi, but it has more usable size and is more comfortable
• Tubeless tyres potentially eliminate issues with internal friction and premature tube wearing off, which is common on the Xiaomi.
• The removable battery is great for both versatility, easily extending range, maintaining a fleet of scooters and can facilitate easier charging and storing of the scooter.
• Braking falls a bit short on the X7, compared to the Xiaomi, but mechanically speaking, the system is beefier and likely more reliable. If all else fails, there is a push Brake on the rear mudguard as well.
• Front and brake lights are positioned great and work very well. Same goes for the small bell.
• Cruise control is very reliable, albeit a bit annoying if you hold down the throttle for too long.
• Having the display is a great extra, particularly for keeping track of your current speed.
• The Turboant X7 has enough power to go around and facilitate even a heavy 120kg rider. Max speed is also perfectly adequate at around 27 km/h. The only disappointment is the slow acceleration curve.
• Charging is snappy at around four hours and a half for a full charge.

Cons

• The arch behind the front wheel accumulates a lot of dirt.
• Having the battery in the steering column makes for a higher centre of gravity, less stability both while riding and on the kickstand. The stem is also very big and hard to grab with one hand.
• The Turboant X7 is heavier than the Xiaomi M365 despite having less battery at 6.4 Ah, 36V (230 Wh).
• The kickstand has to be relocated or elongated to better take the weight of the steering column. In its current state it is very unstable.
• Tubeless tyres are generally harder to replace on your won and potentially deflate more often. Plus, Turboant is not officially selling spares and we can’t say for sure whether the widely available Xiaomi M365 tyres are compatible.
• Extra batteries for the X7 are a bit expensive at 300. The battery compartment does not lock and it is pretty easy to steal the pack if you leave the scooter unattended.
• There is no KERS (kinetic energy recovery system) on the Turboant X7. Motor braking is present, but rather weak.
• There is no app or advanced connectivity.
• There is only a vague bar readout for the battery level. No way to get a proper percentage reading.
• Acceleration is very slow on the Turboant X7. So much so that the otherwise plenty powerful scooter with enough performance and load capacity for up to a 120kg rider takes off super slow. This makes it a safe scooter for begginers or as a rental, but it’s offputting and unplesantly limiting to easoned riders.
• Real-world maximum range with High Performance mode falls a bit short of competition like the Xiaomi M365 and is just around 15km.

All things considered, the Turboant X7 is a solid product with no real major flaws. The great built quality, the great ride comfort, the built-in speedo and the tubeless tires are all among the Turboant X7 key features, which make it a rather interesting proposition.

The swappable battery pack design also offers a huge potential advantage. The X7 removable battery is great convenience if your particular living or work situation makes it easier to leave the scooter in, say, your building garage and only carry the battery with you inside for charging or as a form of anti-theft measure.

It feels like the kind of vehicle that can really shine in a fleet of its siblings. For things like delivery or renting out the scooter. The kind of scenarios where you can really appreciate the flexibility of swapping in a fresh battery in seconds. If you are renting the scooter to people with varying riding skill level or children are the intended main users, the scooter’s slow acceleration will actually be a boon to safe riding.

Beyond that, this scooter is really let down by its slow acceleration. As a personal electric scooter for adult riding, ths aspect would quickly get annoying as your skill and confidence ridinng the scooter progresses and we wish this was configurable in some way.

If, however, you don’t mind the sluggish acceleration of the relatively low battery capacity, the TurboAnt X7 is a great little scooter which is definitely worth considering.

Check out TurboAnt’s Spanish product page (ships from EU).

Check out TurboAnt’s US product page (ships from USA).

Xiaomi M365 Electric Scooter Review

We test Xiaomi’s electric scooter, which will keep the big kids entertained for hours. It’s now officially available in the UK, too, which makes it even more appealing.

Our Verdict

The Xiaomi Electric Scooter is expensive and not allowed on UK roads out the box, but if you have somewhere to take it this toy is an awful lot of fun. It’s fast, smooth and almost entirely silent, with a battery that just keeps on going and decent brakes that stop you quickly but safely. This scooter is best reserved for the big kids, but that’s no bad thing.

Children’s electric scooters have enjoyed great popularity in the past year – so much so us adults want a go, too. Xiaomi has the answer with its folding electric scooter, a fairly pricey toy but one that’s an awful lot of fun. Also see: Best electric scooters and Best hoverboards

Some Mi Electric Scooters are being recalled following safety concerns with the folding mechanism. Find out whether your scooter is affected and how to arrange a free repair.

Mi Electric Scooter: Price UK Availability

Our review sample came from GearBest, which has the lowest for the Xiaomi M365. At the time of writing it’s available there for the discounted price of £333.20, and shipping from Europe will incur no import duty.

If you’d rather buy from a UK stockist you will typically pay the retail price of £399.99, although Scootered is offering a discounted price of £370 and Box currently has it at £349. You’ll find the M365 available through Pure Scooters and Xiaomi itself. Xiaomi also has a store in London’s Westfield shopping centre.

There’s now a new model, the M365 Pro. It looks the same, but is slightly larger, has a more powerful motor (for better uphill performance) and a much bigger battery for a huge 45km range. It also costs a lot more at £498.99 (though you’ll also find it cheaper at GearBest).

Mi Electric Scooter: What it is, what it does

This is not your average child’s electric scooter, as you can probably tell from the price tag. In fact, it’s really not ideal for children at all, because it stands 114cm high and is not height-adjustable (our eight-year-old could just about get on with it but smaller children will not). It’s also pretty heavy at 12.5kg, even though it’s built from aircraft-grade aluminium and quickly folds up for easier transportation, and it goes very fast. A little bit too fast for little kids.

Most electric scooters these days look like plasticky, bulkier versions of the old-school scooters with which we’re all familiar, and they can be pretty noisy. Kids reach speeds usually between around 8mph and 14mph, but with little control over their acceleration (or much else, it would often appear).

The Xiaomi Electric Scooter is more refined. It can travel up to 30km (nearly 20 miles, but the exact distance depends on how fast you go), and at up to 25km/hour (nearly 16 miles an hour). It does so almost completely silently, too.

A mobile app lets you track everything from the remaining battery life and distance to your average speed and controls for acceleration and cruise control.

Yep, cruise control. On an electric scooter. This one also has a kinetic energy recovery system and disk brakes (on the rear – at the front is an E-ABS braking system), which can shorten braking distance to just 4m.

Plus there’s a headlight and flashing rear brake light. The headlight is powerful enough to actually see where you’re going at night, too. Bonus.

Large 8.5in inflatable tyres mean the Xiaomi Electric Scooter can handle some offroading, and certainly low- to medium drop kerbs (but be careful). importantly, it feels very stable in use, and you quickly get used to cornering and getting up speed.

A high-capacity 18,650mAh (280Wh) battery means it’s unlikely to run out of juice mid-play or halfway to your destination. When it comes to recharging we found it achieved roughly 20 percent per hour, so should fully charge from empty in five- to six hours. You’ll just need an adaptor for the two-pin plug, which GearBest will be able to provide on request.

Mi Electric Scooter: In Action

Everyone who tried this scooter wanted to take it home with them. It really is the toy that lets adults be kids again, and to do so in style.

As we mentioned we were very impressed with the speed and stability of the scooter, but we also liked how easy it was to put together and get going. Our only gripe here is it was missing two screws in the box to hold the handlebars to the main column, and we’re not sure they were actually there to begin with given that the box was very well sealed.

To start using the scooter you press the power button on top, which activates four LEDs that show you remaining battery capacity, and pull up the small kickstand. The scooter needs to be moving before the motor will kick in, so give it a push and then pull down the lever on the right handlebar.

How far you push down this lever controls how quickly you accelerate, though you’ll also find you can change the acceleration mode in the app settings. Three are available, though we didn’t notice an obvious difference between them.

On the other handlebar you’ll find a brake lever and a bell, with the latter also used to hold down the handlebars in the scooter’s folded position. Folding the Xiaomi takes just seconds, but while this makes storing the scooter much easier we wouldn’t want to carry it too far like this.

It’s built from a very premium-looking lightweight aluminium, but even so the battery and motor mean it weighs in at a hefty 12.5kg. At 108x43x49cm folded it’s still quite bulky, too.

There’s very little about the design that we can fault. Locking it up might prove difficult, though you could loop a chain through the rear wheel, and ideally you’ll want some sort of phone mount or holder to make proper use of the app.

We weren’t confident enough in our testing to take one hand off the handlebars to pull out our phone and check the speed, so we had one person on the scooter and one with the phone. The drawback of this is you need to stay within Bluetooth range, giving you less distance to build up speed. Nevertheless, we managed to record 16.2mph from the Xiaomi.

(In this situation, integration with Android Wear would be very handy, though there’s nothing stopping you using a Speedometer app with your smartwatch.)

The MiHome app itself isn’t the easiest to use for UK users. We originally selected US as the locale since it was the only English language in the list, but then discovered several features were missing and found it impossible to link the scooter to our Xiaomi account. We recommend you select Mainland China instead.

Actually, scrap that. We recommend you ditch MiHome and download Ninebot. It connects much faster and gives you access to all the same features. Both apps are free from Google Play. The dashboard is prettier, too.

Mi Electric Scooter: UK law

Before you rush out and buy an electric scooter you should know that electric scooters – kick-scooters that also build in a low-power motor – are classified as PLEVs, or Personal Light Electric Vehicles. They are not subject to taxes or registration, but neither are they legal for use anywhere other than private land in the UK.

That said, if you are riding an electric scooter responsibly and showing due care to pedestrians and road users, we find it unlikely that you will be pulled over by the police.

Our best advice is to stick to private land as much as you can (where you’ll also be safer), and to enlist a healthy dose of common sense at all times. If you’re going to use an electric scooter irresponsibly, expect to be pulled up on it.

Specs

Xiaomi Mi Electric Scooter M365: Specs

• Electric scooter
• 16N.m torque
• 250W motor power (500W max)
• 25km/h max speed
• 30km cruising distance
• front E-ABS braking system, rear mechanical disk brake
• kinetic energy recovery system
• cruise control
• intelligent BMS
• mobile app integration
• headlight
• rear brake light
• kickstand
• 8.5in inflatable wheels, 14-degree climbing gradient
• 100kg max load
• 4 LEDs
• 18,650mAh (280Wh) lithium battery, charges in 5-6 hours
• 108x43x114cm (108x43x49cm folded)
• 12.5kg

Xiaomi Mijia M365 electric scooter review

The Xiaomi m365 electric scooter also called the Xiaomi Mijia scooter is a high-quality product that I’ve been very interested in getting my hands on for a while. I actually waited for the price to drop a bit before getting this one.

Nonetheless, the m365 is an excellent electric scooter from a famous Asian brand called Xiaomi that delivers an 18.6 miles distance per charge at a top speed of up to 15.5 miles per hour.

Review

Ride through the city at speeds of up to 15.5 miles per hour with a total distance of 18.6 miles per charge with the Xiaomi m365 electric scooter. Powered by a 250W hub motor in the front that delivers an accurate, responsive and powerful ride.

It has two pneumatic 8.5” tires and you get two spare tires and inner tubes inside the box, at least I did when I bought it on Amazon.

The Xiaomi m365 mijia is a predecessor to the Segway ES1 scooter which we reviewed just weeks ago.

The motor is powered by a 42V 7.8Ah lithium-ion battery utilizing 30 powerful 18650 cells. That said, its a large battery and it’ll take you at least 5 hrs to fully recharge the battery if emptied completely.

Overall an enjoyable scooter that does provide a feeling of stability and quality. The design is slick and with the matte black finish, you can hardly go wrong.

Specifications:

A distance of up to 18.6 miles per charge

A great scooter that provides you with everything in moderation. A good all-around solution that fits adults who want to use an electric scooter in order to go those shorter distances.10 miles.

• Stable and high-quality
• Two different speed-modes
• Good speed and distance per charge
• Excellent brakes
• Spare-parts are available
• Tires are prone to flats
• Had to adjust brakes upon arrival
• Distance per charge is a bit optimistic

Riding experience

The first impression of the Xiaomi M365 was all great and well. Riding it was smooth, but as always we have that somewhat over-optimistic distance per charge issue that we have in most of our e-scooter reviews.

I mean can’t we just come together and decide that we are going to use 160 lbs pressure for an adult scooter and then benchmark it in a test machine to get some realistic values?

I got around 9.8 miles on a single charge with my 177 lbs which is still good but not even close to the advertised distance per charge.

It comes with a disk brake which was poorly aligned upon arrival. It probably got loose during transit and I had to screw in the small Allen key screw in order to get the brake pads aligned correctly. Quick fix and 5 minutes later the brakes were working as intended. The braking effect is very good and I never got that feeling of “oh no, please stop!” which is always a good indicator.

The inflatable tires help you manage smaller bumps in the road and helps to reduce shocks. Larger potholes are a no-go though and as always with air-filled tires, they are prone to flats.

The battery is built with high-quality LG lithium-ion 18650 cells so the battery won’t wear out too quickly and you don’t have to worry about a battery change for at least 500 more recharges.

Features

• Kinetic recharging or regenerative recharge recharges the battery when going downhill or braking.
• A mobile application with real-time data, history, and the ability to update the scooter firmware.
• A two brake system with a rear disc brake and an electric motor brake.
• 8.5” pneumatic tires that reduce shocks and are big enough to ride on rough asphalt without any issues.
• Economy and advanced mode, you get a better distance per charge in the economy mode but it’s not as fun to ride.
• Stable and high-quality frame and parts.
• A bicycle bell which is a must-have item by law in countries like mine.
• Nice and simple folding system that secures the scooters handle to the rear splash guard for increased stability when lifted.
• A small kick-stand that lets you put the scooter to rest without putting it down on the ground or let it lean against something.
• If the battery runs dry you can use it as a manual kick-scooter, just a bit heavier.

The review test data

Distance: 9.8 miles

Speed: 15.3 mph

Avg speed: 7.7 mph

Battery Consumption: 100% to 10%

Surface: Flat surface, minor elevation

Last words

I like how it handles uneven asphalt very well and it feels stable, I have yet to be thrown off.

The scooter is built for adult riding and it is able to riders up to 220 lbs. If you’re heavier I suggest that you have a look at one of the more powerful scooters like the Qiewa Q1.

If you go with the M365 and you’re within the weight limit you will get a sweet ride that can be taken with you everywhere. It provides you with everything in moderation and I consider it to be a cheap and reliable scooter. Just see how well it performs in comparison to the Segway ES2 or in comparison to its successor the M365 pro.