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 usually 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 folks reportedly died whereas driving them, the corporate was compelled by federal regulators final 12 months to recall each unit out there (that’s greater than 300,000).

That is the context by 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 finest, OneWheel delivers a transcendent driving expertise not like anything I’ve tried. However I additionally don’t suppose the brand new security options change the elementary dangers related to driving these highly effective electrical skateboards.

In brief: 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 obtained the hold of it) deeply pleasing on both easy streets or straightforward off-road trails. Nevertheless, they’re additionally dangerous machines that may get you severely damage — 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 really like being exterior 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 often got here from popular culture centered 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in Turtles in Time — the “float life” had received a everlasting place in my psyche by the point I used to be 12 years outdated.

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

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

Diehard OneWheel followers with years of expertise might dismiss any criticism of the machines as mere alarmism. But it surely’s honest 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 training 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 condo that served as the right runway for locating my steadiness.

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

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

I quickly graduated myself to sit back 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 motorcycle 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 wished 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 automobiles earlier than I may react.

My different first-day conclusion was the crucial significance of mastering the dismount. Like touchdown an airplane, stopping the Pint S felt like essentially the most troublesome (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 characteristic 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 good — and solely labored for me in very best circumstances. So that you’ll additionally have to study 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 hold shifting with one foot on the board. Training the “hop-off” resulted in loads of laborious falls for me, because the OneWheel zips out from beneath your toes for those who dismount incorrectly. Even when I leapt off with out damage, the OneWheel typically stored going — generally proper into the road or off the trail.

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

Day 2 Testing: Driving Modes & Haptic Buzzes

To be clear, the options described above should not new. They’ve been a part of the essential options of OneWheel fashions for no less than 5 years.

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

This time, I’d check out some completely different driving 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 end in a crash. It’s meant to activate when riders expertise prime speeds, excessive torque, or low battery. These haptic buzzes work together with Pushback, which lifts the board’s “nostril” to let riders know after they’re pushing the bounds.

At first I stored to the Redwood driving mode. After a number of hours of driving (I’m getting higher!), I lastly felt a “haptic buzz” as I reached the mode’s prime 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 an honest clip. Solely two or 3 times did I really feel the Pushback. Normally, these options felt like an honest solution to try to stop accidents from both overzealous novices or hardcore tricksters.

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

A Word 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 occasions 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 steel 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 under — you’ll have to hold it. And that’s simpler holding it like a child than by the skinny steel deal with.

When you run out of battery, or the machine overheats, you’ll additionally end up hauling this round. There’s little doubt that it’s enjoyable as hell to experience. 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 dwelling in San Francisco. It’s laborious to think about safely locking this up at a motorcycle 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 almost uninterrupted driving by 20 miles of a concrete path surrounded by stunning fall foliage. This was the second I lastly grasped the hype about OneWheels.

Certain, it’s not precisely train. Your toes and legs really feel a bit sore after extended driving, however that’s about it. Slightly than centered bodily effort, the Pint S introduced me to a relaxed, meditative house. I began imagining how I would take pleasure in driving a OneWheel after long-distance path runs or bike rides, giving my physique a break whereas nonetheless having fun with the outside.

I additionally obtained to check out the off-road tire on a spread of surfaces, because the bike path was typically coated 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 towards steep granite inclines coated with unfastened pebbles. At sluggish 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 degree 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 driving. Once 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 driving 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 affect was strongest towards my palms and wrists, ripping aside the strap of my protecting gear and partially dislocating my left elbow.

My transcendent experience — and Pint S testing — had out of the blue come to an abrupt finish.

Last 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 12 months’s recall from the U.S. Shopper Product Security Fee, founder and CEO Kyle Doerkson mentioned, “OneWheels are as protected 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 way more sophisticated than e-bikes or e-scooters. It’s obtained a motor with a thoughts of its personal, which is the supply of each profound pleasure and critical threat.

For these excited by 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} further. When you fall in love and experience it for 1000’s of miles, maybe you’ll get to take pleasure in the additional velocity as much as 20 mph. If not, even inexperienced persons like me will recognize the burlier tire and talent to keep away from paved roads.

Only a week after my damage, I drove previous Atlanta’s Halloween bike experience, with lots of of costumed cyclists and no less than a half-dozen OneWheelers, typically driving the model’s bigger and sooner fashions. I used to be impressed by their capability, although I can’t think about ever utilizing these in site visitors.

To be honest, I already miss driving 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.