I never hear about it anymore. Anyone here have one? How do you use it?
I primarily see them used for tours (I just saw some being used for that a couple of weeks ago). I also will occasionally see them used by the police. I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen one that was owned by someone for their personal use.
There’s a fellow in my neighborhood who has one. I see him around our little town, sometimes over a mile from where we live but mostly much closer. I think he has a disability that prevents him from driving and maybe walking too far.
The parking cop near my office uses one when the weather is decent. If it’s raining/cold he uses a hot-rodded golf cart.
When I was pregnant I would have paid an insane amount of money to rent one for the last 6-8 weeks. Then I saw pictures of Snookie riding a segway while pregnant and thought, “No, it is better that I didn’t have access to one of those. That looks ridiculous.”
The police at my airport use them.
I live in a tourist town and there is a business that rents them to tourists. I’ve seen them around a few times recently. I also used to see cops on them in the downtown area but not recently.
I see Woz busing around on one every now again.
I saw one being used by someone (cameraman?) at the British Open last weekend.
Some shopping malls have their security guards use them.
I think that those motorchairs pretty much took over the market. A Segway is unstable if it’s not powered on and balance enabled, but a motorchair won’t fall over if it’s shut down. Segways seem to have a smaller footprint, and the user is at or above eye level of the average adult. However, if you’re standing for long periods of time, that’s much more tiring than sitting. Both Segways and motorchairs are ways to avoid walking, but a Segway user is going to have to stand most of the time, and shift his/her balance in order to move or turn. A motorchair user is able to sit and use handlebars. Basically, a motorchair is easier to use. As far as I can tell, the only advantage that the Segway has is the height and maybe the footprint. Motorchairs are considered medical devices, and Segways aren’t.
Note that I’ve never been on a Segway, and I’ve only used a motorchair a few times. Most of this answer is my WAG about why someone would want one device over the other. I’m not supposed to stand for long periods of time (circulation problems), but I am supposed to do quite a bit of walking. I’m sure that a Segway would aggravate my circulation problems. I don’t think that a motorchair would be any worse than just sitting for an equivalent period of time.
But a Segway isn’t really designed for people with handicaps. It’s not meant to replace a ‘motorchair’. It’s mostly meant for fun or to get able bodied people from point A to Point B either faster or in a way that’s less tiring and, well, more fun then by walking. To the best of my knowledge moving people that can’t physically walk that far is sort of a secondary thing. I don’t think anyone (well, very few) that was considering getting a Segway ending up getting a motorized wheelchair instead. I don’t think that was the competition.
That would be like blaming people that have bad knees or who are morbidly obese for the decline of Heelys (if and when it happens) because they can’t use them. While that’s probably true, it’ll likely have nothing to do with it.
IMO, I just don’t think they were ever that popular to begin with. You just saw a lot of commercials for them. Then people found out that they were like six thousand dollars and interest kind of faded other then the handful of people that could afford the expensive toys. But that was years ago and now he just leaves it in the garage most of the time so you hardly even see them on the street anymore (other then the tours and private security/cops).
I’ve seen them as a tourist draw.
I was just with the one person that I know who owns one this weekend. He has an offroad version & uses it to get around the field due to an injury.
Confirming two things from upthread - the security guards at one of my local malls use them. And there was a tour company in DC that rented them out as part of their tour.
On Arrested Development, anytime GOB shows up on his Segwey, he changes the subject.
They were quite expensive at 5000 - 6000 dollars each. . This limited the market very substantially.
You’re probably right that Segways and motorchairs are intended for two different markets. Most people who are able to stand and walk would not want to spend that much money for the Segways, because they wouldn’t use the devices in everyday life. Cops and security personnel are the only people that I can think of who would find Segways to be useful on a regular basis. Maybe letter carriers could use them, if the landscaping was designed for it. I do think that people might rent Segways to go to one of the huge amusement parks, or to tour some attraction…but this means that the park/attraction has to be designed with Segways in mind.
I always figured that someone tried to see all of Disneyworld in one day and came up with the idea of the Segway.
Didn’t the company owner die after riding one off a cliff? Not a good PR stunt.
They’re quite active on Facebook. Company seems fine. At least they haven’t offered a Groupon yet.
OMG, is that true? Now I have to go back and rewatch all those scenes!
All the Duck Dynasty guys used them on the season finale in Hawaii last year. I always thought a commedian ought to use one in their routine, they’re amusing enough to see and he could use it to ‘segue’ from one subject to another.
