http://www.gadgetspeak.com/review/Zinc_Scooter_E-Drift-870683.html

Zinc Scooter E-Drift 

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A battery powered scooter as sold by Halfords in the UK was for me anyway the most interesting thing I viewed at the Halfords Christmas Show held in London in September, so I asked to see one and this is what I was sent to review.

Zinc E Drift Electric Scooter
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It should be easy to assemble using the supplied Allen Key and a mid-sized Philips screw driver (not supplied), while very young children will pester you for one this is not for them, the stated age is 8 plus and I would suggest that this is the correct age or even older.

This is not a light unit and it is only steerable by leaning left or right, as children need a helmet to ride a bicycle they should also need one for this as the battery gives a good speed boost and the brake is only on the rear wheel. While this is the way a lot of unpowered scooters work this is far more powerful and heavier.

I hesitate to say this but I do not consider this to be a toy, while I often see mothers pulling young children along on their way to school on a very small scooter this is different and if I were out slightly later I often see the same mothers riding the scooter back home, fine, and it saves time but with this there is first a weight limit -which is more likely to apply to dads than mums - but the battery will cut out if the weight put on to it is over 70KG.

While it looks like a larger version of those tiny scooters that very young children ride this is much much more.

While on my ‘be aware’ kick it should never be used on roads and of course not after dark as it has no lights.

However the children that tried it loved it and their parents will no doubt find it hard to refuse so while the kids love it their parents will probably only have mind images of their kids having accidents but then the same applies to bicycles. One last minus point how do you secure it when out and about and it needs to be left?

So now onto the facts, it is 84cm tall to the top of the handlebars, 70cm long and a maximum of 17cm wide and it weighs 10.2kilos. There are three wheels two at the front and one at the back these are 13cm diameter. The unit is quite stable and can be pushed along one foot on and one foot on the ground.

It is not designed to be used on soft ground and even a pebbled drive could be difficult depending on the compaction of the surface. It is really designed to be used on firm tarmac such as most pavements are made of.

It is stated to have a continuous run time of 60 minutes. The initial charge time might be quite long – up to 12 hours is stated - there is a red LED on the power brick plug which turns green when the unit is fully charged. However after the initial charge it is stated to ready for next use after as little as five hours from complete discharge.

The speed stated to be obtainable is ‘up to 8mph’.

This is a newer version of one sold previously and is currently available on the website, the previous model is still on sale, easily noticeable is the fact that the throttle cable is external on the older version whereas the new model it is internal to the handlebars.

The price is £89 direct from Halfords.

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OverallZinc Scooter E-Drift rated 88 out of 100

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