When the idea of testing this Segway scooter flew into my inbox, I was concerned that I might not have the enthusiasm to really give this thing a good shot. After all, my only scooter experiences to date had been a Lime scooter in Christchurch, and a mate’s electric scooter, both of which were small, slow and very unstable. Boy oh boy did I underestimate the GT2 – like you would not believe.

So the story goes that I go an email from what I assumed was a marketing company about wanting me to test this Segway GT2 Super Scooter. I was like, meh, I’ll reply to that soonish, but it’s probably not for me. I got a follow-up email two days later, checking to see if I had received the first one, and if was I interested. Again, I thought, hmmm, OK, interesting - I’ll flick back an email after the weekend. The following day I received a call pretty much saying hey man, been trying to get hold of you about this scooter – we want you to review it. The situation went from pretty lacklustre (in my opinion) to piquing my interest pretty hard. Half because they said the scooter was being promoted towards off-road riding, and half because my ego was getting a real stroking with all this interest in my opinion.

So, we pulled the trigger and if I may interject with three-oh-boys (oh boy, oh boy, oh boy), I did not regret one single second on this weapon!

Here are my top 10 things I think you need to know about the Segway Ninebot GT2 Super Scooter.

1. First of all, let’s get this pricy elephant out of the room. It is very clear from the images that this is no ordinary scooter and as such, has no ordinary price. The GT2 will get you back a recommended retail of $6,499 and they available from PB-Tech. No joke when it comes to thinking about buying a scooter. Whether this price is on-par with what this unit offers is totally up to you. But if I had more money than I needed – I would have three of these.

2. With great power comes great responsibility…or the ability to do irresponsible stuff. Which this very much lends its hand too. The Scooter is powered by dual 3000w hub motors – one in each wheel – which gives you a power delivery like I have never experienced before on something so small. These powerful motors combined give the GT2 a top speed of 71km (actual testing) with a 0-50km of 4 seconds. This thing is trucking fast!

3. The GT2 sports a front, double-wishbone spring suspension structure, ensuring the suspension is stable and handles well. This is of course adjustable with pre-load on the spring and an adjuster dial they named fast-slow. I’m sure that is pretty self-explanatory. On the rear is another fully adjustable suspension setup with spring. Both ends allow you to really feel the adjustment too which is actually quite nice. Though I went to the ‘Fast’ setting and left it there.

4. All that power and handling is dangerous without awesome brakes. The GT has 20mm front and rear dual-pistons clamping onto a 140mm diameter hydraulic disc brake. These are incredible at stopping the scooter in a hurry when on the tarmac. On the grass, they are actually quite progressive and effective, but obviously prone to lock up if you get too excited. A little trial and error will have a seasoned off-road rider sliding into corners. I think an ABS option would be good for wet pavement though.

5. Punchers would be an absolute pain in the ass, so Segway has done their best at mitigating this terrible situation occurring. The 280mm by 91mm tubeless tires have a unique self-sealing function to help reduce the risk of punctures. These are super grippy on the road, even in the wet, and not terrible off it either, until you hit wet grass, clay, dirt, rock. I would like to see some more off-road specific tyres on the GT2, considering it is promoted towards off-road riding. But I think their interpretation of off-road and my interpretation of off-road is quite different.

6. This Segway is a big machine and that makes it heavy and tall. The benefit to that is it’s very stable at speed, and for me at 6’2 is also very comfortable to ride for long periods. The deck is long, wide and grippy. The flip side is it’s very heavy to lift it you want to get it into the car and also hard to push for long distances when you run out of battery. Which I did once! I do not recommend.

7. Speaking of the deck, again the grip is great on all the shoes I used, and the design is fantastic with a toe gap at the front and an angled incline at the back for when you need to rest your rear foot there, stabilize yourself and hit the boost mode. I felt like I had plenty of room which is a nice change to other scooters I have used.

8. The display if freaking cool as shit! I mean just look at it. It is allegedly the world's first transparent PM OLED display, showing Speed, Motor Power, Battery Life, Range, Drive Mode, Lighting, and STDC. While in Boost Mode, an Energy Reserve Bar is displayed. All you need to know about the machine is easy to read day or night. And it just looks cool too!

9. Speaking of Range. Segway engineered a 1512Wh, high-performance battery with a Heat Flux Multi-Layer Cooling System, which they claim keeps the heat balanced in even the most extreme riding conditions. Now we took this to a MTB park and got it pretty filthy. Didn’t notice any heat issues. But more importantly, battery life is claimed to get you 90km. We can confirm that this is pushing it. Perfect conditions, in one-wheel drive, tailwind, flat ground, in cruise control sitting at about 30km…you might get 90km out of it. Might. But this is not the mode you buy the GT2 for. You will be using two-wheel drive and minimum Sport mode. But probably Race and Boost because that is fun as hell! And if you ride it like I was you might get 30kms out of it. Maybe. Somewhere in between you will get enough range to go roughly anywhere you want.

10. In Eco and Sport mode, the Segway team have engineered what they call the Segway Dynamic Traction Control System (SDTC) to ensure you remain in control on gravel or a slippery road, providing better handling at high speeds. Basically when the wheel starts spinning the power decreases until you get traction again, before feeding full power back into the wheels again. It is very effective and was handy when racing on gravel roads where the front would start spinning on tighter turns. It actually saved me a few times so bravo. Just remember that in Race mode it is not active and the front will just spin up and understeer right off the gravel if you let it. But it also does sick burnout starts on the gravel too so ya know.

In a nutshell – I love this thing. It has been super fun off-road and also even more handy getting to work and back. It has a horn, indicators and cruise control - the perfect commuter. I am unsure what aspect I prefer – the fun off-road or convenience of the work commute. Either way, when it goes back to Segway next week I am going to be a lot annoyed. Also, look out for the review video coming out soon where you get to see how much fun it actually is at 70km along the gravel.

I am by no means a scooter expert. but the internet experts tell me that this GT2 is currently the best of the best you can get in the scooter world, and I would have no qualms about agreeing with that statement.

Hey Segway – I’m ready for the GT3 Super Off-Road now. If you want some help developing that model give me a call – I have some ideas.