A segway no. It's not even useful for people in wheel chairs. Maybe for quick and less obtrusive DNR checks.

First thought: "Come on! Really??"
Second thought: "Actually, my mom lives in a warning zone for tidal wave impact. I envision a scenario during evacuation where traffic jams lead to potential disaster. This would be a sweet way to address that issue. It's a bit 'survival of the richest', but let's solve one problem at a time; I don't see city planners descending on her coastal Oregon town to help... yet."

As a good friend might say, this X2 Segway looks rowdy. My mom lives in a retirement community and I could see her rockin' this out as a way to have lower impact on tougher trails she might otherwise not hike as she gets older. She loathes ATVs and bikes that rip up the trails and this seems like a middle ground - food for thought.

Is that a rhetorical question? I can't really think of one could use for this machine, I'm not even sure about the argument that it makes areas accessible to those who otherwise wouldn't be able to get into a forest etc., surely anyone with the ability, balance and stamina to stand on a Segway would be able to walk? Yes it's an improvement over Quads and dirt bikes, but still unnecessary.

If one wants an alternative to going for a hike/walk but still want to explore the great outdoors, try horseback. In fact, I used to work at a stables which offered treks for less abled people (both physically and intellectually), in particular I worked with a blind, autistic guy, and he loved getting out into the woods on horseback. And in that sort of setting, its far easier to guide or lead a horse when necessary than it would be to take over control of a Segway. More over, when people were tired, a brief rest was possible in just stopping the horses and letting people relax in the saddle.

I've always thought the Segway was a silly machine in search of a market, and this just seems to be another example of the same.

12.5 mph? 12 mile range?? 55kg???! two words - (get a) Mountain Bike :)

Hahah, New Segway EXTREME!!

For when you and the guys want to go off-roading on your Segways! Chicks totally dig it.

"Do we need this?" Are you friggin serious? This site is devoted to frivolous eco-chic nonsensical crap. How many more hemp designer bags and cloths are you going to post...a kazillion? How many little techno doodads that are solar powered or have LEDs (that were made in China and sent over here on a huge container ship) are you gonna post... a kazillion? How much does this site promote rampant consumerism under the guise of "green"...Constantly? Look in the damn mirror before posting something like this...then be ashamed.

"Do we need this?"

The point is, we don't "need" anything. Segways are legal, safe transportation devices that are alternatives for people who choose not to hike or can't.

Segway critics almost always are people who are ill informed because they don't know what this device is or how it works. In almost every case, they've never tried one. Segways operate differently than vehicles becase they aren't a vehicle.

People who've formed an opinion about Segways who don't have the facts are doing so based on their imagination. If you're going to decide whether something is good or bad, or whether it's a benefit to others, it should be based on facts, not what you "imagine".

Read "Segway: The Top Ten Misconceptions": http://segway.blogthing.com/

Get the facts, then form a responsible opinion.

Too bad Arrested Development was canceled.

This thing looks positively dangerous to the user, which means I heartily approve of it.

Before there is too much criticism of this, please consider the target audiance isn't the lazy recreational hiker (who couldn't use this on regular trails anyway).

The real utility is to carry loads into rugged terrain noiselessly and with little damage to the trail.

I work for a government contractor that is under contract to supply research stations with food and equipment. Theses things can easily carry a 150 pound piece of weather instrumention plus the rider.

The way we do it now is with a quad, which is noisy and smelly and tears up the ground more than you would think. Plus we can use a much smaller truck with no trailer using the segway.

The US Post Office uses these to carry heavy loads using the smooth surface version.

We will be field testing two of these next spring and from what we have seen in trial runs they are almost certain to be a huge improvement over gas engine quads. They are really quite amazing, like little mountain goats.

There are a lot of people who could use a segway but who can't walk any distance - people with heart failure who get breathless after small efforts, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases like emphysema, peripheral vascular diseases that cause the legs to cramp up after walking a few feet, etc.

Should they only get around by wheelchair?

In response to Willy Bio:

These days it'll be nearly impossible to avoid consumerism, what with all of the ignorant people that are so blinded by material things. Keeping the idea in mind that this will never be reversed the best thing we can do is try to find a better way of doing everything, which is what I've always thought this website was about.

I hate consumerism as much as the next person, but do you honestly think our way of life is going to change anytime soon?

lil mountain goats, I agree with you completely. A quiet electric is far better then a 2 stroke smoke belcher. I'm not sure about the price, but I'm suprised that they are not used by commuters to get to work on good days. If it is not price I assume it is fear of SUV's.

The Segway didn't sell, and this won't sell even more. The obviously talented Dean Kamen apparently is working on water purification and remote electrical generators, so kudos to him, but the Segway should join Elcaset and Polaroid Instant Movies in the Hall of Ideas Past Their Time.

In response to annipoonany:

Not my point at all.

My point was to call out Treehugger for being stone cold hypocrites with this one.

At no point did I espouse a position of changing our society and its consumerist habits.

Willy, I believe Treehugger is posing the question on why this was made. They are not promoting it. At least that is the way I read it.

There are incremental ways to moderate our consumer excesses. We should have a return to quality. If women bought one beautiful Coach bag, it would last 10 years, and would outlast 10 cheap Chinese handbags, and would be MORE enduringly stylish. Of course, it would cost 5 times as much up front.

My father has a Brooks Brothers shirt that has been recuffed and re-collared twice. (A service that Brooks used to provide for free.) It's true they cost $75-$125 new, but even equivalent stuff at Banana Republic is $60.

A good woolen suit will last far longer than some polyester blend. I have a Pendleton shirt that is at least 50 years old.

Young people could be made to get on the bandwagon too. Many very stylish people wear vintage because they can't get what they want in the store.

While everyone laughs at how ridicules this thing is. I was thinking this would be good for one of best friends that is an amputee missing his left leg from mid thigh down. We are in college and he walks everywhere that he can't take his car. Some people don't want to use a wheel chair since people do judge you for being handicap, whenever we play freebie golf or going out somewhere he walks but is noticeably slower and it is a lot more work for him to keep up and go long distances(ie. more than a half mile without stopping). So while some of you think this is useless and it would be for most normal active people. It does give an option to others that can't do everything you can

Boy, that got a lot of comments.
Someone who isn't fit enough to walk or ride a bike probably shouldn't be riding a Segway either. They'd be better off in a powered wheel chair. Less risk of falling. Said another way, if they're fit enough to ride a Segway, they're fit enough to walk or ride a bike.

I think it's a bit presumptuous to ask "Do we need this?" For one thing - compare to all the high priced stuff that's promoted on this site that may be made of bamboo or hemp but is hardly a necessity.

For another, who gives you the right to decide what another needs? Or where need ends and desire starts. Isn't that the point made by "Cradle to Cradle" that one of the problems with the current environmental movement is that it's antithetical to people's natural desire to explore and grow and extend those motivations to the whole of their lives - even to their business pursuits?

The best way for sustainable and environmentally positive activities to supplant the norm is for them to be more enjoyable, profitable, desirable and even opulent - not less.

I'm I the only person who thinks these things are dorky?

But then again, I'm just a jerk.

Sweet- I can't wait for my Segway polo team to get these bad boys-

A person who relies on a wheelchair should NEVER venture into a remote location alone on a Segway. It's far too easily to upset, and a person with limited mobility and strength will NOT be able to right the machine and remount it, if he remains in good enough condition to ride it back out. A diabetic wouldn't go into the woods without their insulin.

Furthermore, the Segway is expensive to produce (in terms of money and resources) and if this is going to be their core market (as no one else is buying them) they will go out of business instantly.

Segway: everything a bicycle can do . . . and less.

A brilliant solution in search of a problem. Seriously, try a bike. And if what you have to carry is too heavy, get an ass!

TH

to haul stuff on trails: use a horse, lama, donkey or good ol' quadriceps
Once you let the segways in the "primitive trail" will need upgraded, the powers that be will promise only "minor adjustments"and you'll end up with a friggin freeway double wide paved "trail through the woods. I for one am fed up with everything being dumbed down to suit the least active ( lowest common denominator) . Yes, I am able bodied and full on NIMBY when it comes to such non human powered accesories.

I am a Segway dealer and lil mountain goats has it right. The use replaces the short 2-5 mile treek in when you are carrying equipment. I would prefer to have a quite non-gas means of transit then the noisy quads. I sell them to ranchers and people with over 40 acres.
Not for use in the city!!

We should be applauding anything that helps promote the advancement of non-combustion engine transportation. What is learned with the Segway will be used in scooters, bikes, cars, etc, etc, etc.

Would Steve McQueen ride a Segway? Tool around with a ridculous helmet with his ass sticking out? No way. These things are un-American.

Segway has alternatively been bullying and pathetically begging governments to buy these things, because end consumers won't. Thank God for tight budgets.

We are already a nation of lard-asses and we do NOT need a machine that does our walking for us.

These things are un-American.

What exactly makes these un-American? Because it does not have a v-8? Or because you don't want one? The machine is a marvel of technology and ingenuity, all American. The only thing un-American was that comment.

A bicycle equipped with a Xtracycle could carry much more than a Segway at a fraction of the cost. If you must have a powered vehicle equip it with a Stokemonkey.

>> A person who relies on a wheelchair should NEVER venture
>> into a remote location alone on a Segway.

No one should venture into a remote area alone - Segway or not. Any remember the buddy system?

So, assuming two people are going out into the woods together, I don't think this would be a bad idea for those that are less able to travel on foot.

Robert says, "surely anyone with the ability, balance and stamina to stand on a Segway would be able to walk?" Sorry Robert, but you're dead wrong. My wife has a painful and debilitating disease that makes it difficult for her to walk any distance, but we believe she could stand on a Segway for up to a couple hours or so on a fairly smooth trail (with stops every 15 minutes or so). She tried out the city version (that belongs to a guy I work with) of the Segway and liked it, but we didn't see getting our money's worth out of it. She's going to try the "all terrain" version out a local dealer. Up until a couple years ago, we loved to cycle and hike together, but now I go alone. I'd love to have her along (even if we don't get very far and have to stop a lot) and I know she would love to get out. Also, you said that horseback riding could be alternative? No offense, but you don't know much about chronic pain do you? There's no way she could take the pounding one takes on a horse. Anyway, we're hoping this works for her. Best wishes to all.