In our previous post, we reported that the Patgear and Egret are one and the same product. This has also been reported by a German e-scooter interest blog www.edrift.eu.
Meanwhile, the Patgear/Egret scene here in Singapore or anywhere else globally is getting confusing. We received an email from Wuyi BEO Sports Equipment company in China about selling what looked like Patgears to us. The Wuyi BOE’s photo attachment is below:
The design, quality and finish of the frames look as good as the original Patgear. It looks identical right down to the blue shock absorbers. Nonetheless, we at sgscooters are eager to try out this version of the “Patgear” to see if the Wuyi model is indeed an improvement to the original product (which in our opinion has a lot of room for improvement). Original does not mean it sets the bar for excellence. I am sure this Wuyi version will take off if it can solve the multitude of problems on the original Patgear.
Just a quick hello from France where little by little, people are discovering foldable electric scooters. Some of us are also sharing our experiences on a forum (http://trottinetteselectriques.heberg-forum.fr/ftopic83_trottinettes-electriques.html). One of our members has ordered and received this Patgear “spinoff” on the following website : http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2-wheel-stand-up-aluminum-folding-portable-electric-scooter/1615052489.html
What we know for now, is that with a 76 Kg person riding it, it’ll easily reach a speed of 35 Km/H. Front wheel has an air chamber, and back wheel is a soft rubber wheel.
My I ask, what multiple Patgear problems are you referring to ?
Hi Etrotti, thanks for commenting. The problem with Patgear is that there are too many clones out there. There is the original Taiwanese company which is now manufacturing out of a Guangzhou factory and then there are at least 3 other Chinese Patgear clones out there touting their own versions of Patgear. Patgear has not changed its design in more than 3 years. The biggest problem we have encountered are battery problems. The Patgear distributors like Banly Electric in Singapore do not provide warranty for battery as should be standard for all Li-Ion products. This tells you something.
It’s a shame that the most expensive and fragile component (battery) actually happens to be the less protected one (50% return rate in France !). My assumption is that the original patgear’s wheels are transmitting vibrations to the battery and thus destroying it (design flaw) instead of suppressing these vibrations. There’s a rumor that says they are going to add suspensions to the back wheel (Ecoreco M5 http://lestrottinetteselectriques.blogspot.fr/2013/11/patgear-egret-one-avec-amortisseur.html), but as long as don’t change their wheels, their battery life expectancy is bound to stay as low as today. So if clones are actually an improvement over the orgininal model, then they might be a good thing for budget and quality conscious consumers / resellers. Question would then be which ones of there clones (or should I say enhanced patgears ?) are reliable, and which ones aren’t !
Hi, do you have any reference on your site/forum regarding the Patgear battery problems? We can cross link.
Sure ! information is on this page : http://www.scooter-system.fr/news/2188-kleefer-bude.html
At one point, the guy, who actually owns several stores says : “les retours sur 1 an sont supérieurs à 50%”. (return rate above 50% within 1 year)
Other links referring to egret one issues :
– http://trottinetteselectriques.heberg-forum.fr/ftopic85_egret-one-fiabilisation.html
– http://lestrottinetteselectriques.blogspot.fr/2013/05/egret-one-vs-my-ecomobil-pb-2.html?showComment=1393275827479#c2929239830953782325
Content is obviously in French so feel free to paste the links in google translate (http://translate.google.com/) !
Hi Etrotti, I am going to write an article about these issues using your site as a reference. Can we do a cross linking of articles?