Main advantage
The whole electric scooter can be considered a masterpiece when it comes to design. When you’re buying a product like this you are expecting decent looks, but once you actually get to use it, you should be impressed. The scooter comes with a minimalistic but well-thought design, and the controls are neatly placed.
You don’t get any useless knobs or levers, switches that have no real purpose like there are so many others out there. Some brands like to over-complicate their scooters, but not GOTRAX. And we all know that a simple design means that fewer things get to break, and that can also be said about the folding mechanism of this scooter.
When the device is folded or unfolded, everything will feel solid. It’s not the kind of scooter that starts to make weird sounds once you ride it for too long. The assembly process is also a fast one, and the needed tools are included in the package. Even if you’re not the kind of person that tinkers a lot, you will still get it together fast.
This neat design extends to the packaging – the scooter doesn’t bounce around in the package, and this ensures it arrives safely.
Main disadvantage
This scooter is a good choice when you want to use it during the day. However, once the night falls you will start to see its biggest flaw – it’s not very bright. The device comes with an LED light that faces forward, and a reflector at the back. There are no rear lights, which is a common occurrence for scooters like this.
Even the front-facing LED isn’t that bright, and if you’re going to need this scooter at night you need to make sure you install more powerful forward-facing lights, and definitely some lights placed at the back.
Main features explained
Build quality
Considering the type of users this scooter has been designed for, the quality of its components and how they have been put together is really impressive. You could say that the build quality is similar to much more expensive models. This is because it has been designed to be a commuter scooter.
These kinds of scooters need to be sturdy to endure the harsh treatment of daily usage. Most of its components are made using strong materials. The fenders, for example, are made using reinforced plastic. That might not sound that solid, but it is, and the best thing about them is that they don’t scratch, and they won’t break without putting up some resistance.
The folding mechanism is not something that causes problems, as is the case with some other models. You might expect such a scooter to become problematic when setting it up, but that won’t happen. The downside is that the latching mechanism may require a bit more work to properly set.
Once you get the idea of how the mechanism works, you are ready to carry a firmly folded scooter with you. Weighing only 26 pounds, this might be one of the lightest commuter electric scooters out there. The device folds into a compact size of 39 by 6 by 14 inches. Unfortunately, the handlebars to not retract, and that adds to the size, but it’s still a scooter that you can place into the back of your car, or hide under your desk at work.
We also need to discuss the tires here. They are air-filled pneumatic tires and in the world of electric scooters, they are top class. With these tires, you will be able to traverse different terrains without worrying, and they will keep you well-balanced on all roads.
Performance
When buying an electric scooter meant for commuting you want it to go decently fast, but most importantly to get you where you want every single day. For that purpose, you need it to come with a good motor. This model has a 250W brushless DC motor, and that is one of the most performant ones for a scooter in this category.
This isn’t the fastest engine, however, only averaging a top speed of 15.5 mph. However, this is the kind of scooter made for adults and it can carry weights of up to 220 pounds. When you’re ambitious and you want to get somewhere fast remember that there is a bit of delay between the moment you turn the throttle and the point in time when the scooter starts to accelerate.
Furthermore, when going up steep hills you will not be thrilled by the speed of the scooter, but it will still be capable of getting you over. Fortunately, the model makes up for these small mistakes by coming with the profile of a kick scooter. Any time it runs out of energy or you feel impatient, you can help it with some kicks. It’s sometimes a nice thing to do a bit of legwork on your way to work.
When it comes to range, the scooter does a decent job. In ideal conditions, you would be able to have a top range of 12 miles if the electric scooter is fully charged. Of course, if you’re going over steep inclines, if the temperature is too low, or if you stop too often, that mileage will be reduced.
However, even 10 miles can be considered a long-distance, especially when you’re traveling that distance every day. You can expect the scooter to be able to get you over that distance daily.
Components
The importance of performant tires can’t be stressed enough, and with the 8.5 pneumatic inner tubes, these tires can be considered one of the electric scooter’s most important features. Usually found on high-end models, tires like these are a joy. The reason why this particular scooter needs them is that the scooter doesn’t come with any form of suspension.
Thus, to make the ride more comfortable, the pressure needs to be relieved in some way, and the solution is a set of really thick tires. These tires stand on wheels that can be stopped using two different brakes. The brake at the front is decent, of the regenerative type, but it doesn’t perform as well as the brake on the back wheel.
The hand-operated rear disk brake is safer to use and it stops the scooter faster. One great advantage of this brake is the fact that it has the operating lever on the left. Placing it there ensures that your left hand is always above the lever and you are always ready to press the brake.
You don’t usually find disk brakes and pneumatic tires on electric scooters of this type, so that is a mark of quality from GOTRAX.
Moving on to the handlebars, they respect the minimalist design of the entire scooter. The details are pleasing, and the LED display is large and bright enough to let you know what your speed is and what’s the status of the electric scooter’s battery.
You get a classic thumb-operated knob on the right side that serves as the accelerator. In the middle part of the handlebars, you have the gear button and the light-activating switch. The design of the accelerator knob is interesting and it allows for great control over the scooter.
Innovative feel
When you first start using this electric scooter you get to see how the manufacturer managed to get rid of all the excessive components that had no real purpose. The buttons and levers that this model comes with are absolutely necessary, while the whole design is kept to a minimum to emphasize the sleek look.
Helping with unraveling from a compact portable bundle into a sturdy scooter, the folding mechanism is ideal. It’s a great thing that you don’t need to be an excellent mechanic to understand how the whole thing works. The scooter also does well when it comes to packaging – the form-fitting case that it comes in will keep everything safe and it even feels good when opened. It’s like unpacking a piece of rare equipment that you have won.
Compared to the previous model in this series, the GXL V2 model doesn’t appear to be much different. Indeed, the company has kept the best parts but has added some small details that make this new model a better one. While the wheels are the same size, the brake discs the same, and even the rubber on the board seems to have remained unchanged, the brake system has been modified a bit.
The original model came with electronic brakes and foot pedals used for decelerating. The new scooter replaces the electronic ones with hand-operated brakes. This seems a counterintuitive thing to do, but it provides more safety, especially when the brake lever is positioned under your left hand, and thus you can operate it at any time.
There is also a new safety bolt used in the folding mechanism and this bolt ensures the scooter stays better locked. It’s also a feature that smoothens the process of folding and unfolding, making the device a more consumer-friendly one.
