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Toys

Rent a Segway 327

Posted by michael from the hit-and-run dept.
Arjun Ram writes "MSNBC.com is reporting that renting a segway would cost as much as $20 for each 30-minute increment, for up to 90 minutes. Users can also pay $5 for a test drive, or 'pre-glide' as Lambeth calls it. Neat!"
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Rent a Segway More

Rent a Segway

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  • ...and go where? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 18, 2003 @08:44AM (#5985020)
    So, aside from pedestrian-friendly cities like Boston and New York, where the hell would you take it from one place to another and back in a half hour?

    • Re:...and go where? (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Segway won't work in NY. Sidewalks are too crowded. If some dumbass on a Segway ran into me as he blabbed on his cell phone, I'd punch him. And some punk kid would steal the Segway.
    • Maybe if enough people had Segways, more cities would be pedestrian friendly. Unfortunately, at these prices, few people will have Segways. The main appeal seems to be the clever engineering [examiner.com] rather than the cost-benefit.

      One notable PF city (San Francisco) has gone and banned the Segway. I blame this on kneejerk anti-business attitudes. Now, "kneejerk" is not a word I use lightly -- it's too popular with right-wingers who are too lazy to properly rebut the arguments of left-wingers. (Indeed, you could say

      • One notable PF city (San Francisco) has gone and banned the Segway.

        Totally false. San Francisco has banned Segways from the sidewalks. You can take them on the street, if you're brave enough -- just like a bicycle. It seems completely appropriate to me that the burden of bravery should be on you, for riding a Segway, rather than on me, just trying to walk down the street without getting run over by some yuppie who'd rather ride a $5,000 electric scooter than use the legs god gave him.

        • The maximum speed of a Segway is twelve miles an hour. If riding it on a busy street isn't illegal, it should be.

          Grow up. Not everybody has the "legs God gave him". There's older people, people with respiratory problems, etc. Even a healthy person has a limited range on in a hilly city like SF.

          You apparently resent the prosperity of potential Segway users. You're within your rights to be prejudiced (even if it is a little childish). But that's not an excuse to avoid addressing the issues. Do you have ac

          • I don't know about most cities in the US but here in Australia Skateboards, Scooters, Rollerblades, etc are all banned on City streets. It is just to dangerous and crowded for people crusing about on scooters. 12mph is about the same speed as a slow bicycle rider, and they are definately not allowed on the street.

  • How to ruin your social life (Score:3, Funny)

    by A Proud American ( 657806 ) on Sunday May 18, 2003 @08:47AM (#5985027)
    ... in three easy steps.

    1) Rent a Segway
    2) Cart on over to the neighborhood Barnes 'n Noble
    3) Rent an Internet station, browse Slashdot ;-)

    • more fun to... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by zogger ( 617870 ) on Sunday May 18, 2003 @09:32AM (#5985124) Homepage Journal
      ... more fun to *accidentaly* hack the segway, install your rc car controllers and a servo for the steering, bungee cord* a blow up love doll on it, then drive it around to watch peoples expressions.

      Really,to not be silly, I see segways as way more useful as a robot base to work from. Who needs a dedicated robot for each task? Like the roombah, a segway could have an adaptor for house vacuuming, then it could go outside and mow the lawn. This is just the normal "tractor" concept, one platform that has "modules" that attach that can do a myriad of tasks.

      Inter-factory/warehouse/office deliverybot perhaps. Remote controlled security guards that roam the hallways at night,perhaps use one for transporting various things inside hospitals, things of that nature that a human might normally do but would be better to just have a drone do, freeing up the humans for the more demanding and specialised work. Geez, just floor washing and buffing at night in stores it would be neat. All done with the same base and just different attachments. Tons of different uses really. It has real decent range, is highly maneuverable, and will carry some decent weight. Seems a natural to me.

      *all good projects need a bungee cord and duct tape someplace, it's da roolz n stuff

  • Huh? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by GMontag ( 42283 ) <gmontag AT guymontag DOT com> on Sunday May 18, 2003 @08:48AM (#5985030) Homepage Journal
    These things are supposed to replace cars in some sort of "brave new world" and they cost more for 20 min. than a pickup truck costs for all day?

    Sorry, you lost me on the segway.

    • Re:Huh? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by SubtleNuance ( 184325 ) on Sunday May 18, 2003 @10:17AM (#5985252) Journal
      What portion of your tax-dollars are spent on highways, bi-ways, 4lane roads and other elements of urban-sprawl? Cities are being DESIGNED TO REQUIRE an automobile. Not only is the auto *personally* expensive, but sprawl costs your community big-BIG $$$. More roads to clear of snow, more roads to patrol, greater distances of electrical/water/sewage services all NEEDLESS spending because people are encouraged to WANT this mindless suburban-commuter lifestyle.

      If you *aren't* forced (because of city-design) to spend $$$ on a 'truck', how much less would you be required to maintain the same standard of living? Could you turn in your auto, move downtown and vacation an additional 4 weeks per year? maybe.. maybe-not. The bottom line is that NorthAmerica needs a re-think on its personal transportation / city design ideas....

      Im not saying the segway is the future of the world, I *am* saying it is welcome in a more reasonably-scaled urban environment.

      Im tired of paying for sprawl and highways... not only is it irresponsible for the planet, it is expensive. I want a reasonable public transit system, and human-scale transportation (bikeways/walkways/segways(maybe))
      • What portion of your tax-dollars are spent on highways, bi-ways, 4lane roads and other elements of urban-sprawl?

        The part payed for by my fuel taxes. Unfortunately, much of that gets robbed for bike trails, METRO rail and busses (exempt from the fule taxes of course) and a host of other things that I rarely use, but I pay for them whether I use them or not.

        Here we go again with this taste/fashion arguement of "sprawl", that has beed defined every bit as well as "saturday night special", i.e., it is just

        • Re:Huh? (Score:2, Interesting)

          by SubtleNuance ( 184325 )
          Believe it or not, many people do not want to live in large cities
          if by many you mean less than 25% in the USA [wri.org]
          Or, in Canada, the 23% of Canadians who live in a rural environment. [sustreport.org]

          We have different tastes than you do, so please stop trying to impose your "taste" on us
          Do you commute to work? do you live in a suburban or (truly) rural environment?

          Here we go again with this taste/fashion arguement of "sprawl"

          fashion and taste are irrelevant. SPRAWL is real. Drive between detroit and dearborn.

          • Re:Huh? (Score:3, Insightful)

            by GMontag ( 42283 )
            Wow! That was about as authoritative as using the WWP [workers.org] as a source for union issues, WSWS [wsws.org] as a source for Economics, or Pacifica Radio as a source for ANYTHING to do with free choice.

            Nice try though.

            BTW, your in your sig, you use the same time tested method, well documented by George Orwell and others, that the Communist press has been using for ages to cease arguement. Then again, that is what you used when you invoked the dreaded "sprawl" word.

            As Orwell wrote, in the closing passages of chapter XI, in
        • Believe it or not, many people do not want to live in large cities. We have different tastes than you do, so please stop trying to impose your "taste" on us.

          Pot. Kettle. Black.

          • LOL! Excuse me? That is very cute.

            I do not wish to force others to live anyplace they decide not to choose on their own. Please point out where I have advocated any such thing?

            • First of all, I was responding to this statement:

              We have different tastes than you do, so please stop trying to impose your "taste" on us.

              In light of:

              Here we go again with this taste/fashion arguement of "sprawl", that has beed defined every bit as well as "saturday night special", i.e., it is just a libel without definition.

              Here you're telling somebody that they don't really mean what they mean. I'm sure SubtleNuance knew what he/she meant by "sprawl," I know what he/she meant by "sprawl;" ev

              • Wow, you are really out there.

                Engaging in newspeak by calling single-family housing and suburbs "sprawl" is nothing but a distraction. It certainly is nothing like forcing someone to live in a filthy down-town cattle pen, aka, a high-rise.

                I did not tell that fellow to stay in the city and nobody is marching him out to the suburbs at the point of a gun, 1950's style China.

                It is quite amazing that some of you folks wish to turn any disagreement into some imposition on your "rights". Well, here is a newsf

                • Re:Huh? (Score:3, Interesting)

                  by Dr. Evil ( 3501 )

                  If people want to live in less densly populated areas, have a nice home and a yard, let the kids play, a seperate bedroom for every kid, a workshop for every parent, a media room, etc. somehow that is some kind of threat to you? How about being able to open a window below the 20th floor without choking on the smell of fermented human urine, who are you to tell them no?

                  I have a theory that people who live in the suburbs hate everyone. They do their best to avoid all human contact.

                  These people by SUV's

                  • That was quite funny! I hope you are modded up for your efforts.

                    P.s. what do your kids do when they are too old to 'play?'

                    Well, if they are male are they ever too old to play? Mine is in college now.

      • Re:Huh? (Score:3, Interesting)

        by weave ( 48069 )
        Shh, be careful not to give away the secret of carlessness. I don't own a car and hence live as if I'm rich, even though I'm not. That extra several hundred dollars a month I don't spend on payments, fuel, insurance, and repairs goes into other fun stuff, like flying from the pathetic east coast to Arizona 2-3 times a year first class on America West so I can hike Picacho Peak, The White Tanks, Estrella, eat big steaks at Crazy Eds and Pinnacle Peak Patio, etc, etc...

        But it is a choice and I'd not want to

        • You make a very good point. People need to choose which is best. However the problem I see is growing up with my parents 45 miles from the "big city", there is no public transportation at all. As I grew up it was just a societal thing where you take drivers-ed at school, get a part time job, buy a car, and pay the insurance. Nobody talked as if it was an option, that we had other choices. This was the only way that they talked about, everybody from peers, to parents, to administrators, to teachers, to
          • You don't usually have to live in a "big city" to scrap your car, although it certainly makes it easier. Numerous areas outside of large metro areas are served quite well by commuter rail. You can often find places that are on the edge of denser areas near a transit line that also have close walkable or bikable areas in parks or "back roads" areas.

            The last time I bought a house, my agent had said he had never heard of anyone with my requirements. I gave him a list like "has to be within 10 minute walk of

  • Look like a pansy for free (Score:4, Funny)

    by jackalope ( 99754 ) on Sunday May 18, 2003 @08:50AM (#5985033)
    I can't see paying $20 to look like a pansy for 30 minutes. Most people can find ways to do that for free.

  • erm (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ramzak2k ( 596734 ) * on Sunday May 18, 2003 @08:52AM (#5985040)
    20 bucks ? thats more expensive than renting a car. The last time I saw [amazon.com], these things weren't half as expensive as a car.

    Lets see how long the sizzle lasts.
    • If I sold my car (1991 Celica ST) privately...I'd still need about $2000 to buy a Segway HT...and yet I fall right into their prime market (live 3 miles from work in Boston with easy access to everything I need in the scooter's power range).

  • IT?!? (Score:5, Funny)

    by muzzmac ( 554127 ) on Sunday May 18, 2003 @08:54AM (#5985045)
    The Segway was once known as "IT".

    Now it's more of a "WHAT?" or a "HUH?"

    Or sometimes just a plain old fashioned: "WHY?"
  • Seems odd that we've seen no articles about guys building their own Segways. Doesn't seem all _that_ difficult. Anyone know of any such projects?
    • Powered skateboards have been around for ages, there is probably tons of info on electric scooters already. This is just an "idiot-proofed" version of the above.
    • Someone has made a Segway out of Lego, and calls it a LegWay. [freelug.org]
  • The Segway really reminds me of an overgrown version of those razor scooters that were popular a few years back. You know, the two-wheeled skateboard with handlebars on the front. They looked too childish for 15-year olds, but you'd see 30-something businesspeople scooting down the street on these things. I always expected them to have tassels on the grip and a pinwheel attached somewhere. The Segway evokes this image in me too. I imagine it as a giant two-year old going along with one of those Playskool pu
    • if your personal decision making skills include "not wanting to look like %whatever%" i guess your right... the rest of us adults make decisions devoid of considerations for the illusion of 'cool' and other fashion nonsense...

      People who use razor scooters are a) saving money b) getting exercise c) having fun and d) not polluting in their effort from place x to place y.

      Seems like a better choice than most...

      The Segway evokes this image in me too

      Do SUVs in suburbia invoke images of rocks, streams a
      • A bike saves money, gives better exercise, and doesn't pollute. In my personal opinion, it's more fun than the razor, too. And the whole reason people got so into those scooters were because everyone decided they were cool. Then they fell out of style, and people stopped using them. SUVs are actually similar, being inefficient and somewhat silly fashion icons.

        Segways don't offer anything special over a bike unless you're disabled or otherwise unable to pedal yourself, and in that case there are mopeds. It'
        • You're completely disregarding the "sweat factor" of using a bike instead of a Segway. Most people do not have showers available at work, and I can't imagine leaving a very big tip for a waiter(ess) who smells like they just rode 20 miles on a bike.
          • Then go for the moped. There are bikes out there with electric motors that are a lot cheaper than Segways. They'll go faster, too.
  • really! Here in Christchurch, NZ. Point is maybe I'll just borrow her unicycle for free. Use the computer in my head for balance.

  • Good Idea (Score:5, Interesting)

    by yoey ( 247125 ) * on Sunday May 18, 2003 @09:06AM (#5985067) Journal
    Yes, it's pricey to rent a Segway for such a short amount of time. Which means it's perfect at an amusment park such as Six Flags and Disney where we're used to paying outrageous prices nonsense things such as t-shirts and a bottle of Pepsi.

    Serioulsy, I'd pay it just to try one of these out.
    • Sure, then imagine the lawsuits when some tyke gets run over by some imbecile who momentarily loses control of one of the MOTOR VEHICLES THE PARK IS RENTING.
      • Imbecile is not even needed. Most of the renters will be first time users for quite some time, so they will be repeating the same mistakes over and over again. It is only matter of time until something happens - even a smart, generally capable person can make an error in control of a strange machine.

        The rider promises not to sue the renting company, sure, but some child who was crushed by a 100 pound machine has signed nothing, and the parents will definitely will not sit idle (at very least because tre

  • renting is kinda needed for many... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ptorrone ( 638660 ) * <pt@nOspAM.adafruit.com> on Sunday May 18, 2003 @09:14AM (#5985084)
    renting is a good idea, the ht for many people is a big investment, trying one out first is often worth it. the challenge with the segway ht is most people can't imagine what's like to use a self-balancing device like the ht and if it would make sense for their travel needs. i have a segway ht, and at first, the my commute took a little longer that i calculated mostly because people would stop and ask me questions, most would ask to try it out and many would be so impressed with the technology and ease of use, they would purchase one, i didn't expect that either, in my city (seattle) there are quite a few people with segway hts, also the city uses them as opposed to cars for many tasks.

    i'm up to 800 miles on mine, click here to read the trip log. [bookofseg.com]

    the city of seattle let me interview them, so good info (some of it pretty technical, but very detailed) can be found here. [bookofseg.com]

    cheers,
    pt

    • Another Austroturfer! (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      So here you are, bragging about the size of your peni^H^H^H^Hwallet on an internet site and using feel good marketing speak.

      Humm, I think you are just an austroturfer, and looking at your history [slashdot.org] confirms it. I wonder if all 108 of your comments are just like the current 24 and you can't shut up with the bragging about your $$$ and your scooter.

      Why don't you waste you time at some other site related to the scooter instead of posting PR stuff to every /. story you can work the scooter into.

      I don't think
    • No offense, but you are the most annoying person on the planet.
      Did your Mom ever tell you that?
      Seriously, if the people buying Segways are the sort of people that don't capitilize (too lazy to hit the shift key, need a Segway to get from there front door to the mailbox, yeah I think we are onto something) and insist on calling it the ht then I don't want to be associated with them.

      In what universe is the Segway ever a good idea?

  • Amusement parks (Score:5, Interesting)

    by mgkimsal2 ( 200677 ) on Sunday May 18, 2003 @09:14AM (#5985085) Homepage
    As someone else pointed out earlier, these would be great for amusement parks. I just wonder if they could keep enough around to rent so that it wouldn't piss people off who couldn't get time on one. $40/hour seems like a good way to keep the users down to a minimum to start with, but I could eventually see a park having a few hundred around to use for, let's say, $15/hour or so, or perhaps $80/day. Put a little credit card slider thingy on it so you can 'pay as you go' and you're all set. $40/hour is just too pricey at the moment for most people, but amusement parks *do* seem a somewhat logical place to do 'rentals'. It's an enclosed area where people already do a large amount of walking, and are looking for entertaining/fun experiences.
    • I'd agree with that. I can think of times, especially later in the day after you've walked an entire park one time through that an ol' segway for $20 - $40 for the rest of the day would be ideal.

      They could even use the govenor key so that you can't go full speed to avoid running people down, though that could be a ride in and of itself.

    • Re:Amusement parks (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Rinikusu ( 28164 )
      Actually, unless they use a smart-card/key system or have "parking-at-the-rides", I don't see this being viable for amusement parks. I've been to Six Flags and the place is *packed*, could you imagine trying to find "parking spots" for the rented Segway whilst you go toss your cookies on some behemoth Roller Coaster?

      Now, the zoo, on the other hand, it might make more sense. You don't really have to park and leave the thing unattended for extreme stretches of time, you can roll through the exhibits.. Hey!

  • Not Gonna Work (Score:3, Interesting)

    by moehoward ( 668736 ) on Sunday May 18, 2003 @09:16AM (#5985088)
    It seems that they whole purpose of the Segway was to get rid of using cars, not get rid of walking. Seems that this rental thing is trying to supplant walking. It was supposed to be for inner-city commutes, not tourism.

    The more this thing flops, the more I'm proven right that it was going to flop. It's the next Furby.

    They will never be able to make enough money on this to cover their huge start up costs and ongoing fixed costs. Look for company announcements about restructuring or refocus in the next 12 months. Followed by discounts, chapter 7, and inevitable lawsuits about accidents.

    Unless, of course, they start running them on hydrogen. Then, I'll buy 12 of them.

  • $20/30mins ? $5 for a test drive ??? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 ) on Sunday May 18, 2003 @09:18AM (#5985095)
    In less than 2 segway hours, you can buy an okay used bicycle. For around 20 segway hours, you can get yourself a brand new bicycle with electric assistance that'll go just as well as the segway, for hundreds or thousands of miles, faster, and without letting you fall flat on your face when the batteries die.

    I know it's cool technology, and the balancing act is impressive to watch, but from an economics standpoint, no segway for me, no siree ...
    • Umm, I think you are seeing through their "point" way too well. The idea is to remove choice, not add any.

      If the folks at the parks let the "guests" bring bikes then you would be right, but they don't.

      • Re:$20/30mins ? $5 for a test drive ??? (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 ) on Sunday May 18, 2003 @09:34AM (#5985132)
        Then check out this bike :

        http://www.bromptonbike.com/

        I use this bike everywhere I have to be socially acceptable, and in the bus, train and airplanes. Granted it's not given, but it's a lot less than a car, or a segway for that matter.

        Then again, I live in Europe ;-)
        • In an old tech magazine, there was a picture (actually, two pictures) of a bicycle designed for the Toyota ideas contest. That bike could be folded into a wheelchair. The Brompton looks exactly like the idea-bike folded into wheelchair ;7
        • A folded Brompton fits into a bag which is quite manageable - a worst-case technique for bringing the bike into a place that "doesn't allow bikes". If they don't know a bike is in the bag, they can't tell you they aren't allowed.

          For people not familiar with the Brompton, it folds much smaller than the usual folding bikes. It also folds so that it can stand or be rolled in the folded state. The chain is in the center of the folded bicycle, away from anything it may dirty. It is a great design.

    • Bike! (Score:2, Insightful)

      by kaamos ( 647337 )
      My point exactly, and on a bike you can go faster then 12.5 miles/hour, for longer then 11 miles, ride in the street and not risk smashing into a passerby, and more important in Canada, a bike can ride in snow! (really, though I am not held responsible for any injury you will sustain from trying this. I am not a trained professional, just a canadian ;-))

  • Why should I pay for a test drive? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by The Fanta Menace ( 607612 ) on Sunday May 18, 2003 @09:31AM (#5985120) Homepage

    If they want me to buy one of these things, why should I have to pay $5 to test it? They're going to have to do better than that to get me to waste my money on crap like this.

  • yeah right (Score:2, Insightful)

    by spoonist ( 32012 )

    We put GPS ... units on them so we could track their location but its hidden within the machine so don't bother looking for it.

    Sure thing dude. A GPS receiver and tracking transmitter are SO tiny, dare I say microscopic, that there's NO WAY anyone could find it in your Segway. NOT!

    It's not like the Segway is the size of a dump truck where it would be a pain in the neck to look for.

    There are only so many places they could hide it in the Segway: in the post, in the handles, and in the part you

    • hell, bring a large roll of lead foil, wrap it up, and drive away...
    • Actually, if anyone badly wants the rental Segway, he will just shove it into the trunk of a car. The metal lid is not RF transparent, so it will act as a decent Faraday cage.

      But that' not all. The transmitter in the Segway can not be too powerful, and it does not have a good antenna. This means that the communication distance is probably limited to most of the park at best. As soon as you distance yourself from the monitoring receiver (at the office, probably) the signal disappears, along with the Se

    • No need to find the GPS receiver, just bring your own GPS receiver with you, and hang it on the handlebar. A pair of receivers operated in close proximity will jam each other, and neither of them will give appropriate results. GPS receivers don't work in faraday cages either, so just make sure that the mini-pantech you hired (for $20!) to carry the Segway away with has a metal body, and you're set.

  • My Segway rental report (Score:5, Interesting)

    by AdamBa ( 64128 ) on Sunday May 18, 2003 @09:45AM (#5985153) Homepage
    I was on a Disney cruise ship in February and they were letting you ride a Segway around the basketball cout for 10 minutes for some "nominal" fee ($10 or $15 as I recall). So I wandered up there with my 1-year-old son and tried it out, and filed this report in email:

    "On Friday I rode on a Segway, that newfangled two-wheeled transporter. Disney has some promotional deal with them and was offering 10-minute rides. I was watching Noah for a while so I strolled him up and parked him on the edge of the basketball court. The Segway is technologically cool but I am baffled by people who think it is going to revolutionize anything. There may be a small niche for people who need to go twelve miles an hour with both hands occupied, but it's pretty small. The thing was pretty easy to ride. I only fell off twice, once when I was trying to determine how fast you could go around a corner (and found out the answer), and once when I got off at the end and it decided to back up and attack my shins, then lurch forward ten feet before slowly keeling over in a rough approximation of the climactic scene of 'Bonnie and Clyde'. The cast member [Disney-speak for employee] who was helping me assured me everything was fine and the machine just had to be reset. He whipped up out his little reset key and applied it to the reset dealie, which seemed to have no effect. I quickly grabbed the stroller and left, glancing over my shoulder once to see him ministering to the thing with a worried look on his face. Still a few bugs in the system I guess. When we get our final bill, I will check if there is an item for $4,995 marked 'destroyed Segway'".

    - adam

  • Why so expensive? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by turbosaab ( 526476 )
    The pricing seems a bit high for such a short-term rental. $40/hour might work for a test-drive, but won't allow people to use the Segways as anything more than a toy. Renting Segways daily or weekly in cities would make a lot of sense. They would be perfect for tourists, etc, who want to explore "on foot". Around $40-50/day should be profitable and still be affordable. The initial cost for a unit is under $10,000 and the electricity to charge them is negligable. Are maintenance costs and/or life expenct

  • Medical uses (Score:4, Insightful)

    by assaultriflesforfree ( 635986 ) on Sunday May 18, 2003 @09:53AM (#5985180)
    I've been surprised at how little (if any, really) I've seen about the possible uses of the HT as a very useful medical device, particularly when considering Kamen's history in medical technology.

    For example, I'm working with a patient right now who had a little complication after having some titanium implanted in his back. They had to remove the brace, but the screws they had to leave are now causing incredible pain. Just yesterday, he was so relieved that he could finally actually sit down in a seat and watch TV thanks to some new medication. His day consists entirely of standing and lying down, and switching between the two is almost unbearable. He is able to walk but only with a cane, slowly, and with much pain. Needless to say, a wheelchair is out of the question, if for no other reason than that it would be even more painful. I told him he might look into the Segway as a possible way to get around. At any given time (such as now), I have 2-4 patients (on a 24 patient max unit) that have some problem, be it with their back, knees, feet, or whatever, that makes walking either extremely painful or extremely difficult and hazardous, and my unit has nothing to do with treatment of those types of problems. Taking your dog for a walk, carrying groceries, walking without pain... Simple things most of us take for granted, but which unfortunately many people aren't able to do or enjoy.

    Lots of people seem to think these things are useless, or that they're only good for lazy people. It seems to me that such an opinion stems from a reaction to their cost vs. usage value for the average person. Personally, I'd like to see insurance companies catch on to this and start providing these things to patients with cases that warrant it. I could see them greatly reducing costs in a variety of treatment areas while also allowing many disabled people to return to regain some of the lost joy of life, not to mention return to work.
    • how is your patient going to fair after a up-to-12MPH tumble off one of these things?

    • The segway takes some time to get used to and as others have pointed out under this article often misbehaves, running into people when it's supposed to be parking itself, and so on. If you were already familiar with driving one then it might be a useful solution but for someone who has already been injured they are 100% useless.

  • They're common in NYC already (Score:3, Interesting)

    by howardcohen ( 244367 ) on Sunday May 18, 2003 @10:27AM (#5985282)
    FYI, they're now a common sight in Central Park on weekends, among the rollerbladers, cyclists, joggers and strollers.
  • I'd love to see Segway rentals overtake motor scooter rentals in places like Block Island. You've got the range to easily cover the entire island, and none of the noise, pollution, or danger of fat Americans buzzing around on motor scooters meant for people half their size.

  • Liability (Score:2, Insightful)

    by raoulotoole ( 456383 )
    "...users are asked to sign waive any liability claims if they are in an accident.""

    I thought this thing was so safe. Who takes the liability when the accident involves another person?

    Don't tell me that something that weighs 250+ lbs, can go 12mph is safe on the sidewalk.
  • Step 1. Buy seemingly useless Segway.
    Step 2. ???^H^H^HRent Segway
    Step 3. Profit!!

  • Why in the name of (insert name of deity of your choice here) is this even on Slashdot?? What, con-artist, stock manipulator, and patent abuser Jeff Bezos of Amazon.bomb sells it so it must be cool?

    Folks, if you want to pay $40, you can often get an hour of AIRPLANE rental! Let's see here . . . overpriced yuppie toy or Cessna 152, hmmm . . . And for five grand, I could scare up a very nice (and very lightly used) car. These Segway jerkoffs want me to pay that for a scooter? Gimmie a break! As for r

  • Look where this beat-off that's renting the things, Larry Lambeth, is located. That's right, Spokane, Washington, the Town That Means Well. Yes, the same Spokane that took out a HUD loan to build a Nordstrom store [camasmagazine.com] when it already had two.

    I can scarcely see doing this in "trendy" cities like Seattle or San Francisco, especially given the rampant unemployment and downsizing that's going on.. Spokane? A city that tries hard not to be trendy? Riiiight! In fact, one of its selling points is how un-trendy

  • It works for me. Not for everyone. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by toybuilder ( 161045 ) on Sunday May 18, 2003 @01:38PM (#5986232)
    The Segway is as "pointless" as the horseless carriage and the velocipeds from 100-120 years ago.

    In 1897, the Sears Catalog sold "safety bicycles" (i.e., pedal-and-chain style, versus the big "penny farthing" type) for $25. That's equivalent to about $2,200 year-2003 dollars.

    The Segway dropped from $10,000 two years ago, to $7,000 last year, to $5,000 now. Give it time.

    It will find its place in the spectrum of transportation choices. Some people will always walk. Some people will always drive gas-guzzling SUV's and exotic cars that cost more than my 2 bedroom home. Most people will find something in between.
  • 50$/hr

    Some dude back at my highschool paid one 5$ to cop a feel.
  • Saw someone on a Segway in downtown San Jose last week, trying to pick up girls. They didn't go for it.

    Saw another one in downtown Palo Alto. Walgreens wouldn't let him ride it into the store, and he was trying to figure out where to park it.

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