Hiboy S2: Overall Best Performance Bargain

The S2, one of the best cheapest scooters you can buy, is a performance bargain.

Even if you spend $100 more, you won’t find a scooter that can beat the S2 for top speed, acceleration, or braking.

It’s also got rear suspension, which helps give the S2 surprisingly good ride quality despite its maintenance-free honeycomb tires.

Hiboy scooters have a 1-year warranty, but the company is not known for customer service or spare parts availability. So keep in mind that after the warranty is over, you may be on your own.

Xiaomi Mi M365: Still The World’s Best

The storied M365 is the scooter that started the electric scooter revolution and one we crowned the King of Electric Scooters.

For years the M365 has set the standard for entry-level scooters with its simple design that offered decent range, quality, and price. Our only complaint: a minimalist design that is so minimalist, the display consists of 4 LEDs to indicate battery life and nothing else.

Despite introduction of newer models like the Pro, the original is still one of the best.

During the height of the pandemic, its price from major retailers yo-yo-ed all over the place and it was frequently unavailable, however this seems to have stabilized and it typically be had for around $500, where it is a good value.

Segway Ninebot Max: Uber Reliable Workhorse

The Max is the #1 choice for riding in the rain, scooter sharing companies, and for being as reliable as a hammer.

Though lacking suspension, the Max sports “self-healing” 25.4-centimeter tubeless pneumatic tires that do a surprisingly good job of eating bumps and are remarkably flat-resistant.

Lack of zero-start means you’ll always have to kick launch the scooter, but this and a tame 28.7 kmh top speed helps deliver its remarkable 45.2-kilometer range.

It’s just hard to go wrong buying or riding this scooter. It’s not the most exciting thing, but if your goal is maximum transportation with minimum fuss, you can’t beat it at any price.

Apollo City: Fan Favorite Lightweight

The City is hard to beat if you want a single motor do-everything-scooter that is great for daily commuting and won’t cost an arm (or leg).

It’s held back slightly by smaller wheels and tires, but makes up for this with dual suspension … oh, and it’s actually portable.

It has 28.8-kilometer range and a 48 kmh top speed. Dual disc brakes help to quickly scrub off speed and its IP54 water-resistance make this an all-weather vehicle.

The City claimed its spot on the list with an average of 4.65/5 rating from 97 owners, based our annual survey and lengthy standard 2 year warranty – more than any similar rebrand.

Apollo Explore: Value Juggernaut

The Explore is a value juggernaut and the scooter by which all other single motor scooters are measured.

Full suspension and 48.1 kmh top speed make the Explore a fast, comfortable ride suited to tackle the worst urban terrains you’ll encounter. Its 45.2-kilometer range feels bottomless and all but eliminates range anxiety.

While the overall style of the design is starting to show its age, its performance to dollar ratio remains as dominant as ever.

It’s also one one of our favorites to ride in the rain due to its IP54 rating, excellent braking and grippy deck.

EMOVE Cruiser: Feature-Packed Commuter Has Bottomless Range

The Cruiser has legendary range and is the scooter you’re probably tired of everyone telling you to buy.

Comparing the Cruiser’s range and price with other scooters, you’d think its flying-saucer shaped deck must contain alien technology.

It is one of the longest-ranged scooters and packed with amenities including, electronic horn, turn signals, semi-hydraulic disc brakes and comfortable suspension.

It also came in second for best scooters to ride in the rain, having a stratospheric IPX6 water-resistance rating (caveat: no manufacture currently backs water-related damage, so splash at your own risk — even with an IP rating).

Real-world range of 81.0 kilometers alone earns it a place on this list.

Kaabo Mantis: Punchy, Lightweight Beast Scooter

The base model Mantis is famous for value and thrilling performance.

We thought its days on top might be numbered when the Apollo Ghost arrived on the scene, but the Mantis’ 46.9 kilometers of real-world range, low price and blistering performance put it on top of this value intensive list.

Infamous for stem issues on early units, the entire Mantis product line pulled a heroic worst-to-first maneuver in 2020, with an updated super firm stem design.

The result: an incredibly well-rounded, easy to live with, everyday, wicked fast, do-it-all scooter.

Its weakness: no water-resistance rating with sizable gaps around the deck and electronics to prove it. Getting touched with water won’t instantly kill it, but the Mantis is a fair-weather scooter.

Apollo Ghost: Fantastic 38 MPH Dual Motor Beast

The new kid on the block is kicking butt and taking names.

A dual motor scooter that beat our Mantis Pro on top speed, and costs less than some single motor scooters? It’s the Porsche Boxster of scooters, with 80% of the power of an Apollo Pro for 64% of the dollars.

While it doesn’t deliver a ride that’s as polished and easy to go fast on as the Phantom, this scooter may be our new benchmark for dual motor performance-per-dollar in 2021.

Apollo Phantom: Next-Generation BMW of Electric Scooters

The Phantom is Apollo’s answer for riders who demand a premium vehicle-grade experience and are willing to pay for it.

Apollo solicited feedback from hundreds of riders to design and build the next-generation Phantom, one of the top scooters of 2021.

The Phantom is jam-packed with features like an intelligent display, ergonomic cockpit, complete lighting package, rock-solid folding mechanism, quad spring suspension, big tires, and huge hydraulic brakes.

These details plus class-leading ride quality make the Phantom a solid contender for best scooter of 2021, blazing a featured-packed trail that other scooters are sure to follow.

Kaabo Wolf King: When Too Much Isn’t Enough

The best known beast scooter in the world, the Wolf King and its older Warrior 11 brother remain #1 for customer satisfaction with a well-earned and fiercely loyal pack of customers.

With the 72V Wolf King’s arrival at ESG, we found the royal beast delivers even more of a good thing with stupid fast, record-breaking top speed of 95.6 kmh — the fastest electric scooter we’ve ever tested.

The Wolf King gets stellar marks for massive 53.8-kilometer range, solid build and serene ride quality.

It’s simply one of the best designs yet — one of just two to include hydraulic suspension (the other is the $4,199 Burn-E).

Dual motors put down enough power to satisfy even adrenaline junkies and its rock-solid stem and geometry contribute to a ride that is exceptionally stable at speed.

We expect that this design of scooter — or one very similar like it — will be most prevalent in the open classes when electric scooter racing becomes more widespread.

NAMI Burn-E: Best Grand-Tourer

The NAMI is a record-breaking, but polarizing scooter. One of the fastest, and longest-ranged scooters we’ve ever tested, it tries to justify its $4,199 price tag with shear performance.

Some think its hand-welded aluminum frame, smooth acceleration and adjustable hydraulic suspension make it the best thing since lithium-ion batteries. Some people seem to think it’s the scooter the devil himself would manufacture.

All we know is that we can’t stop riding it, even though all of our performance tests were complete weeks ago. There’s no scooter we’d rather ride for 85.8 kilometers. This is good because no other scooter we’ve ever tested will go that far.

Kaabo Mantis 8: Most Fun Per Dollar

Okay, fun per dollar isn’t an actual category but if it were, this scooter would win. We’ve never ridden a scooter that begged to be jumped off of speed bumps more. Its acceleration is smooth, but not head snapping, and it loves to carve. Just thinking of cornering on this scooter makes us smile. The build is super solid, and it’s a great value.

Inokim OXO: Exotic Scooter

The only scooter we have ever dubbed exotic, the OXO deserves it. Both for its world’s best suspension (tied with Eagle Pro) and for its unusual single-sided swingarm design which it shares with its little brother the Inokim OX. Like the OX, the OXO has a presence and ride which are impossible to capture on a spec sheet. One piece of data does shine through: the OXO has the shortest braking distance from 15 mph that we’ve ever measured, due to a combination of excellent hydraulic brakes and rubber suspension. The OXO is Chuck’s favorite so far in 2021, which is a hard-earned distinction in itself.