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I see about as many personal hovercrafts in use as Segways

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NNN0LHI Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-01-10 08:25 PM
Original message
I see about as many personal hovercrafts in use as Segways
None, because I never go to the mall. Why did they never catch on? Anyone ever own one?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36005036/ns/business-forbescom/

New, improved ... and failed

Some big-name items that launched with a lot of hype, but went nowhere

By Laurie Burkitt and Ken Bruno

updated 6:59 a.m. CT, Wed., March. 24, 2010

<snip>Sometimes products just don't live up to their hype. The Segway, which came out in 2001, was supposed to be a vehicle that would revolutionize transportation. Instead the two-wheeled, self-balancing scooter is perhaps best known as a shopping center patrol vehicle.

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AsahinaKimi Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-01-10 08:39 PM
Response to Original message
1. The only time I have ever seen them ..
Are during a parade here in SF. I saw them during the Chinese New Year parade, during our Cherry Blossom Festival Parade...and I guess they are used in a number of other parades here in the city. As for an every day vehicle ..not so much.
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Book Lover Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-01-10 08:46 PM
Response to Original message
2. I see tourists being taken around nearly every day here in SF and coastside
And I understand they're used in large Post Office facilities. But I've not seen them on the streets for personal use.
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Retrograde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-01-10 09:57 PM
Response to Reply #2
10. I saw one in Menlo Park recently
I've seen them used by police at O'Hare airport and the Rome train station, both of which are enormous places.
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Brother Buzz Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-01-10 09:02 PM
Response to Original message
3. I'm still waiting for my flying car
There's a nut up the road from me that actually built one but the FAA won't let him fly it without it firmly tethered to the ground. Unlike kudzu, it's going no place!
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MajorChode Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-01-10 09:27 PM
Response to Reply #3
7. The original Aerocar was FAA certified in 1956
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerocar

N102D is still flying and you can probably still buy N103D if you want a fixer upper.
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Brother Buzz Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-01-10 10:12 PM
Response to Reply #7
15. I remember seeing that decades ago, probably back in the fifties newsreels
I wouldn't mind parking N103D out back, a great project. And to think the president of Cuba once flew in it too.

Speaking of dual purpose vehicles with a political legacy, I'd like this Amphi to keep my Aerocar company (that's LBJ driving his Amphi).
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MajorChode Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-01-10 10:16 PM
Response to Reply #15
17. I was at the LBJ ranch a few months ago
That car is still there. At the ranch, they tell stories about how LBJ would give guests a ride and tell them the brakes stopped working as he drove off into the Pedernales.
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cbdo2007 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-01-10 10:28 PM
Response to Reply #3
19. Just watched Bladerunner for the first time recently....
and it was pretty funny seeing what all they got right/wrong in the future. Flying car? Yes. Cell phone? No. ha ha

Really, in all futuristic movies the one constant they have is some type of flying car, yet the automobile industry seems like one of the slowest industries technologically that there is. I bet we'll see jet packs on a major scale before we see flying cars.
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Orsino Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-01-10 09:11 PM
Response to Original message
4. The Segway site doesn't seem to show prices...
...until you go through all the build-your-own steps and then give up your ZIP to "find a local dealer."

That says to me that the mysterious pricing is going to be closer to that of automobiles than that of bicycles. For a device that is little better than a bike, and looks dorky as hell.

I think that's gotta be part of an answer to your question. They're expensive, overengineered toys?
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csziggy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-01-10 09:45 PM
Response to Reply #4
9. I think they go for around $5000 - too much for something with no cargo space
If I lived in town and didn't need a truck I'd like a street legal version of my electric golf cart, but enclosed and a little higher off the ground. Maybe a little more power so it would go faster than 12 mph and a little more range.

The problem with most of the small, efficient cars I've seen is that they are so low to the ground it hurts for me to get in and out of them with my bad knees. That is one of the reasons we have two trucks - it is so much easier to get in and out of them.
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LeftyMom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-01-10 09:16 PM
Response to Original message
5. The security guys at the airport have some three wheeled knockoff.
It keeps them from having to walk from one end of the terminal to the other while yelling at people for not getting out of their cars quite fast enough in the passenger loading zone.
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Gidney N Cloyd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-01-10 09:23 PM
Response to Original message
6. Our college bought one for each campus for the public safety officers.
That was a year or two ago. Early on I saw some of the younger officers practicing on them once in a while. Haven't seen one in use in months. They're probably gathering dust somewhere.
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Nay Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-01-10 09:39 PM
Response to Original message
8. I saw two just today -- someone had called 911 for an injured
hiker (not in our group) and the EMTs showed up on Segways because there were no roads for ambulances. It WAS flat enough for a Segway, though.
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krispos42 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-01-10 10:01 PM
Response to Original message
11. Somebody out there developed a gyrostabilized unicycle
You basically just sit on it and lean. That might be a bit more practical than a Segway in that it's more compact and agile, and possibly cheaper. I can envision a world where everybody in a city has one that they use to get to things like subway trains and such. You could actually just motor onto the subway car, put your feet down, and ride the rails until you got to your destination.

We'd need more ramps, though. But you could ride them right up to your house or apartment.
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Maru Kitteh Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-01-10 10:04 PM
Response to Original message
12. I still want a segway.
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Toucano Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-01-10 10:09 PM
Response to Original message
13. Very expensive for a consumer product and it fills no need.
The only people who seem to benefit from it are those that have to walk as part of their job.

For anyone else, it's impractical and expensive.
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bridgit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-01-10 10:12 PM
Response to Original message
14. ^
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HarveyDarkey Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-01-10 10:14 PM
Response to Original message
16. This might have something to do with it

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Synicus Maximus Donating Member (828 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-01-10 10:19 PM
Response to Original message
18. They take tours around Atlanta on them all the time.
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lazarus Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-01-10 10:38 PM
Response to Original message
20. I see them all the time
there are quite a few in personal use in downtown San Diego. They're just a bit too expensive, IMO. For that money, you can get a nice scooter that will take you further, faster.

But if I could remain standing for more than a half hour, I'd have one. I could get just about anywhere I need to go on one.
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MineralMan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun May-02-10 07:57 PM
Response to Original message
21. I see them occasionally here in the Twin Cities.
The cops have some, and they even have tourist tours of the cities on Segways. You're right that they haven't become ubiquitous, but they're out there.
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