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RocketSkates let you zip along the sidewalk at a top speed of 12 MPH

engadget.com

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Re: RocketSkates let you zip along the sidewalk at a top speed of 12 MPH

#31

Post by antonioevans »

jfoster wrote: post #10
antonioevans wrote: post #2

More kickstarter Vaporware.

We'll never get cool things if we automatically dismiss anything cool as vaporware and refuse to engage with it. Granted, sometimes projects like this won't eventuate, but I'd rather be optimistic and get disappointed occasionally rather than cynical and always feel negative about cool new stuff.

Yeah and more crap like Yo! and Make a Potato Salad kickstarters will get funded by people who have 20 bucks to waste. I am not hating on the idea because this isn't new at all. Spend 15 minutes on Alibaba and you'll see most of what most hardware kickstarters are sourcing their stuff. .. And yeah I watched the slickly edited video, but they aren't getting my money.

Also this has nothing to do with optimism vs pessimism, it's that stuff like this shouldn't be on hackerne,ws unless they really are hacking something/creating something/showing something innovative (semi innovative works also).

Re: RocketSkates let you zip along the sidewalk at a top speed of 12 MPH

#32

Post by whyenot »

The angry masculine look of these isn't my style but I really like the idea. A 10 mile range is much better than I expected. I could see these becoming quite popular on college campuses.

I don't know about "zipping along the sidewalk" at 12mph -- that seems kind of rude anywhere there are pedestrians traveling at more pedestrian speeds. There is also an interesting gray area as far as traffic laws.

Re: RocketSkates let you zip along the sidewalk at a top speed of 12 MPH

#33

Post by endgame »

EricaJoy wrote: post #20
nickgrosvenor wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vaporware? Have you watched the video?

I confess, the still used as the cover frame for the video put me off of watching it. Is any part of the video not a barely clothed model wearing the skates?

Ugh, no kidding. I want to see what the skates look like up close. I want to hear what they sound like without music being played over the top. There's hardly anything useful in the video.

That said, I've been looking for a decently portable, medium distance form of personal transport for a long time (preferably wearable so I don't have to lug it). I can't take a bike onto a tram. These might actually fit the bill.

Re: RocketSkates let you zip along the sidewalk at a top speed of 12 MPH

#36

Post by dalek2point3 »

zevyoura wrote: post #26
lelf wrote: post #12

Speaking of the actual skates . The most real are probably http://boostedboards.com . There are almost here it seems.

I've seen a few Boosted boards in the wild, they're definitely real.

I rode one at SXSW in March 2013 -- they're yet to be made available commercially?

Re: RocketSkates let you zip along the sidewalk at a top speed of 12 MPH

#37

Post by necubi »

zevyoura wrote: post #26
lelf wrote: post #12

Speaking of the actual skates . The most real are probably http://boostedboards.com . There are almost here it seems.

I've seen a few Boosted boards in the wild, they're definitely real.

Yep, I got to ride one a while back. As someone who doesn't know how to skateboard it was pretty much terrifying real.

Re: RocketSkates let you zip along the sidewalk at a top speed of 12 MPH

#38

Post by overgard »

As a person that's bought an electric skateboard in the past and a lot of other dumb stuff, I feel like I have a decent grasp on the target market here... but I couldn't buy one of these, they just look so dorky. It's like wearing cement shoes or something. Way too bulky and garish. And the marketing video.. ugh. Like the shirtless dude and the weird slow-mo cuts and the obvious pandering to a male audience? It just gives off a very desperate vibe. If they have to go to such great lengths to make it seem "cool" you can be almost assured they realize exactly how uncool it looks.

The other thing is, your target market is basically college students to start with (probably), or kids. 400+ is out of their range. I think you can get away with cheap/functional+dorky (regular skates), or expensive+cool, but you can't do expensive+dorky (segway territory).

Re: RocketSkates let you zip along the sidewalk at a top speed of 12 MPH

#39

Post by AndrewKemendo »

overgard wrote: post #38

As a person that's bought an electric skateboard in the past and a lot of other dumb stuff, I feel like I have a decent grasp on the target market here... but I couldn't buy one of these, they just look so dorky. It's like wearing cement shoes or something. Way too bulky and garish. And the marketing video.. ugh. Like the shirtless dude and the weird slow-mo cuts and the obvious pandering to a male audience? It just…

>but I couldn't buy one of these, they just look so dorky.

Congratulations you described why rollerblading really never took off in the 90s. As a rollerblader even I can admit that there is just something about the look that screams "not cool", I'm just not quite sure why.

Re: RocketSkates let you zip along the sidewalk at a top speed of 12 MPH

#40

Post by endgame »

overgard wrote: post #38

As a person that's bought an electric skateboard in the past and a lot of other dumb stuff, I feel like I have a decent grasp on the target market here... but I couldn't buy one of these, they just look so dorky. It's like wearing cement shoes or something. Way too bulky and garish. And the marketing video.. ugh. Like the shirtless dude and the weird slow-mo cuts and the obvious pandering to a male audience? It just…

The marketing video is very cringe-inducing for me as well. I think that any time you're playing music over video, there's something in the real sound that you're trying to hide. I would not be surprised if these were annoyingly loud.

I'm still looking for a compact, possibly wearable short-medium distance personal transport. The sort of thing that lets you go further than walking when you get off a bus or tram (where you're unable to take a bike).

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