(EXPIRED) A fun Cyber Monday deal at Amazon: Segway miniPRO

We covered a number of Cyber Monday deals today, from a great deal on an S9 phone to Bose noise-canceling headphones and how you can save 65% on the room rate at some Wyndham condos with 3K points per bedroom or 16.7% on an Air France flight and plenty more. See our Cyber Monday deals still alive & worth a look post for more of them. I also like to highlight deals now and then on oddball products that I either like and can vouch for or have resold for a profit. This deal covers both: Amazon is offering the Segway miniPRO Smart Self Balancing Transporter 2018 Edition for $335.00. If you have the offer to get 20% off when paying with at least 1 Amex Membership Rewards point, that comes down to $268. If you’re able to further stack that with some discounted Amazon Gift Cards from one venue or another, it wouldn’t be too hard to get that below $250. I own one of these and I think the fun is well worth $250.

The Deal

• Amazon has the Segway miniPRO self balancing transporter (2018 edition) for $335
• Stack that with a targeted offer for 20% off when paying with at least 1 Amex Membership Rewards point to drop that to just $268

Quick Thoughts

While not exactly travel related, these Segway miniPROs are a really fun way to get around. As I said, I own one of these. I own the previous model (which looks identical and has almost identical features — a 12.5mi range, 10mph top speed, etc). I also own a Xiami Ninebot-branded version that looks more like this Segway miniLITE but is essentially the same thing.

I won’t lie — people look at us like we come from Mars when we ride these things around our small mountain town, but that’s also kind of fun in its own way. I’m surprised at how easy these are to use — I’ve had retirees with bad knees scooting around in no time — and how hard it is to fall off….provided you don’t try to A) turn while backing up or B) keep going faster when the machine is telling you to stop doing that. Letter B sent me to urgent care last year and left me with a scar I’ll likely have on my elbow for the rest of my life — but I learned my lesson and was glad I was wearing a helmet and only came out with a scar. Even with that experience under my belt, I’d say it is not as easy as you might expect to get hurt on one of these despite all the videos a few holidays ago of people on similar-looking “hoverboards”. I like the Segway miniPRO because it handles a bit more like a traditional Segway (if you’ve ever been on one, you can probably also attest to the fact that it is more intuitive than you’d expect).

Don’t get me wrong — I feel a little bit like I’m in the movie WALL-E when I ride around on it. Cyclists look at me with utter disdain for my clear lack of respect for actual exercise. That said, I do value exercise — this is just something fun. And at the ~$250 or $268 price point, I think it’s fair for how well it works and how well the battery lasts.

I’ll also note that our dog loves it. When we say, “Wanna go for a roll?”, he jumps up and wags his tail. He gets a good bit of continuous exercise jogging alongside (though I wouldn’t recommend doing that until you’re pretty experienced and confident that your dog isn’t going to either jump in front of the wheels or pull the leash, and even then I’m not sure I would….do as I say, not as I do). Even more fun was the discovery that gently pushing a stroller up and down the road a couple of times on one of these is an easy way to put a baby to sleep (for the record, we’re the only house on the road – to say there is little traffic would be a colossal understatement – and this angle looks like it’s going a lot faster than it is.).

At any rate, it’s something that the semi-tech geeks in us love and something on which we don’t regret having spent more than $268. Furthermore, I sold a couple for a (very small) profit even when we had spent quite a bit more on them.

The current $335 price matches the historical low on Amazon according to CamelCamelCamel.com — this device usually sells for about $500.

Bottom line

This is really a grownup toy that we’ve enjoyed. It’s not going to get you good exercise, but it handles hills (I live in the mountains) reasonably well (greatly depending on rider weight) and handles a better range of terrain that I’d have imagined (we most often ride on an old rail trail and it’s no problem — pavement would be much easier). I’m sure that the rules for these things really vary from one jurisdiction to another (for example, I don’t think you’re allowed to have these on the sidewalk anywhere in New York City. In my part of the state, it has to be on the road like an electric bike and you must wear a helmet). But it’s tons of fun.

Don’t forget that Amazon’s other Cyber Monday deals are still on late into the evening (and surely over the course of the week as well). You can catch a link to the main Cyber Monday deals page here. And see our Cyber Monday deals still alive page for more gift card, travel, site-wide, and general merchandise deals that may be of interest before the night is done.

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