Apollo Phantom V3 Overview: A Nice Commuter Scooter

I am typically disenchanted with a superb chunk of electrical kick scooters I check. A lot of them simply do not have a spread that satisfies my wants. I ceaselessly trek from Mattress-Stuy, Brooklyn, into decrease Manhattan for a gathering, round 15 miles in whole. Hopping on a scooter is way quicker and much more nice than the subway (particularly in the summertime), but it surely’s not at all times assured that I am going to have sufficient juice to get residence.

However the Apollo Phantom V3 has by no means disenchanted me with its vary. I as soon as rode it in a single stretch from my residence in Brooklyn into Manhattan, as much as 179th Road, and over the George Washington Bridge to a espresso store in Fort Lee, New Jersey, and the Phantom had 43 p.c left within the tank—22 miles. It took me about an hour and a half! It is the last word commuter scooter.

Phantom Woes

Here is the rub. The vary on an electrical scooter is not solely based mostly on the scale of the battery however on a myriad of things, like rider weight. I’m a 6’4″ man who’s 240 kilos—lots of people can typically eke out just a few extra miles than me on the identical scooter. People like me want one thing that may deal with further weight with out sacrificing vary.

The Phantom V3 is rated to help as much as 300 kilos and had no bother climbing even the steepest slopes on my approach up the George Washington Bridge’s bike path. The compromise to get this type of vary lies within the weight of the scooter itself. Alas, this factor is a whopping 77 kilos. Seventy-seven.

I can carry it, sure, but it surely’s not straightforward. I actually want Apollo would make handlebars that fold down, as a result of they always hit the wall in my slim stairwell or get caught within the rails—not useful once you’re carrying one thing so heavy. Fortunately, the stem is slim so my hand can really grasp it comfortably, and the extra deal with on the finish of the deck is a pleasant contact. Some lighter scooters have super-thick stems that really damage my palms when making an attempt to tote them round, a lot in order that I might quite carry the Phantom V3.

You would possibly want a hand pulling this escooter out of the large field it arrives in. Setup additionally required just a few steps greater than regular; mounting the handlebars is extra of an concerned course of, with extra screws and elements than its friends. Weirdly, not one of the wires across the handlebars had been plugged into one another, and this step wasn’t listed within the directions. For a couple of minutes, I sat confused questioning why the Phantom wasn’t turning on. I figured it out and plugged all of them in, but it surely’s odd that this is not talked about within the guide.

As traditional, you’ll be able to pair the scooter with Apollo’s companion app on iOS or Android, which is way more steady than my prior experiences with different Apollo scooters. It related rapidly too. You will must enter your scooter’s serial quantity throughout setup, which is annoyingly on the underside of the deck. That is my solely gripe. You will should run via loads of security movies, but it surely’s useful and vital info.

The app allows you to see your scooter’s journey info, just like the odometer, however you may also tweak a wide range of settings, from the velocity and the acceleration to the extent of the regenerative brake. The latter nets you a modest quantity of cost once you use the regen brake thumb throttle as an alternative of the usual disc brakes. Talking of, I might have favored hydraulic brakes on a scooter this costly as an alternative of disc brakes, however the reality is, I not often used them. I caught to the regen brake more often than not, and it was completely able to bringing me to a fast halt.

{Photograph}: Apollo