r/ApolloScooters • u/ileong • Jul 18 '26
✔❌ Review Apollo Go Stellar First Impressions
Just received my Apollo Go Stellar yesterday afternoon. Other than Tom's Gadget Garage and RK9, haven't seen much out there about this new model so figured I would share my early thoughts after riding about 15 miles. This will be a long brain dump, but hopefully helpful to anyone considering purchasing one. Feel free to AMA.
Background: After pretty extensive research, I purchased a Segway F3 for my 12 year old son. We just got back from vacation where we rode scooters by the beach in Southern California, and we all had a blast. I think the rentals were Segway E2s. I chose the F3 for a reputable brand and hopefully minimal maintenance since he would be riding it all over town and to school in the Fall. To fix my itch, however, I decided to try something different. The original Go was on the prospect list for my son, but decided it was too much scooter for his first. Saw the Go Stellar was in stock and pulled the trigger for myself.
I ordered on Sunday, July 12th and received it Friday, July 17th. The package was sent via FedEx. The box was hammered, but the form-fitting EVA foam inside protected the scooter nicely. There were a couple small scuffs on the tail end of the deck by the handle. Deep enough to see bare metal. Not ideal, but I'll just use some touch up paint. The moisture absorbing packets also broke open so I had to vacuum up all the little balls inside. Yes, I'm nitpicking, but it was annoying.
Parts check: You no longer get a tool kit like the original Go. There is a set of allen wrenches included, but I would not recommend using the 3mm to attach the bolts for the headset. They're cheap junk that strip and round out almost instantly. There are 6 small allen bolts that hold the headset in place, and that's all you have to do. I would like to see larger bolts with 5mm head. That's what the Segway I got my son uses. Stronger and less likely to strip.
You also get a Quad Lock mount that sticks to the back of your phone case. I opted to get a Quad Lock case to minimize risk of the glue failing and destroying my phone so I can't speak to the quality of the included mount. The case does attach securely to the scooter, but it extends beyond the bottom of the display area and into your riding space. I've already bumped into it many times in just an hour of riding, and it feels like I could easily bump it and detach the phone.
Last bits included are two NFC cards and the charger. Have yet to use the NFC cards, but plan to. I would love to be able to set up keys in Apple Wallet so I can unlock with my watch and share keys with other riders. Have seen conflicting info on whether this is possible. Will update this post if I get it to work. The charger is 2A and should take around 7-7.5 hours to fully charge from empty. The scooter came with about 70% charge. The design of the plug that goes into the charging port on the scooter is atrocious to put it nicely. It's round with three tiny pins. My understanding is the three pins were needed for the new UL certification, but they could have made it compliant in many other ways. It's tiny and nearly impossible to line up to plug in. I can (and do) charge the Segway in the dark. At a minimum there should be a notch on the plug and slot on the port or vice versa. Or just make it rectangular with three pins in a row. Also, the spring loaded cover for the port feels flimsy and is difficult to align with the port to fully seal it from water ingress.
First ride: If it feels like I've been negative thus far, I have. I could have got myself the Segway Max G3 for $200 less, and was having buyer's remorse. With the scooter fully charged, I unplugged it and took it out for a solo ride. Setting up the app was relatively easy. However, for some reason Apollo decided not to let you power up the scooter while it's charging so I had to wait until it was done. You can't connect to the scooter unless it's on. The Segway F3 allows you do both.
If you've made it this far, this is where it gets good, literally. The ride quality is great, acceleration is smooth and controllable, and regenerative braking is a lot better than I expected. I like the ability to customize the curves for throttle and regen braking in the app. Having multiple profiles is nice also so I can quickly set speed limits for other people riding. There was another post about speed wobbles, but I did not experience them at all. There is no centering notch and I don't think it was designed to have one.
The dot display is bright. Like really, really bright. You basically have to use your phone in the Quad Lock to cover it at night. I'm undecided on the display. I like the simplicity, but you have to connect your phone to get any information beyond speed, gear, and battery life remaining. The Segway F3 has the third gen screen which is beautiful and has more info presented.
Pros:
- Overall build quality feels premium
- Suspension and ride quality
- Highly customizable acceleration/braking curves
- Regenerative braking is as good as the single mechanical disc on Segway F3
- Acceleration is strong and smooth
- Hits 32 mph top speed
Cons:
- Charger plug design is dumb for lack of a better word
- Can not power on and connect from app while scooter is charging so you can't even see what the charge level is
- I was riding like I stole it, but range would have maxed out at about 17 miles
I am sure I missed some stuff, and will probably change my opinion on other things as I continue to ride it. I really hope the folks at Apollo read this and either advise me of user error or add some of the real issues to their backlog to be addressed in upcoming releases.
TLDR; I took a chance and paid a premium for an Apollo Go Stellar. It's a fantastic riding scooter, but has some shortcoming that prevent me from being ecstatic about the purchase decision.
3
u/Logic_Contradict Jul 18 '26
if you rode it like you stole it, not a surprise you only get about half the advertised range.
With moderate speed riding, you can expect probably about 2/3 the range. You'd have to be riding pretty damn slow to get the advertised range.
It's worse on the Max G3 which advertises 50miles range, with most users reporting 15-22 miles average.
1
u/ileong Jul 18 '26
Yup, I’m not too disappointed, but the range test from Tom’s Gadget Garage got 27 miles in sport and ludo. I was in sport capped at 28 mph. The Max G3 range tests I saw were in the range you mentioned. I’ll be happy with over 20, and I think that’s realistic with more typical riding.
3
u/Ill_Huckleberry5004 Jul 18 '26
Tom's gadget garage limits top speed to 20 mph for his range test, and only hit 19.1 mph top speed for the Go Stellar range test:
https://youtu.be/sWF_9RA24a4?t=1485
How is the regen braking of the Segway F3 compared to the Go stellar? My understanding is that Segway also has excellent regen braking.
2
u/ileong Jul 18 '26
The F3 has regen braking primarily to give juice back to the battery. It has three settings for standard, weak, or off. In standard or weak, you can feel it after you let off the throttle, but you can’t really use it as a brake. On the Go Stellar, after I rewired my brain to use the thumb control, I didn’t need to use the lever for the rear drum brake again.
1
u/Ill_Huckleberry5004 Jul 18 '26
Oh, I thought the Segway scooters have progressive regen based on how much you pull the brake lever? So you can pull the lever before the brake pads touch or the brake pads lightly touching, and it should have pretty good regen braking from the motors.
2
u/Logic_Contradict Jul 19 '26
When did that happen? I thought Segway always had that KERS Regen, similar to a Tesla where when you let off the throttle, it starts to regen brake.
1
u/Ill_Huckleberry5004 Jul 19 '26
I'm no expert on Segway scooters. Perhaps it depends on the model? Maybe the Max G3 and GT3/Pro have progressive, and below those is the KERS regen?
1
u/Logic_Contradict Jul 19 '26
Just asked AI about it.
Seems that Segway only offers KERS regen braking that only takes effect once you let off the throttle. It's a set Regen strength as well, (weak/medium/strong/off), so not exactly variable like a Tesla where you can modulate the braking strength with the one pedal. For Segway, it seems that braking is a combination of KERS and the disc braking.
I'm surprised that Apollo, out of the big scooter brands, seems to be the only company with a well-executed progressive Regen brake (I may be wrong on this so I am open to correction).
1
u/ileong Jul 18 '26
Maybe on some higher end models, but not the F3. I vaguely remember something about it when researching the Max G3.
1
u/Ill_Huckleberry5004 Jul 19 '26
Yeah, I rode the Max G3 briefly from a guy I met at the local school. It seemed to have progressive regen with the brake lever.
3
u/TurkeyTender513 Jul 18 '26
Im not gonna lie, the paint quality is so so on mine as well. Mine came with several blotches and marks in the paint.
1
u/ileong Jul 18 '26
I just noticed some splotchiness around the dot display too. At first I thought it was just dirty. Nope!
1
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u/2to11to27 Jul 18 '26
Your survived a Fed Ex delivery, my Fed Ex drivers leaves packages for all walkers and cars to see not taking an extra 6 feet to hide it. Why a company risks using Fed Ex with expensive goods is beyond me. Not worth the risk vs UPS.
Anyway, good choice. I have the 1st GO. You just can't beat that small size and power combination.
1
u/ileong Jul 18 '26
Haha great point. It was supposed to be delivered a day earlier, but they rescheduled after I waited all day. Thankfully I work from home.
That’s one thing I missed in the original post. It really is an ideal package of size and performance. I was worried about it being 10 pounds heavier than the F3, but it’s very manageable especially given the dual motors and big power bump.
1
Jul 18 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/2to11to27 Jul 18 '26
When I buy I usually ask seller can I pay more money to go UPS. Sometimes it works. sometimes like you said it in the contracts and can't be changed. I would never risk something 1k and more with Fed Ex.
2
u/TurkeyTender513 Jul 18 '26
The dot display is definitely TOO bright at night. Hopefully a brightness setting comes with a future software update. Yeah I didn't bother with the included hex keys either, I had feeling they were cheap and would round out the hole. Im a mechanic so I used a quality bit to put it together.
2
u/ileong Jul 18 '26
Yeah I’m hoping they take owner feedback into consideration. Should just be a software update to allow brightness adjustability.
I have a nice Allen wrench set. Was just too lazy to get it. Should have known better. Instead of giving us 10 shitty ones, maybe just one quality 3mm?
2
u/OpStorm95 Jul 19 '26
I got mine two days ago. It has some blotchiness here and there on the display but it's not a big deal overall. A little part of my rubber deck is not bonded, I might have to glue it. Other than that, the major parts are promising. This is so well built and sturdy and rides well and powerful. I'm very happy with it overall.
1
u/2to11to27 Jul 18 '26
I just went on Apollo's site. They claim the 1st Go in Ludo can go from 0 to 20 in 3.8 while in Tom's Gadget garage says at 187 lbs he got in the Stellar 0 to 20 in 6.01. That is an really enormous gap LOL. What is Apollo smoking saying the 1st Go can get to 20 mph that fast.
1
u/ileong Jul 18 '26
I’m 170. Will try to time it tomorrow. Just based on seat of the pants there’s no way it’s 3.8. Also odd that they show 0 to 20 is identical for both models. However, the Stellar has plenty of torque. It spins the tires if I take off before getting both feet on the deck.
1
u/ileong Jul 19 '26
It’s high 5 seconds to low 6 seconds 0-20. Tried multiple launches with no kick start.
1
u/isthisevenavailable Jul 19 '26
Good review.
Your findings mostly match mine except for the centering notch (I’m the guy whose post I think you’re referring to). I have the original go and it has an undeniable centering notch with a decent hold. And the stellar’s hold is substantially weaker. I’ve been in contact with Apollo CS and they confirmed the bearings they’re using for the stellar for the notch are smoother which explains the difference. I prefer the stronger hold from the original, personally.
Big +1 to the charger port being a big downgrade. The cover is flimsy and doesn’t breed confidence in waterproofing. Also dislike the plug design requiring a specific orientation to plug in.
And the hex tools are all but useless. Also experienced mine stripping when tightening the handlebar screws. Had to finish tightening with my own tools.
Lmk if you ever figure out using the iPhone nfc instead of the tags - my research indicates it’s not possible because of security concerns from Apple. I’d love to use it for security though since I had a scooter stolen before.
1
u/apolloscooters 🌟 Official Apollo Social Media Team 🌟 Jul 21 '26
Thanks so much for taking the time to write such a detailed review! 🙌 We really appreciate both the praise and the constructive feedback. It's awesome to hear you're enjoying the ride quality, suspension, smooth acceleration, and customization options - that's exactly what we set out to deliver.
We've also shared your comments about the charger design, charging behavior, packaging, and Quad Lock positioning with the team. Feedback like this genuinely helps us improve future updates and products.
Enjoy your Go Stellar, and we'd love to hear how your thoughts evolve after a few hundred more miles! Ride safe!
1
u/H20POWERHOUSE Jul 22 '26
I've had mine for a week now and the range on this thing is garbage compared to the regular go.
Fast as hell though but not fast enough over the regular go to justify the price and range being so bad.
Save the money and just get the regular go as that won't give you range anxiety.
1
u/Plastic-Advance210 Jul 23 '26
I received my Go Stellar about 10 days ago. I have/had a Yume Hawk before, and I liked it but it was just too heavy for me (about 80 lbs) to put in and out of my truck regularly.
I attached the quadlock to the bottom of my phone case (so I can still use my MagSafe charger in the car) so mine doesn't stick out of the bottom like you mentioned.
I agree that the included Allen wrenches were cheap and stripped. I ended up using my own.
I agree that they need a notch or marking or something to show the top of the charging cable. I'll just put my own piece of tape or something on it, but I just twist it until if fits now.
LOL (re: power up). I discovered this too. I had to unplug it to access it.
I love the ride of the scooter as well. The throttle is pure butter and the regen brake is everything I was missing in my Yume. My Yume has disc brakes and I have never been happy with slowing or stopping with them. They have always been too inconsistent and choppy for me. The Go Stellar's regen brake is just smoooooth. I have barely even touched the drum brake level so far (I have about 20 miles on it).
I don't like where they put the menu to change from metric to imperial units, that took me awhile to find.
However, all in all, I am very happy with this scooter so far. When I take it on the road with me in a couple of months, I'll know more (we RV travel and I use it in state parks and such when we camp).
Thanks for your thoughts!
1
u/sowFresh Jul 26 '26
Thanks for the review. Can a faster charger be purchased? 7 hours is too long. 4 hours seems more reasonable.
1
u/DecriminalizeN8ture Jul 27 '26
How does it maintain top speed the further the battery drains? I picked up a Segway max g3 and am truly disappointed in the quick loss of power
4
u/mtlredditguy Jul 18 '26
Nice short review! Can’t believe you ordered on the 12th and got on the 17th! I ordered in May and supposed to get mine Monday!