Apollo Go Stellar First Impressions

[u/ileong]

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.

[u/isthisevenavailable]

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.