Response to exploding hoverboards

To potential hoverboard buyers regarding the explosions you’ve been seeing in the media,  

Going through Youtube last night, I watched a ton of videos of exploding hoverboards (investigation/assessment is ongoing) and here are my key takeaways: 

• I rewatched Miberitech’s video on the 4th generation model: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAmlOtkyVNA and he references that this model is a response to the “battery and charging problem” of the previous generations. Although he doesn’t elaborate on what type of “problem,” I take it to mean that there were defects or at the very least, there was a lot of room for improvement on the product. Note the upload date of the video was 10/10/15, way before the reported incidences of exploding hoverboards in the US and UK. An email from Miberitech on 11/19/15 in response to my attempt to buy the 4th gen model indicated that there was a motor controller stability issue. This appears to be separate from the battery problem we’ve been witnessing. In my eagerness to buy the hoverboard and not waiting for Miberitech’s response on why they can’t sell me the hoverboard, I placed my order from another vendor on 11/17/15 and am still confident that the battery issue less likely on current generation hoverboards. 
• I do wonder why this 4th generation model is taking so long to be publicized compared to the first 2nd and 3rd generation models. Perhaps Miberitech is not the only one shying away from selling the 4th generation model for the same motor controller stability issue or are there other unreported issues? 

• Yes, exploding hoverboards are a real concern. Although some reports of exploding hover boards had done so while charging, 2 of the 6 videos I saw on Youtube last night of different hoverboards exploding had done so while the rider was on it. That’s a major concern. One of these incidences was claimed by someone who said that they had only recently bought it and that the ride just before the explosion was after only the first time the battery was charged. Quality lithium ion batteries can overcharge, but it usually does so over time. I’ve mentioned that my personal LifoPo4 battery from my electric bike conversion started bulging, but only after a couple of years of regular charging. Mine even had a device on it that “prevented” it from overcharging. I had cells replaced in the USA by an American living in San Francisco who runs a company called Hightekbikes. The battery stopped working so I never got a chance to see if it would bulge again.

• 100% of the reported exploding hoverboards are the first generation models. 
• I have yet to see a video or report in the media of any other type exploding. Granted the other models are a lot less common, we can expect that much lower of a number of reported exploding boards. In the coming weeks/months, I’d like to keep an eye out and see if more exploding ones are also first generation models. If nothing comes up for newer ones, I’d be a lot less concerned. I’m pulling these numbers out of my butt, but I’m thinking at least 85% of the ones being purchased in the US are the first generation models. Most people don’t even now there are 4 generations of hoverboards available. If there are only 11 reported explosions of hover boards and eBay report is accurate about selling one every 12 seconds in recent weeks, then it may be quite some time before we hear about other generations having the same issue, if at all. 

• Of the 6 videos I watched of exploding hover boards, only 2 reported the source of where they purchased it from. 2 of the 2 were Amazon. 1 of those we know was bought from a seller called Fit Turbo. We can expect they are long gone, but most likely will return to sell their remaining stock under a different name. Although I wouldn’t necessarily come to the conclusion of avoiding Amazon as a place to buy “safe” ones, particularly since Amazon claims to have requested hoverboard dealers to show proof of their product meeting safety standards, this news does suggest that paying a premium for a hoverboard sold through Amazon with the mindset of them acting as another level of security to oversee standards is completely false. They didn’t oversee standards until just a few days ago. Amazon sells a lot of knockoff products and I doubt they’re requesting proof of safety standards for those. Remember those $1.50 iphone chargers you received in the mail from Amazon w/o a retail box? 

• Notice that the rim of the wheel of the hover boards have various designs. I’m going to make up some names based on how they look like: 
• Clover: 2 of the 6 youtube videos I saw of different hover boards exploding have this design. 
• Clover star: 1 of the 6 
• Mercedes: 3 of the 6  
• Fan: This design is less common so I would expect that there are fewer if any boards reported that exploded have this particular look to them. 

Although IO Hawk and branded hover boards have rim designs unique to their company, other less known vendors like the ones we see in mall kiosks will sell ones with various designs on them so we cannot conclude necessarily at this point that particular rim designs are a giveaway of which ones to avoid. I haven’t come to that conclusion. There are a lot of variables: 

• Vendors may get shipments from different factories. 
• Resellers may think they’re resellers buying wholesale from the manufacturer to sell retail but in fact there may have already been a middleman before they got the product to sell. This can’t really be determined w/any level of accuracy unless we have in-depth knowledge of factories which we can only obtain by going oversees or know people in the factories themselves I presume. I would just like to continue to take notice of the rim design for future reports of exploding hover boards and add it to the list and perhaps a meaningful pattern may emerge. 

Companies like Phunkeeduck and IO Hawk who have their boards on late night shows and other talk shows are making a ton of money on their hoverboards. They’re not going to want to let their customer base slip away, so I suspect that they are more likely to perform tests and will do everything in their power to make sure that no one reports to the public about one of “their” hover boards exploding. If anything, this exploding hoverboard issue may give them a boost in sales being that people may start to recognize that branded boards may be the way to go if you’re going to get one at all. Having said that, paying $1,495 and up for a board is quite a hefty price tag. On the other hand, does safety have a price tag? Based on what we can observe of customer responses, the answer is yes. 

If reports of exploding hoverboards had surfaced earlier, would I have still bought the 4th generation hoverboard? 

• I suppose it doesn’t really matter to think back, but I suppose I would still buy it. 
• I suspect the price of ones deemed as “safe” may be around $400-500 after tax and shipping in a few months once the US Consumer Product Safety Commission releases their report. This will only scare people away from buying the cheap ones and therefore increase the prices overall. $500 would’ve been my personal limit. At that price, it’s too high and I wouldn’t buy it. Better to get it now and risk an exploding hoverboard to save $263 difference from the price I had ultimately paid. Yes, I did say that. I don’t know if it’s more hope than factual, but I’ve done enough research to convince myself that the likelihood of my 4th generation hoverboard exploding under my feet is so minimal and perhaps close to negligible, that it’s worth it. Just “to be safe,” I will only charge it in plain sight meaning I will not be charging it overnight either. Maximum is 2 hours. 
• New news on Mark Cuban. He had partnered with Chen, the inventor of the Hovertrax (original hoverboard from Inventist) a few months ago, but recently discontinued his partnership and was attempting to start his own brand instead. Not sure how the legality of that makes sense, but in any event, I’m al to less worried about lawsuits and patent infringements affecting the availability of the hoverboards than I was a few weeks ago.