Customer Reviews

Currie Technologies e-Zip 1000 Fusion Electric Scooter (Blue)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I ordered the EZIP 1000 several months ago and have been thoroughly impressed with the value for the money that the scooter has provided since I received it. I originally purchased the scooter to run around my neighborhood. However, I have found myself using it far more than I imagined. The scooter folds up easily so I am able to put it in my car and use it in a variety of places and on various terrains.....it runs great on sidewalks, concrete, grass, and dirt. I weigh 200+lbs and the scooter provides plenty of power and zip. Riding the scooter is very smooth and it's easy to steer thanks to the full suspension. Additionally, the scooter is very quiet. I have enjoyed this scooter very much and would highly recommend it!

My wife and I purchased a pair of these scooters to use in lieu of a tow vehicle while camping in our Class A motorhome. We purchased from Amazon and the delivery was quick (as usual). The scooter goes together very easily in about 30 minutes or less. The scooter is heavy (about 75-80lbs) but manageable. We store them in the belly of our rig and the two of them take up most of one bay.

First impressions: A zippy scooter that received a lot of praise by fellow campers. Adults liked the scooters and how we were using them, kids drooled at the sight of them. The handle bar folds down, the seat is removed with one screw, and it is ready for storage. They're easy to manage, produce good acceleration on flat surfaces, and are a lot of fun to ride.

A closer look at the details: The range advertised on this scooter is listed as 12mi. I don't think I will ever get 12 miles out of the scooter in one charge. I got about 6 miles before the red light came on indicating the battery was low. This after trying to conserve power by not going full throttle. I expected the reduced range given other reviews and wasn't terribly disappointed. There are some oversights and a couple of design flaws that should be noted. The seat is very uncomfortable and will be replaced by mandate from the wife. I agree with her - after riding them for a couple of miles it made us both a little uncomfortable in our special places. Next up is the brake system. I spent a fair amount of time aligning the wheel in such a way where the disc wouldn't catch with brake. Just when I thought I had success, I applied the brake and immediately felt a moderate drag as if the brakes were being applied without my doing so. The direct drive system also creates some moderate drag. If these two issues were resolved, I would suspect the 12 mile range would be achievable. Moving onward to what I'm guessing Currie Technologies would advertise as a battery/engine protection feature. When going up a hill the scooter will shut down and has to be turned off and then back on to resume operation. We bought the 36v / 1000 scooter in hopes it could handle some hills but alas, I guess not. This happened to both of us so it wasn't isolated to one particular scooter. Lastly, let's talk about the battery cover. The replacement battery is advertised to be $135 and there is not a good way to protect your vital (and expensive) battery. Currie Technologies should design an optional locking system to protect the battery pack. We resorted to buying a chain that we wrap around twice and secure it with a padlock. A more elegant solution would be to drill two holes through the bottom and use one of those U shaped locks that would go through the battery compartment and secure the pricey cargo.

In conclusion, the Currie eZip 1000 scooter is a good scooter despite the items I mentioned above. I wanted to point out the areas I would've like to have improved on our scooters but make no mistake, they are a lot of fun, work great for the application for which we bought them, and find them to be of reasonable quality. I did a fair amount of research before buying and knew about some of the limitations going into it. For full disclosure, if the super cycle 800W had been available, we probably would have given them a shot but think we'll be happy with what we got.

UPDATE 6/21/2011:
We continue to enjoy the scooters at our campgrounds. They are a bit cumbersome to get in and out of the belly of our rig but that the price to pay for our transportation at the campgrounds. One item that would be helpful in that regard is having a fastener on the scooter body to attach the seat. It is a bit of a pain to use the special screwdriver to attach the seat to the scooter. Why not make a similar locking mechanism like the collapsable handle bars? Another gripe is again the brake mechanism. I simply can not seem to get to where there isn't some level of drag introduced. A wish would be to be able to add another battery to extend the distance. Another battery pack would make it VERY heavy but I wouldn't mind the extra step (or cost) of adding an optional second battery to get more drive time. Optional accessories like a more comfortable seat and rear view mirrors would also be nice. Bottom line: We still really like the scooter but would probably gone the super cycle route had they been available at the time of purchase - especially since the recent price hike on the eZip.

I bought and returned three of these at different times from my local Sam's Club. Every single one failed within a week of purchase and was returned. The first one had a bad gearbox, which started making a loud clanking noise whenever the rear wheel was activated. The second one had a bad disc brake: The right rear pad was not sufficiently shimmed, so the rotor rubbed against the caliper housing. The third one had a bad bearing on the rear wheel. All of these problems manifested themselves after only a few hours of use.

The idea behind this product is a good one: Use standard bicycle parts and an electric motor to create an inexpensive scooter. The problem is that Currie (the company who makes these products) apparently uses Chinese made parts which didn't last more than a few hours for me(see above) and has made bad design decisions as the product has changed from year to year (see below).

The first design problem comes from the use of disc brakes in the front and rear. While older models had a standard caliper brakes, the newer models now have disc brakes on both wheels. The problem is that the wheels aren't balanced well, and the rotors/discs "wobble." When that happens, the rotor rubs against both disc pads, which will cause them to wear prematurely. A standard bicycle caliper style brake would have worked better and been easier to service.

The second design problem is the motor. Instead of using a chain to drive and external sprockets for gearing, Currie hooked the motor directly to the rear wheel using a sealed gearbox. This presents several problems. First, without a chain, there is no ability to freewheel (i.e., to coast without continuing to spin the motor). This means that the motor is constantly being worn, even when you are merely coasting and it slows you down as well. Second, the sealed gearbox is much harder to fix than a chain, which is open and easily serviced. Finally, if you are going downhill and you exceed some maximum speed set by Currie, the electronic system shuts down and when you come to stop, you have to turn the scooter off and then back on before you can continue.

Third, as of late 2007, Currie removed the adjustable seat post in favor of a fixed seat post. This means that you can no longer adjust the height of the seat. If the height Currie picked isn't right for you, well too bad.

I've had mine for 7 months and 3 weeks, have put 9,432 miles on it and have had to fix 1 flat. I use it constantly, sold my car because, for me, it works. I'm only a mile away from everything and can use a bus if I ever had to go an extraordinary distance. I can put it on the train without problems because there is no combustible fluids involved. So, I couldn't disagree more with the negative reviews; though I respect their opinions as their honest appraisal. It seems we all have bad luck in spells. I'm buying my wife one for Christmas, it'll be from Amazon, with Prime (free) shipping, baby!! The brakes do warp a tad after a spill that dumps you on the disk brake side because you will impact the ground with the rear disk; which seems to start ware on the pads. Go for it, some people will slight you, most will ask you where they can get one and how much it costs. If you have a website become an affilliate and post a link to this one. We need to continue to move away from losing our finest to protect oil interests.

This particular model has a permanently lubricated sealed transmission (no chain to listen to, wear out, adjust, etc). Don't scrimp with the other, smaller, cheaper models. Go all out re: security. We use 2 Ulocks and one cable if we have to leave it at the train or bus depot. It's only 80 lbs so anyone can pick it up and put it in their truck bed, so attach it within camera view and to something sturdy when possible. My son lost his by cableing it to itself, but he's eleven and now walking or riding his bike so that won't happen again. I know there are probably better machines out there, 1,200.00 for a different make and model with a lithium battery, for example. I just want to make clear the point that I think this is a sound purchase, regardless of it's expense. It's paid for itself many times over in gas (it costs about eleven cents to charge it for 15 miles of use).

Here in Texas it falls under the same law as a bicycle. Get your loved ones a helmet each and let 'em go. They're a blast that doesn't wear off. Usually you'll see women pointing at you from within a car and the husband smirking, she wants one, he may be in an SUV worrying about paying for the next 80.00 tank of gas.

Great gift and lots of fun. My son loved getting this for Christmas and his older sisters love riding it as well. I like that I don't have to put gas in it and it holds its charge. Finally a scooter with a charge that outlasts my kids! Love it!!

great product. i had an ezip 750 for ten days. weak,poor braking. this ezip 1000 is great. front and rear disc brakes stop you immediately. the rear suspension works too. my brother has the ezip 750 now. the free shipping was tremendous. i had to cancel my order from another internet source when they wanted $200. amazon`s normal $60 shipping would have been great, free was much,much better!!! thanky you amazon----aloha

I drove one of these things for a weekend and it was great! I read a lot of reviews about batteries not lasting long and throttle problems, well there are always some bad apples in the bunch. The company will give the parts, but the customer has to pay for shipping. Not a bad Deal! With me on it, (I weigh 159 pounds, 5'8") the scooter went about 20 miles an hour. It has a switch to turn it on.. It has great disc brakes - Front and Back, throttle control, and shocks! It is quit when driving it! It does not cost to far and you could replace the sprocket with a different one and then it could cost, but call someone that know about motors, cause the wrong sprocket will kill the motor! Keep the scooter out of Creeks or submerge in water, it will hurt the scooter!
There are a few little cons, but nothing big!
Cons:
1. Cannot drive in the Rain or wet roads, but you can go through some effect and make it weather proof and drive it in the
Rain! Look on You tube for e-zip 1000 weather proof and look for the user name chade74 and see what I did to mine, I will
Have the video up soon!
2. Does not have a key!! I'm looking into putting a key in so no one can steal it to easy!

If you go to a public place get a lock or something. Get a Kryptonite Lock, get a New York Chain made by kryponite and it has
a warranty, if someone steals your bike or scooter, they will pay for it!!
Pros: A lot of Fun!!
Just remember if you get one of these and there is something wrong with it, then call the company before giving it a bad
Review!!

I purchased this scooter from amazon and the shipping was only four dollars and it arrived the day after i bought it. When we first tried to assemble it there was a few problems. We couldn't get the handle bars in and one of the pieces was welded on wrong. We ended up hiring a handyman to assemble it because it was a little bit deffected. He had to rewire it and the part that was welded on wrong didn't do any damage. this was not a problem though. I am one of the few people who recieved a deffected one however we got it to work. The average rider will go about 15mph. The first time I rode on this thing i darted away on it with a lot of speed. It has a powerful 1000 watt motor and I weigh aroung 120 pounds and i went about 18-20 mph. THe charge lasts for about 50 minutes to an hour and it can run about 12 miles. This scooter was a great deal for the money. The only downside is that it is very heavy. The last problem isn't bad though. we recieved the roter for the front wheel a little bit bent so it would make a loud noise because the brake would touch it. We got a new roter from the company easily. Overall i would give the scooter a 5/5 but i would recommend that you get it from a store that had already assembled it.

The first shipment was damaged possibly by UPS, and Amazon made it right immidiately by sending another one. Service was fast and great. As for the scooter itself, it is a great gas saver for when you have small errands to run. I am very pleased with the whole transaction.

We bought two scooters e-Zip 750 and 1000. Amazon did a good job of delivering. It was much easier to assemble that the first time we bought the same model. My son and I are happy campers.