Inmotion Climber electric scooter review – a scooter built to haul

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REVIEWElectric scooters seem to be everywhere these days.  Unfortunately, that is mostly lost on me because I exceed the max loading weight for many of these consumer scooters.  But…Inmotion recently announced its new Climber model with dual motors and a max weight limit that I fit into!  I’m definitely pushing the limit, so let’s see if this scooter has the goods to propel me.

What is it?

The Inmotion Climber is a dual-motor electric stand-up scooter.

What’s in the box?

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  • Inmotion Climber electric scooter
  • Assembly wrenches
  • Assembly screws
  • Power adapter and cord

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  • Two spare inner tubes
  • Valve extender

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  • Quick start guide
  • User manual

Hardware specs

  • Model: Climber
  • Net Weight: 45.9 lbs
  • Unfolded dimensions: 45.94*20.01*47.05 inches
  • Folded dimensions: 45.87*20.01*23.23 inches
  • Max speed: 38km/h / 23.7mph
  • Max range: 56km / 35 miles (test is based on a 165 lb load at a 77°F temperature on a single full charge, riding 60% of the maximum speed at a constant speed on a flat road)
  • Max slope: 36% (test is based on a 165 lb load at a 77°F temperature with more than 60% power, starts at 9mph, and climbs 33ft from the bottom of the slope, the speed must be greater than 3.7mph)
  • Max loading: 130kg / 286.6lbs
  • Motor power rating): 450W*2
  • Max. power: 750W*2
  • Charger output voltage: 42V
  • Charger output current: 2A
  • Charging time: approx. 9hrs
  • Wheel types: Front & rear pneumatic 10″ tires
  • Brake types: Electronic & disc brake
  • IP Ratings(Body): IP56 (body); IPX7 (battery)

Design and features

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The Inmotion Climber electric scooter looks like, well, a scooter.  It has two wheels, a deck, and handlebars.  In the photo above, you can also see the LED display, LED headlight, and LED taillight.

The headlight is mounted just below the handlebars and turns with the handlebars.

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The taillight is located on the rear fender.

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Near the bottom of the upright tube, we see a latch.

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Pressing the orange release button lets you open the latch.  This allows you to fold the handle.

There is a flip-out latch at the top of the handlebar.  You flip this out before folding the handlebar.

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When you fold the Inmotion Climber electric scooter’s handlebar, the flip-out latch engages with a clip on the rear fender, locking it in place.

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This makes for a nice, compact, albeit somewhat heavy package, in case you need to carry it.

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The deck is wide and has a nice, non-slip grooved cover.

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The right side of the Inmotion Climber electric scooter holds the charging port under a spring-loaded, hinged cover.

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It’s a small thing, but with the kickstand on the opposite side, this faces the charging port upward, making it more accessible and easier to find.

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The power pack is pretty standard, featuring a single LED that glows red during charging and green when fully charged.

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The tire inflation valves are located on the left side of both the front and back tires.

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As you can see, it doesn’t stick out far.  That’s why Inmotion thoughtfully includes a valve extender. My little electric pump could latch onto the valves without using the extender.

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They include nice reflectors on both sides.

Here’s the right side of the Inmotion Climber electric scooter’s front wheel.  You can see the electric connection cable for the electric brake as well as the front motor.

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The back disc brake is visible on the right side.

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The display is located dead center between the handlebars.

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It is bright and visible in everything other than extremely bright, direct sunlight.  It includes indicators for drive mode, speed, headlight on, cruise control engaged, and battery level.  The single power/control button is just below the battery gauge.

The left handlebar features a single brake lever and a bell.

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The brake lever engages both the front and rear brakes. A pull on the bell lever delivers a friendly ding ding to let folks know you’ll be passing them.  And yes, you will be passing them.

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The right handlebar holds the throttle.

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You activate the throttle with your thumb.

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If you have enabled cruise control in the app, when you maintain a single speed for a few seconds, cruise control will engage with a beep and an indicator on the display.  When engaged, it will keep your speed without you having to hold the throttle.  Bumping either the throttle or brake disengages the cruise control.

Setup

The Inmotion Climber electric scooter comes mostly assembled.   There is a handy setup guide printed on the box.

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The kickstand needs to be installed first. The two screws for the kickstand are partially installed.  Back them out, put the stand in place, and then tighten the screws.

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Next up, it’s time to assemble the handle.  The brake cable is already installed, but the electronics cable needs to be connected.

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Once that connection is made, insert the handlebars into the neck and then attached them with the four included screws.

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Once the Inmotion Climber electric scooter is assembled, you need to remove the protective plastic on the hand grips.  This was way more annoying to do than it should have been.  I couldn’t find a way to peel it and eventually had to slide scissors under and cut it.

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Next up is installing their app.

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The app connects to the scooter via Bluetooth and sets up activating the scooter.  This enables sport mode. You also use the app to calibrate the range of motion of the brake handle and throttle.  The app lets you lock the scooter electronically and track battery charge, usage, and overall mileage.

This was before I changed units to MPH…

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You can control all aspects of the scooter via the app.  Many can also be controlled with a single button on the control panel.

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The final setup set is charging the scooter.

Performance

Wow.  That pretty much sums up the performance of the Inmotion Climber electric scooter.  Why do I say that?  I’m a big guy.  I am pushing the 286.6-pound maximum loading for this scooter.  Does that prevent the scooter from accelerating to 22MPH in just a few seconds?  Nope!  The dual motors driving both wheels force me to hang on as the scooter whips up to its max speed quickly. Sorry about the flickering LED display in the video, it was the best I could get.  Still, you can see how fast this gets me up to 23MPH.

We live in a golf cart community.  That means we have multimodal paths that include a lot of tunnels under roads.  Tunnels mean ramps down, and the dreaded ramps back up.  The Inmotion Climber electric scooter looks at those ramps, tilts its head back, and laughs, even with me on board.  Zoom – up the ramp.  It really is impressive.  Here is a quick zip around the neighborhood.

Let’s talk a little about lighting.  Lighting on many small vehicles seems light an afterthought.  Not on the Climber.

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I took it out in the neighborhood after dark and was quite impressed with how well I could see and be seen.

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The Inmotion Climber electric scooter has three operational modes – Pedestrian, Drive, and Sport.  In pedestrian mode, speed is limited to 6MPH, and the lights flash continuously.  It is designed for use where lots of people are walking.  Drive mode limits speed to 15MPH.  Sport mode opens up everything and tops out at 23MPH.

In my testing, at max weigh loading, pedestrian mode struggled and I couldn’t go much over 4MPH.  That made it hard to be stable on the scooter.  Drive mode worked as advertised and wow, sport mode is fun.

Even though this scooter has pneumatic tires, they’re pretty hard and make for a rough ride.  There is no suspension of any kind so you feel everything.

Another thing I noticed was that I didn’t feel very stable with only one hand on the handlebars.  Why is that important?  I like to make my intentions known to other vehicles by signaling turns.  Not being able to do that easily wasn’t fun.  Lucky for me, I have a workaround as I use a Lumos helmet with turn signals.  I mounted my remote on the handlebars and solved that problem.

The app allows you to lock the scooter.  Once the scooter is locked, it won’t pair with another device or turn on, making it a manual scooter.  Unfortunately, thieves won’t know or understand that, but it does at least offer some level of theft safety.

All these cool features are great, but only if the scooter can practically take you places.  To do that, it has to have enough range to make going someplace make sense.  Let’s review the range claim of 35 miles based on:

  • 165 lb load
  • 77°F temperature
  • Full charge
  • Riding 60% of the maximum speed (13.8 MPH) at a constant speed
  • Flat road

Now, let’s check out the real-world test:

  • 286 lb load
  • 82°F temperature
  • Full charge
  • Riding 100% of the maximum speed (23 MPH) with stops/starts
  • Flat road, minor hills, tunnel ramps

I was asking the Inmotion Climber electric scooter to carry 73% more weight than their test scenario at a 67% fast speed over more brutal terrain  Sound fair?  Nope!  Did I get the rated range?  Nope!  But that should be expected.  Here are

the results.

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On the left, you can see I started with a 100% charge, a 34.1-mile remaining range, and 17.4 miles on the odometer.  On the right, 25% remaining charge, an 8.5-mile remaining range, and 30 miles on the odometer.  That means I got 12.6 miles on 75% of the battery.  That should project out to 16.8 miles of total range or a little less than half of the claimed range.  Again, keep in mind that I was operating this way over the test scenario’s parameters.  I could probably extend the range quite a bit if I flipped to drive mode and capped out at 15 MPH, but zipping along as fast as the golf carts here is just too much fun. Of course, losing weight would help a bit too…

The other thing I should note is that while Li-ion batteries are touted to put out at 100% right up until they die, that isn’t true.  Once the battery dropped a bit below 50%, I noticed that the scooter was struggling to go more than 20 MPH.  I noticed the same thing when I tested the iSinwheel i9Pro.  That’s not the fault of the scooter but is something to be aware of.

What I like

  • Fast and fun
  • Carries a heavy load well
  • Decent range
  • Folds easily

What I’d change

  • The pedestrian mode could work better with a heavy load
  • Some sort of suspension would help smooth out the ride
  • Turn signals would be a nice safety plus

Final thoughts

To say that I like the Inmotion Climber electric scooter is an understatement.  I’ve been jealous of the grins my wife has been getting zipping around on the iSinwheel i9Pro that I tested, but I’m too far over the weight limit to ride it. But now, I have a fun scooter too, and one that goes even faster than hers.  The grins are multiplying around here!  It’s great fun riding it to play pickleball in the morning, zipping over to the mailbox, or popping over to our local eagle and owl nests.  I think the miles will pile up quickly.

Price: $999.00
Where to buy: Inmotion and Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Inmotion.

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