Mobility Mod

Fluid Horizon: The Mobility Scooter I’ve Been Looking For

Synopsis: After more than 400 miles and 12 months, the Fluid Horizon scooter (with a seat) is a mobility winner. Why? It does it all. From street to store, 3 mph to 20 mph, it works equally well. Folds down and fits in a vehicle trunk. Slightly heavy, but you can trolley by grabbing the front wheel. Programable LCD screen, 3 modes, lights, brake light and bell. 48V 10 ah battery as tested, real-world range of 8-10 miles with 10aH battery. Solid rear tire has a different ride feel than inflatable, not as forgiving, but with front and rear suspension I have no trouble riding off a curb.  I would recommend this scooter to anyone with good balance looking for super-convenient and capable mobility assistive device. As tested ~ $800-$900.

This scooter is FANTASTIC for mobility purposes.

Here’s a video I made that shows the seat and folding the scooter. Also an off-road and street ride.

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Originally I looked at a Glion Dolly for its trolley capability, but when folded, you can grab the front tire and trolley this scooter super easily, and it has a much fast top speed. *(I have recently acquired a Glion SNAPnGO… detailed post to come.)

FAST OR SLOW

I have tested a fair number of scooters for mobility assistive devices over the years. The dream was always to have something that could go slow OR fast, could fold up and be carried in the trunk of a car, wasn’t too heavy, and had decent range. This is the first scooter that has checked all the boxes for me. It’s a little bit expensive, but so is anything in the mobility space.

For mobility, you have to add a seat (~$100), but Fluid doesn’t sell a seat. Multiple companies sell the same Unicool T8 scooter with their branding. REVRides, Apollo, EMove, Fluid. You can buy it from the factory via Alibaba. This is an advantage, because there are many sources for parts. I bought my seat from REVRides, you can see it here. Each company has slight differences in their scooters, like battery size or color. Make sure you look closely when comparing models.

Watch how this quickly folds down to a compact package:

A very important feature is the adjustable handlebar height. You might not think about it, but you want a different height if you are standing vs. sitting. This scooter allows you to drop the handlebars down to a usable height when sitting. You can’t do that with say, a Xiaomi Mi M365, standard rental scooter.

The other real trick about this scooter is how people react to it. You have to take into account how the general public acts around whatever you are riding. There are zero problems riding this anywhere around people. In fact, I get a lot of compliments and questions about my scooter. (You might even be reading this after I referred you to my site!) I ride it very slow in stores, and at fairs or farmer’s markets.

The big surprise is how fast this scooter goes! When you hit the street it doesn’t accelerate super quickly, but it accelerates more higher up in the speed curve until, at 185 lbs, I hit 20-21 mph! That’s a game changer. With that speed, and a 8-10 mile range, I can ride to stores and switch modes into the 3 mph mode, and ride straight into them.

BUILD

The Fluid Horizon is durable. I have done whatever I have wanted, I haven’t babied it, and it has held up wonderfully. My front plastic cap which holds the battery in the compartment came loose, but I used some silicone and popped it back in. I have taken this scooter on multiple dirt roads and opened it up, and had a ball! I can’t believe how well it works on dirt roads. It can’t handle soft sand or gravel, but a regular dirt road is no problem.

SERVICE

I bought my unit used with 8 miles on it, so essentially brand new. When I was buying it, I tried to get a voltage reading by touching the charging pins with my voltmeter probes. DON’T DO THIS. I touched the live probe to the ground and POP! a puff of magic smoke, and the controller was gone. Embarrassed, I bought the scooter and set out to replace the controller.

Fluid would not sell me parts because I did not by the scooter directly from them. What?! So… I bought one from REVRides, popped it in and was back in business. I don’t know why Fluid were so weird about supporting their scooter after the fact. But recently, my grandson broke my LDC bracket and my conscientious son contacted Fluid to replace it and they were SUPER responsive. So I don’t know, maybe things have changed since I originally tried to deal with Fluid. Hopefully, they are selling a great scooter.

OVERALL

This PERFECT for RV park and campgrounds. Used it for nightly runs to the garbage, or to take our registration back to the office. Super convenient. At night, I turn on the lights and it is easy to ride in the dark. Front headlights, plus rear light/brake light. It’s great for city streets and riding inside stores. You can fold it up and put it in the trunk. Flats? Solid rear tire and poured some Slime in the front tire and haven’t had one the whole time I’ve been riding it.

Side note: My grandkids love this scooter and are constantly riding it. Caution is advised, one crashed and broke his wrist.

I charge my scooter with this Luna charger.  It can vary the charging amps and the percentage of charge. It’s great for when I need a quick charge, but it’s also great because most of the time I can charge my battery to 80%.

Here’s another good review of the Fluid Horizon: Electric-scooter.guide