What you need to know:
- As youd expect, it is extremely fun.
- Top gear isnt quite as fast as advertised, more like 3fps or so.
- It floats most of the time, but it can definitely sink as well. (see photos of both floating and sunk device)
- The charger gets **extremely** hot, though the batteries dont.
- Battery life is easily double what is advertised.
Right out of the box this little sea scooter got oohs and ahhs, and they were well deserved. It is a solidly built, yet lightweight device. The bright green/yellow color makes it really eye catching, and that helped out in the water when tracking it from the surface as well. A quick run down on the feature list confirmed the GoPro mount, the triggers for controlling it, and the easy to attach battery pack. Speaking of the battery pack, a nice surprise was that it came with two, doubling the expected run time.
It also came with a nice waterproof roll top storage and transportation bag with a small mesh outer pocket, just large enough to contain what I dubbed the suicide strap. I dont know about you, but the idea of being physically attached to something that could pull me straight to the bottom of a body of water just didnt seem like a good idea, and since the device floats, I figured why bother? That being said, it turns out that it doesnt always float. If tipped sideways while underwater, it will take on water in the body and if you let go it will sink to the bottom. In a pool thats fine, but good luck finding it if that happens in a lake so thats definitely something to be aware of.
When it comes down to it however, this little scooter has some pretty good pull. I dont know that I ever spent much time in the 1 or 2 speed modes other than on my way to 3. It did great pulling me with my head above water, but even better when I went fully underwater where it felt like I was flying, just pointing where I wanted to go and being thrust in that direction. Worth noting is that while I was getting nearly double the expected battery life, that was not while holding down the trigger and riding it non-stop for a full 20-25 minutes, but a more realistic riding around for 5-10 minutes, letting someone else try, stopping to check things out, and going again much like you would snorkeling or during any other activity.
Overall despite a few flaws, it is an extremely fun device that really exceeded expectations when it came to battery life. It is a bit on the expensive side, but we had so much fun with it I think it was worth it and Id definitely recommend giving it a shot if youre on the fence.