See Also: part 1 and part 2 (and more coming).
Now with my scooter background disclosed, let’s get to the actual subject of this blog entry: The Segway Max G3 electric scooter.
As soon as I knew my Kugoo G5 could not be repaired, I began looking for my next scooter. I was interested only in a name brand that might be sold in actual stores. Brands like Segway, GoTrax and a few others showed up at retailers like Best Buy, Target and Walmart. I decided to focus on those brands and see what they offered that was comparable to my Kugoo.
The GoTrax models I could find at retail looked terribly underpowered and limited for my needs, but Segway seemed to have some comparable models. As I searched on YouTube, I started seeing videos for the Segway ZT3 Pro – a $1000 scooter that looked like it had similar power and range as my Kugoo. After watching a few videos, and seeing that the Segway website offered replacement parts, I decided that would be enough searching. “Just buy it,” I thought. (One could spend weeks or months just researching, and finding every scooter has reviews saying it is the best thing ever, and reviews saying it is total garbage. Not helpful.)
Although the reviews on Amazon looked good (4.6 stars out of 5), my attempt to “just buy it” there was halted when I saw this message:
Frequently returned item
Check the product details and customer reviews to learn more about this item.
How is a product so well rated, but also so frequently returned Amazon has to warn customers about it? To get an answer to that, I headed to REDDIT and asked there. I braced for the expected set of nasty replies and vitriol, which seems to be what REDDIT is mostly good for these days.
To my surprise, I actually got helpful responses. Perhaps the electric scooter community is just nicer than most? (Well, maybe not entirely as there were certainly the unhelpful “Segway is trash!” responses that didn’t bother to explain why that was the case.)
But one response caught my attention. I was asked why I wanted the ZT2 instead of a Max G3? Well, because I didn’t know anything about that model, and when I looked it up, I saw it was $200 more.
After a few nice replies, I learned that the Max G3 was likely a better fit for what I wanted.
And that’s how I decided to buy a Max G3 directly for Segway.
“Segway.com is trash!”
Unfortunately, after spending over half an hour trying to buy the scooter there, I gave up. The site would get stuck, “Next” buttons going nowhere, and refuse to let me put in a valid billing address. I’d enter my shipping address, then when it wanted me to enter a billing, it would then change both to the billing (a post office box, which they cannot ship to). Lather, rinse, repeat.
I even had a $100 discount code someone on REDDIT offered me and there were some extra promotions (extended warranty, etc.) I could get if I bought direct.
But I couldn’t.
Someone on REDDIT suggested using Best Buy since “they are easier to return to.” I decided to go that route, even after a chat with their customer service said they could not price match the $100 discount on Segway.com. Bummer. At least I could get 0% interest financing if I wanted, or a 10% bonus ($120 credit?) from Best Buy.
I ordered on Sunday evening, and the scooter arrived the following Tuesday morning. I did the quick assembly (attach handlebars and insert four screws, attach license plate holder) and let it charge.

Segway Max G3 first thoughts
I was blown away by how well the scooter seemed to be designed. While it is stupid and annoying to buy something you cannot use unless you “activate it” (what do people without cell phones do?), this nonsense is getting more and more common.

Once I activated the scooter, I ran through the app and looked at things that could be customized. It was neat being able to enable higher speeds, including a speed faster than my Kugoo G5, and having the nice display with auto-lock when you walk away from the scooter. The built-in “Find My” support, really impressed me. No more trying to hide an AirTag somewhere and hope a thief wouldn’t find it.
But all of this ended when I rode the thing…
Disappointment Drive
First, let me say that this scooter is zippy. It has intense acceleration — even without BOOST MODE. Possibly too much, even. It is very aggressive, and I would sure like a way to lower that. My electric bike has a similar “problem” where, if you are at a cross walk waiting for the light to change, starting to peddle will engage the motor and try to jump you into traffic. (It took many rides to get used to that eBike trying to kill me!)
I feel similar with the scooter, though I expect I may get used to it. I really hope there will be a way to reduce the acceleration. I like to get to top speed, but I don’t need to get to it that fast.
The next issue is how badly this thing rides. Compared to the Kugoo G5, this thing (maybe due to the thin tires) it just so much rougher and challenging. While it handles bumps okay, hitting any bump makes it feel like it is slowing down to brake (or the motor cutting off). I tested with the traction control feature ON and OFF: no difference that I could tell. I also tested with and without the energy recovery (which, as you slow down, causes the wheel to generate power to send to the battery). No difference that I could tell.
Between the jerky speedups and the erratic feel of “just riding,” it was not nearly the pleasant experience I had when first learning to ride the Kugoo scooter. Or the GoTrax.
If I had test ridden it first, I would not have bought it.
Sadly, in this world of “online order everything,” test drives are impossible. I am convinced had I had a chance to ride this first, I would have never purchased it. And if this had been my first scooter to try, I probably would have decided scooters were just not for me.
Overall, while it does seem to be a “really good” scooter, the riding experience for this $1200 scooter is a huge step back from the $800 Kugoo G5. My ride down to the post office and back (8 miles) was not fun.
Some searching on Facebook groups and REDDIT groups let me know I was not alone. The term “jerky acceleration” comes up often, with some folks saying theirs is just fine, and others saying it is jerky. The interesting thing is that even Segway Support has a document about “jerky acceleration” (though the problem they describe is a hardware defect).
After so many people told me I was the problem and my scooter was fine, I turned to Segway Support. After going back and forth with them (great support, by the way), they suggested I return my scooter for replacement. The things I, and many others, described were not supposed to be that bad.
Even though I ordered online, I was able to return my Max G3 to a Best Buy store. They had none in stock, and shipping to store would take many more days than directly to me, so I had them refund the unit, and then went to order it. Unfortunately, I was unable to do this since I had yet to receive my new Best Buy credit card I signed up for to get the special offers when buying the scooter. I had to go back to the store and let them order it, and wait for the replacement to arrive.
Look for part 3, shortly…