SuperHandy Passport Plus Mobility Scooter

(Super Handy trademark but I call it HandyScoot), arrived today. It went together no problems. When everything was ready to go, my friend Mari showed up unexpectedly and we took it for a test drive. Pretty good scoot. Lots of nice little engineering details, Handy is in this business for real. Things I don't like: 1 It's not maneuverable enough to get onto the bus, but will probably be fine in stores. I'm used to a SmartScoot, which is nearly as maneuverable as a standard size manual lightweight wheelchair. 2. The seat assembly is so heavy I almost can't lift it. And it's uncomfortable for riding. Back not removable, can't wear a backpack. 3 . The seat post design is defective: weak 25mm tube, prone to breakage (as other reviewers have pointed out). And the clamp won't tighten it enough to stop wobble. 4 . The basket is small, and gets in the way of putting a headlight on the handlebars. 5 . Brake is on the left side. Any motorcycle rider can tell you this is wrong. Should be on the right side. 6 . Top speed is only about 4 mph, not nearly as fast as the SmartScoot. 7. The thumb throttle is almost like an on-off switch. Hard to creep along. 8 . I can't call it a "CojoTruk" until I've added a cargo platform to it. Which may never happen. (If you're wondering what's a "CojoTruk", just Google it.) Things that are good about it: 1 . Quality and attention to detail, in general. 2 . Front end very adjustable. 3 . Folds in the middle to be able to put it into almost any car. 4 . Acceleration is good and smooth. I think it'll pull a 6 degree grade no problem but haven't tried it yet. 5 . Instead of one big lithium battery, they supply two small lithium batteries. You can carry the second one if you're going to need the range. 6 . The seat is installed on a welded aluminum pedestal. I'll probably just unbolt all the heavy stuff and build my own seat. And can probably fix the clamp. With less weight, the flimsy seat tube will be less prone to breakage. 7 . Transfers to and from the wheelchair are easy. 8. Subjectively, gives a good ride. I prefer pneumatic tires (slimed to prevent flats) but these are fine. 9. Is able to go down a 4 inch curb ... very carefully. Front end lighter than a Smartscoot, might be able to go up a 4 inch curb with some struggle, haven't tried it yet. 10 . This model has important improvements over the earlier model. Rear drum brakes both wheels not just one. Thumb throttle instead of twistgrip. Adjustable steering column. Plus I'm sure some other details I didn't notice. Worth paying more to get a product the manufacturer is striving to improve. Glad I didn't go bottom dollar and get the old model. A lot of the manufacturing cost on the new model went into that fancy office chair on a flimsy 25mm post : without that inexcusable "improvement" they could have retailed it for $829. 11 . They kept it simple. Didn't try to load it up with smartphone features etc etc. 12 . Easy to assemble. Only tool required was a Crescent wrench (slipjoint pliers would also have worked). Their little stamped metal open end wrench for the steering column nuts was almost impossible to use. SUMMARY: I live in a wheelchair. When it comes to mobility scooters my frame of reference is SmartScoot. There's a lot to like about the SmartScoot, but I've lost two of 'em to nonrepairable electrical failures. I can't afford another one. Glad I prowled Amazon to find out what's new in mobility scooters. SmartScoot finally has a worthy successor at 1/3 the cost. --Dave J. EDIT: I built my own seat for it, only 5 pounds complete assembly and it's much more comfortable. Took it for a nice drive, went shopping, tried it on grades (good) and in the dirt (hopeless). Apart from digging a hole in dirt it gave a very decent ride. Recharged the battery. So this morning...... 50 feet from my front door, the electrical system shuts off. No apparent reason. Tough job getting up the sidewalk to the door, legs very weak from ALS. 10 minutes later inside, it wants to work again. I take it out for another spin. Same thing happens!! So I give up and go fetch the mail on my manually powered CojoTruk. When I get back, the Handy says it's ready to go for a ride now. But I'm not gonna be suckered a third time. ...... I tip it and run the motor for 10 minutes. Didn't quit. But I ain't taking it out, can't risk it. Handy customer service contact? There is none. So I've got a brand new scoot that I can't use and no way to contact the seller to see if there's some way to fix it.. SECOND EDIT:. customer service contact info is on back of owners manual. They're now working with me to resolve the issue. THIRD EDIT: Paul in technical service dept grappled with this confusing problem, obviously wanted to resolve it. I know enough about the technicalities to have been able to help steer things in the right direction. The problem was batteries. He shipped me a new battery no hassle no cost hoping it would not have the same problem. ........... It did. BUT-- I discovered that when it dies, just pull the battery and do a battery test on the battery. It resets the BMS and it's good to go again. AND, after putting additional riding time on the batteries to test them, the intermittent seems to go away. In the process I drove battery #2 till it ran out of juice just to find out how far it would go on a charge: 5.1 miles, nearly level ground, I'm probably about 160 pounds. CLARIFICATION: can no longer refer to it as a "HandyScoot". That turns out to be a trademark belonging to the same company that imports SmartScoot. They have an upgrade version of SmartScoot they call HandyScoot, which several years I'd have bought but they don't list it on Amazon so I didn't even know it existed. Surprisingly in my contacts with the SmartScoot importer, they never told me. Only found out by accident very recently when I was Googling trying to find the SmartHandy scooter importer and got HandyScoot instead. Weird merchandising. ..................I plan to install a cargo platform on the SmartHandy now that I know it works: when it's done it will become CojoTruk #5. If you want to know what a CojoTruk is, just Google it on the Wordpress website or on YouTube. SO NOW I'M HAPPY. Just carry an extra battery (it's designed to do that anyway), do the BMS reset trick if it ever becomes necessary again, and I got good customer service despite what I thought was going to be the case in the beginning. -- Dave J.