Tag: segway HT
Another Segway raffle
Segway of Sanibel is selling only 250 raffle tickets (for 50 bucks a piece) for a Segway i180 or Segway i2 (take your pick. Though costly, that’s better odds than some of the raffles that are out there.
Drawing is supposed to take place October 1st.
Win a Segway HT
Segway of Cleveland is holding a raffle for a Segway HT i180…. Those who know what the ehll that name means will be interested 😉
Raffle tickets are Five Dollars and all procceds go towards Sparx in the City downtown culture.
Yeah, regulars to the site or those who know me are aware I’m in Florida. Regulars will also note I have a jones for the Segway…. Suffice it to say, I bought three raffle tickets. 🙂
Got Marketing? Segway of Clearwater doesn't
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m big on the Segway HT. The media laughs at it, people in general ridicule it and everyone I have seen ride it smiles instantly and loses their negative tone at least for a while when onboard.
It’s a thing of freedom to the disabled – though not medically approved by the FDA. It’s a vehicle of fun for those who are tired of the automobile.
And it’s the most poorly marketed item possible at Segway of Tampa Bay – Clearwater.
While Tampa Bay lacks mass transit – a vital part of the Segway’s appeal to get where you’re going faster while not quite going bike speed and going much faster than foot speed – it has traffic issues that have been brought up time and again by moi and others aroudn the blogosphere. People are looking for alternatives for short commutes and such and Seg of Clearwater is no where in sight.
Downtown Tampa is currently undergoing a developement boom and those who are going to be living downtown are going to need a means to get around that shouldn’t include the car – something that will travel where the TECO Streetcar won’t. St. Petersburg already has a large urban populous. Segway of TB – Clearwater? They’re on the beach showing off the device but not actually catering to potential customers. To show up on Clearwater Beach with the device sells the item like a novelty to the masses and not as a legit means of transportation.
Going to their web site, they laude sight seeing over mobility. They avoid the transit question because they happen to be exotic car dealers – why shut out one means of business with your other means of business?
It frustrates me when something that can be used is mis-advertised or just plain swept under the rug. Such is the Segway in this suburban hell.
Catching on = Not
OK so it’s only a poll on a cheap little mailing list (that I happen to run) but it’s sort of intersting to see that the 8 respondants to this poll only see a Segway rarely if ever out and about.
With gas prices going up up up, the visibility of the Segway HT seems to be going down down down. Go figure.
Demo-nation
Anyone who’s read this Blog for a while or has gone through some of my previous posts will know full well that I am interested in the Segway HT. I have yet to see one up close, I am yet to ride one…
Well, that changes tomorrow.
With me gimping around I am really more interested than I had been in the Segway and I started looking into getting a demonstration from somewhere — be it Brookstone in International Plaza mall in Tampa, or talking someone into taking a trip to Orlando and going to Celebration and NEVRLand where the sell these things…
Of course, no one was biting…
So I pouted and just started talking on Segwaychat.com and asking a few questions that I had asked before when I was really talkative on that site…
This morning, to my surprise I got emailed by a Segway owner not more than 4 miles from my house. I was freaked and thrilled when I found out someone has one of those things in Palm Harbor (it seems there are a few with them in North Pinellas) and was more than willing to give a demonstration on how to use a Segway to me. So, tomorrow afternoon I’m taking my first glide ever. I’m stoked, I’m thrilled and I am hoping my body doesn’t screw up the works and make gliding a challenge.
Segway to where?
This time last year, or just about this time last year, there was an invention that got people (myself) really interested in just what the hell it was. It was an invention that had been talked about a year previously and people actively pondered just what it was – up until it was revealed just what it was.
It was a scooter – the Segway was born.
The reaction to the unveiling of the Segway HT was a mixed bag from some people after hearing such hype as “It will revolutionize life” and “people will build cities around it” from types such as Steve Jobs and the creator of Amazon . ‘It’s a scooter? That’s it?” “Man, that actually makes sense… what an idea…”
The Segway was designed specifically for urban living and work conditions – you don’t need an SUV to go to the corner convenience store for a pack of cigarettes. You don’t want to walk 15 blocks to the proper subway station to catch a ride uptown… You don’t want to walk the 2 and a half miles from your house to shopping in the hot hot sun and yet you don’t want to pay extra fees for parking.
That’s where Segway came in.
Do we REALLY need cars in our major cities (New York, San Francisco are the first two towns I think of)? And yet how much do we need to depend on something that works much like our own two feet?
I’m in suburbia and I STILL want one of these things. I am not allowed to drive and can use a mode of transportation that is both powered and faster than my slow amble. I need to commute to work (2 miles away) shopping (2 miles or more – depending on where I go), and other places by myself. I want independence. As someone who doesn’t have a license and can’t get one, the Segway would provide a good deal of help. Of course, a bike could arguably do the same job….
That’s the argument for and against Segway…. We have bikes and mopeds and skateboards and golf carts that were made for certain modes of transportation. The Segway is going to cost a pretty penny for pedestrians and they need an original way of saying “This is what you want and not the other stuff.”
OK that’s my rant…. Even though it doesn’t seem to have a point :tongue
My brother Andrew has his friend over today – someone I used to be good friends with but fell out of favor with over the years. I always used to wonder what this guy did on Sunday’s because he was never available for stuff. Football. Lots and lots of football, it seems because he’s been glued to our set since 1 :tongue.
Then again, I usually am like that :wink
