Toyota Announces the Winglet, Wannabe Segway Killer

Various gadget/toy venues are writing about the Toyota Winglet, a diminutive Segway-like personal transporter. (Toyota took over Sony's robot division a year back.) It comes in three sizes and offers about a third the speed and a quarter the range of the Segway; on the upside, it charges in an hour vs. Segway's 10 hours. Wired writes: "The Winglet is the first gadget to duplicate the celebrated, and often mocked, navigation system of the Segway Transporter."

Comments

Early abandoners.

[Snufu]

Segway Killer

You can't kill what's already dead.

Re:Early abandoners.

[Anonymous Coward]

Come now, the gay little scooter market is far from dead.

I dunno

[93 Escort Wagon]

Toyota's got a lot of catching up to do - the Segway has already taken the world by storm.

Re:I dunno

[j01123]

Toyota's got a lot of catching up to do - the Segway has already taken the world by storm.

I can hardly remember life before the Segway.

Re:I dunno

[mobby_6kl]

That was a joke, but we shall see who'll be laughing once the Chinese segway cavalry rolls over your defensive lines.

Both McCain and Obama,

[Snufu]

if elected, pledge to make it their highest priority to fall off one.

Severely disappointed

[Ihmhi]

I was severely disappointed with the Segway. I hear about the "revolution in personal transportation" PR they had going, and I expected one of three things:

* jetpacks
* hovercars / flying cars
* teleporters

And instead, I get a golfcart cut in half with a gyroscope and scooter handlebars added. What a fucking disappointment.

Re:Severely disappointed

[Tablizer]

PR they had going, and I expected one of three things: * jetpacks * hovercars / flying cars * teleporters

The Jetsons have f*cked everyone's expectations. See, if you watched Flintstones, you weren't disappointed when the bottom rusted out of your car, exposing your feet to raw road.
       

Helpful to use at big stores / warehouses

[dj42]

These would be cool at big stores. I hate walking around all the fat sweaty people at walmart to get to the automotive section or something. If I had one of these, I could probably use speed and agility to avoid their odor and plump bodies, or just run them down by attaching spikes to the front.

Useless

[Anonymous Coward]

offers about a third the speed and a quarter the range of the Segway

IOW, it's twelve times as useless!

Re:Undead, perhaps?

[j01123]

I actually want this to take off.

So do I, but unfortunately it doesn't have a jet pack, it's just low speed scooter.

Re:baby winglet?

[Ethanol-fueled]

That's so kids can become fat and lazy before they're old enough to play videogames and browse slashdot.

Re:There is something to kill?

[untaken_name]

Paris has tours on segways. Also, I have seen them available in a couple of Spanish cities.

They are hardly dead. It seems like they are in use for more things every day.

Born in America, despised in America, loved in Europe. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Segway: the David Hasselhoff of personal people movers.

Re:Or you could just oh I don't know

[Anonymous Coward]

The only car that could get you a threesome are cars with only two seats.

Segway killer?

[linuxelf]

I thought the Segway was the Segway killer...