How to Spot Fake Hoverboards
Posted by Tom Lee on
Hoverboard was one of the hottest toys of last year. Whether you love them, or just hate them, they are here to stay. Kids love them, celebrities can’t live without them and they are otherwise great transportation vehicles fit for everyone of every age. Up until recently, the Internet started buzzing with shocking reports of hoverboards catching fire.
Major online outlets like Amazon started emailing their customers instructing them on how to use their hoverboard – or worst, asking them to discard it in return for a full refund. They also temporarily removed their hoverboard inventory from their store as a precautionary measure.
What Make Hoverboard Catching Fire?
Experts seem to have boiled it down. The gist of the problem was apparently the lithium batteries catching fire. Now, under normal circumstances, this rarely happens, to genuine Hoverboards made by reputable manufacturers. But evidence shows that the mobility vehicles catching fire used cheaper, imitation parts in its charger, circuitry, and batteries.
In light of this alarming situation, here is a quick write-up that will show you how to spot a fake hoverboard.
Real or Fake Hoverboard. How to Spot?
Is the Name Spelt Correctly?
You will often find fake hoverboards, usually, those coming from China have the name intentionally misspelled. For example, a popular Hoverboard brand like Swegway will have an imitation called Smagway. This is done intentionally for legal reasons, but it is a dead giveaway that it is an imitation and, therefore, must be avoided. They can be an exact replica of the original, and hard to tell by just looking at them. But inside, they use inferior materials.
Are They too Cheap?
Hoverboards are not the cheapest of gizmos. They are in fact very pricey. A good hoverboard will cost you, at least $300 with shipping if you are buying online. As with anything else, if it looks too good to be true, it probably isn’t.
Avoid buying hoverboards exclusively at their cheap price. A hoverboard that is too cheap should ring an alarm because no reputable manufacturer can sell a hoverboard for less than $150. And if they do, you can know that they have missed a lot of quality control and used cheaper materials in their product.
Those will not last, is a terrible waste of money and can potentially harm you, as we have seen above, with hoverboards catching fire.
Do They Have a Premium Look?
Hoverboards are not just about mobility. They are also about looking. An original product will look distinct and premium. Since it was designed by top-dog engineers from a reputable firm, you can easily tell the difference between a real and a fake hoverboard by just taking a gander. Normally, their price will match their looks. A cheap price will almost invariably imply a design that is not very aesthetically pleasing – a fake.
Look at the Manual
If a hoverboard is fake, the manual will be equally bad. Fake hoverboards come with manuals that have bad translations (from Chinese), typos and grammatical mistakes. The quality of the manual speaks volumes on the authenticity of the board.
Real brands make manuals that have a premium look, with quality paper, illustrative drawings and comprehensive text with no errors. Some also use holograms distinctive to their brands. The manual will come with support information such as websites, emails and telephone numbers. They have nothing to hide.
Their manuals are also easily found online, usually on the manufacturer support website. If you can’t find the manual of a particular hoverboard online, it is probably from a dodgy origin, and most probably a fake.
Do They Respect Standards?
Standards are rules for manufacturers so that they make products that are tried and tested by consumer boards. A hoverboard that is fake will not obey those standards. All real hoverboards come with the trading standard of BS1363 on their charger plug. Many experts say to avoid a hoverboard that does not have this standard on their charger plug.
Are They too Light?
While being light in technology instinctively rhymes with good, in the world of hoverboards, it is not necessarily a good thing. A hoverboard that is too light shows that it is using cheaper plastic-based materials.
Does It Squeak?
A well-built hoverboard will not make annoying sounds. If it squeaks, it is because it was not engineered in the most optimal way and a fake.
Customer Feedback
Probably the easiest way to tell if a hoverboard is fake. It is unlikely that you are the first person to ever buy a particular hoverboard. By going to websites like Amazon.com and reading the customer reviews, you will get a general idea of the authenticity of the product. People generally despise fakes and if the hoverboard is a fake – you will know about it! They will have bad ratings and mostly negative comments.
Conclusion
We come to an end of those quick and easy ways on how to spot fake hoverboards. Remember, a hoverboard should provide you with hours of fun, not trouble. Fake hoverboards are mostly trouble without fun.
