Back in 1989, when Back to the Future II hit theatres, who could have foreseen the headline Wiz Khalifa Busted At LAX For Riding Hoverboard? But here we are in 2015, and hoverboards are everywhere. Or rather "hoverboards" are everywhere. What passes for a hoverboard these days is really a Segway without the stick.
The self-correcting scooters - OK, hoverboard sounds so much better - you've seen all over the place will likely be big this holiday season. Walmart is set to stock them, and since they're a fairly reasonable price, they'll probably fly off the shelves. Unless Mark Cuban has anything to say about it.
The entrepreneur came across the IO Hawk hoverboard on his show Shark Tank and bought the patent. The thing is, IO Hawk sells for US$1,800 while a fleet of identical-looking hoverboards from other brands are less than US$500. So Cuban has threatened to sue Walmart should it sell any hoverboard but the Hawk. "They are in for a nightmare," he told BuzzFeed.
For right now, though, hoverboards are a dream come true. Here are a few other awesome boards you might want to check out (lest they face the wrath of Cuban's legal team).
1. Hoverboard
This Kickstarter project still has a ways to go before it reaches its US$500,000 goal. But the device is a one-wheel wonder that looks a lot closer to the Back to the Future board of everyone's dreams. Its creators describe it as a "Tesla, compressed down to scooter size." The Hoverboard has sonar modules that ping the ground to keep the board parallel on all sorts of surfaces. To get one, though, you'll need to pledge at least US$3,775.
2. Hendo Hoverboard
The Hendo Hoverboard does actually hover. The caveat is that it can do so for just a short time and only over a magnetized surface (even Tony Hawk had some trouble). The Hendo Hoverboard emerged as a side project for its maker, Arx Pax, which developed magnetic field architecture technology to protect buildings from floods and earthquakes. The Hendo 2.0 will launch on Oct. 21, 2015, which is the day that Marty McFly and Doc Brown arrived in the future in BTTF II.
3. Lexus Slide
Lexus made a real(ish) hoverboard called the Slide. The Lexus Slide hovers through a combination of magnets and superconductors cooled by lots and lots of liquid nitrogen. Granted it can't float above anything but Lexus' specially constructed hover park, but it's still pretty McFly.
4. IO Hawk
The IO Hawk looks like all the other US$200-US$500 hoverboards out there, but it's US$1,800.
5. Erover
This is the style of hoverboard that's starting to take over the streets. The Erover is a simple two-wheeled scooter that self-balances. It travels about 10 mph and can go 10 miles per charge max (dependent on the weight of the operator). Be careful over sidewalk cracks, though. One reviewer said they "almost had to use my ObamaCare."
6. i-Fly Two Bluetooth
The i-Fly Two Bluetooth is Wiz Khalifa's hoverboard of choice. Maybe it's because it can play "Black and Yellow" from its Bluetooth speakers or maybe because it comes in those colours.
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