What are the two-wheeled contraptions people are riding to class now? It’s not a skateboard and it’s not a scooter. Some call it a hover board; but what exactly are they and where did they come from?

The two-wheeled devices are a self-balancing scooter, although called many names, this seems to be the most common. There are many sellers and companies that sell their own versions of a self-balancing scooter.

The prices, according to the first page of Amazon results, range from around $300 to $600. But I have also seen prices ranging up into the $1000s.

One seller’s website, PhunkeeDuck, said that one full charge of the self-balancing scooter can last over ten miles, or six to seven hours and the scooter can reach up to 12 miles per hour. The seller’s website says charging time takes up to two to three hours. With all of its features, the PhunkeeDuck scooter is priced at $1,499.99.

Another seller, IO Hawk, in an instructional video said sensors in the scooter sense weight distribution for turning and going forward and backward.

IO Hawk’s video makes the scooters look relatively easy to use and explains how to turn your feet to get the scooter to move where you want it to go. From a glance, the scooters seem to be pretty sturdy. I have never been on one and I am sure that if I have the opportunity, I would probably find riding one to be a challenge.

These scooters seem to be catching on quick. Celebrities and people on campus are riding them.

A popular Youtuber, Casey Neistat, did a review video on the self-balancing scooter, which he calls both a “hands free Segway thing” and a “hover board”. Neistat let some people try out the scooter in his video and they did not seem to easily ride the device at first. Neistat handled the scooter pretty well and even made some of his own modifications to the device in his video. Neistat said in his video that ordering the scooter directly from China lowers the price to around $200.

I would definitely like to try one out, just because I would like to see if I could successfully ride this scooter better than I have any other transportation device, like roller skates and skateboards; things I have failed at miserably on the first try.

We still have yet to see how far this scooter craze goes, but my prediction is that it will not be short-lived.