Even since Back to the Future showed Marty McFly flying to the future on his hoverboard, it’s become everyone’s dream to get one for themselves. When the real-life hoverboards were launched, most people saw their dream come true, despite the device’s inability to hover or time travel.
These new-age scooters have become an internet sensation ever since they launched in 2015. From your favorite celebrities to kids on the block, everyone was riding them. But what’s so special about these electric hoverboards, and why are they still selling like hot cakes? Let’s find out.
The Term “Hoverboard”
The term hoverboard itself is quite popular, thanks to the Back to the Future movie franchise. The second part of this movie series shows Marty McFly riding to the future on a floating skateboard that he calls “hoverboard”. Although the actual hoverboard doesn’t float (and there’s no such product yet that does), the name alone gave it a lot of boost in popularity when it was first released.
Celebrity Endorsements
Celebrity endorsements have a big role in the popularity of hoverboards. When they were released, not a single day passed without watching a video of celebrities riding and having fun on a hoverboard. When you see your favorite celebrities or influencers use hoverboards, you’re automatically tempted to buy that product. From Jamie Foxx riding it on Jimmy Fallon’s show, or celebrities like Justin Bieber and Wiz Khalifa taking videos of themselves riding hoverboards, they were everywhere. This increased the charm and appeal of hoverboards and made them a sensation.
New and Attractive Technology
Any new technology that offers something valuable becomes instantly popular in today’s digital era. A hoverboard is a new and exciting piece of technology that also comes with ease of access and affordable rates. Whether people need it for themselves or want a good birthday or Christmas gift, they usually opt for hoverboards because they are easily available, look cool, and come at reasonable prices.
It’s rare to get a brand new technology that your favorite celebrity uses at a low price, but hoverboard manufacturers make sure to set prices according to everyone’s budget. Moreover, most technologies are patented, and only a few can make them, which is why they are not easily accessible and come at a hefty price. No single company owns the copyright to the hoverboards; anyone can create it and set the price accordingly, increasing their customers. Many hoverboard manufacturers in the market offer variations in the products such as LED lights, Bluetooth that allows users to listen to music while riding, attractive designs, water resistance, etc.
Cool Tricks
Hoverboard goes beyond transporting you from one place to another; it can let you perform many cool tricks, making it a strong competition of other board sports. Here are some of those tricks you can do:
- The Spin: this trick is easy and beginner-friendly and lets you spin around on your hoverboard.
- Sitting Spin: same as the spin, but you do it by sitting on the hoverboard, making it a little difficult to attempt.
- The Turnstyle: It is one of the coolest and most advanced tricks. With this trick, you spin the board in a circle, jump 180 degrees and land back on the board..
- One Foot Circle: Another advanced trick where you have to spin with just one foot.
- Hoverboard Headstand: Apparently, you can do a headstand while riding a hoverboard, and it’s of the biggest tricks anyone can do.
Getting to do all these tricks with a single board can tempt anyone to buy it. No wonder hoverboards instantly got so popular.
Health Benefits
A hoverboard is more than just cool tricks and riding around town on your flashy technology. It requires a lot of abdominal muscle strength and muscle control and offers multiple health benefits to the users, such as:
· Burning Calories
Did you know riding a hoverboard for half-hour can burn up to 300 calories? The more your muscles are engaged during hoverboarding, the more calories you burn. S-shaped hoverboards burn the most calories.
· Helps with Posture
Hoverboards are great alternatives to bikes because they keep your back straight, and you don’t have to hunch over them. Keeping your back straight while riding engages your core and gets a full body workout without feeling exhausted.
· Improves Reflexes
Riding on a hoverboard increases your ability to balance and improves your reflexes over time.
· Improves Focus
You need to be more aware of your surroundings to ride hoverboards safely. They do look small and harmless, but they run at a fast speed. Riding hoverboards requires concentration and focus while maintaining balance and keeping up with their speed.
Eco-Friendliness
Just like electric bikes and cars, hoverboards don’t emit harmful gases because they run on battery power. Using rechargeable batteries reduces pollution or poisonous gases, lessens the use of scarce resources, and promotes sustainability. With growing awareness and environmental considerations, many people are buying eco-friendly devices to reduce their carbon footprint. This is another major reason for their popularity.
Affordable Transport
People avoid riding their cars or bikes for shorter distances to save fuel costs and pollution, and hoverboards offer a convenient and affordable means of transport. Their prices are much lower than bikes and cars, and you only need to charge their batteries to use them. Besides fuel, you can also save a lot of money on maintenance and repairs because they are quite durable. This is why many people get hoverboards to ride around a town or campus.
Getting a hoverboard gives more benefits to the user than electric skateboards or any other sports board. They are affordable, convenient, and have a wide range of uses.
At Outdoor Trends, you can read more about hoverboards. We’ve reviewed and rated best professional hoverboards of 2022, commuter eBikes, best portable kayak fish finders for 2022, and much more. Check out our blogs to explore the latest trends and products.
