#HTE

The MovPak: The Backpack That Carries You

The two-wheeled “hoverboard” trend appears to be over, at least in NYC. Last year they were a common sight on sidewalks here, but the whole spontaneously-bursting-into-flames thing appears to have hurt sales, and I haven’t seen one in months. Perhaps the MovPak will be the next trend in alternative personal transportation:

The 17-pound MovPak will carry a 240-pound person, or at least that’s what the developers recommend as the maximum weight capacity. The range is 10 miles, presumably helped along by the regenerative braking. The lithium-ion batteries reach full charge with two hours of plug-in time.

Seventeen pounds sounds like a lot to carry on your back before you’ve even loaded it (unless you’re one of these guys), so it’s clever that they’ve designed it to be rolled around like a carry-on bag. The developers are claiming that the bag has ample storage space alongside the board and motor…

…though the amount of call-outs they’re using does make you feel a bit suspicious, like a blind date reciting their entire resume:

Nevertheless, 150-plus IndieGogo backers have no doubt that this is a good solution, and at press time they’d received $103,510 in funding on a $50,000 goal. The $599 object is projected to ship in September of this year, and there’s still a month left to pledge.

(One caveat: The MovPak was developed in sunny Florida, and those of you that live in Oregon are S.O.L.; read the fine print and you’ll see the MovPak cannot be ridden in rain or where there is water on the ground.)