Xiaomi Electric Scooter 4 Pro Review

Oct 22, 2024

Topics I will cover

Design & Comfort

The design of the Xiaomi Electric Scooter 4 Pro favours minimalism and a modern-like feel, with a black aluminium finish and a gray silicone for the handlebars, along with the overall shape of it: the rounded corners and straight lines - the feel is meant to appeal to the younger generations without screaming wealth.

The handlebar is comfortable to hold and at a good height. The controls are all within reach, and the overall ergonomics of it are quite good.

Performance

The scooter is made for great performance. Which makes sense. It's one of the highest end models the company offers. It can go roughly 60 km on a single charge, albeit the charging takes up to 9 hours. The top speed is divided between three modes. Walking mode, ideal for walking alongside someone, is limited to 6 km/h. Driving / regular mode is limited to 20 km/h, and is the recommended mode for beginners. It is relatively fast, but does not feel excessively fast. Lastly, there is sport mode, which has the full 25 km/h speed. This mode is only for experienced riders, but I found that I picked it up really quickly, only needed a few minutes to get acquainted with the regular mode before I moved onto sport mode. If you know the basics of how to ride a bike or scooter, you'll be fine. This mode also feels fast. It may be a tiny jump, 20 -> 25 km/h, but it feels like a huge one, as that is roughly the speed at which wind starts to really pick up around you.

In regular, day to day use, you likely won't ever get above the speed limit, as even when going downhill, the regenerative braking will slow you down plenty to at least maintain a constant speed. On higher tiers it will lead to a speed decrease, too. In terms of uphill riding, I did not notice any issues while going uphill. There are slopes with an even bigger angle, however those are quite far from me and aren't ones you would encounter daily. Even then, I feel as though the scooter can handle them just fine.

Safety

The safety of e-scooters is a highly controversial topic. And for good reason. There's many reasons why I believe their safety is particularly questionable in relation to something like an e-bike.

First, the acceleration. It's way too fast. No scooter should ever be able to go from 0 to 25 km/h in under a second. Sure, you do have control over the speed and the driver is who changes all that, and on modes like walking or regular it is limited, but all of that stuff is electronic / software-based. Which is inherently not safe. If the software has a bug, which it most certainly might, it could end up bad. For instance, if the software-based limiter decided to break as the user was in walking mode, they would go flying into whatever direction they were going. If you are in a crowded place, this could be very bad.

Second, the accelerator system. It's a dial on the handlebar that you control with your thumb. The problem? If you keep your hand on the accelerator, your grip on the right side of the handlebar becomes way weaker and more prone to suddenly flying off. I recall this on my first test ride, I was going down a slope at roughly 10 km/h and I hit a rock. On my bike I wouldn't even feel it, but here my right hand shot right off the handlebar and I had to jump off so that I wouldn't fall.

Then there's the braking. God this test was terrifying to perform, but alas, anything for that proper review. Before running the test I swapped to the high regenerative braking mode. From there, I accelerated up to 25 km/h, reached a point I could easily see, and slammed on the brakes.

The results are flawed in many ways, but I would estimate a roughly 2-3m stopping distance for the scooter and a 3-4m stopping distance for the user. I say this because as I was braking, the scooter stopped too quick and I had to jump off to avoid tipping over. Of course, if you need to stop now, this is good, and you do have fine control over the brakes, so I would say this part is among the few good ones. Still, it takes way too long to stop if you have under a second to react, so I'm not by any means happy with scooters being on the same path as pedestrians, but I guess this is the "future".

And to end off the negative safety aspects, I really dislike the stability. Sure, the rotational deadzone is really good, that's about the only good part about the stability. With how small the wheels are, it's a given that any minor rise or fall in the road will be felt. After a few hours of test riding it, I got used to the feeling, but it isn't exactly confidence-inspiring. At lower speeds it's way better and I'm sure with enough infrastructure overhauls we could get to the point that this is a non-issue, but as it stands right now, in my city, there's far too much debris on the road and bumps in the pavement for me to even get close to considering this to be my daily driver form of transit, even if the ability to go up hills quick and without effort is nice.

However, there are some good things. For one, the walking mode is a huge benefit. Locking the speed to 6 km/h may make it useless to me, who walks at ~8, but it is amazing for people like my dad, who really doesn't like walking but wants to accompany my mom, who loves walking. It also helps in urban environments where there may be a great deal of people. One of the big issues with a bike is how hard it is to maintain an excessively slow speed, I mean I know how to do it and do it often, but not everyone has that level of stability.

At the end of the day, however, all of this is not nearly as dangerous as what could happen, what could happen to any scooter. There's been a whole lot of reports lately from scooters catching fire all over the place. For now there isn't a definitive reason as to why this happens, but from what I can see, the leading theory is shoddy build quality and / or third party batteries. Either way, if you do get this scooter, only charge it when you're at home and able to supervise the charging. If you can, keep a fire extinguisher within arm's reach. It may sound excessive, but these issues are not one-offs, they're part of a bigger issue.

Software

The scooter itself has most of the basic functions loaded onto itself. The app is mandatory, but you can easily enjoy a ride without ever even opening the app. The only two controls that are app-exclusive are the regenerative breaking strength control and locking the motor. Everything else, the lights, the bell, the turn indicators - it's all on the scooter. Though the app is necessary for OTA updates.

The connection is made through bluetooth, which is perfectly fine as you don't really have a need to control this thing from a kilometer away, but something like a built-in tracker that connects to the app would be nice considering how expensive, and thus valuable, the scooter is, and especially considering the fact that the scooter does not come with a lock by default and that has to be bought separately.

Crucially, however, Xiaomi Home (the app you need), does not offer you the ability to share the device controls with multiple people, so you either have to make one shared account or life with the fact that only one of you will have true control over the scooter at a time.

Built-in features

In terms of built in features, this scooter offers just the basics. There is the bell, the light + tail / stop light, and the turn indicator. In case any BMW drivers are reading this, that's the little flashy lights on the right and left of the handlebars that help others be aware of whether you're about to make a turn. I wish it had something like even a tiny cargo space, and a water bottle holder should be practically standard on every kind of bicycle / scooter style vehicle, but that's another missing feature. The bell is loud and very easy to initiate, so much so that at times going over a rock made it ring a little, and the light is perfectly bright for night-time riding. The turn indicators are good, and they also make a beeping sound to alert other pedestrians of your presence. There is also the option to keep the tail light permanently on, which I find nice. It reacts to braking, so if you press down on the brakes, the light will also indicate that, even on its always on mode.

Closing thoughts

While I'm not a fan of electric scooters, nor am I a fan of the future we seem to be heading towards, the Xiaomi Electric Scooter 4 Pro is genuinely a pretty good option for its price. I managed to get it on sale for 300€, and I don't think that there is much that can compete with the offerings of this scooter. And while I won't use it myself, I can see this being a desireable option for some.