The Kaabo Mantis Pro prevailed as the Best Electric Scooter Under $2500, though the field of finalists was a strong one. The Mantis Pro, with its MiniMotors drivetrain, fully-hydraulic brakes, and top-notch suspension, quashed the other contenders for being so well-rounded. Additionally, the Pro is currently well under the $2500 price limit.
Summary
The Mantis Pro is one of the best all-around scooters and is a seriously upgraded version of the Kaabo Mantis, which won the Best Electric Scooters Under $1600 category.
The Mantis Pro is one of the fastest, longest-ranged scooters of the group, but is light enough to be portable. It has fantastic ride quality and all-around premium features, including fully hydraulic brakes and a premium MiniMotors drivetrain (EYE throttle, controllers, motors). Additionally, the Pro is several hundred dollars cheaper than many of the competitors in this field.
Technical Specifications
Tested Top Speed:
37.0 mph*
Tested Range:
33.7 mi*
Weight:
65.2 lb*
Max Rider Weight:
264 lb*
Water Resistance:
None
Acceleration:
2.0 s*
**Based on our independent performance tests which may differ from manufacturer’s claims.
The Kaabo Mantis Pro is available in United States from Fluid Freeride.
Despite the Mantis Pro’s clear win here, the contenders in this category were all fairly top-notch, and there is certainly a case to be made for each one — depending on your use case. You can read more about our take on each scooter in the Runners-Up section, or a quick synopsis below:
Zero 10X: If you love the Mantis Pro, but exceeded its 264 lb weight limit the 10X, is your best choice. The Zero 10X can handle riders up to 330 lbs. The 52V 24Ah version should have comparable performance to the Mantis Pro.
Dualtron Spider: If you want an ultra-light monster scooter, the Spider is an obvious choice. The entire scooter is designed and built around the concept of being as powerful as possible, but still under 45 lbs.
Qiewa QPower: If you want the most potent scooter, for the lowest price, and don’t mind overlooked fit-and-finish, the QPower is an excellent choice. The QPower is as powerful as the most powerful scooters at any price. However, expect to make repairs/adjustments before riding and over the life of the scooter.
As we move up to looking at the best e-scooter under $2500 category, the field gets smaller, but filled with heavyweights — that is scooters that offer a lot of features and performance.
To crown the best under $2500, we began with a field of just 16 and used a simple criteria to focus on a handful of scooters that we were able to obtain and subject to intense hands-on review. In upcoming weeks and months, we’ll be expanding our hands-on testing to include a wider swath of scooters that look promising.
From these scooters, we pulled the most promising four: Dualtron Spider, Kaabo Mantis Pro,Qiewa QPower, and the Zero 10X, to compete as the Best Electric Scooter Under $2500.
We scored each scooter in terms of performance, ride, portability, and quality. Our results from the finalists are shown below.
Zero 10X - Tech Specs
Tested Top Speed:
35.5 mph*
Tested Range:
23.9 mi*
Weight:
-*
Max Rider Weight:
330 lb*
Water Resistance:
None
Acceleration:
2.8 s*
**Based on our independent performance tests which may differ from manufacturer’s claims.
Kaabo Mantis Pro - Tech Specs
Tested Top Speed:
37.0 mph*
Tested Range:
33.7 mi*
Weight:
65.2 lb*
Max Rider Weight:
264 lb*
Water Resistance:
None
Acceleration:
2.0 s*
**Based on our independent performance tests which may differ from manufacturer’s claims.
Qiewa QPower - Tech Specs
Tested Top Speed:
41.0 mph*
Tested Range:
34.3 mi*
Weight:
82.6 lb*
Max Rider Weight:
661 lb*
Water Resistance:
IPX5*
Acceleration:
1.8 s*
**Based on our independent performance tests which may differ from manufacturer’s claims.
Qiewa QPower - Tech Specs
Tested Top Speed:
40.0 mph*
Tested Range:
--
Weight:
-*
Max Rider Weight:
220 lb*
Water Resistance:
None
Acceleration:
2.6 s
**Based on our independent performance tests which may differ from manufacturer’s claims.
Performance and Rankings
Which is best at what?
Performance: (in order) Qiewa, Kaabo, Zero, Dualtron
Portability: Dualtron, Kaabo, Qiewa, Zero
Ride: Kaabo, Zero, Qiewa, Dualtron
Quality: tie for all, except Qiewa at a strong last
Motor: Qiewa at over 3000W, Zero and Kaabo at 2000W, and Dualtron at 1320W
The Qiewa QPower (above) — with performance rivaling the Kaabo Wolf Warrior 11 — smashed the performance tests.
The QPower had the highest top speed, fastest acceleration up to 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40 mph. It had the fastest hill climb time and shortest braking distance. Despite being well under the $2500 price limit, the QPower dominated the other scooters.
You can compare the tested performance of the QPower with any other scooter we’ve reviewed on our real-world performance testing page.
The Mantis Pro took second in the performance category — placing just behind the QPower in all the tests we performed.
The Zero 10X (above) we tested (lowest-powered 52 V 18 Ah version) came in third. We expect the more juiced-up 52 V/24 Ah and 60 V/21 Ah version would be much more competitive with the Mantis and Q-Power.
Though we haven’t done full performance testing for the Dualtron Spider (above), the data we have shows that it is the lowest-performing scooter of the bunch. The Spider has one of the smallest battery packs and the weakest motors of the group. The Spider is optimized for being as light as possible while still trying to remain in the “beast scooter” category — scooters that have great acceleration and high top speed. Its weight restrictions mean it can’t pack as much motor power or battery and must be lean on other features.
Ride Quality
The Kaabo Mantis Pro and Zero 10X tie for having the best ride quality. Both these scooters have robust front and rear spring suspensions with enough travel to eat dangerous potholes and maintain stability at speed. The Mantis also has the largest deck of the bunch — giving you room to get a proper and comfortable stance.
The QPower is middle-of-the-road in terms of ride quality, compared to the other scooters.
The Dualtron Spider has the lightest and least-effective suspension, which trades functionality for weight. The Spider’s suspension consists of an adjustable rubber block that is compressed to provide vibration damping.
Portability
The Spider (above) is the clear winner of portability and solidly anchored to this position, based on its incredible 44-lb weight alone. It lacks other basic portability features — including folding handlebars and a locking stem. For its performance, its weight is unbelievable.
The Mantis is the second most portable scooter. Though it is heavier than the Spider, it could be a contender for most portable if it had folding handlebars. The Mantis’ handlebars do not fold, making it nearly two feet wide when folded. However, the stem locks into place, making carrying more manageable.
The QPower is the heaviest scooter but folds compactly. In fact, the QPower folds more compactly in some dimensions that the Spider.
The Zero 10X (above) is the second heaviest and, ultimately, least portable scooter of the bunch. It doesn’t have a locking stem for carrying. The handlebars don’t fold and stick out more than 2 feet (very apparent in the photo above). Consequently, the 10X is hard to carry and not very compact when folded.
Build Quality
No scooter is a clear winner in terms of quality — each scooter has its merits and flaws — though three emerge as the top ones. These are the Mantis Pro, Dualtron Spider, and Zero 10X.
The Mantis Pro has the best structural quality of the group. The stem is rock-solid when locked into place. However, the Pro also has one of the lower rider weight capacities and shorter warranty.
The Spider (above) has very good overall build quality and could have taken first place in this category, but suffers from the dreaded Dualtron stem wobble. This phenomenon is common to all Dualtron scooters and many others — it refers to a noticeable amount of play in the handlebars, even when the folding stem is locked into place. It makes the scooter seem poorly made and is caused by play in either the steering bearings or folding mechanism.
Additionally, the Spider has the lowest rider weight capacity but is typically offered with a one-year warranty.
The Zero 10X (above) has good build quality but suffers from some issues. Getting the stem solid is finicky and requires an iterative tightening process to get it dialed in. Once dialed in, it won’t wobble like the Spider. The 10X tends to have a somewhat creaky suspension — especially when the scooter is new. This can be resolved with some silicon oil but gives the impression of diminished quality out-of-the-box.
The Qiewa QPower (above) clearly trailed the other scooters in terms of quality. The main trade-off for the being least expensive side, yet most-powerful electric scooter (rivaling those such as the Thunder and Wolf Warrior 11, which retail for almost twice as much) is quality. On the model we received, the folding handlebars required some adjustments and filling off some metal to get them folding correctly. Some accessory bolts were also loose and had to be re-tightened and secured with thread locker.
On the plus side, the QPower has the highest max rider weight limit — a massive 440 lbs. It also has one of the most extended warranties of one year.
Summary
The Kaabo Mantis Pro is available in United States from Fluid Freeride.
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The Kaabo Mantis Pro is the Best Electric Scooter Under $2500 in a field of legit competitors. It is a worthy upgrade of the Kaabo Mantis base version. However, in considering the needs of an
Runners-Up
The Dualtron Spider is the reigning pound-for-pound champion of “beast” electric scooters. It is a premium and incredibly engineered piece of machinery. The engineers at MiniMotors have made design choices around the idea of building the most powerful scooter while keeping it under 45 lbs. While we love this scooter, the design compromises and premium price point keep it from being the best scooter under $2500. The benefit of being just 45 lbs isn’t enough to outweigh the scooter’s lower performance, battery capacity, mediocre suspension, and lack of useful portability features. For a modest weight increase, you can instead get the Mantis Pro, which beats out the Spider in every respect and is significantly less expensive.
The Qiewa QPower is an absolute monster at a bottom-basement price — giving you two powerful motors and a massive battery pack bolted to a hefty metal frame. The scooter has all the features you’d expect from a monster scooter, including giant tubeless pneumatic tires and fully hydraulic brakes. However, the assembly and fit-and-finish are lacking. We had to go through the scooter, tighten every bolt, and make adjustments to the handlebars and brakes. The scooter has been reliable thus far, but we anticipate having to wrench on it in the future. The QPower is a blast to ride due to its impressive power, yet judged that the poor fit-and-finish outweighed the scooter’s merits. For about the same price, the Mantis Pro delivers nearly as much power, nearly as much range, yet better quality, and overall better ownership experience.
The Zero 10X has long been one of our favorite scooters due to its wonderful balance of weight, power, quality, and price. Since our initial review and testing of the lowest-tiered 10X (52V 21 Ah), several newer versions have been released, that are likely better challengers to the Mantis Pro. However, as it stands, the Mantis Pro prevails over the 10X due to its better performance and portability. Still, there is a strong case to be made for the 10X. If you love the Mantis Pro but exceed its weight capacity, then the 10X is your best choice. It can handle riders up to 330 lbs. If you opt for the upgraded 52 V/24 Ah or 60 V/21 Ah versions, you’ll get performance closer to that of the Mantis Pro.
Full Methodology For Selecting Best Electric Scooter Under $2500
We considered a field of approximately 20 electric scooters — all costing between $1600 and $2500. We excluded any scooters that weren’t available as of 2020 then applied a simple criteria to narrow down to the most promising electric scooters.
Max weight of at least 220 lbs. We chose these criteria because we are looking for powered scooters for adults.
Only well-known, established brands. We excluded brands that have recently appeared, on Amazon for example, that may not be around in the next few months.
Battery capacity of more than 900 watt-hours. This ensures a range of at least 20 miles, which is reasonable at this price.
After applying these criteria, we were left with a handful of unique challengers from notable brands: Inokim, Kaabo, MiniMotors, Qiewa, and Zero.
Evaluating the Finalists
We evaluated the finalists in four areas: performance, ride, portability, and quality.
Performance. Performance basically describes fast the scooter goes, how far it goes, and how quickly it accelerates and stops. Factors affecting this are brake type, motor power, controller power, and battery capacity. All scooters are tested under the same conditions with a 165 lb rider. We use high-precision Racelogic GPS unit — the same type used for performance car testing. We use this type of unit because cell phone-based performance logging is unreliable for many of these tests. For performance, we consider:
Acceleration time (0 to 15 mph)
Top speed
Range (100% to 0% charge)
Stopping distance from 15 mph
Ride. Ride or ride quality basically describes the feeling and stability of the scooter on a variety of terrain. Some scooters have a great ride on smooth roads but are punishing on poor ones. Features that affect ride quality are tire type and size, the geometry of the scooter, and the presence or lack of suspension. To test ride quality, we typically ride the scooter for several weeks and for around 100 miles. We test the scooter on the following types of terrain/conditions:
Roads in good/bad repair
Dirt trails
Riding over grass
Up and downhill
Wet and dry conditions
Portability. Portability describes how easy a scooter is to carry, store, and bring onto public transportation. Some things that affect portability are weight, folded dimensions, and folding mechanism. We specifically rate portability, based on:
Weight
Folded dimensions
Folding ease and speed
Carrying ease
Quality. Quality encompasses how well the scooter was designed and assembled. We also consider warranty duration and post-purchase support data, if known. Some scooters need a full tune-up as soon as you take them out of the box, while others are ready to ride. To rate quality, we consider the following factors:
Fit and finish
Quality of components
How solid the scooter feels
Noise or rattling parts
Drop test, repeated three times
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