I spent three weekends hunting for a good kid’s hoverboard – here’s where I actually found the right one
My nephew turned 8 back in August, and all he wanted for his birthday was a hoverboard. My sister was up to her ears in sleepless nights with the new baby, so I volunteered to pick one out, figuring it’d be an hour of scrolling and click buy. Ha. That’s not how it went.
I started on Amazon, like everyone does these days. I stayed up after my own two kids went to bed, sipping cold coffee, scrolling through thousands of listings. Every description sounded exactly the same: “Safe for kids!” “Long battery life!” “Durable design!” The reviews were either generic 5-stars that read like they were written by a robot (“Great product, fast delivery”) or unhinged 1-star rants about the thing smoking halfway through the first ride. I ended up grabbing a cheap $89 one, figuring it’s fine – he’ll outgrow it in a year anyway, right?
It showed up three days later, box crumpled at the corners, and when I pried it open, the rubber foot pads were already peeling off the edges. I plugged the charger in just to test, and it hit me with that acrid burning plastic smell, the kind that makes you yank the plug out immediately and step back like it might explode. So I had to return it. I dragged my 4-year-old with me to the UPS drop off, he had a blue popsicle that melted all down his arm and onto my passenger seat, I waited 20 minutes in line, and by the time I got out I was already annoyed.
Next I tried Facebook Marketplace. Figured I’d get a gently used one for half price, kids outgrow them so fast anyway, right? I found one posted an hour away, “like new, only used twice”, $50. Met the lady at a gas station off the highway, she had it in the back of her minivan, said the battery died so I couldn’t test it, just charge it when I get home. I’m an idiot, I handed her the cash. Got home, charged it for 8 hours, turned it on, it died after 30 seconds of wiggling across the driveway. Texted her, no reply. Waste of $50 and an hour of driving. Scratch that off the list.
Then I went to Target, on a Saturday. I figured big box, I can see it in person, hold it, check it out before I buy, right? It was the weekend before school started, so the place was a zoo. All the hoverboards were locked up behind customer service, so I had to ask a 16-year-old kid working there to go get the keys. He couldn’t find them for 15 minutes, and halfway through that wait my 4-year-old whispered that he had to pee and couldn’t hold it. I ended up changing his underwear in the parking lot on the trunk of my car, while a minivan full of soccer moms stared. By the time we got back, the kid found the keys, and there were only two options: a LOL Surprise branded one for $180 that weighed like 30 pounds, and a no-name generic one that looked even cheaper than the Amazon dud I returned. I lifted the LOL one up, and it felt like carrying a cinder block. I couldn’t imagine an 8 year old dragging that thing up the driveway if it died mid-ride. So I left empty handed, got an overly salty soft pretzel from the food court, and was this close to just giving him a gift card and calling it a day.
Driving home, I passed that little independent skate shop on Main Street, the one with the cracked neon sign that says “Bob’s Skates” that I’ve driven past a hundred times and never gone into. I was already out, already grumpy, figured why not stop. It’s tiny, smells like old rubber and Gatorade, there’s a guy behind the counter in a faded 90s skate tee eating a turkey sandwich, crumbs all over the counter. I mumbled that I was looking for a hoverboard for an 8 year old beginner, expecting him to say they don’t carry that. But he nodded, gestured to a little shelf by the door, had about 8 of them, all different sizes for little kids.
He didn’t try to push the most expensive one, which surprised me. The fanciest one there had Bluetooth and flashing rainbow lights for $220, but he said “that’s for teens who want to show off. Your 8 year old doesn’t need all that. The Bluetooth drains the battery in an hour, and half the time the lights break after a month of kids riding it over curbs.” He pulled out one for $120, lighter, max speed capped at 7 mph, which is slow enough that he won’t go flying into the street. Said it’s got a solid steel frame, not the cheap plastic that cracks if you drop it off the porch.
He even said bring the kid back tomorrow to test it, so we did, tested it in the little empty parking spot behind the shop, he adjusted the speed sensitivity once because my nephew said it was too jittery, didn’t charge me extra. Gave me a handwritten note with his cell number, said if anything goes wrong in the first six months, just bring it back, he’ll fix it for free, no warranty nonsense to fill out.
I always assumed local shops would be way more expensive than Amazon or Target, right? This was only $10 more than the garbage Amazon one I got, and $60 cheaper than that heavy LOL one at Target.
It’s been three months now. Nephew rides it every single day after school, all around the block. He fell once last month, scraped his knee pretty good, the hoverboard didn’t even get a scratch. He originally wanted the flashy lights, but now all his friends ask to ride it because it doesn’t die halfway through their play session, unlike half the ones their parents got from big box sites.
I don’t know, this isn’t some big universal advice thing. If your kid is dead set on a Spider-Man or Barbie hoverboard, you’re gonna have to go to Target or order it online. I still have the return shipping label for that first Amazon dud taped to my fridge, I keep forgetting to send the box back. The bad Marketplace one is sitting in my garage too, waiting for me to bring it to the dump next weekend, probably. But for what it’s worth, the best kid’s hoverboard I found wasn’t on some curated list online, it was in the back of a tiny skate shop no one really goes into anymore, from a guy who eats sandwiches behind the counter and knows what actually breaks when kids ride them. That’s just how it worked out for me.
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