MagWheel T3 Range Test – Poor Man’s OneWheel GT with DJI Neo 2 Drone Follow

Today’s post is a bit of a mix between tech, toys, and staying active. I took my newly acquired MagWheel T3 out for a proper shakedown ride while having the DJI Neo 2 drone track and follow me for most of it.

The goal:

• See how this used MagWheel T3 actually rides

• Find out what kind of real-world range I can get

• Decide if it’s worth upgrading with a VESC controller (and maybe a new battery) and turning it into a “poor man’s OneWheel GT”.

MagWheel T3 vs OneWheel – First Impressions

Visually, the MagWheel T3 looks a lot like a OneWheel. Big central hub motor, single wheel, board on top. But the ride experience, especially with the original controller, is very different.

• My MagWheel T3 is an older, pre-VESC model with the stock MagWheel controller.

• Newer MagWheels and Trotters often come with VESC controllers, which give a ride much closer to a OneWheel in terms of smoothness and responsiveness.

Right now, my board feels:

• Jerky compared to a OneWheel

• A bit unpredictable in long turns (the nose can suddenly dip more than you’d expect)

• Awkward when mounting and dismounting until you get used to its behavior

On a OneWheel, the board won’t really engage until you’re level on the footpads. With the MagWheel T3, it starts at an angle and slowly comes up to level while you’re already on it. That alone takes some getting used to.

But the big selling point:
I picked this thing up used for about $195. For that price, I was expecting some compromises and probably a tired battery.

Riding Characteristics – The “Buck and Chuck” Factor

This board is fine on smooth pavement and mellow paths. Where things get sketchy is:

• Bumps, roots, curbs, and rough patches

• When you’re going faster and hit something uneven

• When the board starts a rocking or “bucking” motion

Instead of just a straight-up nosedive like a OneWheel can do when pushed too hard, the MagWheel tends to rock back and forth. If you overreact to that movement (like overcorrecting a fishtail in a car), you just make it worse and increase your chances of getting tossed.

What I’ve found helps:

• Stay relaxed and don’t over-correct

• Slow down for bumps and curbs

• Accept that this board takes more skill and finesse than a OneWheel, especially in stock form

By the end of the ride, I was noticeably more comfortable. I could roll up small curbs and deal with chunks of rough pavement as long as I kept my speed reasonable and didn’t panic when it started to “buck”.

Battery, Range & Power – How Did It Actually Do?

Let’s talk numbers, because that’s where this ride got surprisingly positive.

The MagWheel T3 I have:

• Runs a 60V system

• Battery is around 6Ah (~300Wh)

• Has a 1500W hub motor (roughly double the rated motor wattage of a OneWheel GT on paper, though controller and voltage/amps matter more than that number alone)

Remember, I bought this used. The previous owner told me he was only getting about 15 minutes of ride time, and it felt underpowered. When I picked it up, the tire was basically flat – my pump read 0 PSI. So he was likely riding on a almost-flat tire, which absolutely murders range and performance.

On my test ride:

• I rode about 8.5–9 miles total

• At 8.25 miles, I got my first 25% battery warning beeps

• I purposely ended the ride on a good note instead of running it right down to empty

Based on that:

• I’m comfortable saying I can get about 10 miles of real-world range out of this used battery

• With a fresh, higher-capacity battery (say 8Ah or so), I could probably push that into the 12–15 mile zone

For context, a OneWheel GT has:

• Higher overall battery capacity (around 9–10Ah)

• Slightly higher voltage (around 62–63V)

So the GT will still win on range, but this MagWheel T3 is shockingly decent, especially considering its age and price.

Speed & Safety

I didn’t try to break any land speed records here.

• I got the MagWheel T3 up to almost 15 mph

• I never hit speed warning beeps during the ride

• The board clearly has more top-end speed available

For me personally:

• Around 15 mph already feels fast enough, especially on a board I’m still getting used to

• At that speed, if you bail, you still have a chance to run it out and not completely destroy yourself

• Once you start pushing into the 20+ mph territory, crashes get more serious very quickly

With a VESC controller installed, this board should easily and safely do 20+ mph, but again, that doesn’t mean you should ride it there all the time—especially if you’re using it for casual cruising and just staying active outdoors.

DJI Neo 2 – Smarter Follow & Obstacle Avoidance

The other star of this session was the DJI Neo 2, which tracked me almost the entire ride.

A few highlights from how it behaved:

• It can track from the front or rear, and has rear cameras for obstacle sensing

• It will rise up a bit higher as you go faster to reduce the risk of running into ground-level obstacles

• When it sees trees or obstacles, it adjusts its position and height to avoid them

• Unlike the older Neo I had, the Neo 2 is much better at:

  • Staying in front instead of constantly drifting behind

  • Finding a safe way around you and obstacles, then reestablishing its position

  • Avoiding branches and objects instead of plowing straight into them

There were a couple of moments where the Neo 2 dipped, dodged, or swung wide around trees and then found a way back in front of me. The older Neo would have given up much sooner or smacked into something.

Overall, for follow shots and solo riding footage, the Neo 2 is a big upgrade in terms of intelligence and obstacle avoidance.

Why I’m Considering the VESC Upgrade

Here’s where the MagWheel T3 gets really interesting for tinkerers.

Right now:

• The stock controller is the weakest link

• There’s no app, no real-time battery readout, no way to adjust ride feel

• I’m basically guessing battery capacity from range and beeps

A VESC controller upgrade (around $300–$350 CAD by the time it’s in my hands) would give me:

• App support to monitor voltage, amps, temps, etc.

• The ability to tune tilt, nose dip, aggressiveness, and smoothness

• A much more OneWheel-like ride quality

• More control over how the board behaves under acceleration, braking, and cornering

If I throw:

• ~$200 for the board (what I already paid)

• ~$300–$400 for VESC and possibly a new battery

I’m still only in for around $600 CAD total, depending on how far I go. That’s for something that can ride similarly to a OneWheel GT, which costs well over $3,000 in Canada and locks you into their ecosystem (ship it back for nearly any major repair or battery work).

If you enjoy modding and doing your own repairs, the MagWheel/Trotter/VESC route is a much more open platform.

Final Thoughts – Worth It?

For $195 used, this MagWheel T3 is an absolute steal for me:

• The frame and hub are beefy and very solid

• The 1500W motor has more than enough power

• The range is better than expected, even on an older battery

• With a VESC controller and maybe a better battery, this thing could easily become my budget “GT alternative”

Is it perfect out of the box? No.

• It’s jerkier and less predictable than a OneWheel

• It requires more skill and patience to ride confidently

• You have to learn not to overreact when it bucks or rocks

But for someone like me who enjoys tinkering and doesn’t mind a learning curve, this MagWheel T3 is a fun project board and a very capable ride once you relax into it.

If you come across one of these used at a good price – and the motor and frame are solid – it may be worth grabbing, upgrading the controller, and, if needed, the battery. You’ll end up with something that can hang with the OneWheel GT in many ways, for a fraction of the price, and you’ll actually be able to work on it yourself.

And hey – it got me outside, moving, balancing, and having fun for over an hour. That’s what GetFitOver40 is all about: staying active in ways you actually enjoy.

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Onewheel Plus Charge and Ride Setup First Ride

As many of you may already know if you have been following me lately, I seem to have a strange attraction to vehicles with only one wheel. I have been riding my EUC for a while now and really enjoy it, I still do in fact very much. Along with the EUC there is another electric vehicle that has only one wheel and ironically it is called the Onewheel which is a brand name from the company Future Motion originating out of California.

Both of these devices have their pros and cons as they are the same in many ways and also different in many ways, but that is for other videos to discuss. One con for the Onewheel system is a much lower range especially in the older models, my Onewheel Plus is limited to around 8-10km total distance that I can ride with the stock battery. In this video I talk about the Charge and Ride setup which is an option owners of earlier versions of Onewheels may want to consider to extend their range and lesson range anxiety if you have an original Onewheel or a Onewheel Plus. There are a few early version of Onewheel XR's that this mod can also be done to, but if you have hardware version 4208 on your XR, this is not possible, so check your XR first before attempting this mod.

I don't want to drag this on as this post is far from a complete tutorial but rather an example of how the Charge and Ride setup works for me in real life with the slightly different system that I am using. Most Charge and Ride setups utilize an external Battery with a Solar Charge Controller where as I am using a 250 watt 277wh Portable Power Station connected to my original charger along with an adaptor cable that removes the 3rd pin connection from the XLR connector used with the Onewheel. By the way the number 3 pin on the XLR cable is not actually used for charging but rather it informs the Onewheel that a charge cable is connected and not to turn on. If you remove power to the 3rd pin for the Onewheel versions One and Plus, you trick the board into thinking it is regening rather than charging and so it stays on while charging.

If you plan on doing this Charge and Ride Mod, do so at your own risk as there are risks involve: as in overcharging your battery, damaging your charge port, having your backpack catch on fire and I am sure many others... For me using the Charge and Ride setup on my first test ride, I was able to get 14km range only using 46% of the battery with a 40% regen factor. This 14km ride only used about half of my Power Stations battery so I expect I should be able to get close to 25-30km range using this setup.

Onewheel vs EUC Which is Better

Onewheel vs EUC Which is Better? The great debate! If you own a Onewheel, then you probably think the One Wheel is the better machine. If you own an EUC (Electric Unicycle), then you probably think the EUC is the best! What if you own both?

So I'm not going to give a definitive answer here as both PEV's (Personal Electric Vehicle) have their own strengths and weaknesses. In this video I try and cover the Pro's and Con's for each PEV and let you decide which one is the best for you!

Here are some strength and weaknesses for each Personal Electric Vehicle:

• Speed for sure goes to the EUC as some can go as fast as 100kmh, mine does around 70kmh, compared to a Onewheel, where max speed is typically 30+kmh if you are brave.

• Battery life again goes to the EUC as many are capable of 100km to even as high as 200km! A Onewheel tops out at 30-40km and that's for the latest and greatest GT version, older versions can have a limit of around 10km.

• Size and weight would in most cases go to the Onewheel as they typically weigh around 25-30 pounds with the GT version weighing in at 35 pounds. Earlier versions of EUC's did weigh around the same but the trend for EUC's is to "go big or go home" with some larger faster units weighing in over 100 pounds. My personal Kingsong S22 weighs in at around 75 pounds but has some big ass batteries in it giving me a range of up to 100km.

• Portability: I would say it ties in to size and weight but I portability is more about carrying the PEV around and stashing it in a trunk or under a seat. Again earlier smaller versions of EUC's would be comparable to a Onewheel here but since most of the new much larger more popular EUC's are now the norm, I would have to go with the Onewheel in terms of portability.

• What about power: Kind of like speed, but power does not always equal speed, it often represents how much torque a motor has which is usually measured in Watts. Most Onewheel's have a 750 Watt motor and so do some smaller lighter EUC's. You can however get an EUC with a motor capable of 3500 watts that have a peak watt output of up to 6000 watts, that's crazy I know! This power means you can climb almost any hill on an EUC while Onewheel's do have their limitations when it comes to hill climbing.

• Coolness Factor: I would say both are equally cool so this one's a draw.

• Fun Riding: And this one again is a draw for me as both are fun in their own way. When riding a OneWheel I am more relaxed and just having fun while on the EUC I switch in to intensity mode as the speed and acceleration kind of takes ahold of me. I guess it really depends on the day as to what PEV I feel like riding and what kind of trip I plan to make.

• Price: A Onewheel can cost anywhere from around $1000US for a Pint up to $2200 for a GT, that would be new prices but Onewheel for sure do hold their value. On the other hand you can also get an EUC for even under $1000US but they also go up to well over $4000US for the latest and greatest high speed long range EUC's. So considering average price to buy new and resale value I would give the win to the Onewheel here.

• Terrain you can ride on: The EUC has this category in my books, many new EUC's even have suspension giving them the ability to ride even on extreme Mountain bike trails and do crazy jumps. On the other hand the Onewheel is not as functional off roading as an EUC, but you can ride trails and hop off curbs and even take small jumps if you are a more experienced rider.

Hopefully that gives you a good idea on a Onewheel vs EUC and Which is Better. It really comes down to what your needs are and what you plan on doing with one of these very awesome PEVs...