Bike manufacturer Daymak is no stranger to building some of the most intense bikes and scooters->ke2256 in the market. This is, after all, the company that gave us the Beast, a rough and tough eBike->ke3364 that came with features of an ATV, making it perfect for off-road use but is also completely street legal. This time, Daymak is back with its new masterpiece: Photon, a solar-powered boombox scooter that comes with a pair of speakers and two USB ports.
While it may look the part of a traditional daily commuter, the Daymak Photon is actually far more advanced than most of its scooter brethren. For instance, the aforementioned speakers are actually built on a solar pod and equipped with polycrystalline solar panel cells that draws energy from that big ball of light in the sky called the sun. That means the scooter is constantly being charged when its idle, ensuring that it can go out anytime with energy to burn.
It also has an AM/FM radio and USB and micro SD ports that are all integrated into the speakers found near the front wheel. The USB port, in particular, could also serve as a charging option for your mobile devices, presumably using up the stored energy from those solar panel cells.
The only downside to charging on natural light is that it takes around 17 hours to fully charge the panels. If you’re pressed for time, you can plug the scooter into an outlet and that reduces the charging time to just four to six hours. On the road, the Photon is capable of hitting a top speed of 9 mph. It’s not a lot, but it’s more than enough to get you where you need to go faster than it’s going to take if you walked to your destination.
A standard unit of the Photon costs $299 while the deluxe version with lithium-ion batteries has been priced at $449. That said, you can actually score a great bargain if you take up the company’s Early Bird Special promo on Kickstarter for just $185. Only a handful of units will be available through Kickstarter so I suggest that if you want one, you need to place an order before the end of the promotion on July 27, 2015.
Continue reading to read more about Daymak’s new solar-powered Photon boombox scooter.
Why it matters
With all of the features on the Daymak Photon, it’s hard to imagine that something like it hasn’t been around for a quite some time. You’d think that a company would’ve come up with a solar-powered city scooter with radio capabilities by now.
But I’m not here to be a downer. I’m actually here to applaud Daymak for creating such a unique travel companion. Its maximum load of 220 pounds may be a little worrisome for big-boned and heavyset individuals, but overall, it shouldn’t be a problem for a lot of able-bodied people.
I’m actually tempted to give the Photon a shot, partly due to curiosity and also because at $185, it’s actually not that expensive for what you stand to get. That’s a discount of $115 from the estimated retail price of $299. That’s good value as far as I’m concerned.
I also hope that more people pay more attention to Daymak. For all of its impressive qualities, the Photon isn’t the only bike the Canadian company has in its lineup. You can check out its website to see more of its products. That includes the aforementioned Beast, which you mind also find very interesting if you’re the type of person who has an eclectic taste for motorcycles.