Xiaomi Mi M365 Review

The moderately priced Xiaomi is arguably worth the money due to its broad performance capabilities. Whether you are thinking about commuting to work or zipping around on the weekend for fun, the M365 boasts a decent range. This model is reasonably fast, too, with a max speed of 14+ mph; so it's a good thing that it has a reliable brake system as well. Our testers were comfortable descending steep grades (up to 15%) and, despite the lack of a fender brake, its forward momentum can be quickly arrested with the rear disk and front electronic motor brakes. The robust pneumatic tires provide a damp ride so those cracks and bumps will largely go unnoticed. Atop all this, the Xiaomi is compact when folded, relatively lightweight, and comfortable to carry. With all these sweet features, it's no wonder why testers were stoked to mount this little pony.

In our tireless search for the very best electric scooters, we scoured the web looking at manufacturer specs, customer reviews, and design features, eventually purchasing the top models for side-by-side testing. Tests were designed to assess the most relevant elements contributing to a quality-built scooter. The concepts are simple enough; we wanted to know the actual range an adult rider can get out of a full battery charge and how much power the electric motors can deliver. We wanted to gauge the ride - or smoothness - when on rough roads and how well the different brake systems performed. Finally, we wanted to know how portable they are when folded. The following delineates how the Xiaomi Mi M365 sized up to the competition.

Range

Range is an assessment of travel radius and charge time. We subdivided travel radius into the effective range and the maximum range to see how the scooter performed as the battery was depleted. The effective range is the distance a scooter can travel (in this case on flat ground) going at or near full speed, while the maximum range is how far it will go at any speed. Here the M365 excelled with an effective and maximum range of 12.8 miles.

This is a great outcome for distance riders because one can keep the throttle pinned until the battery is completely drained. Not so with some of the others we tested. However, in comparison to a few other models the M365 is a little slow to charge, but given the range performance, we thought it was well worth the wait.

Power

POWER! We all want it in one form or another. In this case, we're talking about hill-climbing power and pedal to the metal, flat ground top speed power. For this metric, we picked two hills (3.5% and 10.5% grade) and ran the scooter up them; or tried to. On the shallower of the pair, the M365 slowed by 3-5 mph but at that pace had no trouble cruising indefinitely. As for the steeper grade, it made it up about 3/4 of the quarter-mile climb. That was actually pretty good though considering that most of the scooters tested couldn't crest the rise either, and still others wouldn't climb the first hill.

To assess speed we took out a fully charged scooter and pinned the throttle bringing it up to its max cruising speed and then timed how long it took to traverse 100 feet. This trial was conducted three times. The average of the three was then converted to miles per hour. It performed around average at 14.9 mph.

Ride

The feel of bumpy roads and unexpected cracks contribute to the feeling we're trying to capture in the ride analysis. The M365 did well in this category. That's thanks in large part to the beefy, all-terrain-like pneumatic tires that produce a damp ride that reduces the jarring large cracks to subtle vibrations.

Braking

While power and ride are important, we think that slowing down and stopping is pretty important, too. The M365 has a dual brake system consisting of an electronic motor brake in the front and a disc brake in the rear. To get a handle on a machine's braking ability we split the assessment into two parts: hill braking and flat ground stopping.

The hill braking test was an assessment of the brake system's ability to hold the scooter at a comfortable speed when descending a steep hill. The latter assesses the ability to stop when flooring it on flat ground. Essentially this was an evaluation of how quickly we could arrest our forward momentum if something unexpected happened. You know, like a giant sinkhole opening up right in front of you.

The braking is one area in which the Xiaomi isn't at or near the head of the class. In part, this is due to the rear disc brake requiring some adjustments. Additionally, this model doesn't have a fender brake, a feature that can help to decrease stopping distances on flat ground.

Portability

The portability metric is comprised of five particulars that contribute to the overall non-riding mobility of a scooter. These are weight, folding ease, carrying latch effectiveness, transporting ease, and folded dimensions. The M365 scored high points (8 out of 10) in each analysis. Given that it is one of the lightest in the review (27.2lbs.), that it's easy to (un)fold, that its latch is simple and effective, and that it has a comfortable carrying handle, this should be of no surprise. In fact, the only knock against it is that the folded dimensions are slightly larger than some of the competition.

Value

While we do not include price in our metrics (we want the best performing product to win no matter what the expense), we know that cost is pretty darn important to most people. More to the point, the value of the purchase - or what your dollars get - is of chief concern as well. With this in mind, we can say with confidence that, despite its moderate price, the Xiaomi Mi M365 is a great value. It has above-average marks in all categories (with the minor exception of braking).

Conclusion