Gotrax G4 Electric Scooter – Test and Review

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A fun to ride electric scooter with excellent speed, power, and range for its price with built in electronic and cable locks.

Manufacturer and Model: Gotrax G4
List Price: $549

Summary

The Gotrax G4 electric scooter is a fast and fun scooter for adult riders. It has a powerful 350 watt rear motor and the 36 volt 10.4 ah battery gives it a range of up to 25 miles. It has easy to use and well thought out controls. It even has a built in cable and electronic lock so it won’t walk away while you’re gone. Construction is sturdy looking throughout. It’s price point puts it at the high end of $500 electric scooters. For those who want more range, there are upgraded versions available with bigger batteries.

Gotrax G4 Review and Test

The Gotrax G4 is one of their best selling and most popular scooters. It is fast and fun to ride with a lot of power and a 20mph top speed. Assembly is easy with only a couple steps involved that anyone can do. Attaching the handlebars is all there is to do. We put ours together and charged it up and hit the streets to try it out.

1 – Power (8.5/10)

The G4 is powered by a 350 watt rear hub motor and 36 volt 10.4 ah battery. It has strong acceleration from a standstill that makes it very fun to ride.

Top Speed

The G4 has a top speed of 20 mph. We were able to get it up to 19.56 mph according to our Garmin GPS with an above max weight rider.

Hill Climbing

The Gotrax G4 scooter has no trouble going up normal small hills on streets and paths around here with riders up to its max weight. I took it to pedestrian overpass nearby that has a 7% slope. It can carry me up this with no problem. I’m a little above the 220 lb published max rider weight. The speed dropped down and held steady at 8-10mph until I got to the top of the overpass. This was starting the hill at 10-15mph.

The scooter was able to start from a standstill on the steepest part of the hill but could not accelerate past about 4mph. It made it to the top of the hill. Giving it a couple of kicks to help it can get you up to a higher speed.

Overall I’m very pleased with the hill climbing ability of this scooter with an over 220 lb rider on it. It did much better than I expected it to with only a 350 watt motor.

2 – Range (9/10)

GoTrax publishes a 25 mile max range for the G4. This battery life is under ideal conditions. The most I was able to get out of it riding on a flat path with minimal hills on a calm 65F day was 14.1 miles measured with a Garmin GPS. That was with the scooter set on L1 (15mph max speed) and an average speed of 10.99mph according to the garmin. There is a road crossing every 1/2 to 1 mile on the path that requires a complete stop.

I am a few pounds above the 220 lb max published weight as well. I’m pretty confident it could stretch out to 20 miles easily with a lighter weight rider and fewer stops. 25 miles might require a lightweight rider, minimal stops, and a good tail wind.

We measured the distance with a Garmin GPS Map520. It gave us 14.1 miles for the ride. The scooter display showed 14.6 miles which is not off by much.

The battery indicator on the display has 4 bars. The first 3 bars get close to even amounts of range. When you get down to the last bar, you only have or mile or so of range left to go. The power will drop off rapidly on the 4th bar if you encounter any kind of hill. You will get about a 1/4 mile of steadily decreasing speed down to the point where you could walk faster. Then it’s time to walk.

For people who want a commuting electric scooter with more range, GoTrax offers 2 upgraded versions of the G4 scooter that have larger batteries for more range. They are the G4Max (42 miles), and G4Max Ultra(45 miles).

3 – Ride Quality (8/10)

The 10 inch pneumatic tires do a decent job of absorbing cracks in the pavement. I could ride it over fairly rough Michigan road surface without too much trouble as long as I kept the speed under control. I have enough space on the deck to stand on it with size 10 shoes. I found the most comfortable position is putting my forward foot beside the frame tube with my heel just behind it. Then I have enough room for my rear foot to completely fit on the deck.

The scooter is stable up to its top speed. It doesn’t wobble or do anything else unexpected. The handlebar width is about right. It doesn’t need any weight shift while going around normal corners. Overall it is very easy to ride.

4 – Braking (9)

I found the dual braking system to be more than adequate. The electronic brake kicks in when you let off the throttle. The disc brake is operated by a handle on the left handlebar. I am above the published max weight for this scooter and found it had no trouble stopping with me from full speed. With a little weight shift rearward I can easily stop as fast or faster than I can on my mountain bike. The brakes on my scooter did not need any adjustment.

5 – Controls (8.5/10)

The display is simple but effective. It’s easy to read in daylight and at night. It tells you the current speed you are going while the scooter is moving. It also shows battery left with a 4 bar indicator. When you stop it shows how far you have gone. You can easily switch from L1 (15mph top seed) to L2 (20mph top speed) by pressing the + and – buttons.

You control functions on the scooter with a +/-/power 3 button set on the left handlebar. The throttle is controlled with a lever on the right handlebar.

Cruise Control

The cruise control feature is always active on the G4. There is no way to disable it. It kicks in automatically if you hold the throttle in one position for 6 seconds. The display beeps and shows a symbol when the cruise control kicks in. You can get out of cruise control by hitting the brakes or moving the throttle.

Walk mode

The G4 has a walk mode that you can activate by double pressing the (-) button. It will then move at about 1.8mph which is an okay walking pace.

Bell

There is a bell mounted above the brake lever on the left side of the handlebar. It works and is loud enough for people walking and biking to hear you. I find it is in an awkward position to reach with my fingers to ring it. You have to pull back on it to ring. The position is easier for me to reach pushing forward with my thumb.

Lighting

The built in lighting works okay for riding at night. The front light is decently bright but it’s focused on the ground about 10-20 feet in front of you. It would be better focused further ahead. If I was trying to ride at night any kind of long distance where I wanted to go faster I would supplement it with a helmet lamp that I could focus farther out in the distance.

The scooter has a rear tail light/brake light as well. The brake light flashes when you apply the brakes.

6 – Construction (9/10)

The Gotrax G4 is well put together with no signs of poor quality. All the welding on the frame looks first rate. Everything looks and feels sturdy and durable. The cable and wiring go inside the frame giving it a clean look. The charge port is hidden on the side of the battery under the deck.

Folding Mechanism

The folding mechanism works really well. It has a dual latching mechanism. There is a small latch that engages when you fold the scooter up. Then you close the lever to engage the primary latch. There is a slider on the lever to lock it in place in the latched position. The mechanism holds the steering tube firmly in place. There is enough positive force in the latch so you know it is engaged.

The scooter has a metal loop mounted on the rear fender. A latch on the steering tube hooks into the loop to keep the scooter folded when you are carrying it. It works well and there is no risk that the latch holding the rear of the scooter will unhook itself.

The latching system and folding mechanism work really well. There is no slop in the steering tube when locked into place. The carrying support takes the load from the rear of the scooter while it’s folded.

3 Dual Locks and Alarm

The G4 has 2 locking features. An audible electronic lock and a built in cable lock. The electronic lock requires you to enter a 3 digit code when you first power on the scooter. If you don’t and start rolling it, it starts beeping. The second locking feature is a built in cable lock at the bottom of the steering tube.

The electronic lock is a good feature that keeps someone from just riding away on the scooter. They can still carry it without setting off the alarm. It is also easy to accidentally disable it when you reset the odometer distance to 0 on the display. I turned off the alarm while resetting the mileage odometer on mine. If you reset the mileage, check and make sure the alarm is still turned on. You reactivate it by pressing (+) and (Power) at the same time for 10 seconds.

The cable lock works. The cable is very short. You might be able to get it around a 5 inch pole if you are right next to it. Anymore more and the cable isn’t long enough. It would be great if the cable was about a foot longer to make it easier to loop around things.

Recommendation – Buy or No Buy?

We are very pleased with the Gotrax G4. It is one of the most fun things we have gotten our hands on here to try out. It gets a recommended buy from us. It is a lot of fun to ride and has good speed and range. It makes a good clean ride to take down the street for errands or just riding for fun. We give the Gotrax G4 a big thumbs up and recommend you check it out if you are looking for an electric scooter.

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