Last year's hoverboard fad happened too fast. With two-wheeled scooters spitting out of factories faster than a teenager's Snapchat feed, the makers cut corners to frequently disastrous results. When we say hoverboards were on fire last year, we mean it. After we recommended the Swagway X1, it was recalled as part of a mass government crackdown on un-approved scooters. Swagway's Swagtron T3 ($499.99) is what happens when things cool down a little, both metaphorically and literally. The second-generation product from one of the two most reputable hoverboard firms (the other one being Razor) is slightly more stable, much more easily controlled, and, most importantly, UL 2272 certified not to blow up in your garage. That makes it, for now, our favorite two-wheeled scooter.

A Note on Hoverboards

I'm going to use the word hoverboard to refer to self-balancing two-wheeled scooters, because to most people, that's what the word means at the moment. Yes, they don't hover. But you drive on a parkway and park in a driveway. Words are complicated.

Also, remember that hoverboards aren't street legal in many cities and towns. Here in New York, for instance, we tested our Swagtron in a private park, because you're not supposed to use them on the street. In our view, that makes these scooters toys rather than serious transportation, and we're looking at the Swagtron in such a light.

It's Got Swag

The Swagtron looks and feels like an upgraded version of last year's hoverboards. It comes in black, blue, white, red, pink, or gold. The 4.5-inch (diameter) wheels are the same, but the foot pads have expanded to 6 inches in width, making the device feel a bit more stable. There are big, multicolored LED lights front and back that turn red, blue, or green, and a graduated battery indicator with five lights, which is a big improvement. On the bottom, there's a small but major advance: a little fabric loop you can use to carry the scooter. It weighs 22 pounds, just like last year's model, but the loop makes it a lot easier to carry.

Zipping around is very similar to riding on last year's Swagway, albeit with better settings options (more on that below) and no worries about it exploding. The scooter can speed up to 8mph quickly, if you set it to do so, and it turns on a dime. But it still has trouble with hills, slowing down on even modest inclines. And although it did just fine on shallow gravel, deeper gravel caused things to really slow down.

We got slightly longer range on this scooter than on the X1—9 miles as compared with 7.25—although that may be because we tested this one differently. While we ran the X1's battery down by essentially going seven miles at 6mph, we were generally riding the T3 more slowly and in a wider variety of situations. The board takes about four hours to charge.

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The plastic housing still gets marked up easily when, inevitably, the scooter slips out from under you and goes tumbling across the pavement. That happened to us three times in two days—no injuries, though, we just hopped off. Swagway includes two stick-on rubber strips that act as bumpers on the edge of the chassis and prevent the hoverboard from looking quite as banged up.

Software

The T3 works with a free Android/iOS app that lets you control and monitor the scooter via Bluetooth. Along with a speedometer and battery meter, it lets you control maximum speed, acceleration, and steering sensitivity. And it works! You can choke the scooter down to 4mph, or make it considerably less twitchy, for instance. We actually found that maximum steering sensitivity was the easiest mode to use, as you really don't want your hoverboard to be sluggish to respond, while a 6mph speed limit kept things under control.

The Bluetooth connection is a bit unreliable and would frequently disconnect in testing, but it saves your settings. Unfortunately, when you activate the Bluetooth function, the scooter shouts "Waiting for Bluetooth connecting...Paired!" every time you turn it on.

The hoverboard also has a loud Bluetooth speaker that can blare music from your phone. It's all treble, no bass, obnoxious, and hilarious. It emphasizes the difference between the Swagtron and, say, a Segway or an electric bike. This isn't really transportation, it's a party device. The speaker is a separate Bluetooth device from the board itself, so if you have the app connected, you may not be able to play through the speaker (and vice versa).

Comparisons and Conclusions

The Swagtron T3 is the swaggiest, silliest transporter available. The bold lights and especially the completely ridiculous Bluetooth speaker make it a fun, if expensive, toy for zipping around the park and having lots of fun at parties. (For actual commuting, get a bike.)

There are a growing number of UL2272-certified hoverboards out there, including Swagway's models, the $399 Powerboard, the $459 Hovertrax, the $799 Kiwano KO-X, and the much pricier Ninebot Segway MiniPro. You certainly shouldn't pick a no-name scooter, even if it purports to have UL2272 certification, because of a rash of counterfeit certification stickers on imported products.

The Swagtron T3 is our favorite hoverboard. But that doesn't change the fact that hoverboards aren't legal in many places, and it's still pretty easy to fall and hurt yourself while using one. For those reasons, we aren't giving the T3, or any other hoverboard, an Editors' Choice award. That said, if you just want to have fun zipping around, the T3 is swagalicious.