The Fluid Mosquito Is the Best Lightweight Electric Scooter

In June, I took the A train all the way from Brooklyn to 175th Street in upper Manhattan—about a 50-minute ride. Once I got out of the station, I hopped on the lightweight electric scooter I’d been carrying, rode it over the George Washington Bridge, and met up with a friend in Fort Lee, New Jersey. I threw the scooter into his car’s trunk, all folded up, and we were on our merry way to the Poconos for a get-together.

My friend didn’t have to cross the bridge and pay a toll or drive in bumper-to-bumper traffic to pick me up, and I didn’t have to sit in a bus (and pay for it). This is why I’ve come to love escooters —they’re a great last-mile solution. Fluidfreeride’s Fluid Mosquito is ideal for this.

It’s one of the lightest escooters I’ve tested, at a mere 29 pounds, yet it packs a decent amount of power with a top speed of 24 miles per hour. The sacrifice? Range and ride comfort. But the fact that I can just pick up the Mosquito and take it anywhere has me letting those flaws slide.

Most scooters I’ve tested sit somewhere between 39 and 80 pounds , sometimes even more . At 29 pounds, the Fluid Mosquito is like a dream come true. I’ve hardly huffed and puffed taking this thing up my flight of stairs, or even up and down the subway system in Manhattan.

It’s very easy to fold down—undo a lock by the front wheel, push your foot on a folding lever, bring down the stem, and it’ll click into a lock on the rear mudguard. It even has a comfortable grab handle on the stem so you can easily tote it around—a serious perk. How exactly did the company shave down the weight? Well, take a good look and you’ll notice that the entire frame is very narrow.

The handlebars aren’t wide (you can fold them down to save even more space), and the deck can only fit my feet one in front of the other, not side by side. The 8-inch tires are also quite thin. In consequence, ride quality suffers a bit.

For example, there’s barely any room to attach a smartphone mount on the handlebars in case you wanted to use one for GPS. (I mounted mine on the grip itself, which further cut the amount of space I had for my palm. ) Thankfully, height wasn’t an issue, since you can extend the stem a fair bit.

More importantly, the wheels are so narrow they have trouble handling ridges running parallel to the scooter on the road (NYC has some weird roads). It makes me more cautious about avoiding potholes—even small ones, as it feels like any raised surface might cause the scooter to skid. It doesn’t help that the Fluid Mosquito has solid tires.

These require less maintenance than pneumatic tires, but they don’t absorb bumps on the road as well. The dual-spring-based suspension does make it all manageable, but you’ll have to do some swerving to maintain a smooth ride. If you’re in an area with nice roads (lucky you!), you’ll be totally fine.

There are two thumb levers near the center of the handlebars. The one on the right is the throttle, and the one on the left is the regenerative brake. I’ve used this brake for most stops, but for anything sudden, you’ll want to hit the rear drum brake lever on top of the right handlebar.

It does the job, but I wouldn’t have minded more stopping power. If you’re riding fast and come to a sudden stop, you’ll experience some skidding. In the very center is a display with four buttons in the front: horn, headlight, settings, and power.

I found these mushy buttons hard to press and reach with my hand while riding. The horn button should really be easier to access, though it is loud enough to get the attention of any pedestrian or cyclist. The color display shows a battery meter, speed, the temperature of the controller, and trip mileage/odometer.

Most escooters have a button you can press while riding to switch between modes to raise or lower speed. For some reason, the Mosquito has a convoluted system that requires you to set the speed when you’re at a standstill. You need to first hold down the regen brake lever, turn the scooter on, then press the Settings button to cycle between L1 (5 mph), L2 (10 mph), L3 (16 mph), L4 (24 mph), and L5 (no limit); release the regen brake to set it.

By default, the scooter is set to L4, but I’m not sure why there isn’t a simple mode button. Aside from its weight, power is the next best feature of the Fluid Mosquito. It has a 500-watt motor that can easily rev up to 24+ mph on flat roads.

Going up a hill? Don’t worry! Unlike a lot of escooters that can only crawl up slopes, the Fluid Mosquito is powerful enough to climb with speed. It went over the Manhattan Bridge at 16 miles per hour. In comparison, the Niu KQi3 Pro I’m also testing goes at a snail’s pace of 8 mph over the same bridge.

This comes at a cost. You’re likely not going to go very far on the Mosquito. Fluidfreeride claims a 22-mile range, but this will vary depending on your weight (it supports up to 265 pounds), the terrain, and how much of your trip involves steep climbs.

On a 5. 2-mile round trip mostly on flat roads (to get some lemon bars from a local bakery), the Fluid Mosquito had 70 percent left in the tank. But when I took the scooter from Bed Stuy, Brooklyn, into the Financial District for a meeting—which involved going over the Brooklyn Bridge—it was at 10 percent by the time I arrived at my destination (an 8.

6-mile trip). At around 20 percent, the scooter starts to go slower; instead of 24 mph, I was riding at around 13 mph. I’d recommend switching it to L3 mode to lower the speed and eke out a few more miles, but most people should be able to get roughly 10 to 15 miles out of this thing on a single charge, if not more.

Pack the charger with you if you know you’ll be near an outlet and you’re worried. It’s not bulky, though you’ll need five to six hours to fully recharge the scooter. Still, for such a lightweight scooter, color me impressed.

I wouldn’t call this a commuter escooter—I’d recommend the slightly heavier Speedway Mini 4 Pro for that—but if you ride public transit regularly and want the lightest ride possible, the Fluid Mosquito is a fine little option. .