ISCOOTER i9Ultra vs APOLLO Air 2022 - Budget Warrior Meets "Premium" Commuter: Which One Actually Earns Your Money?

Fast Answer for Busy Riders ⚡ (TL;DR)

The Apollo Air 2022 edges out as the better overall scooter, mainly because it rides noticeably more comfortably, feels more solid under load, and inspires more confidence at speed. It is the more refined tool for daily commuting, especially if your route includes rough tarmac, potholes, or longer distances.

The ISCOOTER i9Ultra, on the other hand, wins on sheer affordability and low-maintenance simplicity: if your budget is tight, your rides are short, and you really hate fixing flats, it does the job without much drama. Light to moderate urban riders who just want a functional, worry-free hop-around will be satisfied enough.

If you care more about your spine and long-term ownership than the purchase price alone, read the Apollo's column twice. But whichever way you're leaning now, keep reading-the differences become much clearer once we get into real-world riding.

Electric scooters in this segment are no longer toys; they are "second cars with a folding hinge". I've spent plenty of kilometres on both the ISCOOTER i9Ultra and the Apollo Air 2022, in the usual mix of cracked bike lanes, questionable paving, and impatient traffic. On paper, they look strangely similar: same motor class, comparable top speed, same wheel size. On the road, they are very different tools aimed at very different wallets.

The i9Ultra is for the rider who wants to escape the bus without escaping their overdraft limit. The Apollo Air is for the rider who can stretch the budget and expects the scooter to feel like an actual vehicle, not like something that fell out of an online flash sale.

If you're wondering whether the premium-price Apollo really justifies the jump over the budget i9Ultra-or if the cheap option is "good enough" to live with every day-this comparison will make that decision painfully clear.

Who Are These For, and Why Compare Them?

Both scooters live in the single-motor, city-commuter category. They're meant for people doing a handful of kilometres each way, mostly on tarmac and bike lanes, who want something faster (and more fun) than walking but less painful than parking.

The ISCOOTER i9Ultra sits firmly in the budget camp. Think price tags that wouldn't shock a student, plus solid tyres and simple suspension aimed at keeping maintenance to a minimum. It's the "I just need something that works" scooter.

The Apollo Air 2022 is at the opposite end of "entry level": same general power class, but priced like a serious purchase rather than an impulse buy. You're paying for better suspension, nicer chassis, and a more mature feel. It's for riders who have tried cheaper stuff (or rentals) and decided they're done being rattled to bits.

They compete because they target the same real-world job-urban commuting at moderate speeds-while taking very different routes to get there. One is "good enough for cheap", the other "good enough to live with long-term".

Design & Build Quality

Pick up the i9Ultra and it immediately feels like a budget scooter done reasonably well. The aluminium frame is solid, the stem doesn't wobble right out of the box, and the matte finish looks cleaner than the price might suggest. Cables are not a total bird's nest, but you can still tell this was built with cost-cutting in mind rather than obsessive refinement.

The Apollo Air 2022, by contrast, feels like it was designed, not sourced from a catalogue. The frame casting is cleaner, with fewer exposed bolts and less "Lego scooter" vibe. The internal cable routing and rubberised deck help it look like a single coherent product. When you grab the handlebars and rock it side to side, the stem feels more monolithic and less "hinge attached to a tube".

Ergonomically, the Apollo has the upper hand: wider bars, more grown-up stance, and a nicer interface with better-thought-out regen brake controls. The i9Ultra's cockpit is simple and does its job, but the plastics and display feel more discount-bin by comparison.

If you like your scooter to look at home parked next to office bikes and e-bikes, the Apollo wins. If you see it mostly as a tool that spends its life folded under a desk, the ISCOOTER's rougher aesthetics won't bother you much.

Ride Comfort & Handling

This is where the gap between the two really opens up.

The i9Ultra runs on solid honeycomb tyres with front and rear suspension. That combo sounds promising on paper, and to be fair, it's not bone-crushing. Over typical city pavement and mild cracks, the suspension does take the sting out. But stretch the ride beyond a few kilometres on patchy surfaces and you start to feel that hard rubber: your feet buzz, your knees work harder, and every larger pothole still sends a clear message up your spine.

The Apollo Air 2022 takes the opposite route: big air-filled tyres up front and rear, plus a proper front fork. On broken asphalt, expansion joints, and the usual patchwork of city repairs, it simply glides more. You feel the surface, but you're not being punished by it. After a medium-length commute, you arrive with joints intact and hands that don't feel like you've been holding a paint shaker.

Handling-wise, the i9Ultra is nimble and light on its feet. Narrower bars and lower weight mean it darts willingly through tight gaps, but it can feel a bit twitchier at higher speed and on rougher ground. The Apollo, with its wider handlebars and more planted chassis, feels calmer and more predictable. Mid-corner bumps don't deflect it as much, and line choice is less of a survival exercise.

If your daily ride is mostly smooth, the comfort gap narrows and the i9Ultra is acceptable. If your city planners hate you and your roads prove it, the Apollo earns its price difference in comfort alone.

Performance

Both scooters use motors in the same power class, and both sit in that sweet-spot speed range where you can flow with city cyclists and calmer traffic without feeling like a rolling roadblock.

On the i9Ultra, acceleration is brisk enough to win the usual bike-lane drag race from lights. It's rear-wheel drive, so launches feel confident and composed, with enough grunt to get out of the way of taxis that saw the red light as "a suggestion". The top speed is fun for a budget commuter, especially in unlocked mode, though at the upper end of its range you start to feel the limits of its stability and tyres.

The Apollo Air 2022 doesn't feel dramatically faster in outright speed, but the way it delivers power is more refined. Throttle response is smoother, with less of that "nothing... nothing... everything" feeling you often find on cheaper controllers. Low-speed control in tight spaces is easier, and higher-speed cruising feels calmer because the chassis and bars aren't constantly reminding you how fast you're going.

On hills, both are usable, but not heroic. The i9Ultra will grind up typical city gradients without forcing you to kick along, even with a heavier rider, but it will slow and complain on longer or steeper climbs. The Apollo holds speed a bit better on moderate inclines and feels less like it's gasping for air once the battery drops below the halfway mark, thanks to the larger battery pack behind it.

In short: the i9Ultra gives you enough performance to feel fun and occasionally cheeky; the Apollo makes that same level of performance feel controlled and more confidence-inspiring.

Battery & Range

This is where the numbers (quietly) start to matter.

The i9Ultra sits in the typical budget-commuter battery class. In gentle conditions-lighter rider, calmer speeds-you can squeeze out a decent range that covers most daily city commutes. Once you start riding at max mode, into headwinds or with a heavier load, that range shrinks predictably, and the last stretch of battery brings a noticeable drop in punch. It's fine for short to medium hops, but you'll be thinking about the gauge more often if you push it.

The Apollo Air 2022 carries a noticeably larger pack. That translates into a more relaxed relationship with the remaining-battery icon. Real-world range comfortably outstrips the i9Ultra, especially if you ride both the way most people do-full speed whenever there's space. Even when you dip into the lower third of the battery, you keep more usable power before it starts feeling "tired". For a longer or more demanding commute, that extra energy is not a luxury; it's the difference between arriving on throttle or limping the last kilometre in Eco mode.

Charging is another trade-off. The i9Ultra gets to full in a workday or overnight without drama. The Apollo's bigger pack, plus its more conservative charging profile, means you're looking at a noticeably longer time from empty to full. If you charge only at home, that won't matter. If you routinely run the pack low and need midday top-ups, the ISCOOTER is slightly less demanding on your schedule.

Portability & Practicality

Both scooters live in that middle-weight bracket: not insane to carry, but not something you want to haul up six floors twice a day.

The i9Ultra is a touch lighter and feels it when you lift it by the stem. The classic hook-into-fender folding design is simple and reasonably secure, and the folded package is compact enough to slide under a desk or into a car boot without an argument. If you have a few stairs at home or occasionally need to hop on a train, it's doable without swearing too loudly.

The Apollo Air 2022, for a scooter with "Air" in its name, is no feather. The redesigned folding latch is rock-solid on the road, but a bit more awkward to operate, especially when new. The handlebars don't fold, so although it collapses nicely in height, it still has a fairly wide "shoulder span". Getting it onto a crowded metro or stashing it in a tiny hallway requires a bit more space and planning.

Where the Apollo claws some practicality back is in robustness. The stiffer stem, better chassis, and higher water resistance rating make it feel more like a piece of commuting equipment you can rely on daily, even when the weather is sulking. The i9Ultra is fine in light rain and casual abuse, but it doesn't exude quite the same "built for the long grind" aura.

Safety

The ISCOOTER i9Ultra actually punches above its price in safety features. You get mechanical rear disc plus electronic front braking, which together provide surprisingly strong stopping for a budget machine. The lighting package is generous: bright headlight, responsive rear brake light, and even built-in indicators on the bar ends-something many pricier scooters still can't be bothered with. The solid tyres remove the risk of sudden deflation mid-corner, though they add their own drama in the form of reduced grip on wet or slick surfaces.

The Apollo Air 2022 takes a more "grown-up" approach. Front drum plus strong regenerative braking give you very controllable, predictable deceleration with almost no maintenance. You can do most of your slowing with the regen lever, saving the mechanical brake for emergencies. The headlight is mounted high and does an adequate job of helping you be seen, though on truly dark, unlit paths I would still add an aftermarket lamp. Where the Apollo really wins is stability-pneumatic tyres, better geometry, and that calm chassis make sudden stops or mid-corner corrections feel far less sketchy.

At anything close to their top speeds, the Apollo feels more reassuring. The i9Ultra is safe enough if you ride within its comfort zone; the Apollo widens that comfort zone and makes mistakes less expensive.

Community Feedback

Price & Value

Let's be blunt: these scooters sit in completely different economic universes.

The i9Ultra is aggressively affordable. For what it costs, you get workable suspension, solid build, usable performance, and a feature set that would have been unthinkable at this price a few years ago. Yes, there are compromises-comfort, refinement, long-term parts ecosystem-but if the budget is tight, those are compromises many can live with.

The Apollo Air 2022 is priced closer to entry-level ebikes than to bargain scooters. If you judge it purely on headline numbers-battery, motor, speed-you might think it's overpriced. The real value is in its ride quality, brand support, and the impression that it's built for more than one season of use. If your scooter is a daily driver and not just a weekend toy, that refinement does pay off over time, even if the initial hit to the wallet stings.

So: the ISCOOTER offers "good enough" at a very attractive price; the Apollo offers "quite decent" at a price that requires justification. Whether that justification exists for you depends heavily on how often and how far you ride.

Service & Parts Availability

ISCOOTER operates primarily as a budget online brand with EU and UK warehouse presence. That keeps shipping and basic support tolerable, and users do report decent response times on warranty questions. However, you're still in the world of generic components and limited long-term parts catalogues. Brakes, tyres, and generic electronics are easy enough to source; model-specific bits in three years' time are more of a question mark.

Apollo, being a more established, rider-facing brand, invests more in its support structure. There are official parts channels, reasonably detailed documentation, and an active community that collectively knows how to keep these scooters going. You're not dealing with boutique luxury levels of service, but you get a clearer path to spares, advice, and firmware support than with most budget brands.

If you're handy with tools and view the scooter as semi-disposable at this price, the i9Ultra is acceptable. If you want a clear long-term support story, the Apollo is the safer bet.

Pros & Cons Summary

Parameters Comparison

Final Verdict - Which Should You Choose?

If you strip away marketing, apps, and shiny photos, the decision comes down to how often you ride, how far you go, and how much you can (or want to) spend.

The ISCOOTER i9Ultra is the sensible pick for riders who just need an inexpensive way to dodge buses and shorten their daily grind. It's not glamorous, it's not especially plush, but it is functional, punchy enough, and cheap to run. If your commute is short, your roads aren't a war zone, and you value never having to fix a puncture above all else, it gets the job done at a price that's hard to argue with.

The Apollo Air 2022, while far from perfect, is the more rounded machine. It rides better, feels more composed, and makes longer or rougher commutes noticeably less tiring. The additional range, better chassis, and stronger support network make it a more convincing daily vehicle, especially if this is replacing a car or public transport rather than just supplementing them.

So: if your wallet is calling the shots, go i9Ultra and manage your expectations-it's a decent budget commuter with some compromises. If your commute is a regular, unavoidable part of life and you'd like that part to be as smooth and stress-free as possible, the Apollo Air 2022 is the one that will annoy you less in the long run.

Numbers Freaks Corner

These metrics answer very specific questions. Price-per-Wh and price-per-km/h tell you how much "spec" you get for every euro. Weight-related figures show how much mass you're hauling around for each unit of speed, energy, or distance. Efficiency (Wh/km) reveals which scooter squeezes more distance out of each charge. Power-to-speed and weight-to-power hint at how lively or laboured the scooter might feel. Finally, average charging speed shows how quickly energy gets back into the battery-handy if you frequently run near empty.

Author's Category Battle

Overall Winner Declaration

In the Numbers Freaks Corner, the ISCOOTER i9Ultra scores 7 points against the APOLLO Air 2022's 4. In the Author's Category Battle, the ISCOOTER i9Ultra gets 15 ✅ versus 29 ✅ for APOLLO Air 2022 (with a few ties sprinkled in).

Totals: ISCOOTER i9Ultra scores 22, APOLLO Air 2022 scores 33.

Based on the scoring, the APOLLO Air 2022 is our overall winner. Between these two, the Apollo Air 2022 is the scooter I'd rather step onto every morning. It rides calmer, feels more grown-up, and turns the daily grind into something you can actually look forward to rather than simply endure. The ISCOOTER i9Ultra fights back hard on price and delivers a perfectly usable experience, but once you've lived with the Apollo's comfort and composure, it's difficult to go back to "good enough". If your scooter is an occasional gadget, the i9Ultra is fine. If it's your daily transport, the Apollo is the one that will quietly keep you happier, longer.

That's our verdict when we try to stay objective – but hey, riding is mostly about emotions anyway, so pick the one that will make you look forward to your commute every single day.