Apollo City 2022 vs Hiboy Max Pro - Which "Big City Commuter" Actually Deserves Your Money?

Fast Answer for Busy Riders ⚡ (TL;DR)

The Hiboy Max Pro is the overall winner here: it offers far more range per euro, a very comfortable ride, and enough performance for real-world commuting without murdering your budget. The Apollo City 2022 fights back with better weather protection, a more refined design, stronger braking feel, and a more premium "vehicle-like" character - but you pay dearly for it. Choose the Hiboy if you want maximum comfort and mileage for sensible money; pick the Apollo City if you care more about refinement, safety features, and wet-weather capability than about value.

If you want to know which one will actually make your daily commute less annoying - and which corners each scooter quietly cuts - keep reading.

Urban commuter scooters used to be flimsy toys with lights bolted on as an afterthought. Both the Apollo City 2022 and the Hiboy Max Pro aim to be something more serious: big-bodied, full-suspension machines that can replace chunks of your car or public transport use.

The Apollo City 2022 is the "refined grown-up" of the pair - sleek, nicely integrated, very composed, and clearly designed by people who ride. The Hiboy Max Pro is the "value bruiser" - big tyres, long legs, no-frills but surprisingly capable, especially when you look at the price tag and realise someone in the finance department was probably crying.

On paper they chase the same rider: a daily commuter who wants comfort, range, and confidence. On the road, they take quite different routes to get there - and that's where things get interesting.

Who Are These For, and Why Compare Them?

Both scooters sit in that sweet "serious commuter" segment: too heavy to be flimsy toys, not quite in the mad 60 km/h monster category. They're built for people who ride most days, over proper distances, on very imperfect city surfaces.

The Apollo City 2022 (especially the Pro version with dual motors) aims at the rider who wants a premium-feeling, integrated machine. Think: office worker or freelancer who rides in all weather, values safety tech, and is willing to pay extra for refinement and low maintenance.

The Hiboy Max Pro targets the budget-conscious yet demanding commuter: someone who wants a genuinely comfortable, long-range scooter without entering "luxury hobby" pricing. It's the kind of scooter you buy because your car is annoying you, not because you want a new toy.

Why compare them? Because in real life, plenty of riders will be asking the same question: "Do I spend almost double for the Apollo's polish and wet-weather chops, or take the Hiboy's big battery and save a chunk of cash?"

Design & Build Quality

In the flesh, the Apollo City feels like a single, cohesive object. The frame is a custom casting, cables are mostly hidden, and the rubber deck and integrated display give off "proper vehicle" rather than "kit scooter" vibes. Touch points - grips, levers, throttle - feel thought out rather than thrown in from a shared parts bin.

The Hiboy Max Pro goes for a more industrial look: matte black, visibly beefy frame, and a big, wide deck that screams function over flair. Cables are tidy enough but you do see them; it doesn't have that clean, sculpted feel of the Apollo. That said, the chassis feels solid, not flexy, and nothing on my test unit rattled, even after a lot of abuse over broken asphalt.

Where the Apollo pulls ahead is in overall integration and water sealing. Panels fit tighter, the charging port feels more robust, and the whole scooter gives the impression it was designed as one product rather than assembled from a catalogue. The Hiboy feels sturdy but a bit more generic: competent, but not exactly inspiring when you park it.

In your hands: the Apollo's controls feel a touch more premium and the folding latch has that reassuring "this isn't going to snap on me" clunk. The Hiboy's latch works fine and feels strong, just not as overbuilt. Both are miles better than the wobbly hinges you find on cheap rentals, but if you judge by fit and finish alone, Apollo takes this round.

Ride Comfort & Handling

On comfort, this is a much tighter fight than you'd expect from the price difference.

The Apollo City 2022 uses a multi-point spring setup and mid-sized tubeless tyres. The result is a very cushioned, controlled glide. Over patched-up tarmac and small potholes, it soaks things up nicely; hit a nasty expansion joint at speed and you feel it, but it doesn't throw you off line. The chassis feels planted, and the wide handlebars give you good leverage for weaving around traffic.

The Hiboy Max Pro comes with even larger air-filled tyres and dual suspension. Those tyres are doing a lot of the heavy lifting - literally. On rough city streets the Max Pro actually feels softer at the contact patch. Small cobbles, brick paths, tree roots under cycle lanes: you just rumble on without your knees filing a complaint. The suspension is less sophisticated than Apollo's, but the sheer tyre size compensates more than you'd think.

Handling-wise, the Apollo feels a bit more precise and "tight". Steering is slightly quicker, cornering confidence is high, and at higher speeds the stiffer chassis pays off - it's calm rather than floaty. The Hiboy is more of a laid-back cruiser: stable, forgiving, but not as eager to change direction. You can still carve, it just feels more like a big touring bicycle than a sporty scooter.

For pure comfort over ugly surfaces, the Hiboy surprisingly edges ahead. For a blend of comfort and precise, confidence-inspiring handling at higher speed, the Apollo still feels more sorted.

Performance

Let's start with the obvious: the Apollo City Pro with dual motors lives in a different performance neighbourhood than the single-motor Hiboy Max Pro. Off the line in its sportiest mode, the Apollo Pro yanks you forward in a way the Hiboy simply doesn't attempt. Hill starts with a heavier rider? The Apollo shrugs; the Hiboy works at it, but you can feel it's closer to its limits.

Top speed follows the same story: the Apollo Pro goes notably faster and holds those higher speeds more confidently. On long, open bike lanes or 30-zones where you're flowing with traffic, the extra headroom is nice. The single-motor Apollo City still feels livelier than the Hiboy, but the gap is much smaller there - more a case of "peppier, more willing" than "different league".

The Hiboy Max Pro's character is best described as "calmly brisk". It gets up to its maximum speed in a measured, linear way. No drama, no wheelspin, just a steady shove that's plenty for city riding. For most riders who aren't chasing thrills, it's enough to stay ahead of bicycles and not feel like a rolling traffic cone. On steeper hills, you'll feel it slow, but it keeps grinding upwards rather than giving up.

Braking is where Apollo claws back a lot of respect. With twin sealed drums plus a dedicated regenerative thumb brake, you get smooth deceleration that you can modulate down to the centimetre. You can ride almost "one-pedal style", controlling speed with your thumbs instead of grabbing physical levers all the time. The Hiboy also uses dual drums plus electronic braking, and it stops adequately and predictably, but the feel is less sophisticated. Good for commuters, less "wow" for enthusiasts.

If your idea of fun is strong acceleration and higher-speed cruising, the Apollo - especially the Pro - clearly wins on performance. If you just want enough oomph to commute without drama, the Hiboy's motor is absolutely serviceable, just not exciting.

Battery & Range

This is where the Hiboy Max Pro quietly walks over and steals Apollo's lunch.

The Apollo City Pro's battery is decent in size and efficiency, giving you solid real-world commuting distances, especially if you don't ride flat out all the time. For typical city runs - say, a couple of medium-length trips per day - it's fine. You'll be charging most days if you ride hard, but you won't be stranded constantly checking the remaining bars in panic.

The Hiboy Max Pro, meanwhile, packs a noticeably larger energy store and sips it quite gently. In real riding, you can knock out longer round trips and still have a comfortable buffer, even if you like staying in the faster mode. That changes behaviour: you stop planning your life around sockets and simply ride. For distance commuters or people who like to detour home via the long way around the river, this matters.

Charging time is the one area where Apollo answers back: its pack charges in a much shorter window, perfectly suited to a lunchtime top-up at the office. The Hiboy's battery is more of an "overnight ritual" - plug in when you get home, forget about it, repeat every few days. If you're the kind of person who occasionally forgets to charge things, Apollo's quicker turnaround is a genuine advantage.

But purely on "how far will it go in the real world before crying for a charger", the Hiboy is the more generous partner.

Portability & Practicality

Neither of these is a featherweight. If you're dreaming of flinging your scooter over your shoulder like a laptop bag, you're reading about the wrong category.

The Apollo City Pro is the heavier of the two by a noticeable margin. Even the single-motor version is still a stout lump. Carrying it up multiple flights of stairs? You'll do it once, maybe twice, then start reconsidering your life choices. The fold itself is secure and the footprint is reasonable for sliding under a desk or into the boot of a car, but the mass is very much "real vehicle" rather than "last-mile toy".

The Hiboy Max Pro is slightly kinder on your back. It's still not light, but you feel the difference when you lift it. Folding is very straightforward and reasonably fast; once down, it's long and bulky thanks to those big tyres and wide deck. Lugging it through a packed train carriage or narrow turnstiles is possible, just not delightful. Both really shine as door-to-door machines rather than train companions.

Daily practicality tilts depending on your situation. If you deal with frequent rain, the Apollo's higher water protection and sealed components are a genuine quality-of-life upgrade. If your commute is longer and you don't want to charge constantly, the Hiboy's bigger battery is more practical. Neither scooter is a great match for people without lifts in tall buildings, but the Hiboy is the less punishing to manhandle.

Safety

On safety, both do many things right, but Apollo has clearly gone a bit further.

Braking, as mentioned, is more refined on the Apollo City. The combination of dual drums and a dedicated regenerative control lets you manage speed very precisely, which is worth more than raw stopping distance alone in traffic. The Hiboy's dual drums and e-brake also work reliably and are low-maintenance, but the lever feel is more basic - perfectly adequate, just less polished.

Lighting is a mixed bag. Apollo's integrated headlight, rear light, and deck-level indicators give you good visibility to others, especially from behind. The headlight is fine in city-lit streets but starts to feel marginal on unlit paths at higher speed. Hiboy answers with a bright front light and very useful side lighting that increases your visible footprint - something too many scooters skip. At night in complex traffic, those side glows on the Hiboy are more reassuring than you'd expect.

Tyre grip and stability: the Apollo's self-healing tubeless tyres bite well and the suspension keeps the chassis composed over mid-sized bumps. The Hiboy's giant pneumatic tyres offer huge stability and forgiveness - tram tracks, small potholes, and cracks are less likely to surprise you. From a sheer "how likely am I to hit a random city gap and go flying" perspective, the Hiboy's wheel size is a quiet safety advantage.

Where Apollo absolutely dominates is weather protection. That higher water-resistance rating means you can ride through serious rain and wet roads with much more peace of mind. The Hiboy's more modest protection rating asks for more caution - avoid deep puddles or prolonged heavy rain if you want to keep it happy.

Community Feedback

Price & Value

This is where the debate becomes less romantic and more brutal.

The Apollo City 2022 sits in the upper mid-range: you're paying a car-payment-sized chunk of money for an e-scooter. For that, you get nice integration, strong safety chops, refined controls, app features, and a very mature ride. You also get a brand with a decent reputation and a focus on design and durability. The issue is that, on raw numbers, you can find scooters with similar or better performance for less money - including the Hiboy in this very comparison.

The Hiboy Max Pro, by contrast, is aggressively priced for what it offers. You get dual suspension, very large tyres, a genuinely big battery, decent power, and app connectivity for about half the Apollo's asking price. Corners are cut: water protection isn't as ambitious, the design is less bespoke, and some details feel more generic. But if you evaluate euros per kilometre of range and comfort, it's very hard to ignore how much scooter you're getting.

In short: the Apollo is a "nice to have if you're willing to pay" proposition; the Hiboy is "this makes much more rational sense" for most commuters.

Service & Parts Availability

Apollo has built a name on being more than a nameless importer. You get structured support, documentation, and a community that's quite vocal. Parts like controllers, displays, and tyres are specific but generally available, and the company does try to stand behind warranties. That said, depending on where in Europe you are, you may have to deal with shipping delays or third-party service centres, and early batches did show some teething issues.

Hiboy sits in that mid-tier mass-market sweet spot. They're not boutique, but they are widely known and fairly well represented in online marketplaces. Spare parts like tyres, brakes, and basic electronics can be sourced relatively easily, and user reports of warranty handling are broadly positive. For deep-level repairs, you're often in DIY or local repair shop territory, but that's true for most scooters in this segment.

In Europe specifically, I'd give Apollo a slight edge on brand-driven support quality and documentation, and Hiboy an edge on sheer availability and cheaper consumables. Neither is perfect, both are workable.

Pros & Cons Summary

Parameters Comparison

Final Verdict - Which Should You Choose?

If you strip away the marketing and focus on living with these scooters, the shape of the answer becomes clearer.

The Apollo City 2022 (especially in Pro form) is the more sophisticated machine. It rides with more composure at higher speeds, brakes with more finesse, and shrugs off bad weather better. It feels like a designed object, not a parts-bin special, and if you value that sense of "this is a proper vehicle", it absolutely delivers. The question is whether all that justifies paying almost twice as much for what is, for many riders, still essentially a city commuter.

The Hiboy Max Pro is far from perfect - it's still heavy, the water resistance rating is conservative, and the personality is more sensible than exciting - but it nails the fundamentals that matter to most people: comfort, range, and cost. It gets you far, keeps you reasonably pampered over bad roads, and doesn't mug your wallet for the privilege.

So: if you are a daily all-weather rider, you value polished braking and design, and you don't mind paying a premium for a more "sorted" feel, the Apollo City 2022 is the better match. If you mainly want to commute comfortably and cheaply over longer distances, and you're okay with a bit less flair and performance, the Hiboy Max Pro is the smarter, more rational choice - and the one I'd quietly steer most average riders towards.

Numbers Freaks Corner

These metrics answer purely mathematical questions: how much battery you get for each euro, how efficiently the scooter turns energy into distance, how heavy it is per unit of power or range, and how quickly it refuels. Lower is better for all cost and efficiency ratios, while higher is better for power density and charging speed. They don't capture ride feel, design, or safety - just the raw physics and economics.

Author's Category Battle

Overall Winner Declaration

In the Numbers Freaks Corner, the APOLLO City 2022 scores 4 points against the HIBOY MAX Pro's 6. In the Author's Category Battle, the APOLLO City 2022 gets 31 ✅ versus 15 ✅ for HIBOY MAX Pro (with a few ties sprinkled in).

Totals: APOLLO City 2022 scores 35, HIBOY MAX Pro scores 21.

Based on the scoring, the APOLLO City 2022 is our overall winner. Between these two, the Hiboy Max Pro ends up feeling like the more honest companion for everyday riders: it doesn't try to impress with flash, but it quietly carries you far, comfortably, and without draining your bank account. The Apollo City 2022 is the one that flatters your inner enthusiast and looks better parked, but you pay a serious premium for traits that many commuters simply don't need. If your heart wants the sleeker, punchier ride and you're happy to spend for it, the Apollo will keep you entertained; if your head is doing the buying, the Hiboy Max Pro is the scooter that makes the most sense in the real world.

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.