Apollo City vs Kaabo Mantis X - Civilised Commuter or Tamed Street Animal?

Fast Answer for Busy Riders ⚡ (TL;DR)

If you want a dependable, low-maintenance, year-round commuter that just quietly gets the job done, the Apollo City is the safer overall choice here. Its weather protection, fuss-free brakes and tyres, and polished software make it feel more like a real vehicle than a toy.

The Kaabo Mantis X is for riders who want more thrill and softer suspension, and are willing to accept extra maintenance, longer charging, and slightly rougher edges to get it. Pick the Mantis X if you prioritise plush ride and punchy feel; pick the Apollo City if you prioritise reliability, daily usability, and staying dry and upright in the rain.

Both can be fun; only one is clearly optimised for actual everyday life. Read on and I'll walk you through exactly where each one shines - and where they quietly annoy you after a few months.

There is a particular kind of scooter buyer who has grown out of rental toys, but doesn't want to lug a 45 kg monster down to the basement every morning. That person ends up looking at machines like the Apollo City and the Kaabo Mantis X - scooters that promise "serious vehicle" performance without completely wrecking your back or your bank account.

I've spent a lot of kilometres on both. One is a polished, sensible commuter that tries very hard to be the iPhone of scooters. The other is a slightly tamed performance scooter that still carries the DNA of Kaabo's hooligan machines. One wants to get you to work dry and relaxed; the other wants you to take the long way home and maybe cut through a park just because you can.

If you're torn between them, you're not imagining it - they overlap heavily on paper. The differences only really reveal themselves when you live with them day in, day out. Let's dig into that.

Who Are These For, and Why Compare Them?

Both the Apollo City (dual-motor version) and the Kaabo Mantis X sit in that mid-premium bracket where you expect real performance, good range, and enough refinement that you're not constantly wrenching on them.

The Apollo leans hard into "serious commuter": great water resistance, minimal maintenance, neat design, clever app, and a power level that's brisk without being antisocial. It's for people who'd actually like to arrive at the office without mud stripes up the back and without having to explain why their scooter is leaking brake fluid.

The Mantis X, in contrast, is a "performance commuter": dual motors with more urgency, adjustable hydraulic suspension, chunkier tyres, and a general air of "yes, I could definitely misbehave if I wanted to." It pretends to be practical, but its heart is still in the sportier end of town.

They cost roughly similar money, carry similar weight, offer comparable top speeds and real-world ranges, and target riders graduating from budget gear. On a spec sheet, they're sparring partners. On the road, they answer slightly different questions.

Design & Build Quality

Park them side by side and you instantly see the different philosophies.

The Apollo City goes for that clean, integrated "urban tech" look. Cables are tucked away, the deck and stem feel like one continuous piece, and nothing rattles if you give it a good shake. The finish is restrained, corporate even - you can roll it into a glass-and-chrome lobby and security won't blink (much). The drum brakes and internal cabling all contribute to this feeling of a sealed, cohesive product rather than a kit of parts bolted together.

The Mantis X looks like it just escaped from an enthusiast forum. Those C-shaped suspension arms, exposed disc brakes, chunky tyres and visible hardware all shout "performance hardware" more than "commuter appliance". The frame itself is solid and the newer collar-style stem clamp is a big step up from old Kaabo wobbles, but you're always aware you're riding a piece of enthusiast kit, not a sealed consumer product.

In the hand, the Apollo feels denser and more monolithic. No obvious weak spots, no flex in the stem, hinges or deck. On the Mantis X, the chassis is robust, but there's more going on: more bolts, more exposed bits, more places that will eventually demand a spanner. Neither feels flimsy; the difference is how much you trust them in the rain and how much mechanical babysitting you're willing to offer over time.

If you like a minimalist aesthetic and "close the garage and forget about it" build, the Apollo edges ahead. If you like visible engineering and don't mind the bike-shop look, the Mantis X has its own charm - just not quite the same sense of polished cohesion.

Ride Comfort & Handling

This is where the Mantis X struts a bit - and fairly so.

The Apollo City's triple-spring setup is tuned for city abuse. Real-world: it smooths out broken tarmac, speed bumps and manhole covers nicely, without that pogo-stick bounce some soft scooters suffer from. Paired with its tubeless 10-inch tyres, it gives you a composed, slightly firm "German hatchback" feel. You feel the road, but your knees don't send angry emails after ten kilometres.

The Mantis X, with its adjustable hydraulic shocks and fatter 10x3,0 tyres, is simply softer and more adaptable. On cobbles and rough cycle paths, you can dial the suspension down and it really does float in a way the Apollo can't quite match. Off the smooth stuff - light gravel, park paths - the Kaabo feels at home; the Apollo will do it, but it's a guest, not a local.

Handling is more nuanced. The Apollo has a very planted front end and geometry that resists speed wobble nicely. Wide bars and that centred, rubberised deck create a stable stance. In fast sweeping corners there's a sense of calm: you lean, it follows, no drama.

The Mantis X is more lively. The wider tyres and softer suspension give tons of grip, and once you trust it, carving on it is addictive - very "snowboard on asphalt". But it also rewards active riding. Shift your weight, work the deck, and it sings. Get lazy with your stance at higher speeds and you're more aware of the mass moving around beneath you.

In short: the Mantis X wins on pure comfort and "carving joy", especially on mixed surfaces. The Apollo hits the sweet spot for urban tarmac - comfortable enough, but more about composure than plushness.

Performance

Both scooters have dual motors around the same rated class, and both will haul you well beyond rental-scooter speeds. The way they do it, though, feels quite different.

On the Apollo City, acceleration is strong but deliberately civilised. From a standstill up to typical city speeds, it surges rather than snaps. You can safely throttle out of a junction without worrying that a tiny thumb twitch will catapult you into the nearest café window. At its upper end it still pulls respectably, but you're clearly on a commuter tuned to feel confident rather than wild.

The Mantis X is more eager. Flick it into dual-motor, "full send" mode and it jumps forward in a way the Apollo generally doesn't. Kaabo's sine-wave controllers keep the delivery smooth, but there's no hiding the extra urgency. Rolling acceleration - that mid-range punch when you're already moving - is where the Mantis X feels more alive. Filtering through traffic, it's easier to squirt from gap to gap, if that's your thing.

Top-speed sensations are similar on paper, but again: tone matters. The Apollo feels stable and settled near its ceiling, but you sense the designers were thinking "commuter lane" not "drag strip." The Mantis X feels more in its element stretching its legs, especially on a nice, long straight.

Hill climbing is a closer fight. Both will deal competently with the nastier slopes most European cities throw at you. The Apollo City will dig in and keep momentum in a very linear, predictable way; it's particularly good at not surprising you as gradient changes. The Mantis X, thanks to its torquier feel, tends to carry speed better on the steeper, longer stuff, especially with a heavier rider - you notice it less bogged down on those last, demoralising metres of a climb.

Braking is a more dramatic difference. The Apollo's combination of a dedicated regen paddle plus dual drums is one of the most pleasant braking setups on any commuter scooter right now. Most of your slowing can be done electronically, smoothly and quietly, with the drums sitting there as faithful, low-maintenance backups. On the Mantis X, you have good mechanical discs with electronic assistance; they work, and with proper setup they're strong, but they need more ongoing love - pads, alignment, and all the usual disc-brake rituals.

If you want that extra "hit" when you open the throttle, the Mantis X indulges you. If you want brisk but predictable, and especially if you care about braking feel more than raw shove, the Apollo is the more mature package.

Battery & Range

Both scooters live in the same broad range universe: realistic city riding with mixed speeds, some hills, and a human-sized rider gives you in the ballpark of a full working day's commuting with a buffer.

On the Apollo City, if you ride like an actual person - some fun bursts, but mostly within sane limits - you're realistically looking at a comfortable there-and-back for typical urban distances, with enough juice left over for a detour to the shops. Push it hard in Sport all the time and you'll chip away at that, but range anxiety doesn't really appear in normal use.

The Mantis X carries a slightly larger battery, and in my real-world rides that translates to a modest but noticeable edge in total distance when ridden similarly. However, Kaabo tempers that with a painfully long standard charge time. You're looking at "leave it overnight and hope" rather than "top up over lunch and forget about it." If you don't invest in faster charging, that long charge becomes part of your routine planning.

Energy behaviour is a bit different too. The Apollo's battery management and regen braking help it feel efficient; you can almost feel it sipping power sensibly, especially if you lean on regen in stop-start traffic. Voltage sag is well controlled - it doesn't suddenly feel half-asleep when you drop below half charge.

The Mantis X also manages voltage sag decently, but its extra punch encourages, shall we say, spirited riding. And spirited riding empties batteries. Yes, it can go further if you treat it gently; no, that's not usually how people ride dual-motor Kaabos.

Result: the Mantis X technically wins the range game on a spec sheet, but for a straightforward commuter who charges at work or overnight, the Apollo's shorter charge time and strong regen practicality make it feel better integrated into daily life.

Portability & Practicality

Let's be clear: both of these are "can just about carry, don't really want to" scooters. They're in that late-20-something-kg range where one flight of stairs is fine, two is a workout, three is a life choice.

The Apollo City feels every bit as heavy as the scale suggests, but its folding system is quick and confidence-inspiring. The stem locks solidly into the deck, so once folded it behaves like a single lump you can grab and hoist into a car boot. The downside is its wide, fixed bars and general bulk: on a train at rush hour, you are that person blocking the door area.

The Mantis X is no featherweight either. It folds down into a reasonably compact footprint and the stem-to-fender latch is handy for lifting, but the feeling is similar: you can lift it, but you don't want to integrate that into your daily routine unless your gym membership is up for renewal. It also takes up a fair bit of floor space thanks to those wide tyres and bars.

Where practicality really diverges is day-to-day faff. The Apollo's drum brakes and tubeless self-healing tyres mean fewer workshop visits, fewer late-night YouTube tutorials on how to seat a stubborn tyre bead, and less time wondering if that gentle scraping noise is your rotor kissing the pads. You basically pump tyres occasionally, plug it in, and ride.

The Mantis X demands a bit more relationship work. Tubed tyres love to remind you about air pressure and give you the occasional flat if you're careless. Disc brakes need periodic adjustment and pad changes. None of this is unusual for a performance scooter, but if you're buying your first "real" scooter, be aware it's not as hands-off as the Apollo tries to be.

Safety

On safety, both manufacturers clearly tried - but they prioritised slightly different things.

The Apollo City's trump card is that IP66 rating and its overall "sealed" approach. You can ride in genuinely foul weather without feeling like you're gambling with the controller's life savings. The drum brakes are completely enclosed, so braking performance in the wet is practically unchanged and there's no spray of grit and water over exposed rotors. Add in the dedicated regen paddle - which lets you modulate speed very precisely without grabbing a lever - and it's arguably one of the safest stopping scooters in this class.

Lighting on the Apollo is good for being seen, with those neat indicators at bar height and on the deck. For seeing on truly dark country paths, the main headlight could be brighter; I'd add an accessory light if I did a lot of night-riding off lit streets. But in city traffic, with streetlights around, it does the job.

The Mantis X counters with a more serious headlight - mounted high enough and bright enough that you can actually see the road ahead, not just your front mudguard. Its indicator setup is properly useful in traffic, and the general visibility package is strong. Braking with the discs plus electronic assist is powerful and predictable once dialled in, but - again - more susceptible to performance variation in wet gritty conditions than sealed drums.

In terms of high-speed stability, both are solid. The Apollo's geometry feels deliberately tuned to avoid wobble, and the Mantis X's improved stem clamp and fatter tyres provide a nicely planted feel when you're pressing on. Tyre grip is excellent on both when properly inflated, with the edge in ultimate comfort grip going to the Kaabo's wider rubber.

Big picture: if your commute includes regular rain and sketchy surfaces, the Apollo's water protection and drum-plus-regen system is a very strong argument. If you ride more in the dry and want better night-time illumination out of the box, the Mantis X makes the stronger case.

Community Feedback

Price & Value

On price, they live in the same neighbourhood. Depending on region and discounts, either can be slightly cheaper on a given day.

The Apollo City asks you to pay for integration and low hassle. You're getting excellent water protection, a genuinely useful app, minimal ongoing maintenance, and a design that feels more premium than its on-paper performance might suggest. From a pure speed-per-euro viewpoint it's not spectacular, but when you factor in the time and money saved on servicing, it starts to look more sensible.

The Mantis X is the value play for riders who care more about performance and suspension hardware. Dual motors with stronger punch, adjustable hydraulic shocks, big battery - those are features you often see on significantly more expensive scooters. The flip side is that it comes with the usual performance-scooter running costs: more wear on consumables, more tinkering, and potentially more workshop visits if you're not handy yourself.

If you view a scooter as a tool that needs to work every day with minimal fuss, the Apollo gives better long-term value. If you view it as part-toy, part-commuter and you're willing to pamper it a bit, the Mantis X gives you more theatre per euro.

Service & Parts Availability

Apollo and Kaabo both have reasonably good global footprints now, though their strengths are a bit different depending on where you live.

Apollo pushes a very "brand-owned" experience with its documentation, how-to videos, and app support. In Europe, you'll mostly be dealing with distributors and dealers rather than Apollo direct, but parts availability for the City is decent and improving, especially for consumables like tyres, drums and display units. The design being proprietary cuts both ways: you're not just slapping on any random third-party stem, but you also sometimes wait specifically for Apollo parts.

Kaabo, on the other hand, benefits from sheer scale and a huge enthusiast ecosystem. Mantis-platform parts - from brake pads to control boards - are everywhere, and a lot of third-party components are compatible. Almost every city with a half-decent PEV scene has at least one shop that knows Kaabo inside out. That said, experiences with individual dealers can vary wildly; it's very much "know your shop."

For a rider who doesn't want to wrench and relies heavily on warranty support and clear documentation, Apollo's approach is more reassuring. For the tinkerer who isn't afraid of a hex key and likes the abundance of compatible spares and mods, the Kaabo ecosystem is richer.

Pros & Cons Summary

Parameters Comparison

Final Verdict - Which Should You Choose?

After many kilometres swapping between these two, the pattern became clear: whenever I had a long, bumpy leisure ride planned, I found myself reaching for the Mantis X. Whenever I had a wet, boring commute and an actual schedule to keep, I almost automatically picked up the Apollo City keycard.

If your riding is mostly urban, on tarmac, in all sorts of weather, and you value a scooter that behaves like a dependable transport appliance, the Apollo City is the more rounded package. Its stronger weather sealing, low-maintenance braking and tyres, and calmer performance make it easier to live with week after week. It's not the most exciting scooter in its class, but it is quietly competent in ways that matter once the novelty wears off.

If you see your scooter as equal parts transport and toy - weekend blasts, park paths, carving for the fun of it - and you're comfortable doing or paying for basic maintenance, the Kaabo Mantis X makes a strong emotional case. The ride is cushier, the acceleration more entertaining, and the chassis invites you to play.

But forced to pick one as the "default recommendation" for most riders who simply want a reliable, capable daily machine, I'd put the Apollo City slightly ahead. The Mantis X is more fun out of the box; the Apollo City is more likely to still feel like a good decision after a year of grim commutes and winter rain.

Numbers Freaks Corner

These metrics strip away emotions and look purely at efficiency and value: how much you pay per unit of battery or speed, how heavy the scooter is relative to its energy and power, how far it goes per Wh, and how fast it charges. Lower is better for cost and weight related metrics; higher is better for available power per speed and for how quickly the charger refills the battery. They don't tell you how the scooter feels, but they do reveal where each one is objectively more efficient or better specified.

Author's Category Battle

Overall Winner Declaration

In the Numbers Freaks Corner, the APOLLO City scores 5 points against the KAABO Mantis X's 6. In the Author's Category Battle, the APOLLO City gets 25 ✅ versus 16 ✅ for KAABO Mantis X (with a few ties sprinkled in).

Totals: APOLLO City scores 30, KAABO Mantis X scores 22.

Based on the scoring, the APOLLO City is our overall winner. Between these two, the Apollo City feels like the scooter that slots most naturally into real life - it's calmer, more weatherproof, and demands less of your time and nerves to keep it running happily. The Kaabo Mantis X absolutely has the more intoxicating ride when you're in the mood, but that comes with the usual performance-scooter baggage. If I had to live with just one as my daily transport, I'd take the City and accept its slightly duller personality in exchange for the peace of mind. The Mantis X is the one I'd borrow for a sunny Sunday; the Apollo is the one I'd trust on a grim Monday morning in February.

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.