Apollo Explore 20 vs KAABO Mantis X Plus - Which "Goldilocks" Scooter Actually Gets It Right?

Fast Answer for Busy Riders ⚡ (TL;DR)

The KAABO Mantis X Plus is the stronger overall package: it rides harder, climbs better, and feels more future-proof if you want real performance without jumping to a 40 kg monster. It suits riders who want a fast, fun "final destination" scooter for urban and weekend use, and who don't mind a bit of wrenching now and then.

The Apollo Explore 20 makes more sense for safety-conscious commuters who prioritise weather resistance, low maintenance and good app integration over raw speed and dual-motor drama. It's calmer, more sensible, and easier to live with if you hate adjusting brakes and fixing flats.

If you can live with the weight and occasional Kaabo quirks, go Mantis X Plus. If your heart says performance but your brain (and office staircase) say "practical", the Explore 20 is the saner daily choice.

Stick around for the full breakdown before you drop over a thousand euros on something you'll be hauling up kerbs and cursing at in the rain.

Electric scooters in this middleweight "serious commuter" class are where things get interesting. Too big to be toys, too small to be motorcycles, and priced high enough that mistakes actually hurt. The Apollo Explore 20 and KAABO Mantis X Plus both promise that perfect middle ground: fast, comfortable, and just about portable enough that you don't need a loading ramp.

On one side, Apollo pitches the Explore 20 as a refined, techy, all-weather workhorse that trades headline numbers for real-world usability. On the other, Kaabo's Mantis X Plus turns up with dual motors, big suspension and the attitude of a scooter that would really prefer you to be slightly irresponsible.

The Explore 20 is for the commuter who wants car-like reliability from something that folds. The Mantis X Plus is for the rider who wants every journey to feel like they "accidentally" took the long way home. Let's see which one actually earns its place in your hallway.

Who Are These For, and Why Compare Them?

Both scooters sit in the same broad segment: mid-range, "serious" commuters that can double as weekend fun machines. They're a big step up from rental-level toys, but not yet in the absurd, hyper-scooter league where you start googling motorcycle jackets and life insurance add-ons.

The Apollo Explore 20 aims for the daily rider who wants something robust, high-tech and rain-friendly. It's single-motor, relatively compact, and tries to win you over with software, lighting, and low-maintenance hardware rather than brute force.

The KAABO Mantis X Plus is aimed at the exact same wallet but a slightly different personality: the rider who's discovered that underpowered scooters are dull, hills are annoying, and they want that dual-motor surge without buying a scooter that weighs as much as a washing machine.

Same weight class, similar battery voltage, similar claimed ranges, both pitched as "Goldilocks" machines. One is commuter-first with a bit of fun bolted on; the other is fun-first that can commute if you behave. That's why they absolutely deserve to be compared head-to-head.

Design & Build Quality

Pick up the Apollo Explore 20 and the first impression is "industrial". The tubular frame wraps around the deck like a roll cage, giving it a very deliberate, engineered look. It feels dense, overbuilt even, and there's that typical Apollo attention to cable routing and finishing touches. No visible spaghetti hanging off the front, which is refreshing in this price band.

The Mantis X Plus, by contrast, looks like it actually wants to be ridden fast. The curved suspension arms and forward-leaning stance give it that "praying mantis ready to pounce" silhouette. The frame material is high-grade aluminium, and you can feel it in the way the chassis resists flex. It's not quite luxury-car solid, but it doesn't have the cheap, hollow feel some dual-motor machines do.

In the hand and under the feet, both feel like "real vehicles", not OEM clones with a logo slapped on. But the flavours are different: Apollo has that slightly over-engineered, app-happy vibe, whereas Kaabo is very much "we gave you the good bits, you'll sort the rest." If you like things tight and tidy, the Explore 20's stem and frame will probably appeal more. If you want something that looks like it escaped from a performance catalogue, the Mantis X Plus wins on drama.

Ride Comfort & Handling

Comfort is where both scooters do well, but for different kinds of riding.

The Explore 20 uses a triple-spring setup with a dual-spring rear and single front shock. Paired with its tubeless tyres, the result is a very cushioned, "planted" ride. On broken city asphalt, patched tarmac and the usual assortment of raised manhole covers, it soaks up the chatter impressively. After a few kilometres of nasty city paving, your knees still feel like they belong to you. The handling is stable rather than playful - you guide it rather than flick it.

The Mantis X Plus goes further. Adjustable damped shocks front and rear give it a level of tuneability you rarely see at this price. Once set to your weight, it glides over cobbles and rough bike paths with an almost arrogant ease. The wide tyres and wide bars make it very confidence-inspiring in corners. Where the Apollo encourages calm, the Kaabo invites carving. On a twisty riverside path, the X Plus feels like it wants you to lean it over and enjoy yourself; the Explore 20 feels more like a competent commuter doing its best impression of a touring bike.

Long story short: both are comfy. The Apollo is plush in a "daily bus replacement" way. The Mantis is plush in a "let's go do another loop just because" way.

Performance

This is where the personalities really split.

The Apollo Explore 20 runs a single rear motor with a controller that's clearly been tuned with some care. Takeoff is brisk but civilised; you get enough snap off the line to clear intersections and beat bicycles without any unpleasant lurching. It hustles up to typical city speeds quickly enough that you don't feel like a rolling traffic cone, and it'll keep pulling to a top speed that's sensible for urban bike lanes and mixed traffic. On hills, it doesn't embarrass itself - even with a heavier rider it grinds up serious slopes with determination, just not with fireworks.

The Mantis X Plus takes a different approach: dual motors, Sine Wave controllers and a definite taste for mischief. Throttle on in dual-motor mode and it surges forward with the kind of authority that makes cars at the lights suddenly pay attention. The power delivery is smooth, not violent, but the rate at which the world starts moving past you is in a different league to the Apollo. On steep hills it doesn't just survive; it charges up them, barely dropping speed unless you're really loading it up or abusing the throttle.

At higher speeds, the Explore 20 feels composed but clearly at the upper end of what its single motor and conservative tune were meant for. The Mantis, on the other hand, feels like it's comfortably within its performance envelope when you're riding at the same pace - there's still a bit of headroom left, both in acceleration and chassis stability. If you mostly trundle around town, the Apollo's performance is "enough". If you ever ride with faster friends or want serious shove on tap, the X Plus simply outclasses it.

Battery & Range

On paper, both scooters promise generous ranges. In the real world, both do what mid-range scooters always do: fall somewhere nicely below the brochure, but still entirely workable if you're not trying to cross a country.

The Explore 20's battery gives you a solid daily comfort zone. Ride it like a normal commuter - mixed speeds, some hills, not babying the throttle - and you're looking at a range that comfortably covers most city commutes with extra left for detours. Ride it flat-out everywhere, and you'll see that number shrink noticeably, but it rarely strays into "is this thing going to die before home?" anxiety territory unless you're really abusing it.

The Mantis X Plus has a chunkier pack, and that shows. Even with the temptation of dual motors and higher cruising speeds, it still manages slightly more real-world range in similar riding. If you ride gently in single-motor modes, it stretches its legs respectably; ride it like it begs to be ridden - fast - and you can watch the battery gauge drop more quickly, but you're still doing better than many similarly powerful scooters on efficiency.

The catch? Charging times. The Apollo's pack refills overnight with the stock charger; the Kaabo takes noticeably longer on its standard brick. You can speed things up with aftermarket or higher-amp options where available, but out of the box, neither is what you'd call "fast to refill". If you often forget to plug in until midnight, the Apollo's slightly smaller pack and shorter charge window are marginally easier to live with.

Portability & Practicality

Here's the awkward truth: neither of these is a "toss it over your shoulder" scooter. They both live in that delightful range where they ride like proper machines and carry like small anvils.

The Apollo Explore 20 is a touch lighter on paper, but not enough that your spine will notice on a staircase. Its frame is compact enough when folded, but the handlebars do not fold, which makes it wider to tuck into tight car boots or under café tables. The folding mechanism itself is chunky and confidence-inspiring: once locked, the stem feels almost like a one-piece unit. Operating the latch takes a bit of hand strength, but you get zero wobble in return.

The Mantis X Plus folds more conventionally and clamps down in a way that finally tames the old Mantis stem wobble reputation. The folded package is shorter and a bit more coherent, helped by the ability to hook the bars to the rear. It is, however, slightly heavier, and you do feel that when you have to lift it into a car or up a flight of stairs. This is not the scooter you happily carry through three train changes every day unless you enjoy involuntary CrossFit.

Practicality beyond weight is where Apollo claws back some points. The IP66 rating and self-healing tubeless tyres scream "use me every day, in any weather, forget about flats". The Kaabo's IPX5 is decent but not as confidence-inducing in really grim weather, and those tubed tyres add a bit of mental overhead: hit a nasty pothole, and you know that in the worst case you're actually changing a tube, not just topping up with air and carrying on.

Safety

Both scooters take safety seriously, but they've chosen very different philosophies.

Apollo has gone full commuter with the Explore 20: drum brakes front and regen at the rear. Enthusiasts will roll their eyes at the lack of discs, but in everyday use, the setup actually works fine for the speeds and weight involved. Stopping distances are respectable, and more importantly, consistent in rain and grime. You trade a bit of the sharp initial bite of a disc for predictability and basically zero maintenance. Add to that the very serious lighting - tall stem beam, deck lighting, rear lights, indicators - and the scooter is one of the more visible things you can ride home on a winter evening.

The Mantis X Plus arms itself with discs plus electronic braking assistance. Pull the levers hard and you get proper deceleration, with the EABS helping keep the wheels from locking and sliding out on you. It feels more "motorcycle-ish" in how it bites, especially at speed. It does, however, ask you to occasionally tweak and adjust the mechanical parts if you want that performance to stay consistent. Lighting is much better than older Kaabos: a functional high-mounted headlight, decent deck and side lights, and usable turn signals. In pitch-black rural darkness you'll still want an extra helmet light, but for city night riding it's more than adequate.

Stability at speed favours the Mantis - it's simply more planted when you're really moving. In filthy wet weather and when you don't want to think about maintenance, the Apollo's drum brakes, tubeless tyres and higher water rating are frankly more reassuring.

Community Feedback

Price & Value

This is where emotions and calculators often clash.

The Explore 20 sits in the upper region of single-motor commuter pricing. For a scooter with one motor, modest top speed and a mid-sized battery, you're paying a noticeable premium over generic competitors. In return, you get an actually thought-through package: proper waterproofing, self-healing tubeless tyres, a very refined ride, strong lighting and one of the better apps in the industry. If your priority is a scooter you can abuse daily with minimal fuss, the long-term value story is better than the spec sheet suggests. Still, if you're the sort of buyer who compares "watts per euro" first, it's a hard sell emotionally.

The Mantis X Plus is more expensive, but the gap in performance and hardware is real. Dual motors, bigger battery, adjustable suspension, modern display - you're edging close to "entry hyper-scooter" territory without completely obliterating your bank account. In terms of euros per grin, it does very well. In terms of euros per kilometre of actual transport, it's still competitive, but you are paying for power you may not fully use if your life is 90% short city hops.

In blunt terms: the Apollo makes sense if you're okay paying extra for comfort, weatherproofing and low drama. The Kaabo makes sense if you want real performance and can accept that you'll be the "friend with tools" from time to time.

Service & Parts Availability

Apollo has invested heavily in its brand ecosystem: app, support channels, documentation, and parts. In Europe, availability has improved a lot compared to the early days, but it still varies by country and reseller. When you do need something, you're usually dealing with a structured support flow, for better and for worse - things feel "official", but sometimes not lightning-fast.

Kaabo plays a different game: huge network of distributors and resellers, and a platform that's been popular for years. That means parts - both official and aftermarket - are widely available. Need a brake, stem bolt, or replacement controller? Chances are someone local stocks it. The flip side is that after-sales experience depends heavily on the specific shop you bought from. Some are excellent, some... less so.

From a DIY point of view, the Mantis X Plus is friendlier to tinkerers. The Explore 20, with its more integrated design and brand-specific features, feels more like a "send it to an authorised place" product when something serious goes wrong.

Pros & Cons Summary

Parameters Comparison

Final Verdict - Which Should You Choose?

If your life is basically commuting, with occasional weekend detours, and you value reliability, weather resistance and low maintenance above all, the Apollo Explore 20 fits that reality better. It's not a thrill machine, but it's impressively comfortable, practical and forgiving. You can ride it in the rain, ignore it in the hallway, and it'll quietly get on with the job. You just have to make peace with paying a premium for a single-motor scooter whose numbers don't shout nearly as loudly as its real-world usability.

If, however, you want your scooter to do more than just replace the bus - if you actually want it to be fun - the KAABO Mantis X Plus is simply the more complete package. It accelerates harder, covers more distance, carves better, and gives you room to grow as a rider. Yes, it asks a bit more from you in terms of maintenance and care, and no, it's not the thing you want to drag up narrow stairwells twice a day. But once you're rolling, it feels like a proper enthusiast machine that still behaves well enough to commute on.

My take: choose the Explore 20 if you're a serious all-weather commuter who wants a scooter as a tool first and toy second. Choose the Mantis X Plus if you want every ride - including the commute - to feel like the fun part of your day, and you're willing to put up with some extra weight and occasional tinkering to get there.

Numbers Freaks Corner

These metrics strip away feelings and just compare hard efficiency: how much you pay and carry for the battery, speed and power you get, plus how quickly you can put energy back in. Lower values generally mean better value or lighter burden per unit of performance, except where a higher figure represents stronger performance (power density and charging speed). Use this as a sanity check alongside the more subjective ride impressions.

Author's Category Battle

Overall Winner Declaration

In the Numbers Freaks Corner, the APOLLO Explore 20 scores 4 points against the KAABO Mantis X Plus's 6. In the Author's Category Battle, the APOLLO Explore 20 gets 23 ✅ versus 26 ✅ for KAABO Mantis X Plus (with a few ties sprinkled in).

Totals: APOLLO Explore 20 scores 27, KAABO Mantis X Plus scores 32.

Based on the scoring, the KAABO Mantis X Plus is our overall winner. Between these two, the Mantis X Plus simply feels like the more rewarding scooter to live with if you care about how a ride makes you feel, not just whether you arrived. It has the kind of power, composure and adjustability that keeps you interested long after the novelty wears off. The Explore 20 is easier to justify to your sensible side, but the Kaabo is the one that makes you look forward to climbing on, not just getting off. If you can handle the weight and occasional fettling, it's the scooter that turns everyday transport into something you actually enjoy.

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.