Hiboy MAX Pro vs Apollo Explore 20 - Which "Goldilocks" Scooter Actually Delivers?

Fast Answer for Busy Riders ⚡ (TL;DR)

The Apollo Explore 20 feels like the more refined and technically impressive scooter, especially in bad weather and for riders who want strong acceleration, serious lighting, and low-maintenance hardware - but you pay handsomely for that polish. The Hiboy MAX Pro is slower and simpler, yet gives you a more generous battery and softer, sofa-like ride for noticeably less money. If you're a daily all-weather "super commuter" with secure parking and a healthy budget, the Apollo will appeal. If you want solid comfort, long range and don't fancy spending close to mid-four figures for a single-motor commuter, the Hiboy quietly makes a lot of sense.

Both scooters have real compromises, and which one "wins" depends a lot on where and how you ride - so it's worth diving into the details before you pull out your credit card.

Electric scooters in this middleweight commuter class all promise the same dream: car-beating commuting, train-dodging freedom and a smug feeling when you glide past a traffic jam. The Hiboy MAX Pro and Apollo Explore 20 sit right in that sweet spot between toy scooters and terrifying hyper-scooters, but they come at the problem from very different angles.

The Hiboy MAX Pro is the comfort-first, big-battery plodder - built for long, gentle commutes, bigger riders and people who care more about arriving relaxed than shaving seconds off every traffic light. The Apollo Explore 20 is the techy city bruiser - heavier, punchier, more sophisticated, confident in the rain, and aimed at riders who want "proper vehicle" vibes from their scooter.

I've spent time with both, from cobbled old-town streets to grim commuter bike lanes in wet weather. The story here isn't that one is amazing and the other is terrible - it's that each hides its compromises in different places. Let's unpack where they shine, where they annoy, and which one fits your life better.

Who Are These For, and Why Compare Them?

On paper, these two absolutely belong in the same comparison. Both are single-motor, mid-power commuters with proper suspension, air-filled tyres and enough speed to keep up with city traffic without demanding motorcycle armour and a will.

The Hiboy MAX Pro lives in the upper mid-budget bracket - you get dual suspension, very big tyres and a chunky battery for a price that many brands reserve for basic, no-suspension commuters. It clearly targets riders who need real range and comfort, not Instagram bragging rights. Think suburban-to-city commuter, 10-20 km each way, plus weekend errands.

The Apollo Explore 20 sits a clear step up in price and tries to justify it with better acceleration, stronger weather protection, clever electronics and lower maintenance. It chases the rider who actually treats their scooter as a primary vehicle: daily usage, all seasons, wants it to "just work" with minimal fettling - and who's willing to accept weight, size and price for that.

So why compare them? Because from a buyer's chair, they occupy the same mental shelf: "serious" commuters that promise comfort and range without crossing into heavy dual-motor overkill. If you're shopping in this class, these two will almost certainly both end up on your shortlist.

Design & Build Quality

Pick up the Hiboy MAX Pro and the first impression is: big, simple, solid. It's very much cast in the "chunky city tool" mould - reinforced aluminium frame, big deck, big tyres, functional matte finish. Nothing screams high-end boutique, but nothing screams cheap toy either. The folding joint feels reassuringly stout, the stem doesn't flap about, and overall it gives off a "this will survive years of potholes and neglect" vibe. Cable routing is acceptable rather than beautiful; it looks like a mainstream commuter, not a design icon.

The Apollo Explore 20, in contrast, clearly wants you to notice it. The tubular frame wrapping around the deck looks more engineered than stamped, the colour accents and lighting are integrated rather than tacked on, and the cabling is neat enough to satisfy people who use words like "aesthetic" unironically. The folding latch is overbuilt and slightly agricultural in feel, but once locked, the stem feels as rigid as a one-piece bar. The whole thing exudes a "designed in-house, not ordered from a catalogue" impression.

In the hands, the Apollo feels more premium and more cohesive, but also more like a piece of heavy hardware than a casual scooter. The Hiboy feels simpler, a bit more generic, but also more approachable. If you like the idea of a rugged tool, you might secretly prefer the Hiboy's honest, workhorse character. If you enjoy the sensation that engineers have agonised over the chassis stiffness, the Apollo scratches that itch better.

Ride Comfort & Handling

Both scooters claim "plush" on the box, and - unusually in this industry - both are mostly right. They just go about it differently.

The Hiboy MAX Pro leans hard on its oversized air-filled tyres and dual suspension. Those huge wheels roll over the kind of cracked pavements and nasty expansion joints that make smaller scooters twitch and skip. After a good few kilometres on broken city sidewalks, my knees were still on speaking terms with me, which is not something I can say about most budget commuters. The suspension is tuned on the softer side; hit repeated heavier bumps and you can coax a bit of pogo out of it, but for everyday city abuse, it takes the sting out nicely.

The Apollo Explore 20 uses a triple-spring arrangement - dual at the rear, single at the front - that feels more engineered and a bit more controlled. Where the Hiboy wafts, the Apollo glides. On cobbles and scarred tarmac, the Explore soaks up chatter without getting wallowy, and it takes bigger hits with a calmer, more composed response. You can feel the extra mass working in its favour; it tracks straight at speed and feels planted when you lean into bends.

Handling-wise, the Hiboy's wider bars and long, generous deck make it easy to find a relaxed stance. It's a forgiving scooter for newer riders - predictable steering, no nervous headshake, and a general sense that it would rather cruise than carve. The Apollo is more eager: the steering is still stable, but the chassis encourages a more dynamic style. Use the rear kick plate, shift your weight and it rewards you with cleaner arcs through bends and more confident emergency manoeuvres.

If your daily route is a patchwork of rough surfaces and you mostly cruise at moderate speeds, the Hiboy's pillowy tyres and soft tune feel wonderfully lazy. If you like riding a bit faster, sweeping through corners and occasionally dodging cars that have forgotten indicators exist, the Apollo's suspension and chassis feel more sorted.

Performance

This is where the personalities really diverge.

The Hiboy MAX Pro's rear hub motor sits in the lower-middle of the power spectrum for this class. It pulls away from the line at a pace that will comfortably out-drag bicycles but won't rip your hands off the bars. The power delivery is gentle and linear, which suits its commuter-first character. You get up to its upper-30s top speed (on the display) with a steady surge rather than a shove, and that's actually quite nice if you're not hunting adrenaline every morning.

On hills, the Hiboy does better than its modest numbers suggest, thanks to its higher-voltage system. It grinds up typical city gradients with determination. It will slow under a heavier rider on a long, steep ramp, but it doesn't roll over and die. For most urban environments that aren't built entirely on ski slopes, it's "sufficient and then some".

The Apollo Explore 20, by contrast, genuinely feels quick. That single rear motor, managed by the Mach controller, delivers a much punchier hit off the line. From zero to city speeds happens in just a couple of heartbeats; you can absolutely beat cars off the light if you want the moral victory. The top speed sits a bit above the Hiboy's comfort zone, and the scooter still feels composed there - no scary wobble, no white-knuckle bar shake.

Point it at a hill and the Apollo simply has more grunt in reserve. Heavier riders, steeper climbs, longer ascents - it just shrugs them off more confidently. "Ludo" mode adds a noticeable extra shove; it isn't a night-and-day transformation, but it's enough that you feel you've found the scooter's full personality.

Braking follows a similar pattern of philosophy over spec-sheet bling. The Hiboy uses dual drum brakes plus electronic assistance. Lever feel is predictable, modulation is decent, and the braking matches its top speed well. It isn't a face-melter, but you don't want that on a soft-sprung, long-tyred commuter anyway. It feels safe rather than sporty.

The Apollo's combination of drums plus a separate regenerative-brake thumb lever is surprisingly addictive. In normal riding you end up using regen for most slowing, with the drums stepping in as the "oh, that taxi really is cutting across me" backup. Stopping distances are solid, but more importantly, the system feels controlled and intuitive once you get used to the two-lever dance.

If you want a calm, car-replacing cruiser with "good enough" performance, the Hiboy is fine. If you're the type who notices throttle mapping and grins when a scooter surges cleanly to its limit, the Apollo is the more satisfying ride.

Battery & Range

This is where the Hiboy quietly swings a surprisingly big bat.

The MAX Pro hides a large-capacity battery in its deck, and in real-world riding that translates to genuinely long commutes without constant charging paranoia. Ride at a brisk, but not silly, pace, mix in some hills, weigh something realistic instead of marketing-department fantasy, and you can still get well beyond the usual "there and back plus errands" distance on a single charge. Range anxiety becomes an occasional guest, not a constant passenger.

The trade-off is charging time. The Hiboy's pack takes the better part of a night to go from low to full with the standard charger. If you forget to plug it in, you're not topping it off over dinner. On the other hand, with the generous range, many riders will only need to charge every second or third day, which softens the blow.

The Apollo Explore 20 carries a slightly smaller battery, and in the real world that means shorter legs - especially if you lean on its stronger motor and livelier modes. For a lot of city commuters, the realistic range is still absolutely enough: out, back, and maybe a detour without feeling like you're on a countdown. But if you're the kind of rider who always chooses the sportiest mode and treats every bike lane like qualifying, expect to recharge more often than on the Hiboy.

Charging is a tad quicker on paper, and you can buy a faster charger separately to bring it down further. That's a nice option if you're the "charge at office, ride hard both ways" type, but of course it's yet another additional cost on an already premium-priced scooter.

In simple terms: the Hiboy is the better choice if raw range per euro matters to you. The Apollo is acceptable for most commutes, but it doesn't feel particularly generous considering its weight and price.

Portability & Practicality

Let's be blunt: neither of these scooters is what you want if your daily routine involves sprinting up three flights of stairs or squeezing through metro gates at rush hour.

The Hiboy MAX Pro is already a hefty beast. Its weight is perfectly manageable if you're rolling it into a lift, wheeling it across a foyer or occasionally lifting it into a car boot. But carry it up more than one floor and you'll start mentally listing everything in your life you've done wrong. Folded, it's long and wide-tyred; it'll slide into many car boots, but not with grace.

The Apollo Explore 20 adds another solid chunk on top of that, and then refuses to fold its handlebars to compensate. From a riding perspective, the wide, fixed bars are great. From a "try to get this through a narrow hallway or into a compact hatchback" perspective, they're a recurring annoyance. Add the higher weight and this very much becomes a "ground-floor or lift-equipped building only" machine. You can carry it up stairs a few times; you just won't want to.

Both scooters fold securely, both have kickstands that don't collapse in a light breeze, and both can do door-to-door urban commuting very well. As multi-modal companions, though - train plus scooter, bus plus scooter - they're compromises at best. The Hiboy is just about tolerable for occasional mixed-mode use; the Apollo crosses into "why am I doing this to myself?" territory if you're regularly lifting it.

For daily practicality, the Apollo's high weather protection rating is a huge plus. Being able to ignore drizzle and the occasional proper downpour without worrying about your controller dissolving in a puff of smoke is extremely liberating. The Hiboy's more modest splash rating means you'll ride in light rain with clenched teeth and a mental note about warranty terms.

Safety

Both brands clearly know these scooters will be ridden fast enough that "toy" safety won't cut it.

The Hiboy MAX Pro does the basics well: dual drum brakes with electronic help, big tyres for stability, and a lighting package that goes beyond the bare minimum. The side ambient lights genuinely increase your visual footprint at night, and the scooter feels nicely stable up near its top speed. Those big wheels are a friend when you cross tram tracks or hit a nasty pothole in the dark; you feel the impact, but you don't immediately rehearse your hospital speech.

The Apollo Explore 20 takes visibility much more seriously. The high-mounted stem light is at eye level for many drivers, which does wonders for actually being seen, and the extra deck and rear lights plus turn signals make you stand out in a way few scooters manage. In winter, or in cities where drivers treat scooters as semi-invisible, this is not a gimmick - it's a very real safety advantage.

On braking, neither is a track weapon, but both stop within a sensible distance for their speeds, and both offer predictable lever feel. The Apollo's regen lever, once you learn it, lets you feather your speed with much more finesse than typical "on/off" electronic brakes. That helps keep the scooter balanced in tricky conditions and saves you from panic-grabbing the mechanical brakes as often.

Tyre grip is good on both - large pneumatic tyres help a lot - but the Apollo's tubeless, self-healing tyres plus that IP66 rating make it the clear choice if wet-weather commuting is a regular thing for you. The Hiboy can survive drizzle and puddle splashes; the Apollo is built to shrug off actual rain, not just marketing rain.

Community Feedback

Price & Value

Here's where the conversation gets slightly uncomfortable for one of them.

The Hiboy MAX Pro sits at a price where most competitors still ship you solid tyres, no suspension and a much smaller battery. Instead, you get big air tyres, dual suspension, a beefy pack and a properly adult-sized scooter. It's not an outrageous bargain, but for what you get, "good value" isn't an exaggeration. You feel like you're getting a lot of scooter for your money, even if the finish and details aren't going to impress brand snobs.

The Apollo Explore 20 costs significantly more. In return, you get much better weather protection, stronger performance, better integration, superb lighting and lower-maintenance running. If you ride every day, in all conditions, for years, those features may well pay themselves back in peace of mind and fewer headaches. But if you're an occasional fair-weather commuter, some of that premium is essentially wasted on you.

There's also the hard truth that, in this price band, you can find dual-motor monsters and larger-battery machines from less polished brands. They won't match Apollo's refinement, support or app, but they do put pressure on the perceived value. Whether the Explore 20 feels "worth it" will depend a lot on how much you care about the brand's ecosystem and long-term durability versus raw spec-sheet excitement.

Service & Parts Availability

Hiboy has been around the mass-market space for a good while, and that shows in the ecosystem. Spares, from tyres and tubes to brake bits, are relatively easy to find, and generic parts often fit because the design isn't wildly exotic. Servicing in Europe is a mixed bag: you're largely relying on third-party repair shops or your own tools, but that's true of most mid-range scooters in this price tier.

Apollo has done a lot of work to build a support network and localised parts supply. Their scooters use more proprietary components, but Apollo actually stocks them and maintains documentation, which matters a lot when something finally wears out. Turnaround times vary by country, but compared with anonymous white-label scooters, the situation is generally better. That said, with more complex electronics and integration, there is also simply more that could require brand-specific parts down the line.

For the average European rider, the Hiboy is easier to keep going with generic parts and local tinkerers; the Apollo is better supported by its own brand but more tied to that ecosystem. Neither is a nightmare, but neither is as simple as a bicycle, either.

Pros & Cons Summary

Parameters Comparison

Final Verdict - Which Should You Choose?

Both scooters are genuinely capable daily commuters, but they lean into different priorities.

The Hiboy MAX Pro is the pragmatic choice. It gives you a big, comfortable platform, long real-world range and decent performance for a price that doesn't feel like a personal financial crisis. It's ideal if you ride mostly in dry conditions, want a soft, relaxed ride, and measure value in kilometres per euro rather than in app features. If your commute is long but not mountainous, and you don't have to drag the scooter upstairs every day, it does its job with little drama.

The Apollo Explore 20, meanwhile, is the more sophisticated - and more demanding - partner. It will treat you to better acceleration, better composure at speed, vastly superior lighting and weather confidence, and less day-to-day maintenance hassle. But you pay in weight, bulk and price. It makes the most sense for riders who use their scooter as a true car alternative, ride in all weather, and appreciate the extra thought that's gone into the electronics and ergonomics.

If you're value-sensitive and just want a comfortable, capable commuter that won't murder your bank account, the Hiboy MAX Pro is easier to recommend. If you're committed to scooter life, ride hard and often, and accept the price and weight as the cost of a more polished experience, the Apollo Explore 20 will feel more special - even if, quietly, it doesn't completely escape questions about whether it really gives you enough extra for the premium you're paying.

Numbers Freaks Corner

These metrics look at pure maths: how much you pay for each unit of energy or speed, how heavy each scooter is relative to its power and battery, how efficient they are per kilometre, and how fast they charge. Lower is better for costs, weight and energy use; higher is better for power density and charging speed. They don't tell you how the scooters feel, but they do expose who's giving you more "stuff" per euro or per kilogram.

Author's Category Battle

Overall Winner Declaration

In the Numbers Freaks Corner, the HIBOY MAX Pro scores 7 points against the APOLLO Explore 20's 3. In the Author's Category Battle, the HIBOY MAX Pro gets 14 ✅ versus 30 ✅ for APOLLO Explore 20 (with a few ties sprinkled in).

Totals: HIBOY MAX Pro scores 21, APOLLO Explore 20 scores 33.

Based on the scoring, the APOLLO Explore 20 is our overall winner. In the end, the Hiboy MAX Pro feels like the sensible commuter's friend: long-legged, easy-going and kinder to your wallet, even if it never really sets your pulse racing. The Apollo Explore 20 is the more charismatic partner - faster, sharper, more refined and more confident when the weather turns grim - but it asks you to live with its weight and its price. For most riders who simply want a comfortable, capable daily scooter without overcomplicating life, the Hiboy quietly makes more practical sense; for those who ride hard, ride often and want their scooter to feel like a "proper machine", the Apollo still holds a certain undeniable appeal.

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.