Social media’s algorithms know that I ride a bike almost every day. My quiver includes a city bike, mountain bike, and gravel bike, in addition to one or two e-bikes I’m always in the process of reviewing. I’m also the family mechanic, which makes me responsible for no less than 16 to 18 tires that I must keep inflated. So, you’d better believe I took notice when Instagram served me several ads for the Flextail Tiny Bike Bump.

The mini rechargeable pump works with Presta (the thin one) or Schrader (the old fatty) valves and promises ultra-fast inflation that maxes out at 100psi (about 7 bars) — enough for any bike that doesn’t require a stretchy wardrobe coordinated with your shoes and helmet.

The origins of the pump are suspect, as I see what looks to be the exact same product sold with branding like Cyclami, Toptoper, Rrskit, and Epoom at a variety of price points, some as low as $25. Flextail sells its version for $85 and lists the manufacturer as Huzhou Jingwei Outdoor Products on the box and device itself. The first pump Flextail sent me couldn’t pump a tire beyond 19psi before dying. Flextail sent me another that (mostly) lives up to the claims.

The thing that’s not mentioned in the ads I’ve seen is how loud the tiny pump is: 76dB at arm’s length, in my testing, which is akin to bending over to inspect a running vacuum cleaner or garbage disposal. Using it while stopped alongside forest trails generates more scowls than seeing a mountain biker in Lycra.

The Flextail Tiny Bike Pump does work, though. It’s much faster and smaller than the mini hand pumps riders usually carry in case of trouble. At 3.9 ounces (111 grams), it’s also just a bit heavier than the trusty 3.4-ounce (96 grams) Unich pump I regularly carry. But the Flextail pump also doesn’t strain your air valve mounts as much because it doesn’t require long periods of vigorously erratic pumping.

The Flextail pump’s biggest disadvantage is that it’s only good for a few zero-to-full inflations before needing a recharge, but that will vary by tire size and desired pressure. It’ll last much longer if you’re just topping up tires. Its tiny 2.59Wh battery recharges in as little as 25 minutes.

In my testing, on a city bike fitted with wide 700 x 40c tires and Schrader valves, I was able to pump one tire up to 45psi in 45 seconds. Then, moving to a gravel bike fitted with wider 700 x 42c tires and Presta valves, I was able to hit 50psi in 90 seconds before the pump quit in need of a recharge. That’s two real-world inflations per charge, for those keeping score.

The Flextail Tiny Bike Pump is so small and lightweight that I initially thought it would be ideal for bikepacking trips or even long day rides. But with only two inflations in the tank, I’d still want to carry a hand pump as backup alongside my patch kit and spare inner tube(s). But there’s no way my gram-obsessed brain would allow me to carry two pumps.

If your rig is an e-bike with a built-in USB charging port, then you’re already traveling with a giant power bank on wheels. That makes it easy to recharge the Flextail pump after depleting it because your side-of-the-road flat tire repair didn’t go as planned (it happens!). Just don’t forget your USB-C cable... and maybe a carbohydrate bar to snack on while you wait.

If you’re still interested, all I can say is that one of the two Flextail Tiny Bike Pumps I tested worked as advertised, and I bet you’ll have similar success from other brands that sell what looks to be the same Huzhou Jingwei Outdoor Products battery-powered pump for much less.

For everyone else, just buy a mini hand pump for much less money. They never need charging, are too big to lose, and will likely last a human lifetime — or two.

All photography by Thomas Ricker / The Verge

‘The world’s lightest city e-bike’ is worth a test, if not your $1,799.

Yes, that’s an electric bike, though you wouldn’t know it from looks alone, or from hoisting it up some stairs since it weighs as much as a regular city bike at just 30 pounds (about 14kg).

What you’re looking at is the Fiido Air, a carbon fiber e-bike from the Chinese company I tested on a whim once, just to see what a $999 direct-to-consumer electric bike was like. Not great, it turned out, and its follow-up had a habit of breaking in two.

But hey, I’m a forgiving type and the company did make amends to those affected. And Fiido says the Air is “the world’s lightest city e-bike” with a “super early bird” price tag of just $1799 at launch (or €1799 in Europe) — rising to $1999 and then $2799 later, ahead of August shipments. That’s just too tempting not to test, especially when it costs half that of the comparable Gogoro Eeyo.

And after spending more than a month with a Fiido Air as my daily rider, I gotta say — I’m impressed... so long as you ignore the app and the silly smartwatch it ships with, and aren’t afraid of doing a little wrenching and troubleshooting yourself.

The first thing you’ll notice about the Fiido Air is the battery — or lack of any visible trace because it’s integrated into the slender frame. Normally that’s a problem but this bike, unlike VanMoofs and some Amplers, is something that many can still haul into an elevator or up a flight of stairs in a pinch due to the liberal use of rigid and lightweight carbon fiber in the bike frame, front fork, handlebar, and seat post stem.

In fact, you wouldn’t know it’s an e-bike at all if it wasn’t for the giant ON / OFF graphic that Fiido inexplicably chose to blaze across the frame as if its owner needs to be forever reminded of where that button is. The otherwise clean design is helped by internally routed cables.

The 250W Mivice rear-hub motor is paired with a Mivice torque sensor for an intuitive assist.

My bike arrived partially assembled in its shipping box. A spacer for my front axel assembly was jammed into the packing materials, however, causing me to overlook it when I assembled the front wheel and handlebars. I could tell something was wrong, and eventually sorted it out with the help of Fiido support, but less experienced bicycle owners might have just lived with the slightly noisy, slightly wobbly, and potentially dangerous assembly.

My European Fiido Air is fitted with a 250W Mivice rear-hub motor and Mivice torque sensor (as you’d expect in this price range) to make the pedal-assisted power feel more natural. It also features plenty of off-the-shelf parts that should help make it easy to service at any local bike shop. That’s not always the case with Fiido’s cheaper e-bikes that use parts not widely available outside of China (I once had a terrible time finding brake pads). The Fiido Air uses Shimano BR-MT410 hydraulic brakes, a Velo saddle, and a Gates Carbon Drive CDX belt drive, with the latter rarely needing servicing unless your bike is shipped with a loose belt, like mine was.

Tightening the belt isn’t difficult, but it’s also not intuitive. Nevertheless, it’s never nice to spend $2000 and find that your transmission slips with a loud clunk when stepping hard on the crank to quickly cross the street against oncoming traffic. I also had to recently lubricate the bottom bracket (where the crankset attaches to the bicycle) after the pedals began making a horrible creaking sound on each downward stroke. Both of these fixes were relatively simple to do, but not something that’s usually required after just a few weeks of riding.

The Air is equipped with a fingerprint sensor that’s surrounded by a colorful light ring. To prevent people from riding off with the e-bike after hitting the well-labeled ON/OFF button, the motor can be configured to unlock with the fingerprint sensor. This worked surprisingly well 99 percent of the time. It worked fine in light rain, so long as I was able to dry it off and shield it, but I once tried to unlock it in a heavy downpour, and no amount of wiping allowed the sensor to recognize my finger. That meant opening the app to unlock the motor.

The app is... terrible, and should be avoided at all cost. Fortunately, it can be abandoned for day-to-day use, but not until you suffer through it for initial setup, and then occasionally to check the battery level — which seems to be off by as much as 20 percent — since there’s no indication of it on the bike itself. It’s a shame Fiido didn’t repurpose the colored ring around the fingerprint sensor for some kind of battery indicator.

After the fingerprint sensor unlocks the bike, more taps will steadily increase the power assist with corresponding rings of color — yellow, blue, a slightly brighter blue, and green — to show the current selection. Unfortunately, the bike doesn’t remember your preferred setting when turning it on and off. A quick double tap on the sensor turns the integrated running lights on and off.

Fiido ships the e-bike with a cheap plastic-y Fiido Mate smartwatch, which is just laughably bad. It can be used to unlock the motor or as a dashboard on your wrist — but can’t be easily attached to the frame. After testing it once I never used it again. I already wear an Apple Watch, but there’s no app for that.

The Fiido Air puts the rider in a very aggressive and sporty position, which creates an awkward hand position that’s less than ideal for long commutes or casual city riding. But it is fun! The pedal assist is delivered smoothly, intuitively, and very quietly, but the motor’s modest 40nm of torque makes this single-speed e-bike best suited for mostly flat commutes. Out of the box the Fiido Air has a 15.5mph (25km/h) top speed that shoots up to 18.6mph (30km/h) with a simple (and often illegal) software setting.

Fiido says the Air can go up to 80km (about 50 miles) on a single charge which is wildly optimistic for its 209Wh non-removable (but serviceable) battery, but may be doable in the lowest power setting (I always tested in max). In my testing, pedal assist was already noticeably degraded after around 40km (25 miles) of riding. Fiido also sells an optional bolt-on range extender that you can take inside to charge from Fiido’s relatively small charging brick.

For what’s supposed to be an e-bike for cities, it ships without a kickstand, bell, or any mudguards which means a rooster tail of spatter on your back if you get caught in the rain. It does have attachment points for front and rear fenders though, if you decide to go that route. It also comes with Kenda 700*40C tires that look better suited for gravel than city streets.

Overall, I’ve really enjoyed using the Fiido Air as my primary city ride for the last six weeks and change. For $1799 it’s a good deal for anyone looking for a nicely designed and lightweight e-bike. For $1999 it’s still worth a hard look, but for $2799 I’d consider other options first.

All photography by Thomas Ricker / The Verge

The Soundcore Sleep A20 are decent passive earbuds that are great for side sleepers, even if Anker overpromises.

“Sleep when you’re dead” was the rallying cry of my youth. But now, in the soft haze of dull middle age, I feel like I’ll die without enough sleep. That’s why I took interest in the new Sleep A20 earbuds from Anker’s Soundcore brand, which promise “pressure-less comfort for side sleepers.”

I, like many, fall asleep listening to podcasts. It’s either that or let a three-pound hunk of fat and neurons lodged in my skull harass me about the future. But my Apple AirPods Pro, like most true wireless earbuds, are too big for comfortable side sleeping, so I only wear one and swap them throughout the night as I toss and turn in fits related to some undiagnosed sleeping disorder.

And since they’re designed as sleep aids, the A20 buds offer lots of sleep-focused features like “unmatched noise blocking” and noise masking to “silence common disturbances such as snoring,” according to Anker.

But not really.

It’s important to understand that Anker doesn’t offer any active noise cancellation to silence snoring or chatty neighbors. The Sleep A20 buds block all external sounds passively by fitting snuggly inside the ear, just like regular ol’ earplugs. That’s partly why the company can charge just $89.99 at launch and still claim up to 14 hours of continuous white noise to mask sounds or 10 hours of audio listening before needing a recharge.

The app lets you switch between two listening modes: Bluetooth audio and sleep sounds. The former is for listening to podcasts, music, or anything else you’d like to stream, while the latter gives you access to dozens of very lifelike sleep sounds grouped by water, nature, life (trains, airplanes, and such), and meditation — I particularly like Rain on Tent. You can also double-tap a bud to switch between listening modes and configure them to keep playing audio all night or until you fall asleep. This is done manually (via timer) or automatically, which I found to be too unreliable.

The A20 buds also include a variety of masking sounds. You can play with a multitude of sliders to mix white noise with seven other colors and two types of snore-masking tracks. It didn’t really work when I attempted to mask a variety of snoring sound effects playing on a nearby speaker. While it did diminish the snoring by layering on less annoying sounds, it certainly didn’t live up to the claim of silencing common disturbances. It also didn’t silence barking dogs or drunken frat boys passing below my bedroom window, I came to find out.

In my side-by-side testing, the AirPods Pro with noise cancelation enabled and playing music did a noticeably better job of neutralizing those disturbances than the Sleep A20 buds also playing music. But I can’t sleep on my side wearing Apple’s AirPods Pro buds (they also cost more than double the A20s during Anker’s discounted launch period).

Nevertheless, I have to say that for my needs these buds are a game-changer. Although I suffered a bit of mild discomfort the first week of wearing them, sleeping with the A20 buds on my side now feels normal — as does inserting them with a push and a twist and then digging them back out each morning (they’re snug!). I do have to micro-adjust the pillow-to-ear angle occasionally for optimal comfort, and the bud facing the pillow will often just mute itself due to the pressure, which means listening to audio from just one ear. But the end result is that I’m sleeping longer and waking up less frequently. And, anecdotally, I feel better rested.

According to sleep data measured by my Apple Watch Ultra, I’m now averaging 7 hours and 14 minutes of sleep time for the two weeks I’ve been testing the A20 buds, up from 6 hours and 50 minutes for the two weeks prior (wearing AirPods Pro) with slightly improved deep sleep. Other sleep tracking data is about the same.

Anker also offers sleep tracking data in the Soundcore app, including novelties like Position (left or right side) and Roll Over (times I’ve switched sides). Unfortunately, the data is only available to view when my iPhone is paired with the buds in my ears. It says I’m predominately a left-side sleeper away from my partner, which makes sense. But several nights measured between 40 and 50 rollovers, or up to six times an hour, which presumably means I need an exorcism.

I found the battery to be excellent when listening to a few hours of podcasts each night, waking up with between 50 and 75 percent charge remaining. (The built-in Soundcore alarms are startlingly loud and not recommended.) They did much better than my three-year-old AirPods Pro that can’t make it through a single night.

Dropping the buds into the charging case takes some practice initially due to the buds’ amorphous shape, but it can be mastered after a few uses. The case can keep the battery charged for up to 80 hours, according to Anker, if you only listen to its collection of soothing sounds in sleep mode downloaded to the buds themselves. That comes with a side benefit of no Bluetooth audio alerts to interrupt your slumber.

Otherwise, the buds feature a Find Device feature, which sounds like and is about as loud as the alarm on a vintage Timex watch (read: not very). You can also configure double and triple taps on each earbud independently to switch between sleep sounds or Bluetooth audio, volume up / down, next, previous, play / pause, or nothing at all. Anker’s app provides a lot of flexibility to dial in the A20 buds to your exact taste.

Listening to music is fine in a pinch with an adjustable EQ. But I wouldn’t buy these tiny, lightweight earbuds if music appreciation is your primary goal.

Still, as a side sleeper who listens to podcasts every night when falling asleep, I’m completely sold on Anker’s $149.99 Soundcore Sleep A20 buds, especially for the early bird price of $89.99 when they go on sale today via Kickstarter.

All photography by Thomas Ricker / The Verge

Big question: can you trust the new company to build a better S5 and A5 electric bike?

Trust is a tricky thing, and VanMoof’s new owners are about to discover if they’ve earned it now that the re-engineered S5 and A5 e-bikes are back on sale.

For €3,298, you can buy the light gray models in the key markets of the Netherlands and Germany. Sales will expand to more European countries over the next month as the company more than doubles its network of service and sales partner locations. The dark gray model will also be on sale again soon, according to co-CEO Elliot Wertheimer, who sat down with The Verge in Amsterdam on Wednesday.

I’ve had one of the 2024 S5 e-bikes to use as my daily driver for the past two weeks. It looks and rides exactly the same as my review e-bike from a year ago. Still, it was delivered with a software issue that created a mechanical “pop” every 30 minutes or so when parked in my living room, as if the integrated Kick Lock was trying to disengage. It’s a very minor annoyance that didn’t affect usage, from what I can tell, and VanMoof says it’s a known but very rare issue. Nevertheless, it’s still concerning, given VanMoof’s messaging around re-engineering everything in the name of quality.

When VanMoof says the S5 and A5 (known collectively as the SA5) have been “re-engineered,” it doesn’t just mean the bikes themselves. New parent McLaren Applied says it thoroughly evaluated everything it acquired after the VanMoof bankruptcy in the summer of 2023, including the supply chain, operations, service centers, individual parts, firmware, and the app. Importantly, McLaren Applied — which is an expert at gathering and examining telemetry data — also helped examine extensive reliability data.

The S5 and A5 were far superior to the troubled S3 and X3 e-bikes by all accounts, but they were rushed into the sales channel in late 2022 for reasons that are now abundantly clear. And, despite the issues being relatively minor, some SA5 owners had to wait weeks to schedule an appointment due to the backlog of S3/X3 repairs that continued to overwhelm support in some regions. Bankruptcy has freed the new VanMoof from legally having to honor any of those S3/X3 warranty claims, but it also created a few hundred thousand angry customers who’ll likely never trust the brand again, no matter who owns it.

Image: VanMoof

Today, the re-engineered SA5 launches without VanMoof-branded service centers. Instead, the company has created a new network of service and sales partners using the local bike shops already found in major cities. Also, the e-bikes aren’t shipped direct from the factory to customers anymore. Instead, the new SA5 e-bikes arrive at quality control centers where a final round of checks is done before being shipped to local bike shops. Those bike shops are then responsible for managing the ongoing relationship with the customer.

The SA5 series is launching with several improvements. These include a new firmware release that fixes connectivity issues between the e-bike and smartphones, improved waterproofing, screws that don’t come loose as easily (notably at the brake lever), a reinforced motor bracket and longer connector to help ensure longevity and servicing, and a new saddle connector that won’t droop over time. But it’s still an e-bike made from lots and lots of proprietary parts that the company says are now in ample supply from its re-engineered supply chain.

The bikes also arrive with a few new software features. The rear light can act as a blinking “deceleration light” and can also be configured to indicate left and right turns (with accompanying sound effects) when holding the secondary left and right buttons. In practice, I’m not sure any of these are too useful, especially during the day. More useful are new battery notifications that will alert you in the app when the battery reaches your predefined threshold. The company will be delivering more features to its rolling computers over time.

One thing that’s gone is the company’s SX4 series. It was supposed to be a simpler VanMoof but was scrapped after its new owners looked at the data, namely the bike’s socket design, which would be too hard to fix when it fails. VanMoof does still promote the dual-motor V superbike on its website, and it remains on the company’s product road map, I’m told. But it won’t launch until 2026, at the earliest.

Also gone is VanMoof’s Peace of Mind insurance that replaced stolen bikes when the company’s Bike Hunters couldn’t recover them. GPS tracking is still enabled in the VanMoof app as is Apple’s Find My service for iPhone owners.

Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge

Instead of writing a new review for the 2024 S5, I’ve updated our S5 review from May 2023 because my conclusion remains the same:

Honestly, I could do without the fancy automatic chain-driven three-speed shifter, superfluous multifunction buttons, programmable electronic bell, Halo Ring interface, Apple tracking, and perky sounds for startup, shutdown, and firmware updates. Give me one gear and a maintenance-free belt drive alongside that torquey boost button on a pedal-assisted e-bike that will get me back and forth to my office every day, no matter what, in style and without fail. But that’s not the S5.

I also lowered the score because we’re now talking about an untested company, and similarly priced but better e-bikes have since been introduced, like the Cowboy Cruiser (€2,699) and Veloretti Ace 2 (€3,299), to name just a few.

But the question that remains is this: does anyone trust the company enough to still buy a VanMoof e-bike?

Author Stephen Covey — that Seven Habits guy — describes trust as an emotional bank account between people, but I think the metaphor can be extended to cover the relationship between people and brands. Basically, if a company makes deposits through honesty and keeping commitments to you, it builds up a reserve of trust. It can make mistakes up until the point the account is depleted.

If you think the current VanMoof is the same company as the original VanMoof, then its trust account is already in the minus. But if you view the current VanMoof as a new company making a fresh start, then consider the following:

The company’s new leaders have so far delivered upon everything they’ve promised. In December, Wertheimer told me the company would soon start delivering spare parts again. Check. Next, he said it would open up a partner network of third-party service and sales centers. Check. Then it would restart e-bike sales. Check. All that’s left now is for the LaVoie VanMoof-branded e-scooter to launch before mid-year which I’m told is still on track.

Maybe that’s enough earned credit to offset the fact that it delivered a review bike to me with a bug. Maybe not.

Regardless, the company has given itself about three years to turn things around. And you can bet that the perception created by these new old S5 and A5 e-bikes will be critical to the new VanMoof’s prospects.

A long list of features, but how many do you really need?

Update April 11th, 6:00AM ET: VanMoof stopped sales of the S5 and A5 series following its bankruptcy in 2023. The re-engineered e-bikes were put back on sale in April 2024 with several internal tweaks and a few new features. The original review has been updated below, and the score lowered from an 8 to a 6 to reflect the current competitive landscape.

“Sometimes you have to kill your darlings,” is a phrase used by designers to justify the removal of elements they find personally exciting but fail to add value.

The last time I heard it was in April, 2022, when I rode pre-production versions of VanMoof’s new full-size S5 and smaller A5 electric bikes. The phrase was uttered by the company’s co-founder and former CEO Taco Carlier to justify the removal of VanMoof’s iconic matrix display for a new “Halo Ring” interface.

One year later and both e-bikes were finally being delivered, well after their original target of July 2022. They were priced much higher than VanMoof’s previous generation e-bikes — the VanMoof S3 / X3 — when introduced for a rather remarkable price of $1,998 / €1,998 back in 2020. In hindsight, VanMoof was likely selling those bikes for a loss in order to gain marketshare, and the volume grab contributed to the company’s eventual bankruptcy.

The 2024 S5 and A5 have now been re-engineered by the company’s new owners, with new features and many internal tweaks to ensure robustness and ease of service.

But can a two-year old e-bike priced at €3,298 still compete?

Although the S5 and A5 pedal-assisted e-bikes still look like VanMoofs with that extended top tube capped by front and rear lights, everything from the frame down to the chips and sensors have been re-engineered. First in 2022, when the company said that only a “handful of parts” were carried over from the troubled S3 an X3 models, then again in 2024 when the new owners evaluated reliability data to fixed several short-comings of the original SA5 e-bikes that were rushed into the sales channels for reasons that are now abundantly clear.

Here are some of the most notable changes:

• New LED Halo Ring visual interfaces flanking both grips.
• An integrated SP Connect phone mount (you provide the case) with USB-C charging port.
• New almost completely silent Gen 5 front-hub motor with torque sensor and three-speed automatic e-shifter (the S3 / X3 had four-speed e-shifters).
• New multi-function buttons have been added below the bell (next to left grip) and boost (next to right grip) buttons.
• The boost button now offers more oomph with torque increasing to 68Nm from 59Nm.
• The S5 frame which has been criticized for being too tall has been lowered by 5cm (2 inches) to better accommodate riders as tall as 165cm (5 feet, 5 inches), while the A5 caters to riders as tall as 155cm (5 feet, 1 inch) and allows for an easier step-through than the X3 it supersedes.
• Low battery notification alerts, blinking brake-light indicator, and turn signals.

These join a very long list of standard features found on VanMoof e-bikes like a well designed and useful app, integrated Kick Lock on the rear wheel, baked in GPS tracking and Apple Find My support, hydraulic disc brakes, muscular city tires, bright integrated front and rear lights, mudguards, and kickstand. In 2024, however, the company discontinued VanMoof’s Peace of Mind insurance service which guaranteed recovery of stolen bikes.

The 2024 S5 and A5 e-bikes are launching with several improvements you can’t see, meant to solve known issues with the 2022 models and improve long-term durability. These include a new firmware release that fixes connectivity issues between the e-bike and smartphones, improved waterproofing, screws that don’t come loose as easily (notably at the brake lever), a reinforced motor bracket and longer connector to help ensure longevity and servicing, and a new saddle connector that won’t droop over time. But it’s still an e-bike made from lots and lots of proprietary parts that the company says are now in ample supply from its re-engineered supply chain.

VanMoof e-bikes now have integrated mounts and USB-C charging for your phone.

I’ve had one of the 2024 S5 e-bikes to use as my daily driver for the past two weeks. It looks and rides exactly the same as my review e-bike from a year ago. Still, it was delivered with a software issue that created a mechanical “pop” every 30 minutes or so when parked in my living room, as if the integrated Kick Lock was trying to disengage. It’s a very minor annoyance that didn’t affect usage, from what I can tell, and VanMoof says it’s a known but very rare issue. Nevertheless, it’s still concerning, given VanMoof’s messaging around re-engineering everything in the name of quality.

Back in 2023 when I first reviewed the S5, I picked up my dark gray (also available in light gray) VanMoof S5 loaner in March but I ran into a few issues that delayed publication. These included intermittent connectivity failures between the app and bike, a Kick Lock that didn’t always disengage, and an alarm that would briefly trigger for no apparent reason. Those issues were all corrected by an over-the-air firmware (v1.20) update released in mid-April before I could even report them back to VanMoof support.

I had mixed emotions about this. The S5 and A5 had just started shipping in quantity — albeit, eight months late — so you’d think they would have had time to sort out any issues in VanMoof’s new testing labs. That’s annoying given VanMoof’s history of initial quality issues and assurances provided by the company that they wouldn’t be repeated. Then again, premium e-bikes from companies like VanMoof are increasingly complex machines, and seeing the company solve issues so quickly was commendable.

One issue that wasn’t fixed at the time was idle battery drain, but VanMoof told me that a firmware update would solve it in “two weeks” time. In my case, the issue caused the idle S5’s battery to drain from 86 percent to 65 percent over a period of 10 days. I generally lost about two percent charge each day whether I ride it or not, back in 2023.

Oh, and that 2023 e-bike required several firmware updates (v1.2.4 was my last). Annoyingly, the S5 plays a jaunty little tune the entire time the firmware is being installed. It was cute at first, my daughter even offered a little dance to go with it. But it takes five to 10 minutes, and after the first time you hear it, it’s just annoying and there’s no way to turn it off. It still does that in 2024, even at firmware v1.5.0 I tested.

Regarding new features, the Halo Rings next to each grip are the most visible change from previous VanMoofs. At least until you hit sunlight and those weak LEDs washout almost completely. The Halo Rings are meant to show speed, charge remaining, current pedal-assist power level, and more through a series of light bars and animations. Overall they’re fine, if gimmicky, but I don’t have much of a need for status information when bicycling. I also didn’t miss the old top-tube matrix display.

Riding a 23kg / 50.7lbs VanMoof S5 feels like an S3 albeit with fewer shifts and a boost button that provides more torque when trying to pass someone or get an early jump off the line. The fifth generation 250W motor of VanMoof design is absolutely quiet, even at its top speed of 25km/h in Europe (which increases to 20mph in the US). And the new three-speed e-shifter does a better job of accurately finding the right gear than the S3’s four-speed e-shifter did. I still felt a few clinks and spinning pedals, especially when mashing down hard on the cranks when in a hurry. But overall the S5’s predictive shifting is much improved, especially when rolling along at a casual pace. Still, it’s not as smooth as the automatic shifters from Enviolo, for example, so there’s still work to be done.

It’s a shame VanMoof doesn’t offer a simple belt-drive option for its e-bikes. That coupled with the S5’s torquey boost button would obviate the need for any gears when riding in all but the most hilly environments.

As to range, VanMoof says I should be able to get 60km on full power mode. However, in 2023, I was only able to eke out 48.6km (30.2 miles) from the S5’s 487Wh battery when riding in full power mode and frequently pressing the boost button, in temperatures that ranged from freezing to 15C (59F). That’s about the same range I got when testing the VanMoof S3 — 47 km (29.2 miles) — and its bigger 504Wh battery. VanMoof claims the 2024 S5 and A5 models use the battery more efficiently but I wasn’t able to confirm this.

The battery can be charged from zero to 100 percent in 6 hours and 30 minutes via the included charger — that’s slow, but it’s also good for the long-term health of that expensive battery.

I had been wondering how VanMoof would use the new multifunction buttons located just below the bell and boost buttons. The small button on the right (below the boost) can be configured to change your motor power on the fly with a press or hold it to indicate a right turn (by flashing the right half of the rear light). The left button (below the bell) makes your front lights flash rapidly when pressed, akin to a BMW driver bearing down upon you on the autobahn. It can also be configured as a left turn indicator when held, with an accompanying — and slightly embarrassing — sound effect. All of these features tick boxes on marketing sheets but aren’t very useful in practice. The company promises more features in the future via software updates to the firmware and app.

And since this is a VanMoof, the battery is integrated and can only be removed during maintenance. The new VanMoof selling the 2024 S5 and A5 has no plans to re-introduce the “click-on” version (no velcro!) of its extended battery that could have been charged inside the home.

I’ve had a nagging concern about VanMoof e-bikes for the last few years that I even mentioned in the S3 review. Are they getting too complex for their own good?

Electric bikes — especially commuter e-bikes like the S5 — are subjected to daily wear and tear in all kinds of weather conditions. Even basic bikes are difficult to maintain when used everyday and VanMoof’s e-bikes are expensive rolling computers.

Honestly, I could do without the fancy automatic chain-driven three-speed shifter, superfluous multifunction buttons, programmable electronic bell, Halo Ring interface, Apple tracking, and perky sounds for startup, shutdown, and firmware updates. Give me one gear and a maintenance-free belt drive alongside that torquey boost button on a pedal-assisted e-bike that will get me back and forth to my office every day, no matter what, in style and without fail. But that’s not the S5.

Don’t get me wrong, the VanMoof S5 is a very good electric bike with a longer feature list than any other e-bike I can name. But the brand is now owned by an untested company using an untested partner network of third-party sales and service centers. And since most S5 / A5 parts are only available from VanMoof, you’d better make sure a sales and service center is nearby if you’re interested in buying.

The VanMoof S5 is currently €599 more expensive than the comparable Cowboy Cruiser and the same price as the better Veloretti Ace 2 (€3,299). Viewed in those terms, VanMoof’s pricing is too high.

As good as the S5 is, the feature set is verging on gimmickry, in my opinion. They’re cute and entertaining, sure. But many just aren’t needed for regular commuters. The S5 has too many darlings, and not enough killing.

All photography by Thomas Ricker / The Verge

Specs for Gen X.

Glasses are the defining feature of the nerd emoji, but add a dark tint to those lenses, and suddenly you and the emoji are cool. Glasses with chips are for “glassholes” and reading glasses are for olds — and nothing, I think we can agree, is lamer than an over-40-year-old like me.

So what happens if you combine reading glasses with sunglasses and put a chip in that so discretely that nobody can even tell?

That’s what Deep Optics has done with its latest 32°N-branded Muir sunglasses that I’ve been testing for the last few weeks. A swipe on the frame sends an electrical signal to the two liquid crystal lenses to change the state of millions of tiny pixels so that close objects come into focus.

As such, these 32 Degrees North specs eliminate the need to carry (and lose) both reading glasses and sunglasses — at least, that’s the promise made in exchange for $849 of your hard-earned money.

I’ve been enamored by liquid lens tech since I first saw it demonstrated at CES in 2017. That was long before I could admit that I needed reading glasses due to the onset of presbyopia, the gradual age-related loss of my eyes’ ability to focus on anything nearby.

32°N’s Muir sunglasses adjust focus with a swipe to see nearby objects. To be clear (ha!), they are not transition sunglasses that change opacity with the brightness of the sun, nor can they correct near or farsightedness. The lenses from Deep Optics change to reading glasses without ever changing opacity, and 32°N’s sunglasses aren’t offered with prescription lenses. I did all my testing while wearing contact lenses.

The new Muir frames look very similar to the company’s existing Wharton frames, originally launched in 2021 / 2022 as a Kickstarter. Both are offered in chunky black or transparent plastic, but the new Muir frame features a slightly wider and curved fit.

I think the Muir frames looked good on the handful of family and friends I asked to model them. But they don’t feel premium in the hand, reminding me a little too much of those cheap 3D glasses theaters hand out. But if you’re interested in buying these transforming sunglasses, then fashion is a secondary consideration to being able to read a menu while seated at a terrace cafe.

A triple tap on the frame at the right temple activates the Bluetooth radio for pairing. Setup in the 32°N phone app is quick, with an excellent video explainer that walks you through each step. The company also offers guided one-on-one video onboarding sessions if you prefer the human touch. Either way, it’s during setup that you discover exactly how limited those liquid crystal lenses are.

For typical reading glasses, the entire lenses are magnifiers, making them good for seeing things nearby and that’s it. That’s why you see people in their mid-40s and over constantly taking them on and off.

But a single swipe from the right temple toward the ear on the new Muir frame doesn’t transition the entire lenses into magnifiers — it only transitions a squared-off section in each lens where the active liquid crystal lens resides. So, a lens within a lens, if you will, like an on-demand bifocal.

GIF: 32°N

And within that square is a narrow sweet spot that offers magnification, with everything else in the square blurred when active. With your head and eyes adjusted properly, that narrow magnification band allows me to read about five lines of smartphone text at default settings. To see more, I have to move my head.

Everything outside that liquid crystal square is an unaltered “safety zone” with no magnification at all, making it useful to quickly glance around you without having to swipe to disable magnification.

Another swipe from the temple backward, and the reading glasses revert entirely to sunglasses. From the outside, you can also see the lenses changing but only from certain angles, in just the right lighting, and only if you look very, very closely.

In practice, everything works, but it takes a while to feel natural because the liquid crystal lens doesn’t focus immediately. Even then, after several hours of testing, I still find myself adjusting my eyes or head position to hunt for the sweet spot in order to read things. The gestures, on the other hand, became second nature rather quickly.

After swiping for magnification, you see the lens immediately smear before returning to focus in about two to three seconds. It feels slow, but it’s magnitudes faster than having to fish out a pair of reading glasses. Swiping again to revert back to just sunglasses is more seamless and faster.

The reverse swipe from ear to temple toggles the magnification focal distance between any two of three settings: Watch mode (very close), smartphone (close), laptop (not so close). The focal shift is subtle but meaningful, in my experience. I set mine to toggle between laptop and phone, where I spend most of my reading time.

Holding multiple fingers against the temple toggles the lenses into your default reading mode (smartphone for me) and stays there for a preset delay after the hand is removed (two seconds for me). This proved to be a very useful gesture for quickly checking phone notifications, a payment terminal, or anything else you need to quickly read in close proximity.

But $849 is a lot to spend on these, especially when a decent pair of polarized sunglasses fitted with multi-focal prescription lenses can be had for around $500.

There’s absolutely a gee-whiz factor to liquid crystal lens tech, and the undeniable convenience it offers to any aging GenXer who would benefit from only having to carry (and care for) a single pair of glasses. They (we) were the first generation to grow up with personal computers, so it’s only right that they’re the first to get computerized glasses to keep reading them.

Ultimately, if you’re interested in these new Muir adaptive sunglasses, I’d suggest giving them a try before committing — something 32°N makes possible with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Fun, fun, fun till a trailer towed my baby away.

“Wow, what an entrance!” said a well-coiffed woman as other patrons seated at the sidewalk cafe, now standing, began to applaud my exit from the electric bubble car like I was stepping out of a limousine.

That really happened in one of Amsterdam’s wealthiest neighborhoods, on a street dotted with Range Rovers and a G-Class Merc costing nearly ten times as much as the little BMW Isetta throwback I was driving. What followed was a bevy of questions I had already answered dozens of times in my one week with the car: What is it? How much does it cost? Can I drive it on the highway?

It’s an Italian-made Microlino from a Swiss-company called Micro with prices starting at around €18,000 (about $19,500). Yes, it’s highway legal.

While cars in general are embiggening, in some cities a new breed of electric microcars are trending. They’re cheaper to own, easier to park, consume less public space and energy, and maneuver around obstacles that would otherwise block big SUVs and snarl traffic.

And you know what? Some, like the Microlino, are so much fun that maybe, just maybe, they’ll help reverse the trend of people buying increasingly larger and heavier cars. Assuming they’ve fixed a software issue that bricked my test car at the end of the review (more on that later).

Let me start by saying that I don’t own a car, but I do regularly drive one. I’ve long subscribed to a car sharing service with a dedicated fleet parked in dedicated spots around town, that lets me select the right car for my current need: compact, wagon, or panel van; gas or EV. But not everyone lives in a city that spent the last 50-odd years trying to break away from car dependency to perfect multimodal transport, so the desire to own a large car that can do all the car things is understandable.

Yet even here in Amsterdam — a city dominated by bicycles with easy access to good public transportation — there are still lots of privately owned cars suffering from autobesity, just sitting there on the street unused 96 percent of the time, by some accounts. That’s space that could be used for public walkways, cycleways, benches, cafes, greenery... or about three microcars parked side by side.

The midtier Microlino Dolce I reviewed starts at €20,000 (about $21,700) and is an absolute joy for quick trips to the market or dropping a kid at school while staying warm and dry in bad weather. It has a top speed of 90km/h (55mph) and range of up to 228km (142 miles) for destinations well beyond the city center.

Last weekend, I drove my wife and dog to the sea and back and then returned to the dunes for a trail run the following day before needing to recharge the Microlino, for a real-world range of about 110km. I plugged it in at one of the 12 public 11kW AC chargers in the parking lot with about 20 percent remaining, and returned from my run 90 minutes later to find a 50 percent charge — more than enough for the 30-minute drive home.

The Microlino’s no speed demon, but it’s still an EV and so lightweight that I’d beat unsuspecting taxis off the starting line and “win” the merged lane. The small and responsive steering wheel and super stiff suspension contribute to a go-kart feel when whipping around corners and through traffic circles at I-should-know-better speeds. “It feels like a real car,” is how one owner of a €15,000 (about $16,300) Biro — one of the first and most popular electric microcars to seduce Amsterdammers — described driving the Microlino.

The hinged front makes it very easy to get in and out of the microcar, even in the tightest of spaces.

It’s not without its faults, however. To start with, there’s a lot of plastic inside the Microlino (but the windows are all glass unlike some microcars). One plastic clip helping to keep a plastic service panel in place snapped off in my brief time with the car, which I received with just 10km on the odometer. The motor has a distinct whine, the phone holder rattles when empty, the wiper motor is noisy, and the fan has two settings: loud or louder. The only thing that isn’t loud is the included portable Bluetooth speaker.

I also watched the main display reboot once while driving but without any impact on the motor or controls (thankfully!). And while the front door has a nice soft-close mechanism, the trunk requires a solid slam to catch. The sloped-back roof also exposes the interior to rain when the door is open, and I experienced some drips while driving around curves due to water that must have collected in the door closure.

The “vegan” (fake) leather on the seats and steering wheel were nice touches on my Dolce Edition, as was the intuitive mechanical sunroof, but overall I’d describe the fit and finish of the Microlino Dolce as basic. At least until I drove a top-end Biro and realized just how superior the Microlino was by comparison. A Microlino is a tiny expensive car, whereas a Biro is a tiny expensive golf cart.

The Microlino did, however, suffer a total failure after sitting on a 11kWh public charger for about four hours. When I returned to what should have been a fully charged car, it wouldn’t power on. After hauling it away on a trailer, Micro identified the issue and assures me it won’t affect future cars. They blamed the problem on a system that protects the car against peak voltage from the charging station, which “was not adjusted correctly after a software update.”

Micro tells me that my poor little guy is fine after the update. Good, but such a failure would have been a huge hassle if I was the vehicle’s owner, and without the priority attention afforded to journalists.

Still, despite the mishap and all my nitpicking, none of the aforementioned issues are enough to dissuade my enthusiasm for the Microlino — it’s that much fun.

As much as I enjoyed my week with the Microlino, I’m not yet a convert — there’s simply no faster, more convenient, or healthier way of going door to door than on a bicycle in cities with good cycling infrastructure, despite the rain and cold for which I can dress. And less capable but very appealing microcars like the Opel Rocks (sold as the Citroen Ami in some markets) can be had for half the price at €8,700 (about $9,470).

The Microlino isn’t for everyone. Hell, microcars aren’t even for most people. But they are for anyone who wants a vehicle that’s more nimble, efficient, inexpensive, and fun to drive than a full-sized car.

Fun... there’s that word again. I can’t help but return to it even if it’s impossible to quantify. But anecdotally, my time with the Microlino delivered more smiles per city kilometer — both inside and outside the car — than any car I’ve ever been in, and I’d wager more than any new car available today, no matter the size or price.

Photography by Thomas Ricker / The Verge

It’s just as fast, the magnet is just as strong, but it costs half as much as those proprietary Apple mounts.

It’s not often that a truly useful new technology is released that both increases performance and undercuts the cost of the tech it replaces. But that’s exactly what the new Qi2 magnetic wireless charging standard has done for iPhone owners — and soon, Android — now that the first products have arrived.

For the past two weeks, I’ve been testing a new Qi2 charging mount for cars that matches the performance of Apple’s MagSafe-certified chargers and costs less. Hell, it’ll also work with Android devices once they start shipping with Qi2 support.

To be honest, I don’t know if it’s the $35.99 ESR charger that I’m so impressed by or the fact that Qi2 products have shipped that are immediately beneficial just one year after the standardization effort was first announced. USB-C didn’t do that, Wi-Fi 7 didn’t, and Matter... well, I’m not brave enough to even try.

But this inexpensive car mount holds my phone securely with a strong magnet, fast-charges it at 15W, and takes just seconds to set up in a car. It’s enough to make me forget about the potential of the Vision Pro because Qi2 is the future, now.

After upgrading to an iPhone 15 Pro a few months ago, I finally got interested in Apple’s MagSafe charging tech to replace my slow $55 robotic car mount that could only muster a 7.5W Qi charge. I just didn’t want to pay a premium for a MagSafe-certified car mount — which start at $80 on Apple dot com — knowing that inexpensive Qi2 solutions were coming.

And now that I’ve tested the ESR charger, I can confirm it does in fact do (almost) everything MagSafe does, only cheaper. When placed on the ESR charger, my iPhone 15 Pro in an Apple MagSafe case charges from zero to 100 percent in two hours and 45 minutes, same as it would if connected to an Apple MagSafe charger.

The ESR wireless car charger comes with the magnetic charging base and two mounts that attach to the base in less than a minute. One mount is a clip that you squeeze and release to grab onto the slats inside your car’s air vent; the other is an oversize GoPro-like 3M adhesive mount for a semipermanent attachment to your car’s dashboard. I don’t own a car, so being able to temporarily clip the charger into whatever car-share I’m driving is crucial to my needs.

Here’s the thing, though: that clip on the vent mount is fat. I tested it on the vents inside a piece of shit VW Up, a stupidly fast BMW 335d E92, and an old Ford Westfalia camper van. It easily fit the first two but was far too thick to latch securely onto the Ford’s dense and shallow cluster of slats inside its vents.

Otherwise, the clip performed as expected. It’s bolstered by a small adjustable flange below the clip that rests on the vent or dashboard (depending on which vent slat you choose to clip the mount) to create a sturdy platform that keeps the phone still and directed at the driver. When the ESR logo is upright on the charging puck, the USB-C jack is at the bottom, with two blue lights on the driver and passenger sides to indicate power.

The ESR charger comes with a USB-C to USB-C cable as well as a small USB-A to USC-C adapter that I’ve already lost. The cable is just one meter (three feet, four inches) long, which was fine everywhere I tested it but could be too short for some setups. If you want that full 15W Qi2 wireless charge to your phone, you’re on the hook to provide a power source of at least 18W to account for conversion inefficiencies. That 18W comes either directly from your car’s more powerful USB-C sockets (USB-A is likely capped at 12W) or via an adapter (not included) for your car’s 12V “cigarette lighter” socket.

In my testing at home, I saw the charger briefly pull a maximum of 22.3W from the wall jack early in the charging cycle, but usually, it hovered between 14W and 11W before dropping well below 10W for the last 45 minutes of charging — all right in line with a typical charging curve for a modern phone. The phone did get noticeably warm at times, but not excessively so.

If you’re concerned about heat and its impact on your battery’s longevity, you can always pull the plug from the puck and insert it directly into your phone. Then, you’ve basically got a MagSafe vent mount, which Mophie sells for $30 and also doesn’t charge your phone (or come with a second adhesive dashboard mount).

That’s also what you should do if you want to use the ESR mount with an Android phone in a MagSafe-compatible case. Just know that Qi2 chargers are limited to 5W when used with Qi v1 phones.

Unlike MagSafe, Qi2 also can’t remember which StandBy display you want on which charger, like family photos when in the kitchen or an alarm clock at your bedside.

And while the Qi2 magnet should be strong enough to deal with bumpy roads and potholes, I can still fling the iPhone 15 Pro off the mount with some vigorous shaking. It’s fine — just don’t plan on using the ESR mount for the next Dakar race or think you can repurpose it for a helmet cam to bomb down mountain bike trails.

For owners of iPhone 13, iPhone 14, and iPhone 15 devices, ESR’s high-quality $35.99 (on sale for $30.99 right now) Qi2 magnetic car mount does exactly what it should: it holds your phone tight, charges it (relatively) fast, and is quick to mount to either your car’s air vent or dashboard. And at just half the price of comparable MagSafe mounts, there’s really nothing to complain about.

Photography by Thomas Ricker / The Verge

Fire and ice make everything nice.

I don’t know who needs a battery-powered combination refrigerator, freezer, and ice maker on wheels that can be charged by a solar panel, but I like knowing that you’re out there, wandering the planet with a cocktail in hand while bending Mother Nature to your will.

The EcoFlow Glacier is pitched at RV and boat owners or anyone looking to bring modern luxuries into the great outdoors. Its list price starts at $1,099 / €1,199, but that’s before adding extras like a 297Wh battery for a day away from the grid, wheels and telescoping handle to make the 50.7-pound (23kg) unit more portable when its 38-liter (40-quart) capacity is maxed out with food and drinks, and up to 240W of solar panels to keep that beach party bumpin’ for as long as the sun will shine.

I’ve been testing the Glacier for a few weeks, and I’m starting to understand its appeal. It helps that I’m a budding vanlifer who also enjoys the occasional libation.

Importantly, the Glacier cools down fast. EcoFlow claims it will drop the temperature from 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) to 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius) in 15 minutes. In my battery test at home in a room measuring 64 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius), it took 17 minutes for the Glacier to cool down to my desired dual-zone temperatures of 42.8 degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Celsius) for the fridge and 14 degrees Fahrenheit (negative 10 degrees Celsius) for the freezer. The reported temperature on the built-in display and EcoFlow’s app aligned closely with my own thermometer, which measured 6 degrees Celsius and negative 9 degrees Celsius on the two sides. On the fridge side, I packed a jug of prechilled milk alongside bottles of room temperature tonic water, and in the freezer, I placed two bags of ice and half a loaf of bread.

The compressor is noisy when initially cooling down the unit, measuring about 41dB from one meter away in my testing. It then goes almost completely silent, minus the occasional gurgle and some weird scratching sounds, which I’m told is gas inside the fridge moving through a one-way valve. The sound is akin to a tired but determined little mouse trying to escape a steel bucket loaded with thumbtacks. It’s noticeable in a very quiet room but infrequent and subtle enough that it took me a few days to realize that my house did not, in fact, have an infestation issue.

In regular power (not Eco) mode, the compressor comes on every 30 minutes or so and then runs for about three minutes to maintain my desired temperatures. At 32dB, the sound isn’t too bad, but it’s loud compared to any modern built-in kitchen fridge and something you’d definitely notice when sleeping nearby.

A removable divider separates the fridge and freezer sections, and the EcoFlow Glacier can automatically detect if it is inserted. When it is, you are presented with temperature controls for the two separate zones. Otherwise, EcoFlow treats the internal capacity as one giant fridge or freezer with space under the lid to store the divider. The Glacier also remembers your previous temperature settings when the partition is added or removed. Smart.

The hollow cubes are reasonably thick.

Making ice is rather interesting since you have to make it and then detach it. Let me explain.

You first need to fill the reservoir with up to 1.4 liters (a little over a third of a gallon) of water. That’s enough to make about five batches of ice before a refill warning appears in the app and on the unit itself. You then hit the “make ice” button in the app or on the Glacier control panel, choose either small or large cubes, and wait anywhere between 11 and 17 minutes — the first round of ice takes longer. The ice forms around a field of 18 metal pins inside the reservoir, and it’s loud. In my testing, it hit around 51dB from a distance of one meter for the entire ice-making process. The unit beeps when finished and continues to do so until you run a separate operation to detach the ice. Fortunately, the beep can be turned off in the settings.

Hit the “detach ice” button to begin releasing the ice from the pins. This process took anywhere between 30 seconds and three minutes in my testing. Once the countdown timer is complete, a little tug on the basket lifts the hollow ice ovals out of the reservoir, but not without dripping water everywhere if you forget to shake off the excess. Good thing that Glacier has an IPX4 resistance to splashing water and light rain. The ice produced is relatively robust, making bigger ice “cubes” with thicker walls than those produced by my own dedicated ice machine.

EcoFlow says that the Glacier will run for up to 40 hours off its 297Wh battery, but my real-world testing yielded just 22 hours. That actually seems reasonable since I was using it heavily in regular power mode — not Eco mode. I made ice four times — two batches of small cubes and two batches of large — for a total of 72 cubes during my battery test, all while the fridge was loaded and keeping each compartment cooled at a steady 6 degrees Celsius / negative 10 degrees Celsius as described above. Glacier’s 120W DC compressor consumed about 12Wh to 15Wh of power during each session, which is very good compared to typical ice makers that use inefficient AC compressors. I could have extended battery life in Eco mode, which allows for a wider range of temperature fluctuations.

When plugged into an AC outlet, the Glacier used a total of 394Wh over a 24-hour period. During that time, I made three batches of ice, while continuing to operate in a dual-zone (6 degrees Celsius / negative 10 degrees Celsius) configuration. Eco mode in the same scenario consumed 354Wh in a day.

As for portability, the removable telescoping handle and wheels are a necessity, in my opinion, for anyone who needs to even semi-regularly move the 30.6 × 15.2 × 17.5 inch (776 × 385 × 445mm) unit from place to place, especially when loaded with food and drinks. The handle is a bit short for my six-foot frame, which caused me to bash the fridge into the back of my legs at times. Further, the wheels are rigid, causing the fridge (and the glass bottles inside) to vibrate like hell when pulled along bumpy roads. But I’d rather suffer those indignities than have to carry this beast alone for more than a few feet at a time.

Some other notable considerations:

• The Glacier can’t be powered by solar alone. Connected panels simply charge the removable battery via an XT60 port on the fridge.
• You also can’t make ice when only powered off a 12V cigarette outlet — another reason you’ll want to pay more for an optional battery or two.
• The battery chemistry is Li-NMC, not LFP, in order to pack more capacity into a smaller space.
• The Glacier has a single XT60 input port for power / charging (car and wall adapters included in the box).
• EcoFlow says the battery charges in as little as 2.1 hours under perfect 240W (11–60V, 13A Max) solar conditions (which don’t exist), 2.2 hours from AC (180W), or about four hours (12V) or 2.1 hours (24V) when plugged into a vehicle (192W, 8A Max).
• The removable battery has a bidirectional 100W USB-C PD port. That means it can charge your gadgets while also powering the fridge or be recharged via the same USB-C charger you use for your phone or laptop.
• Cleaning the ice maker’s water reservoir is a challenge with all those pins sticking up. The water can be drained via a small hose hidden by a panel door — something you’ll want to do before trying to roll it away. Otherwise, the water will slosh out.
• The built-in carrying handles on the top left and top right of the unit can also be removed for more permanent installations.
• When the lid is open, two lights help illuminate the insides.
• The Glacier can join your local network over 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, where it can then be monitored and controlled remotely via the excellent EcoFlow app. It also supports Bluetooth for direct connectivity.
• Oddly, the Glacier doesn’t offer a direct DC battery port to receive power directly (and efficiently) from one of EcoFlow’s own lineup of giant batteries.

As a gadget fan and outdoor enthusiast, I must say that I really like the EcoFlow Glacier. It does what it says it will on the box and performs each function well, which is really saying something for a three-in-one appliance. But let’s be real, if you’re going to buy this thing, then you should almost certainly get it with a battery for $1,399 / €1,399 and likely the removable wheels / handle combo as well, boosting the price by another $99 / €119.

Is that price justified? Hard to say, because if you’re the type looking for an ice-making fridge / freezer combo for use in remote locations, then the usual rules of value for money probably don’t apply. It’s really a question of how much you’re willing to spend to take modern comforts into places where those luxuries aren’t usually available.

Fortunately, EcoFlow devices are regularly on sale, especially during the end-of-year holidays, which could save you 20 percent or more on that list price.

Photography by Thomas Ricker / The Verge