This post is brought to you by GoTrax. All opinions are my own. Affiliate links included.

The title of this post is a little misleading. GoTrax HOVERFLY hoverboards are more like self-balancing scooters minus handlebars than hovering around like in Back to the Future. Whatever they’re called, kids love these awesome boards! Keep reading to see a video of the boards in action and to learn a little bit more about them.
Learn how to ride a hoverboard
 
When I posted to my personal Facebook page recently that GoTrax had sent me a HOVERFLY and HOVERFLY XL there were lots of questions. The older crowd wanted to know what the heck they were. The younger crowd wanted to know if they caught fire. And EVERYONE wanted to know how easy they were to use. After posting a video of my children learning to use their HOVERFLY hoverboards, the consensus was unanimous: they were awesome!
 
Have you been considering getting your children a hoverboard? Maybe thinking about them for Christmas? Worried how dangerous they are? This post is for you!
 
My children have been wanting hoverboards for a while now and I was on the fence. Now that we have them and I see how much fun they are I am glad we got them. Of course it is safety first so the new rule in our house is to always wear elbow and knee pads and wrist guards along with helmets when riding a hoverboard.
 
They are tricky in the beginning and people pick it up at different speeds. My son needed about two minutes of assistance and then he was off and hovering, while my daughter was more timid and needed about an hour of help. The best part of the GoTrax HOVERFLY boards are the training mode. To put the board into training mode you push the power button once, wait one second and press it again. My son went without training mode the first day on it, while I kept my daughter on training mode for a few days.
 
Would you like to see them in action?! Watch the video below to see my children learning how to use the boards. You’ll see how we taught both of them to ride by assisting until they were comfortable enough to go it alone. Our mantra while learning was “loosey-goosey” because if you get too stiff it makes it harder to ride.

 

Learning to ride a hoverboard

With your dominant foot, step confidently onto the board. We found that placing the foot up against the side bumper works best. Once your dominant foot is in place, simply place your other foot on the board, also against the bumper. Using a wall or a person is best when attempting to first mount your board. As I mentioned, keep your body loose and relaxed. To move, it is really all in the hips. Tilt your hips forward to move forward. Straighten them up to stop and push them back to go backwards. To turn right, push down with the toes of your LEFT foot. To turn left, push down with the toes of your RIGHT foot. That’s the basics. It really just takes a bit of practice, and as you saw in the video, we recommend having a friend available for support!
Learn how to ride a Hoverfly Hoverboard!
The HOVERFLY hoverboard travels up to 7.4 mph for approximately 12 miles! It has colorful LED lights for fun hovering.
Learn how to ride a Hoverfly XL Hoverboard!
 
The HOVERFLY XL board has a bluetooth speaker built right in so that you can hover to your favorite jams. It also travels 7.4 mph for up to 12 miles. With its rugged tires you can go “off-roading” and the LED lights make for an out-of-this-world riding experience!
  
Now to address the fire question. I went on the GoTrax website and this is what I found:

And while some early hoverboard models were associated with specific fire and safety hazards, the industry as a whole reacted quickly to resolve these issues. In point of fact, the GoTrax HOVERFLY and HOVERFLY PLUS hoverboards are UL safety certified (meaning that they meet safety standards outlined by Underwriters Laboratories in UL 2272, to assure that their batteries and charging systems are safe if used properly). All GOTRAX hoverboards come complete with handy Training Modes that allow you to most literally learn and ride at your own set speed.

My children are techies. They love playing video games and iPods and being in front of screens. My goal as a mom is to limit that as much as possible and these hoverboards have made my job easier. In fact, the first day we got the boards they didn’t have school the next day. I had to call them to come inside at 9:15pm! 
 
The GoTrax HOVERFLY hoverboards definitely got two thumbs up in our house! PS – these boards have a weight limit of 220lbs, so you know mom and dad got in on this action!
 
Make sure to come back later this week to see what community service we were able to perform with our hoverboards!