The ‘Getting Around’ category in the T3 Awards 2022 is one of the most wide-ranging and relates to bikes, cars, scooters and the whole art and practice of ‘getting around’. Here, we’re handing out the gongs for Best Road Bike, Best E-Bike, best E-Scooter, Best Bike Tech, Best Dashcam and Best Sat Nav. It’s a deep dive into tech-assisted mobility, and the ideal read on a long car journey.
There’s no doubt that electric bikes and scooters have blown up massively in 2022, continuing their rise over recent years, with road bikes also enjoying a resurgence as people look to exercise more, spend less on transport, and reduce their carbon footprint. Cars aren’t going away any time soon however, and the dashcam and sat nav categories remain hotly contested, although phones, CarPlay and Android Auto have naturally made big inroads – no pun intended – into the latter category.
There’s a lot to get through in the T3 Awards 2022 Getting Around category, so let’s saddle up, strap in and hit the road.
Best Electric Scooter: Pure Air Pro LR
(Image credit: Pure Electric)
As a ‘last-mile solution’, there’s probably nothing better than an electric scooter and now they’re set to become legal in the UK we can see their popularity set to explode. They’re the perfect personal transport method if you want to reduce your time commuting and make more eco-friendly journeys. The market has grown in popularity massively recently, and its seen a huge growth in the number of brands and models available. That has made choosing a winner of the T3 Award for Best Electric Scooter a very difficult task.
There can only be one winner, however, and this year, it’s Pure Air Pro LR.
The Pure Air Pro LR really is the ultimate everyday scooter – capable of travelling 60km in between charges and featuring a powerful rear-wheel motor that makes accelerating and climbing hills a breeze. It looks stunning with its birch and maple plywood deck, and weighing in at 17.5 kg, it perfectly balances performance with portability.
All of these outstanding features are combined with top-notch build quality, safety, comfort, and ease of maintenance, making it the best electric scooter you can possibly buy today.
Pure was one of the first electric scooter brands to incorporate water resistance, and, of course, the Pure Air Pro LR continues this tradition with a guaranteed IP65 water resistance, which, if you’re planning on using your scooter in the UK, is a necessity.
We think it encapsulates everything an electric scooter should be.
Best electric scooter shortlist:
Pure Air Pro (2nd Gen), Xiaomi Mi 1S, Pure Air Pro LR, Ninebot Segway D38E, Taito Electric Scooter
Best Electric Bike: Gocycle G4i
(Image credit: Gocycle)
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This was a tough one to call, with a mix of very affordable ebikes offering surprisingly good features and build quality, taking on more advanced, pricier bikes. Ultimately though, we had to go for the most advanced ebike of the lot, the futuristic, folding G4i from GoCycle.
The GoCycle G4i’s brilliant mix of easy folding, advanced features and futuristic styling make it a worthy winner. Above all though, it’s bloody good fun to ride, with power applied in a way that feels totally natural as you pedal. Just as important, GoCycle has made this a bike that folds up small enough to take on the train, put in your car boot or stow under your office desk. Yet it feels just like a ‘real’, full-sized ebike when unfurled. It’s so nippy to ride, it corners beautifully and the ride position is uncannily like being on a normal bike, thanks to the clever design.
Best Electric Bike shortlist
BirdBike, VanMoof S5, Canyon Roadlite:ON, Pure Electric Pure Flux One, Carrera Impel IM-2, GoCycle G4i, Volt London
Best Road Bike: Ribble Endurance AL Disc
(Image credit: Ribble)
Consumers across the world went in hot pursuit of new bikes during and after lockdown, and as well as ebikes, sporty road bikes did very well out of this renewed hunger for pedal power. The UK’s Ribble produces some of the world’s best and most keenly priced road bikes, and its online shop and growing network of bricks-and-mortar one worked hard to service the demand for road bikes.
The Ribble Endurance AL Disc ascended to the top of our best road bike chart thanks to an unbeatable combo of sleek looks and reliable components at a giveaway price. Ribble is certainly not only a bargain bike basement – its more expensive rides can give those of any brand a run for their money – but in the current economic climate a bike this good, at a price this low, really captures the zeitgeist. Bravo, Ribble!
Best road bike shortlist
Cannondale Synapse, Ribble Endurance AL Disc, Liv Avail AR1, Canyon Endurace CF SL 8, Specialized Roubaix Sport
Best Cycling Tech: Karoo 2
(Image credit: Hammerhead)
Hammerhead took a brave step, trying to disrupt a cycling computer market long dominated by a handful of huge names. With the Karoo 2 the brand has more than delivered on its early promise, with a compact computer that boasts a bright, colourful screen, easy setup and some superb features.
The Hammerhead Karoo 2 has advanced route mapping features, and can automatically detect and profile any hill you take on, even if you didn’t route-map it in advance or not. Needless to say, it also offers cyclists access to all the power, distance and performance metrics they crave.
Hammerhead is also committed to issuing updates to the Karoo 2 – the Climb detect feature came via one such update. That means it could prove to be the last bike computer you ever need to buy, although we’d love to see what the brand can come up with for the Karoo 3!
Best cycling tech shortlist
Hammerhead Karoo 2, Pinnacle HC Turbo Home Trainer, Apeman SEEKER R1, Tacx NEO Motion Plates, Wahoo KICKR ROLLR
Best dash cam: Nextbase 622GW
(Image credit: Nextbase)
Over the past few years, the dash cam market has grown at a rate of knots, with a number of big brands all vying to be crowned the best dash cam in the T3 Awards. There were so many impressive entries this year, so picking a winner from the highly esteemed shortlist was a difficult one. Ultimately, there is one dash cam that stood out, with a range of innovative and potentially lifesaving features.
This year, for an impressive third year in a row, the T3 Award for Best Dash Cam goes to the Nextbase 622GW. The 622GW is a hugely impressive dash cam, which not only nails the basics (such as recording outstanding 4K image quality), but also offers features never before seen in a dash cam.
For a start, this dash cam has Alexa built-in, so you can play music, find parking, control smart home devices and make calls whenever you want, without taking your eyes off the road.
There’s also hugely impressive safety features, such as Emergency SOS, which will alert the emergency services to your location in the event of an accident. This year, Emergency SOS has been enhanced with the integration of what3words. This geocode system, which pinpoints a location based on a worldwide map of three-metre squares, can provide emergency services with a precise location (even when offline) and is a world-first for dash cams. This feature is potentially lifesaving, and is ultimately the reason the 622GW took the T3 Award, but you can read about all of the other great features in T3’s Nextbase 622GW review.
Best dash cam shortlist:
Garmin Dash Cam 67W, Thinkware F800 Pro, Nextbase 622GW, Nextbase iQ, Mio MiVue 798 Pro
Best sat nav: TomTom GO Navigation App
(Image credit: TomTom)
While new cars are packed to the roof-lining with technology, there’s still a high percentage of older vehicles out there that benefit from aftermarket accessories, such as sat navs. It’s a huge market, with a number of big players, but there was one clear winner, however, and this year, the T3 Award for Best Sat Nav goes to the impressive TomTom GO Navigation App.
We spend a lot of time reviewing sat navs and navigation apps, and in the past year, it’s TomTom Go that has impressed us the most. TomTom has taken everything it learnt about mapping from its traditional sat nav devices and translated that into a smartphone app.
We love the clear user interface, accurate traffic information and easy-to-follow lane guidance – all of which make driving less stressful. Of course, as the app runs on iOS and Android smartphones, it also means you’re not adding yet another device to your car’s dashboard.
Plus, constant updates, adding real-time traffic, offline maps, as well as Android Auto and Apple CarPlay support, mean this is a real alternative to free navigation apps such as Google and Apple Maps.
Best sat nav shortlist:
TomTom Go Discover, Garmin DriveSmart 86, Wahoo Elemnt Bolt, Garmin Tread XL Overland Edition, TomTom GO Navigation App
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