Just how much "swag" does this Swagway pack? The specs are a good place to start looking:

Hard ABS outer body casing

Aluminum wheels with rubber tires

10 MPH top speed

23" x 7.3" x 7.3"

"Top Quality Brand" lithium battery

We found some super reassuring warning labels.

"Risk of Death or Serious Injury"? Yep, nothing to worry about here.

Looks like someone flunked out of a certification. There’s a suspicious hole in that line of approvals…

Phillips #2 screws secure the two bottom covers, so it's not long before we're well within the belly of the beast.

Things look… not bad! Given these boards' reputation, we weren't expecting clean insides.

Each foot pad has two infrared sensors. Stepping down on the pad pushes a peg between emitter and receiver; when all four sensors are blocked, you are ready to roll.

Those sensor switches live on the backs of the two gyro boards—one for each wheel. Each board is home to:

Invensense MPU6050 6-axis gyroscope+accelerometer

GigaDevice GD32F130 ARM Cortex-M3 32-bit microcontroller

Changjiang Electronics Technology Co., LTD (JCET) CJ78M05 0.5 A / 5 V voltage regulator

The real star of the show here is the firestarter lithium ion battery pack.

Looks like we’ve got a “Shilly-car” lithium battery operating at 36 V with 4.4 Ah (that works out to 158 Wh—just over four times the capacity of an iPad Pro).

Inside, we find a tidy block of 20 LG ICR18650B4 batteries with their own protection board. We’re glad to see a reputable brand in here!

Their nominal voltage is much higher than the 158 Wh listed on the shrinkwrap. Li-ion batteries shouldn't be fully discharged, so the battery protection board probably limits the pack to the label's specs.

Speaking of the protection board: this is a Shenzen Dalishen Technology DDJ10A9.

The four large components are MOSFETs (by GuangDong Mosfet Semiconductor Co., Ltd.) responsible for charging and discharging, and have pretty skimpy solder joints.

The motor power lines have some interesting (read: completely mismatched) color coordination going on—fixers take note.

Here's what we found on a quick tour of the main board:

GigaDevice GD32F103 ARM Cortex-M3

Six half-H bridge motor drivers, made up of two large MOSFETs each

Changjiang Electronics Technology Co., LTD CJ78M05 0.5A/5V voltage regulator

Two pairs of 0.007 ohm resistors by the power inlet (R007).

Saving the best for last(ish), we cracked open one of the mysteriously heavy wheels to get a look at the brushless DC motor.

Inside we find oodles of coiled copper wire, three large power leads (one for each of the three phases) and five leads for Hall effect sensors (for position tracking).

The motor control board will let the motor know when to switch across those wires, making for a nice smooth ride.

Real quick though, let's take a peek at the UL-certified charger. After all, house fires from charging hoverboards have been reported...

To be honest, it looks pretty messy, but we don't like to judge a charger by its... random epoxy? So we consulted charger guru Ken Shiriff of Righto.com, who said:

"Looks like a straightforward flyback switching power supply. I don’t see any cause for complaints...The charger looks solid. I don’t see any corners cut. The design is ‘unchallenging’—they didn’t try to make it as small as possible; Apple probably would have made it half the size."

So hey, as long as you have a real Swagway, with a real UL-certified charger, you should be fine? Probably.

Board-wise, we note:

A Leadtrend LD7575 green-mode PWM controller

Jaw-like etches that are PCB spark gaps, which protect circuitry from voltage surges

Swagway Repairability Score: 8 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair).

Modular design with good use of connectors means many components can be easily replaced.

Only Phillips #2 screws are used—nothing proprietary.

The battery is easy to replace.

Inconsistent wire colors makes reassembly tricky.

We couldn't get the tire off—replacing a worn-out tire will probably mean a new wheel and hub motor.