It’s official. The future is now. Why? Not because of space travel, not because of water-resistant cell phones, or even those new cell phone watches. No, we have finally arrived at "the future" because, after decades of waiting and tons of imitation products, actual hoverboards are officially a real thing. A company called Hendo has brought our Marty McFly-inspired dreams to sweet reality (just in time for the film's 30th anniversary), and they recently let Tony Hawk have a go on their awesome creation. Check out the video below:
The only downside here? You have to have a Tony Hawk-sized bank account to get your hands on one of these bad boys. Don’t believe me? A 5-minute ride (with assistance from Hendo staff) will cost you one hundred bucks, a replica board with no hover engine (so just a bit of fancy wood, really) will set you back $449, and an actual hoverboard is $10,000. Sure, that’s a lot of money, but at the same time, it’s a freaking hoverboard, one that you could actually own and ride whenever you want. It’s time to start saving, friends!
The hovering action isn’t as intense as Marty McFly’s board. The Hendo Hoverboards will hover about an inch above the ground. I’ve seen several naysayers out there, complaining that the hovering action is miniscule. I’d just like to remind you that this is a first gen hoverboard, and that the one inch Hendo allows you to hover is exactly one inch more than we’ve had with anything prior to the unveiling of the Hendo Hoverboard. Now all you need is a pair of Marty’s sick kicks to fully equip you to hover in style.
Right now Hendo is running a Kickstarter Campaign to help take their company and their boards to the next level. They’ve already surpassed their initial goal of $250,000, and they still have 24 days left in their campaign. Depending on the size of your donation, you can end up with a meet-and-greet with the Hendo team, a hovering "white box" with a skin (the white box is a more affordable way to own your own piece of hover technology—you just won’t be able to hover on a white box like you can with a board) , or get your named etched into their hoverpark, which should be completed around October of 2015.
Another cool thing about supporting Hendo is the company and its founder, Greg Henderson, have a vision that moves far beyond equipping people with amazing hoverboards. Hendo hopes to continue developing its hover technology, called Magnetic Field Architecture, so it could not only allow us to have hovering skateboards, but also equip actual structures to hover in the case of natural disasters like floods, earthquakes, rising sea levels, or zombie apocalypses.
The company will be holding a huge unveiling event on October 21st of 2015. Until then, you’ll just have to stick close to their website for any future developments.
