Segway - ES1L

It's weird because I don't like bashing Segway. I still have my E1SL as a backup which has served me well. And it's mostly praise from the low end to mid tier scooters. But dude, once they start going faster than 35mph, better start checking your stem.

I feel like starting out on a Ninebot E1SL helped me be very patient with my new scooter's speeds. Made sure to practice riding around the block and short distances before full commuting.

No, don’t do that. Use the speed settings. No sense buying one then having to sell it and buy another one. I started with an ES1L and went to a ninebot Max, nobody wants to buy the ES1L since it sucks by todays standards.

All of this. Friends don't let friends buy ES-model scooters. In addition to being awful scooters, they're unrelaible! Lose lose!

Please understand there is zero circumstance a scooter with those battery specs (in either watt hours, or in amp hours depending upon the voltage) is going 28 miles. It's a sad secret of the scooter industry, across brands and price ranges, that in the real world, scooters typically get 50-70% manufacturer range. Also, sidenote, the Ninebot ES-line of scooters have terrible reputations for being bad scooters in addition to be unreliable. Maybe you'll get lucky, but I wouldn't risk it on this thing. Why Walmart, and what's your budget? Maybe we can give better recommendations. Edit to add: yes, scooters for most people are "worth it" to answer your main question. But unless I have exactly zero other options, I would never buy this one from Walmart. You asked two very different questions and kind of mixed them together.

I own 3, one of them is an ES1. The ES series are rickety pieces of shit. The only thing they have going for them is they are very portable and solid tires which means no flats. The ride is horrible, the acceleration is horrible, they have no hill climbing ability and for that you suffer.