Razor Icon electric scooter review: A classic, reinvented

The Razor Icon is a great-looking electric scooter that pays tribute to the company's first-ever scooter. And, it's a good mid-range model for those who can afford something more than a budget electric scooter, but don't want to pay for a premium model.

Iconic looks

Good speed

Head and tail lights

Brake a little finicky

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Size (unfolded): 43.4 x 18.6 x 43.7Weight: 26.5 poundsMax carrying weight: 220 poundsMax speed: 18 MPHMax range: 18 milesBattery: 36VMotor: 300W rear hubTires: 8.5-inch

Some 20 years ago, Razor invented the scooter craze with its simple, iconic aluminum scooter that quickly became an icon during the dot-com boom. While many of the companies from that era have gone bust, Razor is still around, and has revisited its original design for the electric scooter era.

The Razor Icon is its aptly named successor, adding a motor but keeping the same overall look. Beneath the exterior, though, is a great midrange scooter that's affordably priced, with good range and a suitably strong motor. For this Razor Icon review, I took the scooter out for a number of rides to see how it would perform in the city and the burbs.

Among the best electric scooters, it's definitely a standout compared to its peers.

The Razor Icon went on sale in the late fall of 2022, and is available at a number of retailers, both online and in stores. The scooter sells for $549.99, and is available in five colors: orange, red, black, pink and blue. Not all retailers carry every color, but you can find them all at razor.com.

This certainly is an iconic look. The all-aluminum Razor Icon is like the DeLorean of electric scooters. Its shininess and lack of paint really makes it stand out from competing models. Razor sent me a version with orange wheels, hand grips and a big orange Razor logo on the deck — and I can say, if you’re going to buy one of these scooters, pick the boldest color you can find. The orange really pops against the Icon's aluminum frame. However, its pristine look quickly becomes marred with dirt, as I found out.

The Icon looks like a scaled-up version of its original scooter. The base is very angular, with sharp edges in the front and back that give it a raw, almost unfinished look, but it works. All of the Icon's wires are routed through its frame, furthering the clean lines of the scooter.

A small red LED display on the right handlebar shows your speed and battery life, and it has two buttons to turn the scooter on and off, and to activate its head and tail lights.

Below this is a push-button throttle. On the left handlebar is a push-button electric brake; you can also step on the rear fender to slow the scooter down.

Just above the front wheel is a small triangular cutout through which you can conceivably thread a bike lock, but it's a pretty small opening.

Razor's mechanism for folding the Icon is pretty simple and foolproof. You loosen and then pull a small lever at the base of the downtube to unlock the handlebars, which then swing down and lock into the stored position. It feels a lot more secure than on scooters which require you to latch the handlebars to the rear fender.

At 26.5 pounds, the Razor Icon is the same weight as the Unagi Model One and GoTrax GXL V2. It's about as light as you’re going to get without venturing into the best electric scooters for kids, but for smaller individuals. I was able to carry it up the steps of a train and through Penn Station without too much difficulty, though you’ll get an arm workout.

In terms of power, the Icon's 300-Watt motor falls in the middle of the pack; it's a bit stronger than you’ll find on sub-$500 budget models like the GoTrax GXL V2, which typically have 250W motors, but not as beefy as the dual motors found in the Unagi Model One.

The Icon got me around pretty easily, both in my neighborhood and up and down the avenues in New York City. It has a nice, smooth pickup, and its motor was strong enough to get me up my test hill (and its 6% grade) at around 5-6 MPH. That's on the slow side, but typical for a motor with this output. On level terrain, I was able to easily hit the scooter's max speed of 18 MPH.

The Icon's front headlight is mounted pretty low to the ground — just above the front wheel — so it provides some, but not great, visibility in darker conditions. I did like the rear brake lights, which are nicely integrated into the rear of the Icon's frame.

While it's nice to have the reassurance of a mechanical brake, the Razor Icon's electronic brake was responsive, and slowed me down quickly. I did find that it would continue to brake for a split second after I released the lever, which caused a weird sort of lag.

Razer says that the Icon's 36V battery is good for about 18 miles of range under ideal circumstances; I came closer to 10 in my riding, which included a number of hills. As they say, your mileage will vary.

Yes, the Razor Icon looks tremendous, but underneath its shiny aluminum exterior is an electric scooter that offers a good value for its features. At $549, the Razor Icon hits a sweet spot between budget models like the sub-$400 GoTrax GXL V2 that are great for level terrain but may not have the power to get you up steeper hills, and pricier models like the $900 Unagi Model One, which might be out of your price range. So with the Razer Icon, you’ll be able to get around on an affordable electric scooter with a great retro look.

Michael A. Prospero is the U.S. Editor-in-Chief for Tom's Guide. He oversees all evergreen content and oversees the Homes, Smart Home, and Fitness/Wearables categories for the site. In his spare time, he also tests out the latest drones, electric scooters, and smart home gadgets, such as video doorbells. Before his tenure at Tom's Guide, he was the Reviews Editor for Laptop Magazine, a reporter at Fast Company, the Times of Trenton, and, many eons back, an intern at George magazine. He received his undergraduate degree from Boston College, where he worked on the campus newspaper The Heights, and then attended the Columbia University school of Journalism. When he's not testing out the latest running watch, electric scooter, or skiing or training for a marathon, he's probably using the latest sous vide machine, smoker, or pizza oven, to the delight — or chagrin — of his family.

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