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15 Apr, 2016 11:03

Real hoverboard ships starting today... if you can afford it (VIDEO)

Real hoverboard ships starting today... if you can afford it (VIDEO)

OK, so technically it’s a few months after ‘Back to the Future 2’ said it would be available, but Marty McFly wannabes can finally buy an actual hoverboard starting Friday.

While the so-called ability of those two-wheeled gyroscopes to ‘hover’ has been exposed as a lie (and literally setting the riders’ pants on fire), the ArcaBoard is powered by 36 electric fans and raises up to 1 foot (30.5cm) off the ground or water (an option not available on the one Marty McFly used to make his wet getaway).

Created by the Romanian NGO Arca Space Corporation now based in the US state of New Mexico, it is the world’s first commercially-available hoverboard for the ‘low, low’ price of around US$19,400 ($14,900 plus $4,500 for the charging accessory), which is more expensive than a number of new cars.

ArcaBoard holds up to 243lb (110kg) and runs up to 12.5 mph (20kph), which isn’t fast enough to escape if Usain Bolt is chasing you.

READ MORE: From hoverboard to hyperloop? Makers present board that actually hovers, set new targets (VIDEO)

Similar to the not-yet-available prototype called the Hendo hoverboard, this board screeches like a banshee.

You also have just six minutes of flying time before needing to recharge, which takes 35 minutes with the extra charger and a fun-killing six hours without it.

They start shipping Friday, so any day now you may see people with too much money to burn squealing all over town, six minutes at a time.

And what better place to launch something that’s too expensive for most of us to afford than Monte Carlo in Monaco, where ARCA CEO Dumitru Popescu got the hoverboard off the ground at the Grimaldi Forum Thursday, saying, "It will be part of the history, that's for sure. And the feeling to ride the ArcaBoard is compared to nothing."

Thanks to this new hoverboard and the hot new summer items called Aqua Lily Pads, you can harness your inner Jesus and walk on water.

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