Heelys Nano Inline Footboard

If you haven't already heard the latest craze, the Heelys Nano Inline Footboard is it. My son has been begging me for Heelys for years. If you're not familiar with Heelys, basically they're a skater shoe with a wheel in the heel. The wheel pops out and you can walk around in the shoe like any normal shoe. With the wheel in the shoe, you can sort of walk and skate at will. These are so popular that our local schools actually sent home notices telling parents not to allow their children to come to school in them because so many kids were skating down the hallways.

I'm all for anything that gets kids up and moving. Childhood obesity is a huge problem in this country and I am always sending the kids outside to play or take a walk. Heelys are definitely one way to get your kids moving. When I was younger I had roller skates and used to skate around the neighborhood with my white rollers skates and bright pink wheels. Heelys are like that but even better because you can actually wear the Heelys while you're walking and skate in them. Heelys now has available a Nano Inline Footboard which is basically a skateboard for one foot that attaches to your Heelys shoe. It brings another layer of fun to the whole equation.

My son definitely loved the Heelys. Unfortunately we are in the middle of winter in Vermont so finding places to wear these is rather difficult. It doesn't help that the local mall has signs all over prohibiting the use of Heelys in the mall. We did let him wear them inside for a while to get the hang of it all but it's going to take serious practice for him to be good at these.

When you receive the Heelys, you need to pop off the bottom plate of the shoe & pop in the wheel which is done fairly simply by smacking the bottom of the wheel into place. The wheel doesn't retract so if you want to actually walk in them instead of skating in them, you need to remove the wheel. You pop the wheel back out (which does take a bit of uumph) and then replace the bottom plate of the shoe.

When you get the Nano Inline Footboard, you have to set it up for the size Heelys you have.  You need to take the top part off and find the correct sized rod based on your shoe size.  Then you need to install the rod and put it all back together again along with the strap you use for added protection to keep it on your shoe. Once that's done, it's relatively easy to take the plate off the bottom of your shoe and snap your Heely onto it. Again, when you pop it off, you need to put the plate back on the bottom of your shoe to walk in it.

Ultimately I think the Heelys are pretty cool and David13 loves them.  They definitely take  practice to use like any skating type equipment.  It took David13 a few to get used to them & then he started gaining speed as he got steadier on his feet. The Nano Inline Footboard takes more practice and isn't as easy as it looks on their website but after a little bit of time, he really had a blast with it.  I definitely recommend a helmet while wearing these and Heelys does recommend the use of a helmet on their website.

The clear plate on the Nano allows you to install different graphics to customize the way your board looks. Heelys shoes are also available in a variety of different colors and styles so you can choose which one best fits your *look*. They're available in a wide range of sizes from little kid up to adult. I was seriously tempted to *borrow* David13's Heelys and take a spin around the house too but I refrained thinking my 44 year old back would not appreciate it much. Now Sarah17 wants her own pair of Heelys so I can see this is going to be the hot toy on our wish list.

I really wanted to do a vlog for you guys of this but it just won't stop snowing here.  But in the mean time, you can check out this cool video on the Heelys site and see the action for yourself.

My thanks to the sponsor for allowing me to review this product.

As required by the FTC:  I received a product sample in order to write my review. I received no monetary compensation.  All opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.