Addmotor’s Cybergen exoskeletons strap 1,000 watts to your hips

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Addmotor built its name on electric trikes, big three-wheelers with throttles and baskets. The Cybergen series drops the wheels and keeps the motor. Cadens and Carego are exoskeletons you strap on at the waist: a magnesium frame that weighs 4.4 pounds before its batteries go on, a motor at each hip, and powered help for your legs every time you walk or climb; Cadens holds that help up to a running pace, and Carego keeps it at walking speed. Cadens runs $1,099 and Carego $1,299, both up for preorder through Addmotor’s own store, with shipping expected in mid-November.

The two models share the same basic architecture. Dual brushless motors deliver up to 1,000 watts of peak power and 40 Nm of peak torque between them, and Addmotor puts the maximum assistance ratio at up to 45 percent. Two 3,000 mAh battery modules ride in the kit; the frame runs on one at a time, so the second swaps in when the first runs down, and Addmotor rates the setup for up to 15 miles of powered assistance. The frame itself is magnesium alloy, rated IP54 against dust and splashing water, and it works through physical buttons on the device. The app is for settings and updates, not a requirement standing between you and a trailhead with no signal.

Price: $1,099
Where to Buy: Addmotor

One powertrain, two jobs

Cadens is the athlete of the pair. Its joints articulate through 184 degrees, assistance holds up to 13.7 mph, and it runs two modes: Smart Adaptive, which meters out help as the terrain changes, and Fitness Mode, which flips the motors into resistance so the same hardware that carries you up a hill can load your legs on purpose. It folds down to roughly the size of a 10-inch laptop, which is the detail that changes where it can live: in a backpack, in an RV cabinet, in the trunk next to the camp chairs. Fit runs from 5’1″ to 6’6″ and 110 to 250 pounds, with waist sizes from 26.8 to 53.1 inches and thigh sizes from 17.3 to 29.5 inches. Addmotor puts the suitable BMI range at 16 to 34, and circumference alone doesn’t establish a fit outside it. The same waist, thigh, and BMI limits are printed on Carego’s product page.

Price: $1,099
Where to Buy: Addmotor

Carego costs $200 more and goes slower on purpose. Assistance tops out at 5.3 mph, and the four modes are built around walking: Exercise, Relaxation, and separate left-leg and right-leg assist, tuned through what Addmotor calls micro-gait analysis, which reads short steps and a slowing stride and adjusts each leg on its own. Shoulder straps help spread the load. It’s the version built for neighborhood miles and long sightseeing days: slower, per-leg help at walking pace.

Price: $1,299
Where to Buy: Addmotor

A third model, Carego Pro, is listed on Addmotor’s AI Exoskeleton page as not yet released at US$1,499, with a handheld remote the other two models don’t offer. It isn’t part of this launch.

The help decides for itself

Addmotor calls it an AI Motion Engine running a Sense, Interpret, Assist loop: sensors tracking force, posture, and displacement sample your joint angles, body tilt, and gait timing, and the system works out which phase of a stride you’re in and how much torque to add, and when. The timing problem it aims at is real enough: assistance that arrives a half-step late fights your legs instead of helping them.

Cadens adds one function the walking modes don’t carry: dynamic joint dampening on descents, which Addmotor advertises as cushioning for steep downhill stretches. That’s an advertised function, not proven pain relief.

What it does that an e-bike can’t

An e-bike is a wonderful machine that helps you only while you’re on the bike. The moment the trail turns to stairs, or the ride ends and the walking starts, the assistance stays with the bike. Cybergen’s help goes where your legs go: switchbacks, overlooks, airport terminals, the long walk back through a national park parking lot at the end of the day. And when the day ends, Cadens folds down to roughly the size of a 10-inch laptop, Addmotor’s figure, and goes in a pack.

The rivals sell on Amazon. Hypershell’s X series is there, and DNSYS sells its X1 Carbon there too; its listing claims 900 watts and a 1.6 kg frame, 3.5 pounds. The category isn’t new to this site, either: the Vastnaut One put powered help at the hips and knees for rugged terrain back in April. Addmotor’s launch release also names authorized distributors, and its own store sells both models direct.

Price and availability

Cadens at $1,099 and Carego at $1,299 are both preorders through Addmotor’s store: the product pages say the series ships in mid-November, an expectation, not a guaranteed arrival date. Free shipping covers most metro areas of the contiguous 48 states. Read the return policy before you order: the window runs 14 calendar days from receipt and requires prior authorization; opened, activated, fitted, or used units generally don’t qualify for change-of-mind returns, and approved non-defect returns can leave the return shipping on you. The one-year warranty covers defects in materials and workmanship, for the original purchaser only. Addmotor states on its own pages that Cybergen is a consumer sports device, not a medical device, and isn’t for rehabilitation or mobility treatment. Buy it as sports and lifestyle gear, because that’s what it is.

Price: $1,099
Where to Buy: Addmotor

Between the two, the choice is the use. Cadens at $1,099 is the pick for trails and training: the 13.7 mph ceiling, the 184 degrees of articulation, and the resistance mode are what the money buys. Carego at $1,299 is the pick for daily walking, where per-leg tuning and a walking-pace cap fit the job.

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