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Wouldn’t it be great if you could experience the joys of life “under the sea” even without being as adept an underwater swimmer as Ariel or her mermaid compatriots? That’s exactly what the Outdoor Master Sea Scooter Marlin does for you.

Every summer recently I’ve been fortunate enough to get the chance to try out some new form of electric watersport gadget. Sometimes I’m flying through the air on an electric hydrofoil board. Sometimes I’m skimming the surface on an electric surfboard. And sometimes I’m being dragged along by a semisubmersible personal electric tugboat. 

Somehow I managed to fit all three of those into this summer (aided by the fact that summer doesn’t really end in Florida until mid-November), turning it into the trifecta of water toys. And the final piece of the puzzle to make that happen was the Outdoor Master Sea Scooter, which is an electrically powered personal water vehicle design to tow your uncoordinated butt around the water with the elegance of a robotic dolphin.

Check it out in my video below where I explore the reefs and become one with the fishes, tricking them into thinking I’m one of their own on account of my new electronic enhancement. Then keep reading for all the wet and juicy details on this odd little undersea gadget.

Sea scooter video review

Scootin’ on (and under) the water

When I first walked into the water, electric salad spinner in hand, I expected to be able to get my butt dragged along the surface just like that electric boogie board I tested last summer.

But as it turns out, the Outdoor Master Sea Scooter Marlin is a bit like a freshmen poetry class – it works better the deeper you go.

The surface treatment was a bit underwhelming, as if your friend was holding your hand and just sort of tugging you along at a couple of miles an hour. But as soon as your point your double-barreled food processor downwards and take in a big gulp of air (not in that order), the magic of a sea scooter comes alive.

Under the surface, the devices feels much faster than its true 3.4 mph (5.4 km/h) top speed. As you spin and bend your body, it steers and pulls you along behind it. It’s like the nose of a dolphin and you’re the rest.

outdoor master seas scooter

The anemic performance on the surface is somehow greatly magnified underwater once the propellors can stop sucking in a bubbly mixture and instead start throwing heavy water backwards. 

There are two triggers to control the motors, one on each handle. You have to pull both at the same time to work the device, meaning you also have to keep both hands in place.

Once you pull in both triggers simultaneously like two NORAD officers each turning their launch keys, the motors spring to life and you get that instant “well this is what a fish must feel like” sensation.

You’re zipping through the water as if you were an elegant swimmer, except that it takes almost no exertion. You’re free to just enjoy the sea life and sandy bottom around you instead of huffing and puffing as you quickly burn through your lungful of oxygen. 

“Here, fishies fishies fishies!”

There are three power levels that can be accessed by double tapping on the right trigger to increase power or the left trigger to decrease power.

While the instructions say that you’re supposed to keep both triggers held down to keep the motors spinning, I found that once you’re going for a few seconds, you can actually release one trigger and the motors will stay on.

If it’s the left trigger though, that action will be interpreted as a “downshift” and you’ll be zipping around in gear two instead of three.

If you release the right trigger and keep holding on with your left hand, you can stay in top gear while operating the Outdoor Master Sea Scooter one handed.

For power, there’s a cute little power drill-style battery that is removable. Theoretically you could have a few batteries to swap in as the power runs down, which I’d actually recommend.

The full power run time of the Sea Scooter isn’t impressive, at close to 12 minutes. I let my nephews play with it and didn’t explain how to change gears, meaning they got around 30 minutes of action in low gear.

It was still fun for them, but that’s because they didn’t know that more speed was an option. Once you know there are higher power levels, the lower power levels aren’t quite as fun.

But then again, if your goal is to check out pretty coral reefs and enjoy the sights down there, going fast might not be a priority. In that case, 30 minutes of run time in low power mode doesn’t seem so bad, especially when your main goal is to actually take in what is around you instead of blowing past it quickly. 

In fact, it’d be fun to combine with one of those cheap mini-SCUBA kits with the little tank containing 10 minutes of air. You could scoot around a reef or other snorkeling area without even having to bob to the surface. Plus you wouldn’t get exhausted from holding your breath for as long as possible to avoid having to dive back down.

outdoor master seas scooter

Another thing to keep in mind is that after 30 minutes, you’re going to be fairly spent. This isn’t a low-effort activity, even if it seems like it. You’re not exactly playing a passive role back there. It’s more than just getting dragged around the sandy bottom like a fish that never learned to swim.

You’re constantly steering with your body movements, and just holding on uses some decent hand and arm strength after a while. Plus if you’re like me, you’re holding your breath for as long as possible because you’re having so much fun that you don’t want to keep coming up for air.

After draining a full battery I was surprisingly tired, both from exertion and breath holding.

So after a 30-minute session, you’re going to be fairly exhausted anyways.

outdoor master seas scooter

Many of these electric watersport gadgets are surprisingly expensive, often costing several thousand dollars. But for a current sale price of $299 for the Outdoor Master Sea Scooter Marlin, you get an experience that you really wouldn’t have any other way.

As just a toy, it’s slightly pricey but not nearly as much as some other electric sea scooters we’ve tried.

But if your goal is to go places you couldn’t normally go, stay down for longer to explore things that you normally couldn’t see for very long, or just for feeling like a dolphin for a day, then the Outdoor Master Sea Scooter will get you there. It feels well built, well balanced, and works well to boot.

And it was a great cap to my summer of electric watersports testing!

outdoor master seas scooter

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Paris’ popular bike share program has a big sticky finger problem

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Paris' popular bike share program has a big sticky finger problem

Paris’ bike-share system, Vélib has long been considered one of the shining success stories of urban micromobility. With a massive fleet of over 20,000 pedal and electric-assist bicycles around Paris, the service has helped millions of residents and tourists get around the City of Light without needing a car or scooter. But lately, a growing problem is threatening to knock the wheels off this urban mobility marvel: theft and joyriding.

According to city officials and the service operator, more than 600 Vélib bikes are now going missing every single week. That’s over 30 bikes a day simply vanishing from the system – some stolen outright, others taken on “joy rides” and never returned.

“At the moment we’re missing 3,000 bikes,” explained Sylvain Raifaud, head of the Agemob company that currently operates the Velib system. That’s nearly 15% of over 20,000 Vélib bikes across Paris.

The sticky-fingered culprits aren’t necessarily professional thieves or organized crime rings. Instead, they’re often regular users who treat the shared bikes like disposable toys.

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The city estimates that many people have figured out how to pry the bikes out of the system’s parking docks, unlocking one for a casual cruise and then ditching it somewhere far from a docking station.

Once pried free, the bikes are technically usable for the next 24 hours until their automatic locking feature kicks in. At that point, the bikes are often simply abandoned. Some end up in alleyways. Others get tossed in rivers. A few just disappear completely.

And since the bikes are intended to be parked at their many docking stations around the city, they don’t have GPS chips, further complicating recovery of “liberated” bikes.

The issue started small but has grown into more than an inconvenience – it’s beginning to undermine the entire purpose of the service. With bikes going missing at such a high rate, many Vélib docking stations are left empty, especially during rush hours.

Riders looking for a quick commute or a convenient hop across town are increasingly finding themselves without available bikes, or having to walk long distances to find a functioning one.

That kind of unreliability chips away at user confidence and threatens to drive potential riders back into cars, cabs, or other less sustainable forms of transport at a time when Paris has already made great strides to dramatically reduce car usage in the city.

The losses are financially painful, too. Replacing stolen or vandalized bikes isn’t cheap, and the resources spent on tracking down missing equipment or reinforcing anti-theft measures are stretching thin. Vélib has faced theft and vandalism issues before, especially during its early years, but this latest surge has officials sounding the alarm with renewed urgency.

Officials acknowledge that there’s no easy fix. Paris, like many cities with bike-share systems, walks a fine line between accessibility and accountability. Part of what makes Vélib so successful is its ease of use and widespread availability. But those same features make it vulnerable to misuse – especially when enforcement is limited and the consequences for abuse are minimal.

The timing of the problem is especially unfortunate. In recent years, Paris has seen impressive results in reducing car traffic, expanding bike lanes, and promoting cycling as a key part of its sustainable transport strategy. Vélib is a cornerstone of that plan. But if the system becomes too unreliable, it risks losing the very people it was designed to serve.

Meanwhile, as Parisians increasingly find themselves staring at empty docks, the challenge for the city and Vélib will be to restore confidence in the system without making it harder to use. That means striking the right balance between freedom and responsibility, between open access and protection against abuse.

In a city where cycling is supposed to be the future of mobility, losing thousands of bikes to joyriders and sticky fingers isn’t just frustrating; it’s unsustainable.

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CNBC Daily Open: Elon Musk, founder of companies and political parties

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CNBC Daily Open: Elon Musk, founder of companies and political parties

U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk attend a press event in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 30, 2025.

Nathan Howard | Reuters

When they lose a significant other, most men do indeed become a “TRAIN WRECK.” Then they pick up the pieces of their lives and start living again — paying attention to their personal grooming, hitting the gym and discovering new hobbies.

What does the world’s richest man do? He starts a political party.

Last weekend, as the United States celebrated its independence from the British in 1776, Elon Musk enshrined his sovereignty from U.S. President Donald Trump by establishing the creatively named “American Party.”

Few details have been revealed, but Musk said the party will focus on “just 2 or 3 Senate seats and 8 to 10 House districts,” and will have legislative discussions “with both parties” — referring to the U.S. Democratic and Republican Parties.

It might be easier to realize Musk’s dream of colonizing Mars than to bridge the political aisle in the U.S. government today.

To be fair, some thought appeared to be behind the move. Musk decided to form the party after holding a poll on X in which 65.4% of respondents voted in favor.

Folks, here’s direct democracy — and the powerful post-separation motivation — in action.

 — CNBC’s Erin Doherty contributed to this report.

What you need to know today

And finally…

An investor sits in front of a board showing stock information at a brokerage office in Beijing, China.

Thomas Peter | Reuters

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CNBC Daily Open: Most people don’t start a political party after separation

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CNBC Daily Open: Most people don't start a political party after separation

US President Donald Trump, right, and Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., during a news conference in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, May 30, 2025.

Francis Chung | Bloomberg | Getty Images

When they find themselves without a significant other, most men finally start living: They pay attention to their personal grooming, hit the gym and discover new hobbies.

What does the world’s richest man do? He starts a political party.

Last weekend, as the United States celebrated its independence from the British in 1776, Elon Musk enshrined his sovereignty from U.S. President Donald Trump by establishing the creatively named “American Party.”

Few details have been revealed, but Musk said the party will focus on “just 2 or 3 Senate seats and 8 to 10 House districts,” and will have legislative discussions “with both parties” — referring to the U.S. Democratic and Republican Parties.

It might be easier to realize Musk’s dream of colonizing Mars than to bridge the political aisle in the U.S. government today.

To be fair, some thought appeared to be behind the move. Musk decided to form the party after holding a poll on X in which 65.4% of respondents voted in favor.

Folks, here’s direct democracy — and the powerful post-separation motivation — in action.

 — CNBC’s Erin Doherty contributed to this report.

What you need to know today

Trump confirms tariffs will kick in Aug. 1. That postpones the deadline by a month, but tariffs could “boomerang” back to April levels for countries without deals. Trump on Friday said letters with “take it or leave it” offers will go out to 12 countries Monday.

U.S. stock futures slipped Sunday. Despite the White House pushing back the return of “reciprocal” tariffs, some investors could be worried trade negotiations would result in higher-than-expected duties. Europe’s Stoxx 600 index dropped 0.48% Friday.

OPEC+ members to increase oil output. Eight members of the alliance agreed on Saturday to hike their collective crude production by 548,000 barrels per day, around 100,000 more than expected.

Elon Musk forms a new political party. On Saturday, the world’s richest man said he has formed a new U.S. political party named the “American Party,” which he claims will give Americans “back your freedom.”

[PRO] Wall Street is growing cautious on European equities. As investors seek shelter from tumult in U.S., the Stoxx 600 index has risen 6.6% year to date. Analysts, however, think the foundations of that growth could be shaky.

And finally…

Ayrton Senna driving the Marlboro McLaren during the Belgian Grand Prix in 1992.

Pascal Rondeau | Hulton Archive | Getty Images

The CEO mindset is shifting. It’s no longer all about winning

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/06/the-ceo-mindset-is-shifting-its-no-longer-all-about-winning.html

CEOs today aren’t just steering companies — they’re navigating a minefield. From geopolitical shocks and economic volatility to rapid shifts in tech and consumer behavior, the playbook for leadership is being rewritten in real time.

In an exclusive interview with CNBC earlier this week, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown outlined a leadership approach centered on urgency, momentum and learning from failure. 

— Spriha Srivastava

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