Comparing traction lifts to hydraulic lifts in New York City

I will have to say this. After riding both a traction & a hydraulic lift in New York City yesterday, I will have to say, the character & epicness of the hydraulic lift surpassed the traction lift with soaring colors. The colors soared so quickly, it took only 10 minutes for them to get from NYC to LA *Falls through the floor laughing*

Crappy Monitor HPS 1300 interior buttons

Ghetto trash Monitor HPS 1300 Call Station (Lit)

Ghetto trash Monitor HPS 1300 Call Station (Unlit)

The traction lift

It was at the Battery Carpark, literally right down the street from the World Trade Center complex.

The traction lift I rode yesterday was actually a Fujitec, with Monitor HPS 1300 (they are the ghetto crap that you see in the pictures I took above). While Monitor HPS 1300 isn't as horrible as the Monitor TR (no halo) they use on the already boring generic high speed lifts in the high rises nearby, these lifts still earn there keep for being extremely boring & uninteresting.

My journey down to the ground floor

Once the doors closed, the lift started moving to a speed of approximately 105 meters per minute or about 344 FT per minute (if you're wondering this is the average speed of a 7 to 10 story generic traction lift in New York City). However, the accelerating factor was so small that I didn't even know we were even going that fast. It literally felt like we were only traveling at a speed of 30 to 40 meters per minute.

The speed of the lift did not wow me at all, because a lot of 8-story lifts travel between 105 & 120 meters per minute anyway. In fact, NOTHING in this lift made me impressed at all. 

• Zero character
• Not fun to ride, period
• Not a good lift to film
• Horse Poop Monitor HPS 1300 (Still nowhere near as bad as Monitor TR 1000/1100)
• Boring

Unfortunately, this applies for 95% of all high rise lifts going beyond 8 floors in the entire city of New York. 

Now I could conclude that the vast majority of NYC's high speed traction lifts have zero character, are bland, boring in how they run & lift companies are trying there best to trick lift enthusiasts by decorating the traction ones with fancy cabs. I COULD GIVE LESS CARES FOR A FANCY CAB!!!! I'M NOT LOOKING FOR BEAUTY, I'M LOOKING FOR EPICNESS & CHARACTER IN THE BUTTONS & HOW THEY RUN!!!!!

The hydraulic lift

After riding the horribly boring high speed traction lift in the Battery Car Park, we went to the tower only to discover the line was far too long & we could not even go in the tower. That sure upset me, especially after getting a rude welcome to NYC by riding the most boring high speed lift I have ever been on.

Enough ranting about my boring experience on the traction lift & there we turned away from the line, walking down the street parallel to where the office entrance of the tower was. We continued walking further down the street until we came to the entrance to the mall of the World Trade Center. Once I got in the mall, I walked towards the stairs, but not long before I saw a circular generic full glass lift with Monitor HPS 1300 buttons (the better kind).

When we had to wait on the long lines for the restrooms (thankfully I didn't need to go to the restrooms), I was able to ride in the lift near the restrooms without filming it. From the distance, I thought that it was going to be a full-blown OTIS with Series 2. However, when I got to the lift, I discovered that the buttons were Innovation Prestige. I was SO IMPRESSED, that I took maybe about three rides in the lift.

When the lift started moving, I was impressed with how epic it was, as it kept bouncing like a floating boat when it went both up & down. I really loved the way the lift was running so much, that I decided to ride it again. I simply enjoyed the character of that 4-story glass OTIS hydraulic lift.

The verdict

If you're going to New York City, but are a lift enthusiast who favors a characterful ride over a beautiful cab interior, then YOU NEED TO SKIP THE HIGH RISE BUILDINGS & go to the low rise buildings (5 floors or lower), preferably the stores, which are more likely to have hydraulic lifts. In New York City, you'll get bored real fast riding the high speed ones. The moral is, the slower the lift goes, the more character it should have. I've been on a few generic hydros in NYC when I went there in the past that had the crap Monitor TR they put in the high rises, but, they certainly had far more character in the way they were running & they were a lot of fun to ride.

Also, unlike the high speed traction lifts, the hydraulic ones each run slightly differently, adding to there character. Not to mention, most of them bounce when jolting up to full speed & decelerating, which gives them even more character & even more fun to ride. Additionally, some of the hydraulic lifts have pretty neat motor sounds & they are actually rather quick, some going as fast as 55 meters per minute! This means the high speed generic lifts in the towers surrounding the shorter buildings with the hydros are a complete joke.

Falling through the floor laughing

This comparison certainly made me fall through the floor laughing because usually, lift enthusiasts would think they have more fun when the lift is really really fast. However, NYC is the complete opposite & you're bound to have a heck lot more fun on the hydraulic lifts.

In NYC, the HYDRAULIC lifts are the ones worth filming.