Personally, I am using EUCs mostly as an urban transport. For recreation I prefer (non-powered) bicycles.

>I see people zipping around on models that don't have any handlebars.

Do you mean hoverboards? In my understanding, your description does not fall under the definition of "scooter": https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scooter

It occurred to me the term was wrong, but I thought "hoverboard" had been thoroughly discredited by now. "Electric skateboard" maybe.

Yeah scooters are much bigger. You may not realize it on the street but escooters are actually pretty huge. My scooter is about half the height and 3/5ths the length of a bike while the scooter folded up. It's also twice the weight.

To compare I was fine taking my one wheel in the store, carrying it. There's something awkward about taking an escooter, in the same way you wouldn't roll your bike around a grocery store.

Also in my experience escooters are much harder to lock then bikes. Being able to just take an EUC or one wheel inside and stick it under my desk at work is a good thing to me.