Considering a mobility scooter (not for me ! - yet).
I need something: - Reliable - Decent Quality - Locally available (Auckland - North Shore / CBD area) - Ideally offering home service options (do they even do that ?) - Good power - Good battery life (30k range seems common enough) - If possible, with a key, to make it harder for any thieving scumbag to make off with it (I have heard of them getting stolen, but assume that is quite rare ?).
Will mostly be used to go to the local shopping centre (maybe 3ks away) and back. Needs to be able to carry groceries / supplies, but not a massive amount.
Any suggestions to what is good ? (or also any to specifically avoid). There seem to be a lot of options, I prefer the seated 4 wheel ones, with larger wheels if possible.
thejazzpianoma,
Jul 12, 5:27pm
I would check prices of almost new high end models and see how they compare. I see a lot of these around being sold where the person hasn't lasted very long sadly. If it was me, given the battery's are likely tired from sitting, I would then put the money in to retrofitting a lithium drop in replacement and you would have a brilliant machine in terms of range and performance. Plus, it won't mind sitting at partial charge which is what usually kills the battery's.
Also, not much to home service. Might be better just to join the AA as they will rescue mobility scooters, sort flat tyres etc. Speaking of which, I haven't tried this on a scooter yet but I green slyme my ride on tyres with great success. Would make very good sense to do mobility scooter tyres too in my opinion. I would also fit some coloured valve pressure indicators. Then they can easily monitor their own tyre pressures.
androth2,
Jul 12, 5:56pm
Some brands have common keys ,if carrying groceries and you travel uphill dont carry too heavy a load behind the back wheels as this will cause problems with steering if the front wheels lift up.Going from the footpath to a road crossing and back onto the footpath can be adventurous due to the ground levels and angles changing
gpg58,
Jul 12, 6:34pm
Dislike 3 wheeler's, For the same reason as quads took over from trikes. Having steering wheel/s inline, is inherently more stable over surface changes.
Thanks for ideas everyone. poppy - interestingly that was one of the first places I found when I googled. I would definitely be looking for a four wheeled one, and probably relatively heavy duty. My logic being that if they have better batteries / bigger tyres / more ground clearance etc. that they should in theory be more stable and also easier to get up footpaths etc. Jazz, I did see some of the scooters can with 3 years (IIRC) AA roadside. That made me laugh initially, but does make sense when you think about it.
boby11,
Nov 23, 11:41pm
My partner has used several different brands and larger tyres helped when going over kerbs.Some people park across the footpath, put rubbish bins there or do footpath repairs ,so driving off the kerb and back again was necessary sometimes
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