Mobility Scooters

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If you’re 13 then these things are an absolute dream! Remember being 13 and getting the opportunity to cruise around in your grandpa’s golf cart? Or screw around on a neighborhood kid’s Dad’s ATV? Kids like motorized things, mainly because all kids do is ride around on things (bikes, skateboards, etc) that aren’t motorized. As such, any opportunity one gets to be able to accelerate quickly with no physical effort is always welcome.

Bringing this back to reality however, mobility scooters are not for 13-year-old brats to take on joy rides. But when you see someone cruising around in one, that’s what pops to mind. Mobility scooters are designed for folks who might otherwise be in a wheelchair and can now take advantage of a power-operated piece of machinery that can get them from A to B quicker and with less strenuous effort. The first mobility scooter was introduced way back in 1954 and billed as an “electric wheelchair.” Believe it or not, this first model was not a success. It wasn’t until years later and some technological changes that the scooter eventually caught on to the success it is today.

Mobility scooters are great for those without the stamina or the shoulder flexibility to operate a manual wheelchair. A mobility scooter also features a swivel chair and moving foot support, so for most, regardless of the disability (excluding the most severe ones), a mobility scooter is a very good option for moving out and about. Yet, as with anything, mobility scooters do feature a handful of limitations. First, while manual strength is not necessarily required to operate a mobility scooter, the operator does have to be able to sit in an upright manner and call on some upper-body strength to do so. Scooters also do not have much support for the head or legs and are certainly not designed to facilitate the transfer of someone from a seat to a bed. Yet, despite the limitations (nearly everything in life has pros and cons), mobility scooters are here to stay so let’s look at some of the best on the market today.

In the mobility scooter market, there are two types – those over $1,000 and those under $1,000. Nobody prefers spending more money than they need to, but scooters over $1,000 understandably have some features that their little brothers, the under $1,000 club does not. The Buzzaround EX Extreme 4-Wheel Heavy Duty Long Range Travel Scooter comes in at a cool $1,635. Known in scooter circles (not literal circles that folks scoot in, but rather those in the scooter know) for its portability and comfort, the Buzzaround features a large deck that provides some impressive leg room and lots of space to get on and off easily and without incident. An adjustable LED headlight is welcome and the disassembly time to get this puppy into the trunk of any car is quite fast. The Buzzaround hits a top speed of 5 mph and a maximum drive range of 18 miles.

If the Buzzaround’s price tag is a bit daunting, let’s cut it by more than half which brings us to the Travel Pro Premium 3 Wheel Mobility Scooter. A leader in the under $1,000 group, the Travel Pro is priced at a very affordable $599, and while it doesn’t look as powerful as some other scooters, extreme maneuverability, tight reverse controls, a really sharp turning radius, this affordable scooter won’t get over 4 mph but it measures up with the big boys at nearly every category.

Two great options and a ton of variety in between. Remember, not for you 13-year-olds, you’ve got a lot of years to go before a mobility scooter is necessary.