Mobility Scooters: What to Look for in Disability Scooters

If you’re thinking about getting a disability scooter, also called a mobility scooter, it’s important to know what you should be looking for. Disability scooters come in all shapes and sizes, from feather-weight travel scooters to heavy-duty rides. What’s more, each unique model boasts its own distinctive specifications and capabilities. But what criteria should you use to decide between these many disability scooters, and what do their product descriptions actually mean?

To help you better understand how to read scooter product information, here’s a quick guide to common model specifications:

• Drive Time: In product specifications, a scooter’s drive time is often referred to as its ‘range.’ This is the number of miles a scooter can expect to travel per full battery charge and under optimum conditions. In other words, range tells you how far you can ride disability scooters in a best case scenario.

  Disability scooter ranges can fall anywhere between 8 and 38 miles. Travel disability scooters tend to have lowest ranges, while heavy-duty and luxury scooters often have the highest.

  While a short drive time may look unappealing at first, keep in mind that scooters with lower ranges are often much less bulky. However, if you plan to do heavy driving, a higher range has obvious benefits.

• Weight Limit: How much your disability scooter can carry is determined by its weight limit. When you look at disability scooters, remember that the weight limit doesn’t just have to be enough to support you. It also has to be high enough to hold any medical equipment you plan on attaching to your scooter, as well as any bags you want to carry. Most disability scooters support at least 250 pounds, but others can safely transport up to 500.

  Like range, weight limit is a trade-off. Travel and standard size scooters will have lower weight limits, but they’ll also be lighter and easier to disassemble.

• Turning Radius: A disability scooter’s turning radius is how tightly in can turn. For example, a scooter with a 40” turning radius will need at least that much space to safely turn around. Turning radiuses vary dramatically, with some disability scooters requiring as much as 54”, while others need only 35.5”.

  As a general rule, the smaller the disability scooter the better its turning radius will be. However, virtually no disability scooter will be able to match the turning radius of an electric wheelchair. So if you need to get around in tight indoor spaces, electric wheelchairs may be an option worth checking out.

Once you know how to read specifications, you’ll be shocked by how easy it is to decide what you should be looking for in a disability scooter! Just take careful stock of the capabilities you care most about, the requirements of your own lifestyle, and budget. If you keep these three things in mind, it won’t be long before you find the disability scooter for you.

If you have any questions about what to look for in a disability scooter, feel free to contact a reputable mobility retailer at any time. They’ll be able to explain specifications in more detail, as well as explain financing and insurance options.