POWER CHAIR v MOBILITY SCOOTER?

maryem

Hi new here, in Scotland, just joined. Currently use a mobility scooter, it's fast and solid and great on the hilly streets here - but I'm just not liking it at all. Very big and cumbersome and I feel like I'm driving a tank. I was looking at power chairs and think they''d be a lot easier to manoeuvre on a busy street full of dog walkers and baby buggies etc. Only worry I have is would it cope with steep hills and bad pavements? And can you take them out in bad weather, are the electrics ok in the wet?

Chris75_

I have both a class 3 scooter and a powerchair (Sunrise Medical Quickie Q700M), the latter from Motability.

My 6-9 mile dog walk is done on the scooter, with the powerchair used only at home, even though it too is a class 3 machine.

Not relevant to your question, but I also bought a second hand boot scooter for any short trips to the shops. You surely know how ridiculous it would be to take a big scooter into a shop!

Why have I relegated my top spec powerchair to my small house? Well it's simply due to my aversion to being flung around like a crash test dummy! No wonder it has a seat belt fitted!

I found that despite the chair having fancy suspension on the two drive wheels and on each castor (It is mid wheel drive), it was uncomfortable on most pavements around here, and downright dangerous on the most broken up ones. My scooter feels like a limousine in comparison.

In a hospital or supermarket etc, the chair would be king, what with it's 'turn on a sixpence' manoeuvrability, but unless your pavements are much better than here, I think you would be shocked at the difference in ride quality.

I don't intend to replace my scooters, they will hopefully see out the remaining 5-7 years of my dog's life. But I figured i was as well to use them up, rather than get a series of insulting offers if I sold them!

The powerchair probably wouldn't handle the rain like a scooter, what with everything being so exposed. Also the soft seating might take exception to a trip out in a downpour!

Getting caught in a shower is one thing, and i'm sure that would be fine, but I go out on my big scooter in fairly heavy rain no problem, I zip a 2XL pack-a-mack over the tiller to protect the controls and key etc.

Mary_Scope

A warm welcome to the community from me @maryem 😄

Lovely to have you here and I hope you enjoy your time on the forum!