Mobility scooters have evolved over the years from little three wheeled vehicles front wheel drive units to a full range of products available in different sizes, configurations to meet the needs of many different types of users.
The original scooters, often referred to generically as "Mobies" after one of the original manufacturer's models, were small and could be disassembled for transportation in the trunk of a car from location to location. These original scooter models were not meant for use on anything but hard flat surfaces such as floors and roads and sidewalks.
As the years went by, the old style "Mobies" disappeared and scooters became larger and more able to be used on lawns and softer surfaces such as lawns and other moderately rough terrains and lightly snow covered surfaces. These scooters were more like personal vehicles rather than mobility scooters and were not nearly as easy to load into vehicles due to their size and weight. The appearance of these larger scooters created a whole product category, scooter lifts, to enable fairly easy loading into vehicles.
The next generation of mobility scooters began providing models with four wheels instead of three and promoted as more stable and more able to handle even rougher terrains. While these four wheel scooters were more stable in higher speed turns they were only moderately more stable for normal driving and often were more likely to tip over as users were over confident of the scooter's stability and drove them with less care. The biggest disadvantage of the four wheeled models is the larger turning radius that means more difficulty manoeuvring in small areas due to wider turns. An additional problem with these four wheeled scooters is they are heavier and even less likely to be loaded into a vehicle for long range transportation.
The industry's next step was to provide even larger scooters that were capable of travelling over very rough terrain and covering long distances fairly comfortably while being almost inoperable indoors unless there are large open areas for turns. These extra large scooters were available in three and four wheel models, have suspension, larger wheels and batteries, baskets and often lights and rear view mirrors. These extra large models are not intended to be portable and loaded into vehicles for transportation; they are intended to be the vehicles for most transportation.
The latest offering from the scooter manufacturers have been small easily disassembled that can be easily loaded into vehicles for transportation known as travel scooter. These new portable travel scooters, amazingly, pretty closely resemble the original old "Mobies" and are at the lowest end of the price scale when shopping for scooters.
The upshot of all this progression in the mobility scooter market is that there are different models to meet the needs of many different types of users available on the market today. The end user has choices and options to choose from today like they never have before and can tailor their purchase to have the features they find important.
The links below will lead to more indepth information on the different scooter models and general scooter information.
Notice: Information on this web site is for informational purposes only and not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by physicians, therapists or other medical professionals. All information is general in nature and may not necessarily apply to everyone as individual needs may vary.
Related Sites:
|
AccessRamps.ca |
Ceilinglift.ca |
Liftchairs.ca |
Patientlift.ca |
Porchlift.ca |
Scooterlifts.ca |
Stairlift.ca |
VanRamp.ca |
Wheelchair.ca |
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