New TGA Breeze to be Launched at Naidex

This years Naidex National (Birmingham NEC, 5th to 7th of April 2011) will see the launch of the new enhanced versions of the Breeze 3 and 4 mobility scooters.

While details are sketchy TGA have given us some clues as to the changes. The styling is said to be updated, bringing the larger Breeze’s in line with the Breeze Midi launched last year. The scooters chassis will be slightly smaller, giving a turning circle of 56 inches which is 15 inches less than the current breeze.

The suspension has been tweaked to give a smoother ride, this may resolve the ‘wallowing’ sensation the Breeze had on rough terrain when compared to mon shock scooters like the TGA Vita or the Colt Executive.

Strangely the new Breeze seems to be lower powered although they may just be being conservative with their measurements. The current Breeze has a stated maximum safe climbing angle of 11 percent; the new Breeze manages 9.5. Similarly the maximum carrying capacity drops from 31 stone to just under 24 stone! On the plus side the new Breeze will come with larger batteries giving a total range per charge of 33 miles.

The new Breeze sounds as if it is being targeted more squarely at the mainstream luxury scooter market, sacrificing some power and weight capacity for a longer range and more stable ride. We await Naidex with bated breath…

Looking Good on the TGA Vita

Due to my innate laziness and disorganisation I rarely (never?) check my comments, so unsurprisingly missed this one below on the TGA Vita post:

Hi, I just wanted to say, I have just purchased the Vita (in white as above) and my mother has the sporty orange model. And we absolutely love them! They are very comfortable, roomy, sturdy and very smooth to drive. On our first day out with them last Tuesday, we were quite amazed at the amount of people who commented on them and the amount of notice they had. We just can't wait to get back out again for another day out on them! Dani, Wrexham

Now if any manufacturers out there still have any doubts about there being a market for stylish, modern looking scooters there is your answer! While on the subject of the Vita, Heartway (the Vita's Taiwanese manufacturers) have released a three wheel version. Much as it pains me to say it it is actually quite ugly. This seems to be the conundrum faced by scooter designers, how can you design a scooter that looks good in both a three wheel and four wheel form? Heartway got it right I think with the Royale 4 and Royale 3 but this Vita just seems to look a little odd. In other news the Vita is now available in green. I haven't managed to get a pic yet, but in the mean time if you want to ogle some Vita's check out this video from TGA...

Days Strider Mobility Scooters

Days Medical have redesigned their Strider range with six new models from the ultra light weight boot scooter the Strider ST1 to the heavy duty luxury of the Strider ST6.

Days Strider ST1

The Strider ST1 is an ultra lightweight boot scooter, the most interesting feature of which is the new split chassis. The split chassis allows you to take disassemble the chassis without having to fiddle with tools or connectors, this means that the ST1 can be broken down into even smaller pieces for travel or storage. To aid portability the heaviest piece of the ST1 is only 40 pounds. Of course all this comes at a price: the range of the ST1 is only 10 miles per charge. Probably perfect for shopping trips or short jaunts on holiday, but it is not the scooter to get if you are looking for it as your main mode of transport.

The Strider ST1 retails between £400 and £500.

Days Strider ST2

Now this is a strange one. The Strider ST2 is specced almost identically to the ST1, but offers a shorter range of a paltry 6.4 miles per charge. This may be a typo, our unusual honesty about range, but untill I can test it out I can't say, all I can say is for an extra £30-£40 pouns you seem to get an under powered ST1. Go figure.

The Strider ST2 retails between £450 and £550.

Days Strider ST3

The Strider ST3 is the top of the range travel mobility scooter from Days. Like the ST1 and ST2 the ST3 features the split chassis and light weight components. The ST3 is slightly wider than the other two giving it more stability and a greater weight capacity (21 stone versus 18 stone). The ST3 also has a more reasonable 15 mile range, putting it slightly ahead of the Go Go Traveller Plus and just behind the Sterling Pearl, both scooters in the same price range offering similar specifications.

The Strider ST3 retails between £750 and £850.

Days Strider ST4

One thing of note with this new Strider range is that Days Medical have decided to focus on either end of the mobility scooter market. The first three scooters are all boot scooters; the last three are all class three 8 mile an hour scooters.

The first of the class three scooters is the ST4. The ST4 is a compact 8 mile an hour scooter in the moul of the Mercury Neo or the Shoprider Cadiz. It is just over 50" long, and just under 25" wide, has a ground clearance of 3" and is supplied with full sized 11" pneumatic tires and full suspension both front and rear. The ST4 has a low centre of gravity, which keeps it feeling stable even during cornering.

The Strider ST3 retails between £750 and £850

Days Strider ST5

The Days Strider ST5 is a bariatric class mobility scooter. It has a huge maximum weight capacity of 35 1/2 stone, almost as much a the Mercury M48 GT. The Strider ST5 is like the ST4 on steroids: its wheels are a full two inches bigger; the batteries are 25Ah bigger; its range is 5 miles longer (30 miles to the ST4s 25) and it is ten inches longer and three inches wider. Unlike the ST4 the ST5 is supplied with a wrap around delta tiller that most people find more comfortable. The ST5 looks like being a good option for those who need a heavy weight mobility scooter without a heavyweight price tag.

The Strider ST3 retails between £1,500 and £1,700.

Days Strider ST6

The Strider ST6 is the top of the new Strider range, and it is a full sized luxury mobility scooter. The ST6 is clearly targeting the stylish end of the market that Heartway have made their own with the Royale and the Vita.

The ST6 is proportioned similarly to the Heartway Royale, and is only an inch longer at 63 inches. The ST6 has a greater total weight capacity of 35 ½ stone, and a greater stated range of 35 miles per charge (as ever take these figures with a pinch of salt; they are provided by the manufacturers!). The Strider ST 6 has excellent specs, and is supplied with 15" split rim alloy wheels with pneumatic tires, oil damped rear suspension, coil sprung front suspension, and an upholstered adjustable swivel reclining seat with headrest.

The Strider ST6 has one main advantage over the Royale: Price. The ST6 retails at around £2,900 which is a good two to three hundred pounds lower than the best real price on the Royale.

Police to Target Mobility Scooters

Now I don’t know exactly what to make of the Police Specials site, but I was drifting through cyberspace today when I ran across this little tit-bit on their forum:

Whilst at a neighbouring station a few weeks back i couldnt help noticing district priorities and one of the top one in some wards was mobility scooter accidents. So i guess they are a bit of a problem. Anybody had any dealings with Mobility Scooter accidents/incidents?

read the whole thread Now I don't know what districts he is talking about but the idea that mobility scooter accidents being a priority is alarming to say the least. I don't want go over old ground but the mobility scooter menace is VASTLY overstated, and seems to be just another manifestation of the new 'fashion' for demonising mobility scooters and their drivers. Quite why the police are making this a priority (if indeed they are) is beyond me. Whenever people start talking about the 'menace' they either bring up some example of rudeness (unpleasant, but probably shouldn't be criminalised) or the two case that always get trotted out, that while both are certainly tragedies but are extremely isolated. Can you imagine if every time there was an accident involving a bicycle it made it into the papers?

Shoprider Sovereign

If you had to describe the most boring mobility scooter in the world it would have several defining characteristics. First it would have to be red. Not Ferrari red or a rich scarlet, it would have to be the colour best described as 'disability red'; a kind of purpley red something like the colour of a fresh bruise and an old wine stain. Second it would have to have a wicker basket on the front. Well I say wicker, more faux wicker. Well I say faux wicker, let's just call it plastic. It wouldn't be road legal. Or transportable. It would have a top speed of 4 miles per hour. It would in fact be the Shoprider Sovereign.

The Mobility Scooter Menace (Again)

The ongoing threat to mankind posed by mobility scooters has been drawn to the attention of our glorious leaders. On January 7th the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) debated the matter; the discussion was none too edifying. Jeff Ennis (Lab) told the stories of Madison McNair, the toddler who was injured in an accident with a mobility scooter, and the sad story of Lillian Macey, who died after another scooter accident. Mr Ennis then followed up these two tragic cases with a couple of rants from his constituents, who had "witnessed near misses" and seen mobility scooters driven at "worrying speeds". Mr Ennis also quotes some interesting "statistics" about number of scooter acccidents. Sort of. The number of accidents in the category that contains mobility scooters went up 60% in the last three years (1,970 in 2006, to 3,238 in 2008), but as that category also includes ambulances, fire engines, motor caravans and quad bikes the number that can actually be attributed to mobility scooters is unknown. In fact if you factor in the the estimated growth in scooter users during the same period, from 100,000 to 300,000 you could argue that scooters are getting safer. Fortunately while he echos the concern of his constituents Mr Ennis doesn't advocate their solution - a mandatory test administered by suppliers. Assuming that a mandatory test WAS a good idea, giving suppliers responsibility for it would be a case of the fox guarding the chicken coop. Mr Ennis instead recommends making available voluntary training, similar to that offered by Great Yarmouth Constabulary. The Great Yarmouth course takes 25 minutes and is essentially a spin around some cones. Whether or not this has any real effect on the skills of the scooter driver remains to be seen. Hugh Bayley (Labour, City of York) then spoke about the need for people to be compensated when they are involved in accidents with mobility scooters, citing the "fact" that on the Motability Wheelchair and Scooter scheme

Those who get scooters under that scheme are required to insure the scooters, both for injury to third parties and for fire and theft.

This may come as a surprise to those who thought that insurance was a feature of the scheme not a requirment. I imagine Mr Bayley will also be campaigning for road side assistance to be mandatory as that is included on the scheme too. Sadiq Kahn, the The Minister of State, Department for Transport then responded in an entirely reasoned manner, thanking his honourable friends for being having honour and being friendly before dropping in this bizarre comment:

The hon. Gentleman will be aware, perhaps from Christmas presents he has bought for younger people, that it is possible to buy a remote control car that, when it comes into contact with an object, such as a table, TV or CD rack, will do a U-turn to avoid hitting that object. As a lay person, I do not have technical expertise on that, but I do not see why mobility scooters could not do something similar. I would like to look at that in the design standards and in any consultations we have as well.

Lost. For. Words. http://www.pacts.org.uk/westminster-hall-debates.php?id=21

Pride XL8

The Pride Celebrity XL8 is dead; long live the Pride Colt XL8! Over at Mobility Review they look back at one of the iconic (is that too strong?) scooters of the last few years, the Celebrity XL8 and look at some of the alternatives available now it has been discontinued. Else where they look to the present, and the scooter that for now seems to have replaced the Celebrity XL8 in the pride range - the Colt XL8. While on the subject of the Colt XL8, I thought this was rather amusing - an ill disguised rant at the practice of re branding mobility scooter.

Freerider Royale?

Not any more, nor in fact was it ever. After a flurry of activity from Niagara Health Care's (NHC) marketing department the internet is well on its way to being purged of the name Freerider Royale. The accepted nomenclature is Heartway Royale or NHC Royale. The move does in fact make sense, Freerider is a brand in its self and the only tie between the Royale and Freerider is that they are both distributed in the UK by NHC. While the move makes sense it goes against common usage, a search today on google for "freerider royale" (in quotes to match the phrase) returns 3,570 results, where as a search for "nhc royale" returns only 78 matches. While in the long run this will clarify and simplify things for consumers it is bound to lead to some confusion while people struggle to understand why most dealers don't stock the Freerider Royale any more.

Sun Mobility

If you are reading this post on The Wonderful World of Mobility read no further, this post isn't for you. If are reading it on a page from Sun Mobility then read on. I have noticed that a number of my posts are being displayed unaccredited on the Sun Mobility web site. Now I have no problem with people re producing my content, after all that is pretty much what the web is all about, but when you do it at least do me the service of a back link at least. Seeing as they have forgotten I will do it my self:

Pride Colt XL8

This was a bit I wrote about the Pride Colt XL8 mobility scooter back on the 21st of November that Sun Mobility reproduced over eighty five web sites (I know, eighty five seems like overkill).

TGA Breeze

Now I have written about the TGA Breeze several times, but our dear friends at Sun Mobility don't seem to have bothered to scrape them yet. They have however scraped the post about Mobility Scooter Price Match from a few weeks back which made it into a staggering ninety one sites. I should be flattered, and it was one of my better posts, but for some reason I'm not.

TGA Vita

Now this was the one that gave you away! The TGA Vita hasn't been written about much, in fact my two blog posts account for about twenty percent of the original copy on this scooter, so you can imagine my surprise when the Google results for "TGA Vita" lept from twelve to a hundred and eighty! It didn't take long to realise their was something fish going on that's for sure. It seems to me that they only scrape the longer posts so I'm going to have to pad this one out a bit longer. I'm at a loss what to put now, but I can say one final thing: if I was likely to be renting a mobility aid in Florida I would be unlikely to do it from a company that scrapes pages without permission and passes them of as their own. Oh and by the way, please feel free to reproduce this on your many many spammy sites.

Shopmobility Lose Scooter to an Imposter

Ubelievable. Petersfields Shopmobility has had a scooter stolen by a man pretending to have multiple schlerosis. The imposter apparently hired the scooter for a week after signing up in late summer this year using a blue badge to prove his eligability. Shopmobility have made numerous attempts to recover the scooter but the mans phone number has been disconnected and there is apparently no one at his address. Petersfield shopmobility say that the scooter was covered by insurance but in the mean time they are having to shell out nearly eight hundred pounds to replace the folding travel scooter until the insurance claim is resolved. This is apparently the first ever theft of a mobility scooter from Shopmobility.

Motability Operations to Take Over Mobility Scooter Scheme

It appears that from june next year Motability Operations are going to be taking over the Motability Scooter Scheme. For those who don't know Motability Operations are the not for profit company that manages the leases, customer services, servicing, and dealer relationships for the Motability Car Scheme. For those who haven't been on the scheme for a while, yes they ARE the same company as Motability Finance Limited (MFL). For those who only new them under their old guise this may sound like terrifying news; MFL managed to make the Motability Scheme into an expensive ordeal for many of their customers through overpriced contracts, impossible end of lease conditions and frankly second rate customer service. Fortunately they have managed to turn that around and deliver a far better product on all fronts, and anyone who is steering clear of the scheme based solely on past negative experiences with Motability Finance Limited should have a serious re-think. Getting back to the scooter scheme news, this does sound like a good thing. It is bound to drive down the costs for the user and customer service is bound to improve.

Pride Colt XL8

This year has seen the arrival of a number of new mobility scooters, most notably the new Heartway / Freerider Aviator adn Venus and the Heartway / TGA Vita. While it would seem that all the innovation in the world of Mobility Scooters is coming out Heatway's Taiwanese factory there are other manufacturers out there trying valiently to keep up. Foremost Amongst this chasing pack is Pride Mobility who this year launched the Pride Colt Deluxe and the Pride Colt XL8. The Pride Colt XL8 mobility scooter is an eight mile an hour scooter. It is heavy duty without being fully in the bariatric class having a maximum weigh capacity of twenty eight stones. The Colts are Prides more 'sporty' range and as such they have features such as over sized thirteen by four inch wheels and a respectable ground clearance of about three inches. The word sporty however should not be considered to be synonymous with deluxe; the Pride Colt XL8 has rear only suspension leaving the solid tires and your wrists to absorb any front end impact. The Colt XL8 is powered by dual 12v batteries that deliver 50ah, this gives the Colt a range of around twenty miles per charge which is better than fair and suitable for all but the most demanding users. The Colt XL8 has a retail price of £4,500 which is clearly far too high for this scooter, however as is usual in the scooter business the price you will pay can vary massively - for example Value Mobility offer the scooter at around £1,495 - and at the right price this a very competent eight mile an hour scooter that would suit most users looking to have the advantages of bot road and pavement use.

TGA Breeze: The Roll Royce of Scooters

Now I have often said the TGA Breeze is the Rolls Royce of scooters, and it seems I'm not alone. Retired engineer Bill Inston of Worle in Somerset has spent the last three months converting his second hand Breeze 4 into a facsimile of a Rolls Royce Silver cloud. Working with such diverse materials as tin foil, mahogany and knitting needles Mr Inston has created a scooter the envy of all on Weston Supermare. He said: "My Rolls-Royce is the only one of its kind in the world. "Like everyone else, I always wanted a Rolls and like many others, I could never afford one. So one day I had the idea to turn my scooter into one. When I'm cruising through Weston people often stop me and ask about it." With a mahogany dash, perspex roof, and a distinctive dancing cherub in place of the flying lady it is no wonder he is caussing a bit of a stir. Daily Express On thing about this story that doesn't ring true though - where on earth did he manage to pick up a Breeze 4 for only £200!

A Week in Mobility Scooters

A quick round up of what's going on web wise in the world of mobility scooters. Ill Informed Moaning As ever the world wide web is a hot bed of people whinging about scooters, first up The Daily Gripe with a moan about reckless drivers. The article is pretty tame; the usual stuff about how it would be better if people were more considerate, but as usual the comments display typical ignorance of the difference between the classes of scooter and the laws that apply. There is nothing wrong with being ignorant of these things, but if you are PLEASE don't start spouting off on a public forum, it just makes you look silly... An article in the Yorkshire Star might conjure up some sympathy one would think, but no apparently not. A pick of the comments include: "she will know how the young child feels like who was run down last week by an OAP on a scooter there are not safe for OAP or CHILD" "I bet she was on the road without her lights on." I dread to think what was in the posts that were removed by the moderator! New Products MNFSA have a good review of the new scooter in the NHC Freerider range, the Freerider Aviator. The Aviator is an eight mile an hour scooter from Heartway that looks set be a bit of a hit. On HubPages there is another review, this time of the Pride Colt XL8 . The XL8 is the new top of the range of the Colt family and apparently they are flying out the door at the Pride dealers. The versitility and sporty styling is clearly striking a chord with the buying public. And Finally... A woman in New Zeland is still witing for an apology from McDonald's after the restaurant refused to serve her at the drive through window as she was on a mobility scooter. The woman claims that she was unable to get her scooter through the doors and was forced to use the drive through window. McDonald's have apparently invited her to discuss the matter but she claims that on the two occasions she has visited the restaurant the have claimed to be too busy to talk.

Mobility Scooter Price Match

Now a lot of people who try to buy their first scooter are surprised by several things. The first is the recommended retail price of most mobility scooters. In many cases the RRP of an 8mph mobility scooter could be as much as a small car, around six or seven thousand pounds. The second surprise will be the wild variations in listed prices on some models. Some dealers (less so on the Internet) will NEVER volunteer to discount a product, offer all products at or around the RRP; other dealers however will discount hard, sometimes as much as sixty or seventy percent of the manufacturers recommended price. The third surprise is that some dealers will never list a price at all. For the new consumer of mobility products this seems bizarre and in many ways they are right. Ultimately what drives this strangeness are two things, the manufacturers and the large retailers. Traditionally mobility scooters were sold in one of two ways (if we exclude the Mobility scheme from this discussion), either from shop fronts or by direct marketing. Mobility scooters have always been a low volume product and in order to maintain either expensive property or an expensive sales force it was necessary to make a very large mark up on each unit. In order to get ahead companies would invest in larger properties and more staff in order make sales. Since the advent of the internet this has all changed, now smaller family run businesses are able to take advantage of their low overheads and sell products online at greatly reduced margins. The way to get ahead now for these businesses is to invest in stock and increase volume. This has not been met with joy buy the large established dealers and to finally get to the point, this is what is happening in the market place: in order to maintain market share large dealers put pressure on the manufacturers to keep the prices inflated, the manufacturers put pressure on the small dealers to stop advertising low prices, and in this way the large dealers hope to maintain the status quo for a few more years. Unfortunately for the big dealers the online dealers are getting smarter, some even offering instant mobility scooter price match services that will send you a price beating quote in seconds at the click of a button. The future looks bright for mobility consumers.

TGA Breeze and Pride Colt Price Match

Value Mobility have launched an online price matching service on some of their most popular scooters. For so many consumers the process of finding the best price has involved tedious rounds of searching the web and making phone call just to find the best priced mobility scooter. The Value Mobility price match service should go some way to removing that headache. Instead of having to call in, or fill out a long form all you have to do is type in your email address and the best price you have been quoted, and the price matching agents will do the rest, often responding within a matter of minutes. While the price matching service isn't available on all scooter it is currently available on the following:

• TGA Breeze 3 and 4
• Freerider Royale
• TGA Supersport
• Pride Colt XL8 and Colt Deluxe
• Electric Mobility 3,4,6 and 8

TGA Vita Continued...

Apart from their shared heritiage and modernist styling the TGA Vita and NHC Royale 4 are quite different beasts (yes I know I was comparing them in the last post!). The Royale 4 is a true heavyweight mobility scooter weighing over 100lbs more (batteries included) than the Vita . The Royale is also six inches longer and an inch and a half wider than its smaller cousin. Perhaps it is a little surprising that the TGA Vita actually claims a higher maximum rider weight of 400lbs to the Royale's 350lbs, but it is less surprising that the Vita with its slimline form requires a lot less juice coming stock with 2 x 50 Ah batteries whereas the Royale requires 2 x 80 Ah. The Vita also has a less powerful motor - 700 watts versus 1,300 watts in the Royale - but this doesn't seem to affect the pick up on the machine as it felt very lively during our quick test. Ride comfort in both machines is provided by fully active suspension, all wheel on the Royale and front wheels and single post on te TGA Vita. Both have oversized pneumatic tyres front and rear, although again the Royale as befits it's greater size adds an inch or so on both front and rear tyres. I think I am going to have to change my initial assessment on the TGA Vita: I still love it, but I'm not sure it is the Royale killer I assumed at first look. The difference finally is about power. If you are looking for a mobility scooter to power up steep gradients on or off road you may find that the Royale is still the best scooter for you, but if you are looking for something that can do a bit of everything and is above all fun then I think you should seriously consider the TGA Vita.

TGA Vita: a First Look

TGA have been promising a new luxury 8 mph scooter since the beginning of the summer but all I had seen was a few teaser pics on their web site and other than that nothing. I was starting to think it was all an elaborate fantasy. But today at long last I got my hands on the new TGA Vita!

I'm going to put my cards on the table: it was love at frst sight. Up till now I thought nothing could touch the NHC Royale when it came to styling, but this beats it hands down. Both scooter have clearly based their shape on modern mopeds but While the Royale was supremely elegant in its three wheel incarnation, the four wheel model appears to be a bit of a fudge.This is not the case for the TGA Vita, it was clearly designed as a four wheel scooter and as yet there appears to be no plans to make a three wheel version.

It may come as no surprise to discover that this mobility scooter is manufactured by Heartway Mobility, the same company that build the Royale, although it does beg a couple of questions: first, why didn't it get picked up as part of the NHC range? And second, why have they manufactured something that is so clearly aimed at the Royale's target market (the RRP of the Vita will £3,995, easily within the same price band)? While these questions are interesting to scooter nerd they are irrelevant to the average consumer, who can only benefit from the competition of two companies offering such high quality mobility scooters.

Tomorrow I will put up some more pictures and go into some more of the technical details that make this scooter so special, but for now you can check out TGA Vita specifications at Value Mobility.

Mobility Scooter Madness in Gravesend

Strange things going on in Gravesend (as ever?). A young able bodied lad is causing a bit of a stir with his mobility scooter. Sam Scutts, a 17 year old media student, has taken to travelling around town on a second hand mobility scooter. This wouldn't have been much of a story if the local constabulary hadn't decided scooter riding was anti social behavior. While driving through Gravesend town cenre in June young Mr Cutts was pounced on by five, yes five, members of the local plod.

"They threatened to arrest me for dangerous driving, add three points to my provisional driving licence, tow away the scooter and fine me £110", said Sam.

"I was shocked by the police reaction because I was not doing anything wrong.

"I wasn’t driving dangerously, I was driving around people and stopping to let them pass, and the fastest I can go is walking pace.

"And there’s nothing illegal about me driving the scooter - I checked and its not against the law to drive one if you’re not disabled."

The story has a happy ending though, as after hearing of his plight a local garage took pity on him and his rather tatty looking scooter and "pimped his ride", buffing and filling the body work and adding a rather snazzy blue paint job.

Sam said: "It looks like a new scooter, I was shocked when I first saw it.

"It is electric blue all over, and all the panels have been rebuilt.

"We’re not sure what we’re going to do with it. We might auction it for charity."

Mablethorpe 'Daleks' bite back

Following anger at Guardian refering to their town as "Village of the Daleks" due to the high density of mobility scooters (seen here) the residents of Mablethorpe have hit back with this gem of a video.