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.

Off Road Powerchair

Seriously, how did I miss this? I feel such a fool blogging about someone who has stuck a few bits of tin foil to his scooter when this fellow is out there. The Tank Chair, as it unsuprisingly called, was concieved and built by Brian Soden of Phoenix after a car accident left his wife Liz paraplegic. Great lovers of the out doors, the Soden's found that traditional off road wheelchairs were just not up to the job when faced with the rugged Arizona landscape. The Tank Chair is a real monster, it can handle rocky trails; snow; and even the steepest of inclines. Brian is now offering tank chairs to consumers. While in many cases the final product will be customised to fit the needs and wants of each individual consumer, he also offers two standard models - if these can ever be described as standard. The standard tank chair is fitted with rubber tracks and the more conventional Speedster is fitted with a pair of beautiful 21 inch alloy wheels. Visit http://www.tankchair.com/ for more details