People often come to us asking for a scooter and leave with a powerchair, or the other way round. They look similar in a photograph and they do quite different jobs.
The quick test: how do you steer it?
A mobility scooter is steered with a tiller — handlebars you hold with both hands, like a bicycle. That means you need reasonable grip, arm strength and upper-body control, and you need to be able to sit upright unsupported.
A powerchair is steered with a joystick under one hand. Far less strength and reach required, and it can be mounted either side.
If holding a tiller for twenty minutes would be difficult, the answer is a powerchair, and that is usually the end of the discussion.
Choose a scooter if…
- You can walk a bit, but not far — distance is the problem, not sitting
- You want to get to the shops, the park, around town
- You can sit upright comfortably and use both hands
- You mainly need it outdoors
- You want to lift it into a car
Scooters are generally faster, go further on a charge, handle rougher ground better and cost less. They are also bigger, and most are awkward indoors.
Choose a powerchair if…
- You are seated most or all of the day
- You need to move about inside the house as well as outside
- Grip, reach or upper-body strength are limited
- You need postural support — a proper seating position rather than a bench seat
- You need to turn in tight spaces
Powerchairs turn in a fraction of the space, fit through internal doorways, and can be specified with far more support. They typically cost more for the same range.
Indoors is the real dividing line
If you need to get from the living room to the kitchen without standing up, you need a powerchair. Very few scooters will manage an ordinary hallway, and none will turn in a domestic bathroom.
If you can move around your home unaided and only need help covering distance outside, a scooter is the cheaper and more capable answer.
Comfort over a long day
Scooter seats are designed for journeys — an hour out and back. Powerchair seating is designed for occupancy: pressure relief, back support, adjustable legrests, sometimes tilt and recline.
If you will be in it for six hours a day, that difference stops being a detail.
Getting it in the car
Both come in folding and dismantling versions. Folding powerchairs have improved enormously and many now fold as neatly as a boot scooter. Fixed-frame powerchairs are outdoor-capable and comfortable but generally need a vehicle hoist or a WAV.
Our guide to what fits in a car boot applies to both.
Still torn?
Describe your day to us — how long you are seated, whether you need to move about indoors, how far you go and what car you have. Ring free on 0800 593 0400.