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Tuesday, March 19th
SpinLife has been "providing expert advice and quality products" for more than two decades. Their team of experts, many of whom are mobility equipment users themselves, have over 250 years of combined experience and are happy to help you find just the right scooter. Here you'll find all of the top manufacturers, as well as some SpinLife exclusive items, for an inventory of more than 100 mobility scooters to choose from. And, the SpinLife University offers extra guidance on topics like taking measurements for the right scooter and deciding how long your ramp should be. Even if you don't buy your mobility scooter here, we encourage you to take advantage of the wealth of knowledge on offer.
Helpful for first-time scooter owners
We really like the "Virtual Expert" tool on the main Mobility Scooters page. If you're brand-new to shopping for one, this section will give you lots of guidance. It walks you through the different types of scooters (travel/portable, full-size, heavy-duty, recreational, folding) and then asks you to choose your anticipated typical use (like recreational or portable) and the user weight range. (We want to point out that the User Weight dropdown is a little confusing: it says "250 lbs or more" and then "250 lbs - 350 lbs" , so there was no selection for people under 250. We think that the first one was supposed to read "250 lbs or less" .) Click on "find my scooter" and you'll get a list of results that match what you specified.
Very easy to navigate the store
Of course, you can just as easily browse by scooter type. SpinLife has a fantastic range of products, from standard 3- and 4-wheel styles to recreational, heavy duty/high weight capacity, folding, two-person, and even all-terrain for those off-road adventures. Once you've selected a category, just click on "narrow your results" to apply filters for price range, drive range, max speed, user weight, or any other specification that's important to you. Your results list will provide tons of details at a glance, from available color choices and seat sizes to key specs like weight capacity and suspension.
Be sure to read up on the warranty and return policies
Click on any scooter to get even greater details. We appreciate that they're all "tucked away" inside boxes with a plus sign: select the ones you want to see while not being overwhelmed by having to scroll through everything at once. Two important areas to read through are the returns and the warranty. Both of those depend on the manufacturer of the scooter itself and aren't determined by SpinLife. Warranty coverage also varies by scooter, but each one we looked at came with a minimum of two years of protection (and some even had three). That goes above and beyond the one-year warranty plan that seems to be standard on rival retailers' mobility scooters.
Lots of customer ratings on individual scooters
Because SpinLife is a popular mobility scooter store, they also have more customer ratings on individual models than many of their competitors. For example, the Spitfire Scout 4 by Drive Medical had over 550 ratings at the time of this evaluation, with an average score of 4.6 out of 5 stars. You can just scroll through the ratings, or click on specific ones to see what the customer said about the strengths and weaknesses, user details, and so forth.
"A+" from the BBB - but increasing complaints
SpinLife gets an "A+" and accreditation from the Better Business Bureau. With those accolades, we were surprised to see that this mobility scooter store had more than 80 complaints filed at the BBB in the three years leading up to this review, almost half of them over the most recent 12 months. Fortunately, they all received prompt, apologetic responses that made every effort to resolve the issues (most of which were related to supply chain issues or technician availability - both fairly standard challenges across scooter retailers and within other industries). Still, that's a lot more than we found with some of SpinLife's rivals, leading us to drop this retailer from being one of our top two stores.
Your order might take a long time to ship
Plus, even we spotted that SpinLife promises a 3-5 business day timeframe on most orders (or 5-7 business days for larger scooters) - but more than a few people said that they were told after placing their order (and having their credit cards charged for the full amount) that it was going to be on backorder and not delivered for weeks or months. We'd much rather see SpinLife be upfront with this information than leave customers disappointed and waiting.
Usually a good store, but be aware of recent delays
That's the main reason we've had to drop SpinLife's rating since our last review. For some products, it's not a big deal to put them on backorder or have delivery delayed by a period of time - just an inconvenience, really. Mobility scooters are not that kind of product. Having an unexpected wait like that could really limit a customer's freedom and quality of life, if they depend on a scooter to run errands or even move around their own home. This is still a trustworthy retailer in general, but at this time there are other mobility scooter stores doing a better job at fulfilling orders in a timely way.
Maybe you've been avoiding that vacation you've dreamed of because you're not sure you can handle the walking. Or, you could be facing a long recovery after knee surgery and you'd like some motorized support for getting around the house. Either way, a mobility scooter is a fantastic way to keep your independence, live life to the fullest, and even have a good time while you're at it.
There are many different styles of scooters to choose from. How can you tell which one is right for you? Start by determining where you'll be using it the most: indoors and at home or outdoors for adventures, short distances or long hauls. The structure of the scooter and even the tires themselves should match your anticipated usage.
Next, figure out if you need it to be portable (able to be taken apart and stowed in the trunk of a sedan or in the cargo area of a larger vehicle) or if you'll have a carrier attached to a tow hitch for transport from one place to another - or maybe neither one is necessary.
Finally, decide which features and characteristics matter most. You may need to take into consideration the user weight capacity of the scooter, how far it can go on a single charge, maximum speed, and so on. Then, have some fun! Have you always wanted a fire engine red set of wheels? Now's your chance! How about a basket or a cup holder? Some of the highest-end mobility scooters even have security systems like you'd find on a full-size vehicle.
While you should also consider your budget, don't spend too much time comparing the scooter's price among retailers. Why? It's usually set by the manufacturers, so you won't often find significant differences from one store to the other. However, you might see that a retailer sweetens the deal by offering a rewards program, affordable financing, or top-notch service after the sale - and that should definitely factor into your decision.
Ready to start shopping? Here's a reminder of the important criteria to keep in mind as you look for your mobility scooter:
To help you find the right mobility scooter for your needs (and your budget), TopConsumerReviews.com has evaluated and ranked the most popular retailers on the market today. We're confident that this information will make it easy to choose a scooter and maintain your independence. Keep on rollin'!
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