Wheelchair Worries: 04/28/25

I still wanted to try more wheelchairs, I was going to be paying a significant amount of money for something that I would have for a long time...hopefully. I thought I'd found a similar deal with Mobility Hire that I had with Easy Living Mobility I.E I could loan a chair, but that price went up considerably from the £93.00 visible on the website to £373.20...up again to £487.20 when delivery is added.

EeZeeGo LW1
Lightweight Folding

Back to Google I go, but this time to look for a company who will allow me to hire the chair for a reasonable price. Step up EzeeGo. They have a great website with a good selection of new, used and 'for hire' wheelchairs. I liked the look of LW1 Lightweight Folding Electric Wheelchair it was 24kg - 2kg lighter than the Etech and Easy Living Mobility. It only had 10 inch wheels - 2.5 less than the other 2 - and plain plastic castor wheels on the front. Only the Etech had tread on the front wheels, I'm not sure if that makes any difference or is important, but this is my blog my rules and I say it is important.

EeZeeGo buying
options

'Worth a shot' I thought. I chose the option to hire it for 2 weeks. That was going to be £100...EH? hang on, it clearly says "available to hire from only £30.77", but the option to rent it for that price doesn't come up. The cheapest option is £100 for 2 weeks. Now I'm no math genius but I'm pretty sure that's £50 a week, not the £30.77 advertised. The most expensive option is £400 for 3 months, which works out at £33.33. So it seems to be impossible to rent it for as cheap as they claim. I chose the cheapest options:

Hire term: 2 weeks £100
Delivery option: Standard delivery £59
Security deposit: Refundable security deposit £250
Total: £409

£409! for 2 weeks! I could buy a chair from Etech for £845.50.

It doesn't seem like renting is a very cost effective option. I returned to Google and found a mobility showroom in Stoke - CareCo. They sell everything - mobility scooters, wheelchairs, motorised wheelchairs, walking aids, recliners and walking aids. I booked an Uber and made the 30 minute trip to hopefully take a few wheelchairs for a spin.

I had no idea this place was so close by. The showroom was deceptively big and all one level. The walkways' were very wide and everything was nicely spaced out so you could see each product up close. They welcomed me in and once they found out what I was after, took me to their selection of motorised wheelchairs.

The first chair I tried was the Zora. It was made from carbon fibre and weighed 13kg or 2 stone. My cumbersome, hard to move, lard-arse manual wheelchair is only 12kg. Does that mean mine is carrying a lot of weight or the Zora is freakishly light? The latter. The website boasts that it is "The lightest powerchair in the world". It's carbon fibre price tag illustrated this, £2,500...add another £500 VAT on top of that.

It was quite a small chair and the arm felt quite flimsy when I was transferring from my chair into it. The rear wheel size is only 11 inches and the front wheel is only 6 inches, and all four were similar in how painfully thin they were. It's like the wheels were tip-toeing, barely connecting with the floor. I gave it a whirl, but there was nowhere other than the flat smooth shop floor and the incredibly smooth car park to put it through its paces. I'm fairly sure if I faced a piece of gravel I would have to go round it. If I tried to run over it I might be in danger of having to buy the Zora because of irreversible damage.

I tried the Stratus powerchair while I was there. It reminded me of the Freedom A06 I borrowed first. It was fairly substantial looking, it only weighed 17kg (2.7 stones) someway below the 'sweet spot'. The back wheels were 11inch and the font 7, they were asking £1,699 and another £340 VAT. It wasn't looking hopeful so I took it for a spin around the store to give it a 'thorough' testing. This place sold everything!

It wasn't going to be selling this wheelchair though. The wheelchairs were too light and too expensive.