First experience with Luggie

Luggie and Me

The Luggie Mobility Scooter, my own experience.

Scooter manufactured by Luggie Ltd, Taiwan.

I'm sixty years of age and have been having problems with my walking for some time now and last year I began to think about the possibility of a mobility scooter. I was reluctant but thought it would be a good idea if I could get something that would easily go in the car and perhaps, who knows, even take abroad with me on holiday.

I started doing a bit of Internet research and found out two very important things:

1) Scooters were available which would fold or dismantle for car use and 
2) It was possible to take a scooter with you on an aeroplane.

Both these points seem obvious now, but back then they were a revelation.

I found a scooter called the Aquasoothe Travelite which looked OK and a rep called at my house and demonstrated it for me. Unfortunately, it wouldn't either go up my steepish drive nor would it go up the hill leading away from my house. It would however, fold up to go in the car. The price, £1500, was too dear, particularly as it didn't do everything I wanted. However, I convinced myself it would be OK and bought a cheap secondhand one from eBay.

Immediately it arrived, I regretted buying it. Although it did the job, folding to go into the car and performing well enough on level ground or even slight hills, I felt it was too ‘clunky’ and heavy for me - so I gave it to my mother who also has difficulty walking and she’s delighted with it.

I had done further Internet research and found a scooter called 'Luggie' which I really liked the look of. The videos on web sites and YouTube looked pretty good, the scooter looked pretty cool and not like a mobility scooter at all, the only drawback was, again, the price. £1600 - £2400, depending where you bought it. A few came up on ebay but even they were going for over a grand and I didn't fancy spending that much cash without seeing the product first. Trouble is, nobody in my neck of the woods sold them which made me a bit suspicious. Whenever I enquired about them, I was told, 'you don’t want one of them, what you want is......' and whoever it was proceeded to try and sell me whatever they had, without even asking me what I wanted the scooter for!

I'd convinced myself that I wanted one as it seemed to be very portable and reasonably lightweight and looked fine for air travel but I wasn't convinced the thing would carry my 14 stone,  particularly up steepish Greek hills and pavement ramps. And so, the only answer was to go and try one for myself. I'd found a seller who assured me he was the main importer and who sounded very knowledgable on the phone, the only trouble was, he was near Manchester and I live in the Scottish Borders. My son said he would take me, so off we went and the rest, as they say, is history.

We arrived at Local Mobility in Leigh, near Manchester and the manager, Paul, demonstrated the Luggie to me. Not that there’s much to demonstrate - it’s and incredibly simple and well made machine. He suggested I take it out to an area near his shop where there was a multi storey car park and try it up the ramp to see if it was capable enough for me. He was quite confident and just handed the demonstrator over.

Piece of cake! My first time in public on a mobility scooter and I was impressed. It handled the car park ramp with ease and felt like it would just keep on going to the very top if I wanted to.

It was simple to use, an on off button and a forward/reverse lever, that was it. Inertial brakes so that coming down the ramp, it kept a constant speed depending on the amount of pressure on the ‘wig wag’ lever. Let the lever go and the Luggie stopped.

I drove it back to the shop and took a closer look. It’s reasonably lightweight, about the same weight as a sack of potatoes, extremely well made and incredibly easy to fold flat for loading into the car.

I wanted one right there and then!

Fortunately, Paul had an ex-demonstrator in stock and I had a credit card in my pocket so the deal was done. The Luggie was boxed up and my son lifted into the boot of the car and off we went.

I could have bought one from ebay for a little bit less but Local Mobility are main importers and they gave me a 12 month guarantee as well as allowing me to try the Luggie out. I know I’m not going to need the guarantee but when you’re spending that much money, it’s comforting to have and, besides, I’m all for supporting local business.


Check out his website: http://www.luggiescooters.com/about.htm


I couldn’t wait to try the Luggie out when I got home and immediately put the battery on charge, ready for the next day. The battery is Lithium Ion and weighs about the same as a hard back book and is about the same size. It charges up in situ on the Luggie but an off board charger is also available and is well worth getting.

Next day I was off!

Down the drive - about 40 yards of rough surface and fairly steep, but downhill on the way out. At the bottom of the drive, hills in both directions, one less steep than the other but, in the interests of science, I chose the steeper of the two. It’s the way out to the main road anyway.

I don’t know what I thought.

I’d tried the Aquasoothe up this hill but it took one look and gave up. I also have an adult tricycle, a Powatryke which has a 200 watt motor on the front hub and is powered by three 12 volt batteries and it will make it up the hill but it has to be pedalled pretty hard as well and also needs to be ‘tacked’ from side to side. It ain’t an easy task, let me tell you and it’s one I can’t do any more ‘cos I haven’t the power in my legs to pedal.

So, I pointed the Luggie up the hill, pulled the ‘wig wag’ lever and set off.

Nae bother!!

Straight up that damn hill, carrying 14 stone of flesh and bone.

Alright, so it slowed down at the steepest part but it took me up the hill and along the road at the top where I turned around and came back down, elated! I was mobile again. (I've since measured the slope of the hill with an Ipad app and it comes out at between 15 - 17 degrees)

When I got to the bottom of the hill, I took one look at the drive and thought ‘I’ll be lucky!” It’s not quite as steep as the hill but it’s much rougher, grassy, weedy bit in the middle and tracks either side made of embedded rough ‘hogging’, a sort of large rough gravel.

But I tried anyway and, Lo and Behold, it did it. Took me right up the drive, across some loose gravel at the top and right over the paved patio to the french doors.

I was tickled pink! The Luggie had done all I had asked of it. I admit, even though I’d taken it up the car park ramp at Leigh, I didn’t really think it would get up that dam’ hill at home.

Next day I took it out in the car with wife and dog. She dropped me off at the top of the steep hill (another one) down to the river with the dog while she went down to wait for me in the car. I Luggied down the hill and she continued on with the dog along a field while I played about on my new toy. I got fed up waiting for her and decided to test the Luggie’s capabiities yet again, so I headed back up the hill from the river. This was a proper tarmac road but another steep hill, rather like the one at home, only much longer!

Once more - Nae Bother. Although the road was wet in places and pretty damn steep, the Luggie took me up without a hitch! And this was after I’d already used it to climb up the hill from the house before putting it in the car for our dog walking expedition. And all this was done with a new battery which hadn’t reached it’s maximum charge yet as Lithium Ion batteries need to be charged about a dozen times before they reach maximum output.

At this stage, I was more than satisfied with my Luggie and was looking forward to it’s next major test - travelling to Crete!