ECV Rental question

[BridgetR3]

Okay so we will need an ECV for my mom for this trip. On our last trip with her, the ECV we rented made this unbelievably LOUD beeping noise anytime she backed up. I don't mean the normally loud beeping noise they normally make. I mean everyone around covering their ears in horror beeping noise.

SO here is my question.....what company has a ECV rental that will not hurt our ears!??!?!

(P.S. I THINK we rented from Apple Scooters last time..... maybe?) THANKS!

 

[chainkid]

I have rented from many different companies with no problems at all. However this last time I tried Gold mobility and loved their ECV's . They were lighter , had a phone holder with portable charger so never had to worry about a dead phone. They called to meet me when they arrived and when we left. Very easy to work with. just for the phone holder and charger alone I'm hooked. They were either slightly less expensive or at least the same as other popular companies. They also came with many rain slickers .awesome

 

[mamabunny]

I have rented from many different companies with no problems at all. However this last time I tried Gold mobility and loved their ECV's . They were lighter , had a phone holder with portable charger so never had to worry about a dead phone. They called to meet me when they arrived and when we left. Very easy to work with. just for the phone holder and charger alone I'm hooked. They were either slightly less expensive or at least the same as other popular companies. They also came with many rain slickers .awesome

But to answer the OP's question: Do they beep when you back up?

 

[kaytieeldr]

Okay so we will need an ECV for my mom for this trip. On our last trip with her, the ECV we rented made this unbelievably LOUD beeping noise anytime she backed up. I don't mean the normally loud beeping noise they normally make. I mean everyone around covering their ears in horror beeping noise.

But did everybody need heed it? Loud and annoying, sure. But if it got people to stay out of its path, she should have been able to back up faster .

 

[Selket]

Wow I didn't know the ones you rent offsite do the backup beep thing - I've seen the ones you rent inside the park do it. I had a rental one when at Universal/IOA that did that and it just about drove me nuts.

I've rented from Buena Vista scooters and Gold Mobility (highly recommend GM) and neither of those beeped when backing up.

 

[mojo1117]

The ECV's that are available for rent at Gold Mobility Scooters DO NOT beep when you back up. They do have horns, but you must press the button on the control console in order to use them.

 

[Bete]

The ECV's that are available for rent at Gold Mobility Scooters DO NOT beep when you back up. They do have horns, but you must press the button on the control console in order to use them.

If that's true that's dangerous.

 

[mamabunny]

If that's true that's dangerous.

No it's not.

Do you beep when you walk backwards? I don't. My personal mobility device doesn't either.

Not trying to be flip, or stinky, Miss Bete - I promise - but with all due respect, anyone who is piloting a personal mobility device that has a "reverse" setting that enables it to travel backwards should be - MUST BE - paying attention to all 4 corners of the device they are driving when they put it in reverse.

It's no different than driving a car.

 

[kaytieeldr]

The person driving the ECV is paying attention. But just as with larger/commercialish motor vehicles, the beeping is to alert everybody else in the area of the action.

We so know nobody pays attention to the ECV horns in general. Loud beeping may be annoying, but if some manufacturers didn't think it's necessary, they wouldn't add it.

 

[RaySharpton]

I haven't bought mobility scooter in a long time, but none of them beeped when backing up. If I recall correctly, the only ones that I have heard a scooter beep when in reverse are the ones in stores like Publix or Target, etc. My new wheelchair doesn't beep in reverse either. I think the large commercial mobility scooters that WDW rents beep, but I am not sure.

 

[mamabunny]

The person driving the ECV is paying attention. But just as with larger/commercialish motor vehicles, the beeping is to alert everybody else in the area of the action.

We so know nobody pays attention to the ECV horns in general. Loud beeping may be annoying, but if some manufacturers didn't think it's necessary, they wouldn't add it.

To my knowledge, there are no personal mobility devices that "beep" (when backing up) that are sold in the US. Not saying there are none - but aside from one model that I came across (when originally searching for my first personal mobility device) that was manufactured overseas, and shipped to the US for sale (and has since gone out of business in the US, apparently due to poor sales) I have never personally encountered a mobility device sold for personal use that beeps when backing up.

The first and only mobility devices to be equipped with "beepers" were the motorized store shopping carts. According to the company that claims to be the first manufacturer of a motorized store cart (which was essentially a modified standard shopping cart married to an early 1970s personal mobility device) they added the "beeper" because they thought it would make it safer; the "inventor" was used to working around industrial equipment that beeped when backing up, and so it made sense to him to add the beeper for a device being used in a commercial environment. (The first shopping cart was invented by a guy from my home state of Oklahoma - as was the parking meter - so we tend to be the guinea pigs around here for any new "innovation" in that space LOL) The jury is still out, literally and figuratively, on whether the beeping helps; people still apparently regularly put them into reverse and back up without looking, believing that because it beeps, they don't have to look behind them - the beeping will alert others to their action.

So, my point remains the same - if you are operating the device in a safe manner, checking behind you, backing up carefully, there should be no need for it to "beep". And if the beeping really did help prevent issues, and made the devices "safer", then all motorized personal mobility devices would have beepers.

(Also, take a moment, and try to imagine WDW if every single mobility device - wheelchair or ECV - "beeped" when backing up? :::shudder::: It would be an auditory nightmare!)

 

[Simba's Mom]

The ECV's that are available for rent at Gold Mobility Scooters DO NOT beep when you back up. They do have horns, but you must press the button on the control console in order to use them.

Yes, I agree that they didn't. In AK, the CMs told me when I had to rent an in-park scooter once, that they'd disabled those beepers because they alarmed the animals (well, some of the animals). In actuality, considering all the park noises, I wonder if the animals noticed the Apple scooter beepers. But after I was told that, I've noticed the beepers-and only heard beepers on in park rentals (but not at AK).

 

[Bete]

I would be happy to have the beep going in reverse. Any help to not hurt someone is greatly appreciated.

Personally, I've never seen various scooters all backing up at the same time.

Many of the scooter rentals done at Disney World are for the occasional user and the same people don't use scooters back home regularly. Because of the inexperience I like the beep.