Can You Try a Stairlift Before You Buy One?

This is a five-figure purchase that most people make from a photograph and a conversation. It does not have to be.

What you can only learn by sitting in one

Whether the transfer works. The riskiest moment with any stairlift is getting on and off it. Watching somebody actually do it answers a question no specification can.

This is the whole reason to try one. Bruno does not recommend the Elan for somebody who scoot-pivot transfers without weight through their legs, or whose knees buckle during a stand-to-sit, and names the Elite instead. Two minutes in a chair shows you which situation you are in.

Whether the controls suit their hands. A control needing a firm pinch is a control that will be a struggle twice a day for ten years.

Whether the seat fits. Width, depth, armrest height. A rated capacity is not the same as a comfortable seat.

How it feels to ride. Slower than people expect, and reassuring once experienced. Somebody nervous about the idea is frequently converted by one trip.

Where to try one

A showroom with lifts installed on real stairs rather than a display stand. Ours is walk-in during opening hours, and personal consultations are available by appointment so the equipment you came to try is set up and somebody who knows it is free when you arrive.

That appointment matters more than it sounds. A walk-in at a busy moment gets you a look; an appointment gets you a proper trial.

Bring the right person

The person who will use it. Not only the adult child arranging it.

This sounds obvious and it is the commonest mistake. A family member can assess a showroom and cannot assess a transfer, and the transfer is the thing being assessed.

What to bring

• The shoes they normally wear.
• The stick or rollator they use, because getting on with it in hand is part of the test.
• Measurements of your staircase, and photographs from both ends.
• An honest weight, which is an awkward question asked for a real reason.

Our measuring guide covers the five numbers worth taking.

What to ask while you are there

To see the manual lowering method. To try the swivel. To hear it run the full length. To be shown what the fault indicator looks like.

Those four are the things you will want to know later and nobody demonstrates unless asked.

All consultations, estimates and scopes of work are free of charge with no pressure or obligation. Smaller equipment ships free from our online shop.

If you cannot get to a showroom

Plenty of people cannot, which is frequently the reason they are shopping in the first place. Two things help.

Ask for a video of the specific model being ridden, including the swivel at the top. Ask for the seat dimensions and compare them against a dining chair at home that the person finds comfortable.

Neither replaces sitting in one, and both are better than a brochure.

What a survey visit can show you

A surveyor cannot bring a stairlift to your house. What they can do is walk the transfer with the person, at the actual staircase, and tell you honestly whether a seated lift is the right machine at all.

That conversation is worth more than the showroom for the cases where the answer turns out to be a platform lift or something else entirely.

Take your time

The pressure in these situations is usually real. Getting two quotes and trying a chair costs a few days and routinely changes the decision. Our buying checklist is the list to take with you, and smaller equipment ships free from our online shop in the meantime.

Bring a second pair of eyes

Ideally somebody who will be around day to day. They will notice things the person riding it will not: whether they hesitated getting off, whether they reached for something that was not there, how long the whole thing took.

That observation is worth more than an opinion about the upholstery.

What not to decide on the day

Anything. A showroom is for learning, not for signing. Take the information home, get a second quote, and decide without somebody in the room.

A supplier confident in their product is entirely comfortable with that, and our buying checklist is what to work through afterward.

Try the one you are actually buying

Showrooms carry a selection and it may not include the exact model quoted. Sitting in a different unit from the same manufacturer tells you something and not everything, particularly where seat width or transfer height differ.

Ask which model you are sitting in and whether it is the one on the quote. If it is not, ask what differs.

What a good showroom visit looks like

Twenty to thirty minutes, unhurried, with somebody who knows the equipment and is not watching a clock.

The person rides at least two different models on real stairs. They get on and off unaided at least twice, because the second time is more honest than the first. They operate the controls themselves rather than being shown. They use the swivel. They sit for a few minutes rather than a few seconds, because seat comfort at thirty seconds tells you nothing.

If a visit is over in eight minutes, you have seen a stairlift rather than tried one.

What to watch, if you are the family member

• Did they hesitate before sitting, and why?
• Did they reach for something that was not there?
• Could they operate the control without looking at it?
• Did they need a hand to stand at the top?
• Did they say it was fine while looking uncertain?

That last one is worth paying attention to. People minimize difficulty in front of professionals.

Questions to ask while sitting in it

Ask how loud it is at the top, because the sound changes. Ask what happens if the control is released mid-travel. Ask to hear it stop against an obstruction.

Those three answers are more useful than any brochure and none of them are volunteered.

If they hate the idea before trying

Common. A great many people arrive determined not to want one and leave having changed their mind, because the objection was about what it means rather than what it is.

Do not argue toward the showroom. Suggest it as looking rather than deciding, and let the machine make the case. Our conversation guide covers the rest.

After the visit

Wait a day before deciding anything. Write down what they liked and what they did not while it is fresh, and take that to the second quote.