AmeriGlide stair lifts

The seat on the Rave 2 holds up to 350 lb. Out of the 16 stair lifts in our comparison, that lands in the middle, with a low of 265 lb and a high of 600 lb.

Folded up, the seat stands 11 in off the wall. That tells you how far the lift juts into the stairway when it is not in use, and the smaller that number is, the more space people have to squeeze by. The Rave 2 works on staircases 28 in wide or more.

Drive train and parts are under warranty for two years. By drive train we mean the motor and the gears that carry the seat up and down the rail. Battery coverage lasts 30 days.

These prices come from a mix of sources. Some roll fitting into the total and some leave it out, so read the last column before you compare.

For a new straight-stair lift, installed, the National Council on Aging puts the usual price at $2,500 to $5,000. Expect roughly $1,500 to $3,000 for a used one.

This model needs a staircase at least 28 in across. On stairs that wide, all 11 straight lifts in our set should work, going by the usual guide.

If your stairs measure only 26 in, just a single model out of the 11 straight lifts clears that width, and it is Acorn's 130 rather than the Rave 2. Measuring your staircase before ordering counts most when you buy online, since getting the fit right falls on you.

A stock rail on most straight lifts runs 15.5 ft. A longer staircase calls for extra rail, and that pushes the price up. Keep in mind these numbers describe new straight lifts in general, installed, and not AmeriGlide specifically.

Battery coverage on the Rave 2 runs 30 days, so plan on paying for replacements yourself down the road. The National Council on Aging finds that stair lift batteries typically last one to three years and cost $200 to $300 per swap.

Stannah quotes a longer life, around three to five years. How often the lift gets used, and whether it sits away from its charging point, both play a part.

No. We did not include that model in our comparison, so its capacity, dimensions, and cost are numbers we have not checked. The Rave 2 alone represents AmeriGlide in the figures here.

Our data does not cover AmeriGlide lift chairs. This site compares stair lifts, which move a seated rider along a rail up and down the stairs. For numbers on other AmeriGlide products, AmeriGlide itself would be the source.

That model is not among our 16. We have no checked figures, so we cannot tell how its capacity, fold, or cost stack up against the Rave 2 or rival brands.

We base our comparison on figures the manufacturer publishes, not on what customers say. On the Rave 2, those figures are a 350 lb capacity, an 11 in fold, stairs 28 in wide or wider, and drive train and parts covered for two years.

If you read other people's reviews, hold those numbers alongside them. They tell you whether the lift will work on your stairs and for the person using it, whatever one reviewer happened to think.

No. Seated stair lifts are all we compare, and AmeriGlide wheelchair lifts sit outside that. We have not verified any numbers for them.

That model sits outside our comparison. Our AmeriGlide numbers all belong to the Rave 2 for straight stairs, and no curved AmeriGlide model appears in our data.