I ordered a brand new one. And bought a cheap 2nd hand one to experiment with. And discovered HUGE problems with brushless generally.
Both the brushless chairs, I reprogrammed so that they steered and were properly controllable. You have to do that with EVERY chair.
But the problem was this. I am a heavy person. And the brushless motors simply do not have adequate torque. They pull a rediculous 191 Amps from the battery when turned in place (measured on the rear drive storm xplore chair) without a user sat in the chair! So after two to three turns in place the power module cries enough. And rolls back power to save itself and the batteries/cables from damage. And it was so bad that I literally struggled to get it to leave the house. I contacted the designer at invacare who after hearing what my issues were and what I measured admitted that there was a massive design issue and collected my chair. Refunded me in full. Then they stopped supplying them completely.
How exactly anyone gets them to move around in any sort of proper control absolutely baffles me. Thats only posible with an empty chair or a super light user provided its programmed in such a way that it would suit my grandma. So thats the story and the problem with them. There is no solution.
When rolling and not trying to turn in place they are quiet, and great for range and the suspension on the explore chair was the best of any chair I ever had. And I had a few!
The Q500 rear drive is also problematic. It CAN be made to steer properly and there are 8mph motors possible. But if you tested a typical 2 pole 6mph or 4mph one then they also dont have adequate torque. You need the thing PROPERLY programmed, and you need the R-Net controls, (not VR2) and you need the 120A power module (not the 90A one) and you need the seat moving back!!! Thats very hard to do on that chair. As the casters are too close together. And you MUST get the 4 pole high torque motors...
I moved the seat back, by ordering a centre footplate, and fitting smaller diameter front tyres on the very similar Q700R chair. It allows the heels to sit slightly between the casters, and so allows the seat to be moved rearwards. Turning an oil tanker indo a usable chair.
See:
https://www.wheelchairdriver.com/board/ ... 33#p171026Please read the whole page! Details make a huge difference.