Advive for new user

[steveeh131047]

Hi Folks.

I'm brand new to the forum and new to disability! In April this year, able-bodied one day and paraplegic the next, due to a tumour on my spine that hadn't been spotted on any of my scans. I'm presently getting around in a basic self-propelled chair, with help from my wife for the occasional excursion into the garden or around our village. Carers hoist me from bed to wheelchair and back, but I can now also transfer using a "banana board". I'm 69 years of age and still have good upper body strength/mobility.

I'm beginning to think seriously about a powered wheelchair but am overwhelmed by the choice. Some of the features I think I need are:

Indoor/outdoor capability
Ability to get in and out of our bungalow along on a ramp
Ability to get in and out of my WAV (VW Caddy High Life)
Ability to sideways transfer using a board
Seat height adjustment
Ability to recline

Are there any models/manufacturers I should avoid?

Any recommendations for suppliers in the Northampton area?

Thanks,
Steve

[Burgerman]

You are right about manual chairs, they suck... They make everything you do harder or impossible. A powerchair will get you your life back.

And I suggest you start by reading this and then contacting you local wheelchair services. For a free chair. (You are in the UK since your providor is BT judging by your IP adress.)

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5624

Then ask questions once thoroughly confused!

[ex-Gooserider]

Welcome, and I agree that while manual chairs are useful for a few things, power chairs are better for having a life doing at least some of the things you did pre-injury... I always felt in rehab when they were teaching me manual chair skills that having lost use of my legs, they were working on taking my hands away to - if you are busy using your arms for propulsion, you can't use them for other things... With a power chair you get your arms and at least one hand back...

(however it is good to also get a GOOD quality 'sports manual' chair as a backup and for use where it is needed...)

ex-Gooserider

[steveeh131047]

Thanks for the help. A local dealer visited this morning and demoed a Salsa m mini. He's coming back this afternoon with an Invacare TDX Sp2. According to him those are the only models narrow enough to fit in my WAV!

Steve

[Burgerman]

25.5 INCHES? There are many chairs the same or narrower.

[Sully]

Once you have narrowed your proposed selection to a specific few makes and models share it with us I am sure you can get quite a few opinions from users. One quite basic point of conjecture usually is mid drive or rear drive? While I prefer rear wheel drive many really like mid drives, in my opinion MWD are not so hot for soft ground or bumpy lawns etc (off the walk way)!

[steveeh131047]

The dealer has left me an Invacare TDX SP Narrow Base to "play" with for the weekend. Initial impressions are that it feels much more robust and stable than the Salsa Mini outdoors, but less manoeuvrable indoors. But it still has more doorway clearance than my manual chair!

Critical for me is that it fits between the rear seats of my VW Caddy WAV. The Salsa Mini was an easy fit; the TDX just goes, provided I adjust the tilt and height carefully - the Caddy seat spacing varies with height!

What is great is the new freedom I now have to go in and and of the house, around the garden and around the village unaided!

Steve

[rover220]

The dealer has left me an Invacare TDX SP Narrow Base to "play" with for the weekend. Initial impressions are that it feels much more robust and stable than the Salsa Mini outdoors, but less manoeuvrable indoors. But it still has more doorway clearance than my manual chair!

Critical for me is that it fits between the rear seats of my VW Caddy WAV. The Salsa Mini was an easy fit; the TDX just goes, provided I adjust the tilt and height carefully - the Caddy seat spacing varies with height!

What is great is the new freedom I now have to go in and and of the house, around the garden and around the village unaided!

Steve

Only issue with the narrow base isnitnhas smaller batteries. Otherwise a decent mwd chair.

[Burgerman]

Something new to think about.
Programming.

All new stock powerchairs steer like a drunken sailor. They dont want to go where or when you tell them. Worse, once you get them to turn, they keep turning after you tell them to stop. The result of all this is that accurately going between two objects like a door frame or along a narrow path at speed becomes impossible.

Quite why they send every single chair out this way defies belief but they do. It allows someone with no joystick skills whatever to get about sort of, by randomly slamming the stick about like they are stirring a pudding. But it allows no accrate fine control whatsoever. Dont worry about all this yet. Just be aware that one way or another you can get hold of a suitable programmer, change some settings and what was once a liability, becomes as easy to steer as your car or a computer mouse.

And understand that while your dealer may tell you he can program it to suit your purposes, 99% of the time they cannot, or do not, and dont really understand what they are doing or only have a dumbed down programmer that cannot do this.

The diference is that each type of controller requires a different type of programmer. And the ones used by invacare (Dynamic controls) are relatively simple to DIY with a home made lead for the cost of a few beers. Whereas the ones made by most other manufacturers are going to cost! And not cheap.

As for freedom, its more than just outside the house! As you will soon find out. For eg try carrying a bowl of soup from your kitchen to your dining room in a manual chair. You cant. At least not without frustration and risk. But its easy in a power chair.

I suspect that in a year or so you will want a rear drive chair with bigger casters, bigger batteries, more speed/range. Its the way it tends to be! Because you will not worry much about your car once you get used to travelling into town etc by powerchair. Its just easier. No parking issues, driving, loading or unloading, and more fun!

[Burgerman]

Then consider this.
I never had any interest in things like tilt, recline, leg lifters, etc Till I started getting pressure sores and bought a chair that does all of that for reasons of pressure relief. To stop or help sores form or help heal.

But some like it just to chill out or for comfort at times. It adds weight complexity and cost. And in some cases seat height. Before you choose a chair or buy, is the time to decide.

Again, seat elevator. The same negatives apply. But I always used to have an old chair laying about with an elevating seat. Only used occaionally for reaching stuff. Or washing the vans high up bits. But again some people like it to sit as high as others to converse, or to help reach shopping on shelves etc. I think thats a womans job! but heres a link to a chair I bought to do all of these jobs. Used on occasion.
Scroll down, full page. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6151

And did you consider a standing chair?
Heres a used one thats cheap!
Play vid...
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7187

Seating options like these are also available on the TDX SP. And so is a narrower centre footplate as seen on the first link above. This makes indoor use much easier as it gets rid of the swing away wide footplates most chairs have.

Now you have a bigger headache?

[Burgerman]

Then consider this.
I never had any interest in things like tilt, recline, leg lifters, etc Till I started getting pressure sores and bought a chair that does all of that for reasons of pressure relief. To stop or help sores form or help heal.

But some like it just to chill out or for comfort at times. It adds weight complexity and cost. And in some cases seat height. Before you choose a chair or buy, is the time to decide.

Again, seat elevator. The same negatives apply. But I always used to have an old chair laying about with an elevating seat. Only used occaionally for reaching stuff. Or washing the vans high up bits. But again some people like it to sit as high as others to converse, or to help reach shopping on shelves etc. I think thats a womans job! but heres a link to a chair I bought to do all of these jobs. Used on occasion.
Scroll down, full page. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6151

And did you consider a standing chair?
Heres a used one thats cheap!
Play vid...
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7187

Seating options like these are also available on the TDX SP. And so is a narrower centre footplate as seen on the first link above. This makes indoor use much easier as it gets rid of the swing away wide footplates most chairs have.

Now you have a bigger headache?

[steveeh131047]

Thanks for the further advice.

After two days driving around inside our bungalow I've not yet been unhappy with the present controller characteristics. The seat tilt is proving really useful for me, and the vertical lift got me out of a hole yesterday when the TV (mounted high up on the wall) needed a mains-off/mains-on reset and my wife was out for the evening! The seat-back tilt hasn't yet been so useful.

Steve

[Burgerman]

After two days driving around inside our bungalow I've not yet been unhappy with the present controller characteristics.

THAT is what they all say... They you fix it for fun. Then they wont let you put it back how it was. Every time!

Because you cannot compare without trying a properly configured setup.

As it is now, your turn has a delay (turn acceleration) programmed in. That means it turns later than you tell it to do so. Or rather it turns at the correct rate about 1.5 secs after you tell it. So you tend to over control since it doesent react quickly enough, wait, then try to stop the turn once it starts.

It also has turn DECELERATION set at a low rate. Making this much worse. That means that once its started turning, and you think its turned or corrected enough to perfectly hit a doorway, and so you centre the stick, it keeps on turning for a bit AFTER you didnt want it too... It makes any sort of sane control more difficult. At any higher speeds, its dangerous!

[steveeh131047]

Well - after several weeks' use of a demo model I bought an Invacare TDX SP2 Narrow Base. I find it particularly manoeuvrable indoors and it fits - just - in my Caddy WAV. The outdoor performance wouldn't satisfy the real "enthusiast", but it suits my modest needs of going out for walks with the family, and trips around the village up to the pub etc.

The only difference between the new one and the demo model is that it is equipped with a Linx contoller.

I purchased from local firm Shire Mobility in Northampton and had excellent support from them.

Steve