Permobil Connect

[skylarjoehill.h]

Has anyone heard of or tried Permobil Connect? It seems very cool.

https://permobilus.com/product/connect/?hsCtaTracking=d9fcecf8-f066-46c7-84c6-44fe0548c167%7C139f37d3-b163-42ac-9dec-e54e2ca0bb9a

Merry Christmas!

[Burgerman]

Is it?
Maybe for some.
Although it appears that it doesent do a lot. But its te start of something.

What about if you have no "technician"? Or like most, they are clueless? Or any need or desire to have one? Is this just more of the same crap pride are doing with the Qlogic3? Buy a chair with that, and you are forever screwed. Everything including all programming access taken out of the users hands. Meaning that theres no way that I can program my pride chair to work properly, and making it all but unsteerable? And having to rely on some retard to make all my programming choices for me?

So not so sure its cool! Realistically, whats it going to show you on your phone that cannot be on a joystick screen? Or on your PCs screen via bluetooth to the programmer or a cable? What is it offering new?

[ex-Gooserider]

No experience with it, so can't make direct comment...

I am possibly a bit less paranoid about what it does than BM is, though he has legitimate concerns about it taking control out of the hands of users (to the extent that most of us had any control to begin with - how many actually have OEM level access to their Permobile controllers???)

OTOH, I can see it being of use to those folks that need to call the techs to get their chairs fixed - it offers at least the potential of giving the tech more diagnostic info before he leaves the shop, so that he might actually have the parts needed to make a repair....

Bottom line, I don't expect it would have a lot of benefits for those of us that hang out here, and do as much of our own work as possible... It might or might not do us harm (the key question is whether or not one still has the traditional means of programming access) I think it might be of help to the typical clueless user...

ex-Gooserider

[skylarjoehill.h]

I contacted Permobil about activating Connect and they said that my M5 does not have it. They stated that it cannot be retrofitted either and if it could be the PM would need to be replaced with one with updated firmware. The ICS master module would also need to be replaced? (What's so different?)

When I ordered chair I was told it could be activated once released after referencing http://about.att.com/story/att_permobil_unveils_connected_wheelchair.html

[Burgerman]

This innovative and inspired solution monitors most key aspects of the wheelchair including:

Seating Position and Cushion Pressure: Users will know if their ROHO** seat cushion pressure is out of range which can lead to life-threatening pressure ulcers. The solution complements Permobil’s Virtual Seating Coach, an app and cloud service that presents seating system information and tracks if users are following recommended seat function regimens.

So this bit checks your roho pressure (even if its a quadro? With 4 chambers?) and I dont use one.
Oh and it checks up to make sure you are doing as your told regarding seating "regimes". Well I would disable that for a start! Nosey b******s

Battery Level and Predictive Maintenance Requirements: Manufacturers/Dealers will know when a chair needs to be serviced by remotely accessing error codes. This enables single-trip service visits.

Someone can read your battery meter remotely. Again, the meters are not remotely accurate anyway! And whats the pont of that? And it can see fault codes. Those are usually, charger inhibit, freewheel inhibit, and a few other pointless ones and a few that may be interesting if the chair breaks down. But then you can see them anyway with a programmer that you should have with you if you turn up to fix a chair? So somewhat dubious benefit at best.

GPS Location and Fleet Management: Manufacturers/Dealers can quickly and efficiently schedule demos and appointments. Care givers have greater peace of mind.

More spying on your privacy. That needs turning off too. You are not missing a thing.