Powerchair comparison videos

[Cal]

Not sure if we've had this before, but the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation have done a series of powerchair comparison videos (link below), covering 8 of the most popular chairs in the USA:

http://www.christopherreeve.org/site/c.ddJFKRNoFiG/b.5848659/k.5E06/Reeve_Foundation_Videos.htm?bclid=2741134001&bctid=696097590001

Cal

[Burgerman]

I watched all that. Interesting link. and sort of helpful to many. But its all more of the same old lead battery badly engineered railway engines and front heavy rear drive chairs...

I hate to say it, (again!) but this http://www.wheelchairdriver.com/BM-MK3- ... rchair.htm knocks them all into next week.

Shorter, narrower, about 3x the range, 15 mph, lighter by about 50lb, faster charging, better ride, puncture proof, off road & snow/sand capable, with 3x the power (at 45v and 150 Amps x2), and 5 times the battery longevity, as well as finished to last! And it looks cool. And it will actually respond to the joystick when you do!!!

Finished soon. Just doing the footplate. I am seeing how many rose joints its possible to use! Or thats how it seems today!

[ex-Gooserider]

Started watching it back when they just had a couple episodes posted, and just watched the latest few this evening. I'm disappointed, both in what were considered "High end" chairs and in the series that basically consisted of a bunch of puff advertisements from the chair companies, and very little comparison between the chairs and head-to-head competition like you'd see in any comparo article in a bike or car magazine...

ex-Gooserider

[Glitterfairy]

Hi, I've seen the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation videos on YouTube , and I'm from the UK. What I'm looking for are some videos of the TDX 2 and TDX 2 narrow base versions. I can't find any anywhere, not on YouTube or the Invacare websites. I wish they had some of the chairs from the video series in Europe. I feel they don't really go into much detail about each chair though on some videos. Any idea where I can see videos of the chairs I'm interested in?

[Burgerman]

It wouldn't help you any if you did find any.
You would be listening to either someone that doesn't have much of a clue, who either liked it (better than his last chair) or hated it (setup wrong, options wrong, programming wrong, etc) or a thinly disguised ad for a powerchair by a manufacturer.

And a tiny adjustment, programming, suspension etc makes a massive difference and turns a bad chair into a great one depending on your point of view. Or the opposite. Plus there are controller, programming, seating, wheel and tyre type and size options, c of g changes, and more. So what would you hope to see? Every chair is basically different and set up for an individual to a specific spec with various options.

[Tater Tot]

Hi, I've seen the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation videos on YouTube , and I'm from the UK. What I'm looking for are some videos of the TDX 2 and TDX 2 narrow base versions. I can't find any anywhere, not on YouTube or the Invacare websites. I wish they had some of the chairs from the video series in Europe. I feel they don't really go into much detail about each chair though on some videos. Any idea where I can see videos of the chairs I'm interested in?

It's probably no wonder being from the UK that you have not heard about the lawsuit regarding Invacare. Very few vendors are even carrying the TDX model, and I've also heard it's hard to get parts or people who are familiar enough to help you should something go wrong. It's been a big nasty mess which has actually hurt because more competition is usually better, but now you have three big names that have most of the business. It was a good chair, my Ranger X. which is very much like that model never gave me problems besides a short here or there over seven years. It was the workhorse of rearwheel drive, and right now the 636 would probably be the closest thing by Quickie or Sunrise.

Best of luck.

[Burgerman]

Invacare is a big organisation.
Yes they may have issues in North America.
Whilst it matters to them, I doubt its critical business for them if you look at the rest of their businesses and the rest of the world.

As such its business as usual here. (You can still buy/get Invacare chairs as usual)
http://www.invacare.co.uk/articles/invc ... -45-71.php
And other places:
http://www.invacare.com/cgi-bin/imhqprd/global.jsp

They have a lot of manufacturing and sales in many other places:
Worldwide Locations including Canada and:

ASIA PACIFIC
Australia
China
New Zealand

EUROPE
Belgium Groenland Österreich
Danmark Ireland Portugal
Deutschland Italia Suomi
Europe Island Sverige
España Luxemburg Switzerland
France Nederland UK
Greece Norge

Including these other wheelchair and non wheelchair businesses:
Invacare Homecare
Invacare Continuing Care
Invacare Interior Design
Invacare Rentals
Alber
Adaptive Switch Labs
Altimate Medical
Aquatec
Dolomite
Freedom Designs
Küschall