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Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 20 Jul 2016, 16:16
by Burgerman
Useful info!

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 31 Aug 2016, 20:47
by Ross
I have been researching suitable wheelchairs for my wife. This will be her first wheelchair. My wife is somewhat mobile in our house with a wheeled walker. The wheelchair would be for shopping, medical appointments, a possible vacation, and other out of home trips.

Although I think that could lift the 55-pound Foldawheel PW-1000XL into and out of my trunk when it is folded; I am sure that my wife would not be able to do it.

Has there been any experience with car carriers that would be appropriate for this wheelchair?

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 01 Sep 2016, 03:10
by hobie1dog
This looks to be one of the only chairs that is airline friendly and taking on vacations. It would also work great for going in and out of the hotel rooms at the Hi-Fi shows or trade shows that don't offer rentals. Thanks for sharing this with us.

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 01 Sep 2016, 19:34
by MenCallMeGimpy
hobie1dog wrote:This looks to be one of the only chairs that is airline friendly and taking on vacations. It would also work great for going in and out of the hotel rooms at the Hi-Fi shows or trade shows that don't offer rentals. Thanks for sharing this with us.


It's very plane-friendly and I've even been allowed to stow it in the cabin on a few occasions.

It's nicely narrow, so it's very easy to maneuver around restaurants and hotels. While you sit lower than in a full-sized power chair, I find the height to be perfect for restaurant tables (although I'm 6'1", so shorter people may need a booster cushion.

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 01 Sep 2016, 19:41
by MenCallMeGimpy
Ross wrote:Has there been any experience with car carriers that would be appropriate for this wheelchair?


I use the Backpacker Plus lift from Pride Mobility (http://www.pridemobility.com/pridelifts ... erplus.asp) in my Dodge Grand Caravan van. It works very well with the chair (and also handles my much larger Magic Mobility Frontier V6). There are also swing-arm lifts like those from Harmar (http://harmar.com/groups/7) that will fit in 4x4s. Finally, you can get external lifts that attach to a towing hitch (http://harmar.com/groups/6). Each of these solutions will work fine with the Foldawheel. It really just depends on what car you have and how much you are willing to pay (suffice to say that, in common with most medical and medical-adjacent products, these are not cheap.)

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 02 Sep 2016, 13:33
by hobie1dog
For those you that travel by airline, do car rental places offer power chairs and ramps for them? Before this chair came out, how did you arrange to get a chair upon arrival at the airport? My last trip I got pushed around in a manual chair till we got to the rental car place and my son drove me around. But now I would need a power chair for future vacations.

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 03 Sep 2016, 21:40
by hobie1dog
sad_vampire wrote:If I was looking for a lightweight travel chair & I lived in the US, I'd be looking at one of the EZ Lite range rather than the Foldawheels simply because of the battery chemistry.

http://www.ezlitecruiser.com/products/e ... 4207296836

vs

http://www.ezlitecruiser.com/products/e ... =461906753


I skipped right over this one. Looks to be about the same specs except for having the different type of batteries than the Foldawheel. Thanks for the link.

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 06 Sep 2016, 04:44
by ex-Gooserider
hobie1dog wrote:For those you that travel by airline, do car rental places offer power chairs and ramps for them? Before this chair came out, how did you arrange to get a chair upon arrival at the airport? My last trip I got pushed around in a manual chair till we got to the rental car place and my son drove me around. But now I would need a power chair for future vacations.


NO.... There are places that rent adapted vans, but the current trend (Discussed on the United Spinal Assoc. website) is that those places will only rent as passenger vans, not anything that could be driven by an actual handicapped person....

OTOH, at least in the US, if you CAN do the manual chair drill, you can show up at your favorite AB car rental place with your 'adaptive equipment required' drivers license, and a set of those 'universal' controls and rent anything they have that you can get into....

Yet another way the industry that supposedly is there to 'help' us, screws us over instead.....

ex-Gooserider

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 07 Sep 2016, 03:05
by hobie1dog
The EZlite cruiser seems to be easy for that guy in the video to pick up and load into the trunk of the car, so 60 lbs must not be that heavy to lift to a healthy adult. I would likely always be going with my wife or someone when I would be using this one.

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 07 Sep 2016, 23:04
by MenCallMeGimpy
hobie1dog wrote:The EZlite cruiser seems to be easy for that guy in the video to pick up and load into the trunk of the car, so 60 lbs must not be that heavy to lift to a healthy adult. I would likely always be going with my wife or someone when I would be using this one.


Remember, you can put one end of the folded chair against the edge of your trunk and lift the other. This reduces the effective weight of the chair further. Both the EZlite and Foldawheel are manageable by an average able-bodied person.

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 17 Sep 2016, 02:13
by foreverbad81
Irving wrote:
Sportingmac wrote:FYI. Just had a chat with Shirley (Wheelchair88 Marketing lead) and she informs me that they do sell through Amazon in UK - VAT free if a Blue Badge number is supplied at time of order. (details available on Amazon links) Prices shown are VAT free prices btw.

You might want to check with Shirley directly if the same applies in the US and elswhere.


Blue Badge doesn't entitle VAT exemption tho similar criteria apply to get one as for VAT Exemption. You need recognised disability and proof of benefit level (e.g. DWP letter) for both.



depends where you buy from, i have bought several items from amazon / ebay and the vat exemption forms are basically a disclaimer to say the user has a disability and may ask what it is but often require no proof or blue badge # etc.
they are very open to falsifying like an age disclaimer on a website but then it's unlikely you'll be buying one power chair if you don't have a disability,

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 17 Sep 2016, 09:58
by Burgerman
Its a SELF declaration. You write a simple letter or download an example one, and sign it.

Heres the UK Tax departments newest version of self certification form.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... 15__2_.pdf

Fill in, send with order.

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 17 Sep 2016, 15:48
by LROBBINS
What a marvelous idea - trust the citizen (but, I'm sure, hit him with some pretty severe penalties if discovered to be lying). To get the reduced VAT (4%) as well as a 19% income tax credit in Italy we have to give the seller a copy of the Certificate of Handicap or Certificate of Disability (as only some - quite broad - classes of disabilities are entitled) and a prescription from a specialist (in general, for replacement parts just citing the original Rx is usually accepted). This is a very paperwork-heavy country.

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 17 Sep 2016, 17:30
by Burgerman
I have used these forms for batteries, tyres, motors, generic parts like bed controls, chargers, the roboteq (initially refused until I gave them some grief) and 101 other disabled related repairs/parts. Never once been questioned or argued other than the roboteq. Soon sorted after I threatened to take them to court by letter from my pub solicitor.

If the battery company refuse, go elsewhere.

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 06 Mar 2017, 14:59
by hobie1dog
Just saw my first EZ Lite foldable chair come up on Craigslist used for $1500.00 OBO

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 25 Mar 2017, 21:28
by MenCallMeGimpy
Update.

Well, I just had my first mishap with the Foldawheel PW-1000XL. I've had the chair for over two years and it's behaved faultlessly...right up until now.

Two weeks ago, I was crossing the street near my home, via a curb cutout, when the chair flipped onto its back. The anti-tip caster arms collapsed and I hit the ground hard. My shoulder blades slammed into the crossbar of the seat-back, separating both of them and rendering my arms useless. Function is slowly returning, but it's been a pretty harrowing fortnight of near total incapacity.

I was finally able to revisit the scene of the accident this morning (in my Frontier V6 - I may be stupid but I'm not an idiot) and it seems the combination of a falling curb leading to a rising road surface with a raised lip of asphalt at the transition point was enough to send the front wheels skyward, even at the slow speed I was travelling. This points to both a poorly constructed road surface, an unstable chair design, and utterly inadequate anti-tip casters as causative factors in the mishap.

I post this as a warning to anyone considering the chair. It's been a great companion and still works like new, but be very careful on anything other than perfect surfaces. When it goes, it goes, with no warning.

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 26 Mar 2017, 09:26
by Burgerman
Compact light chair, heavy high up human. Results in high centre of mass. I have flipped rear drive chairs many times. Its sometimes painful. Always embarrassing. Bigger chair, heavy batteries = much safer.

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 26 Mar 2017, 18:24
by MenCallMeGimpy
Burgerman wrote: Bigger chair, heavy batteries = much safer.


Agreed. What surprised me is that I've crossed the street at that point dozens of times, without mishap. All it took was a small variation in angle-of-attack, speed, my position and surface irregularity to pitch me onto my back. I actually drive the chair up and down a 15 degree incline (my drive) every day, and it's solid as a rock, so it wasn't that the angle was too acute. I'm thinking it was the suddenness of the transition, as the front caster hit the edge of the asphalt and the resulting vector became instantly vertical, that did the trick. The center of mass suddenly went from just in front of the back wheels to decidedly behind them.

Anyway, the Foldawheel is now relegated strictly to occasional travel use. I'm a Frontier man all the way now.

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 28 Mar 2017, 00:44
by sacharlie
Two years w/o issues is a good thing. Is this equipped with motors and controller from goldenmotor?

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 28 Mar 2017, 20:55
by Sully
hobie1dog wrote:
For those you that travel by airline, do car rental places offer power chairs and ramps for them? Before this chair came out, how did you arrange to get a chair upon arrival at the airport? My last trip I got pushed around in a manual chair till we got to the rental car place and my son drove me around. But now I would need a power chair for future vacations.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have a couple of ramps one folds in quarters I take it with me to the airport as well as I use my older chair which I drive right to the plane door. I can walk from the plane door with crutches to my seat. Even my wife can make the chair with the ramp self load into the back of most minivans. All of this is becoming more difficult as we age. I often have wondered if by taking having the rental company take the center bench out why couldn't I/we use the ramp to access the middle door of the van, and wouldn't that be a hell of a lot easier? Use Ratchet straps anchored in the seat hold down fixtures to clamp the empty power chair in place. I can transfer myself into the passenger seat.

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 29 Mar 2017, 06:23
by MenCallMeGimpy
sacharlie wrote:Two years w/o issues is a good thing. Is this equipped with motors and controller from goldenmotor?


I don't know where Wheelchair88 source their motors and controllers. The motors are small hub motors and the controller looks fairly generic.

It's been a great chair and the batteries are as strong as the day I got it. I'm just a little more cautious going over uneven surfaces than I was a few weeks ago.

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 04 Apr 2017, 04:32
by ex-Gooserider
My understanding is that when they do the van modifications, one of the things they do is to make the passenger side door wider than stock, or possibly just reshape the opening to make it wider. (I haven't done measurements to compare / confirm) If so, there may be issues with the chair being wider than the door opening - I don't know...

ex-Gooserider

Sully wrote:hobie1dog wrote:
For those you that travel by airline, do car rental places offer power chairs and ramps for them? Before this chair came out, how did you arrange to get a chair upon arrival at the airport? My last trip I got pushed around in a manual chair till we got to the rental car place and my son drove me around. But now I would need a power chair for future vacations.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have a couple of ramps one folds in quarters I take it with me to the airport as well as I use my older chair which I drive right to the plane door. I can walk from the plane door with crutches to my seat. Even my wife can make the chair with the ramp self load into the back of most minivans. All of this is becoming more difficult as we age. I often have wondered if by taking having the rental company take the center bench out why couldn't I/we use the ramp to access the middle door of the van, and wouldn't that be a hell of a lot easier? Use Ratchet straps anchored in the seat hold down fixtures to clamp the empty power chair in place. I can transfer myself into the passenger seat.

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 03 Jul 2017, 20:02
by clairc
Has anyone seen the Foldawheel PW-777PL? It looks more sturdy that the other models but still foldable and transportable.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wheelchair-Reclinable-Adjustable-Foldawheel-controller/dp/B01D13TPO4/ref=sr_1_3_m?m=A2SGU4NTL6V9BJ&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1499106275&sr=1-3#Ask

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 04 Jul 2017, 11:35
by sad_vampire
[quote="clairc"]Has anyone seen the Foldawheel PW-777PL? It looks more sturdy that the other models but still foldable and transportable.

Set-up video for the chair - https://vimeo.com/191757083

Direct link to the chair on the manufacturers website - https://www.wheelchair88.com/product/fo ... -pw-777pl/

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 07 Jul 2017, 21:04
by MenCallMeGimpy
clairc wrote:Has anyone seen the Foldawheel PW-777PL? It looks more sturdy that the other models but still foldable and transportable.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wheelchair-Reclinable-Adjustable-Foldawheel-controller/dp/B01D13TPO4/ref=sr_1_3_m?m=A2SGU4NTL6V9BJ&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1499106275&sr=1-3#Ask


I haven't seen this model, but strongly recommend you use the wheelchair88.com site if you're thinking of buying it. There are a lot of scammers on Amazon who pretend to be Wheelchair88 (to the extent the Wheelchair88 Amazon profile contains a warning about them). You can only be sure of getting the genuine article by buying direct.

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 05 Oct 2017, 05:49
by Generic Name
Hello!

Has anyone had an issue with the PW-1000 or PW-999 similar to the following: The chair seems to have difficulty when maneuvering at certain angles (typically straight left or right). The chair will shake/shudder while making the turn, or will not move at all at certain angles. The chair (PW-999UL) is less than 2 months old, and did not this issue before (may have developed gradually); was much smoother during turns before. The battery is fully charged, so that shouldn't be it. At first I thought the wheels were getting stuck on the carpet, but it also happens on flat surfaces. Perhaps an issue with the front wheel orientations obstructing the turn? The chair does leave wheel marks on the carpet during these problem maneuvers.

Any ideas? I contacted wheelchair88 & they asked me to send a video, which I will do in a day or two. Other than that it is a great chair. Thanks everyone.

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 05 Oct 2017, 19:36
by Sully
I bought the EZ Lite Iteration of these foldable chair, cost a few bucks more I think. However, the motors "in my opinion" are a bit weak. But they do move you I bought the 11" rear wheels and the narrow "Deluxe" model. Perhaps that makes it too high geared by default. Since I bought it for traveling in a non specific vehicle and airline use I have not given it much use yet. However, I can say I am disappointed in the power it seems to have with the little use it has gotten.

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 12 Oct 2017, 17:31
by sad_vampire
Generic Name wrote:Hello!

Has anyone had an issue with the PW-1000 or PW-999 similar to the following: The chair seems to have difficulty when maneuvering at certain angles (typically straight left or right). The chair will shake/shudder while making the turn, or will not move at all at certain angles. The chair (PW-999UL) is less than 2 months old, and did not this issue before (may have developed gradually); was much smoother during turns before. The battery is fully charged, so that shouldn't be it. At first I thought the wheels were getting stuck on the carpet, but it also happens on flat surfaces. Perhaps an issue with the front wheel orientations obstructing the turn? The chair does leave wheel marks on the carpet during these problem maneuvers.

Any ideas? I contacted wheelchair88 & they asked me to send a video, which I will do in a day or two. Other than that it is a great chair. Thanks everyone.


Not had such problems with my PW-1000XL so far, but can get into problems where the chair decides to go down a steep slope its own way, but my Otto Bock B500 has that same feature (more grip though so easier to stop it).

I've always found the PW-1000XL has far fewer problems turning at low speeds than the B500, which is programming & the lead bricks that are about to get replaced with a lot of 15Ah LiFePO4 cells.

I'm about to build a new battery pack for the PW-1000XL, same plugs but won't be connected at the same time as the original lithium polymers, I'll report back on how that works out as the voltage will be a bit lower & it may cause the motors to stall in a turn without a change to programming, but I doubt it. Going to set up a seperate charge port on the liFePO4 pack so I can charge it with the PL8, same as the Otto Bock's larger pack (105Ah as opposed to 30Ah for the PW-1000XL).

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 15 Oct 2017, 19:31
by hank
Acquired a pw-1000xl off Family. :lol:
Want to do away with std battery pack (24v 4a 96wh.)
Could i use a pair of 12v 20ah agm batteries instead.
Obviously make a new battery box and upgrade wiring
for a bit more range and safer option really.

Re: Foldawheel PW-1000XL review

PostPosted: 15 Oct 2017, 21:43
by Burgerman
You would add a bunch of weight which sort of defeats the purpose of that chair doesent it?