Having before the chance to try the Handicare Puma 40, I was interested how Puma does compare to its older sibling Alex and I was wondering which one is better. I was able to request a demo of the Handicare Alex so here is my subjective experience with them.
Handicare Alex (aka You-Q)
It came with: Grey base with green accents, not sure about the group battery but keep reading bellow, maximum 8 mph, 4 wheel independent springs, R-Net controller, swing-away joystick hardware, SEDEO-QLASS Rehab Seat system with power Tilt (45 degree), lift up padded arm rest, swing-away footrests (footplate adjustable manually), 14’’ drive tires and 10’’casters (all air filled), overall size 25.5’’wide, 46’’ long (with the footplates expanded) and 17.5’’ height (ground to the seat pan), Sedeo Pro flexible headrest, no led light package.
My impressions. The base frame resembles the Quantum Rival pwchair from Pride Mobility. Alex is a compact chair, too long with the swing-away footrests for making tight turns, relatively low seat. Everything needed to be tweaked to fit into the seat. The Sedeo-Qlass is not as easy to set comparing to the Sedeo Pro seat system. The chair runs nicely and it drives better than Puma, no skidding on tight turns. It can go up to 8 mph and it definitely excels in outdoor environment. The R-Net controller is responsive, coming with two set modes (indoor and outdoor). The speeds needed programming. Good suspensions. When not moving, the chair bounces back and forth on the drive wheels axis. The power tilt is ok, it does have a speed inhibitor. The biggest concern with this chair comes from the batteries and their compartment. I never saw a chair that drains the batteries so insanely. Probably the chair came with small battery size otherwise I don't want to know what could drain them in such rhythm. I couldn’t go outside more than 1.5 km. It was used any drop of energy and wasn't sure I can get home safely. Beside this, the access to batteries seems to be a real hassle, I a counted no more than 12 screws to access the backside battery panel. The chair comes with hooks to be secured but still they are not designed to secure the chair with the user siting on it on public transportation. The backside hooks are movable pieces, up and down, I think they cannot provide a proper securement. The motors seem to be powerful but due their low ground and horizontal settings, they can hold mud and snow. The guy who brought the chair to me said he had serviced such chairs with problems on the handle that set the motors on manual mode: they tend to get rusty and stiff, hard to release.
Overall, I find Alex as being a rear drive powerful chair that runs smoothly even on high speed. This is definitely a chair for outdoors lovers but there are certain things to watch out and to consider for improvement. There is a Canadian guy who got very frustrated with this chair, I cannot confirm all his criticism just because I don't have a long term experience with this chair but you can definitely check out his website and make your own understanding before trying or buying the Handicare Alex chair: https://wheelchairrights.wordpress.com/ ... uspension/
If I had to compare Alex to Puma 40, which I reviewed on this posting viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4749 , I would say I would like to see Puma 40 coming with the motors and the suspensions of the Alex. Perhaps Puma 40 S is such chair but most likely Handicare will not provide that on the Canadian market. Which one is better? Hard to say but probably I would opt for an improved Puma version because overall it exhibits an upgraded design. I like Alex for its motors and suspensions and I like Puma 40 for its simple design and the remarkable seat system (Sedeo Pro). Also, if I had to compare Alex with the Quantum Rival I would definitely go for the Rival. I think Rival shows an overall better design with the same features as Alex.
So, I am still looking for my chair. Next, I hope to try the Quicky S-646 and perhaps the new chair from Permobil, the F5, which is a FWD chair.