easy fold

[biscuit]

Got myself a cheap runaround chair, suitable for me as I am ambulant for the time being. It is called a Livewell Easy Fold. The manual calls it a Cirrus. I got it as I am sick and tired of chairs with tiny wheels or batteries and backrest angle that I can't change myself and it was cheap as chips. The Easy Fold (aka Cirrus) works for me (about 60kg) to sit in for an hour or two.
This is what I think of it.
The seating is very basic canvas and velcro.
The arm and leg rests flip more handily than I have seen before, Sunrise should do that.
It isn't crash tested for WAV seating. I'd rather put the Vienna into the car boot than the Cirrus.
It comes with some Allen keys for adjusting things, but they don't fit, they just look like they will.
The footrests fit together too tightly to adjust the length.
The batteries are difficult to put into their rack.
The motors click ominously and therefore I do not expect the motors to last unless I figure out how to grease the gears.
The wheelchair was dangerous to drive with the VSI joystick programmed like it was when I got it, as the compensation was too high at 80 or 90 mΩ iirc which I reduced to about 55mΩ, and of course the turning accelerations were delusional, as per. So now that my joystick is programmed and it's left hand drive, it is a great chair but probably short-lived.

[biscuit]

... and I reviewed that machine on eBay when I bought it, as I went in it to the corner shop before it was corrected and it nearly gave me and my sister a nervous breakdown with zigzagging and hopping like a mad thing between the hedge and the busy road, it was dangerous, a deadly trick to play on an innocent, it should not be sold like that. Now they aren't on eBay any more, so maybe the seller read my review and tried it for themselves.

I'm not a safety freak, but that chair was bad.

[Burgerman]

This is a common problem unfortunately and applies to all stock powerchairs for reason that completely bewilder me.

The stock settngs should be with all turn accelerations and decelerations set to maximum. So its linear and proportional. And turn rates (all turn speeds) set low, so that its easy to control and non jumpy. For ALL chairs. But every single chair sold is the opposite to this, so you are out of control! Why???

Then all that turn acceleration/deceleraration nonsense can be added if you actually find that better. And nobody ever does... What the hell is it good for?

[Burgerman]

Also, this chair has exactly all of the things that I hate!

[biscuit]

Actually I'm really happy with this chair, now that the VSI is programmed (a matter of reducing the motor load compensation a whole lot and setting the turning accelerations & decelerations to 100%.)

I used it at an outdoor conference last week where I had to go up and down in the fields to reach my classes. Nothing was on level ground. The machine seems to have managed without damage to its structure or battery. It simply warped its shape so that all 4 wheels were always on the ground (not counting my accidental wheelie going over a root up a hill at its top speed of 4mph.) Tussocks, roots, holes, sudden little artistic steps in the path - this chair juddered its way through them all. And charging it each day at 6A returned about 8Ah capacity.

It's a very uncomfortable ride though and it does not really fit indoors. But my other powerchairs have issues at the moment.

[Burgerman]

Sounds like my ex gf.

It's a very uncomfortable ride though and it does not really fit indoors. But my other powerchairs have issues at the moment.

Im kidding. Shes lovely.

[biscuit]

Still a favourite for gym, open-plan shop floors or riverside paths, a tad faster than 4mph and re-programmed for proper steering and ok torque, after correcting the crazy motor load compensation. I'm guessing Livewell stuck a VSI and a pair of AGMs (that are too heavy to be practical) onto a cheap Chinese machine. They don't do them any more, they advertise an "improved" easyfold with an un-programmable VSI lookalike.

[Burgerman]

If you cannot walk at all (me) and suffer spasm and comfort issues then non of the small folding or lightweight chairs are any good. Only a proper full sized chair makes any sense. And frankly they are only around 2 inches wider and sometimes not even that. The thing is they dont fold. But if you cannot stand or walk thats all pretty irrelivant and just makes things impossible! How do you get out of it and into a car seat? You cant. So these things only make sense as a shopping chair if you are able to stand/transfer/walk anyway.

I see a better solution is a properly accessible vehicle - not a popemobile - and a suitable house or adepted one that has plenty of open space and wide doors etc so that you can use a normal rehab style chair indoors easily. At least for those that have no standing or walking ability.

[biscuit]

Yes. This chair is a total failure unless you can walk at least a bit. Also it does not actually fold because the batteries (+/-32Ah AGMs) are too heavy to re-position after removing them to fold it. Also not a car seat. Also wide and can't do the narrow aisles in the corner shop. Also eats batteries. Also it's just kind of blown together, prone to rust and nothing really aligns nicely.

So yes it's really an awful chair, but I have consistently detested all my "good" chairs as I really dislike heavy chairs, and it suits me for my circumstances.

[Burgerman]

I have consistently detested all my "good" chairs as I really dislike heavy chairs,

Why?
I sit in my (comfortable) "heavy" chairs with wide padded arms, smooth rolling air filled tyres, with suspension. And all powered adjustment of position and even height. The weight means absolutely nothing to me as I am not manually moving or lifting them. I just drive them. So am basically rolling indoors, and out in what amounts to a comfy armchair with fully powered adjustable position.

Whats to hate?
A creaky folding chair with small hard tyres, no suspension, no seating adjustments, and hard skinny arms. With little range, short lived batteries, and of course the same width as the chair above! Because the width of the user determines the real width of the chair.

What difference does the weight make?
Unless you mean that its hard to get into and out of a car. In which case you dont have the wrong chair but the wrong car!
Unless you mean it doesent work well indoors. In which case you dont have the wrong chair, you have the wrong house!

Long ago I had similar issues. So I thought about it. Disability means the best most suitable chair comes first. Or everything else is compromised. You dont use the wrong chair just because it fits easily into the wrong car. Or the wrong house...

So once I decided on the best chair I sorted out the house by removing walls, making all rooms bigger where possible, all doors much wider, some opening both ways, kitchen for e.g "big and open" as free space is THE most important thing there is, ramps etc all integrated at front and back doors. So I can fly around indoors and out at full speed with tons of space. I think that the biggest "adaptation" you can make to a house is SPACE to move. You cannot manage properly in a powerchair without a lot of open space and wide doors (open plan with large floor spaces). And a vehicle that you just roll into and drive. You shouldnt need to ever think about the weight of the chair.

If this had made moving house in 1997 after my accident then that would have been job no 1. Fortunately for me this bungalow/house was perfect to adapt already. But I would have moved house, had it been required. Because I knew that I wasnt going to get better! Its hard to do but you really have to do it or forever be restricted in so many ways.

[biscuit]

I have come round to that conclusion about chairs. I am no longer able to budge any chair chair, heavy or light, so there is no point in a light chair. As regards where I live, my mother is already ancient and has heart problems and I have no intention of stressing her out by moving or getting slopey adaptions (slopes are difficult for anyone with difficulty walking).

[biscuit]

This is the chair I re-programmed as instructed by Burgerman, returning it to stock compensation and fixing my other programming mistakes. But there is no cure for the battery size and the controller programming, while sweet to drive, doesn't do anything for the chair's fuel economy.

[biscuit]

Discussing my family arrangements is irrelevant and daft on a forum. But it sounded for a moment like you asked a question to which I know the answer, for a change.

[Burgerman]

doesn't do anything for the chair's fuel economy.

Well it does something... Hard to decide which.

The power to actually respond as its meant to do, uses power! So it probably makes it worse. Certainly so if you then drive it like you stole it! (I do).

On the other hand with stock settings you make many corrections and wait while it does the "thing" you didnt want. So it MIGHT improve things as long as you drive it like a normal sane person because you dont have to keep on trying to get it to do as you intended, no corrections needed. So who knows!

[Burgerman]

my mother is already ancient and has heart problems and I have no intention of stressing her out by moving or getting slopey adaptions (slopes are difficult for anyone with difficulty walking).

Are they?
Steps are. They cause all kinds of ssues. But a SHALLOW gentle change of levels that does the jon of a ramp but isnt really "steep" like a ramp seems better and easier for everyone. But it all depends how its achieved.

My front door had 2 large steps when I had my Accident in 96. The council volunteered a concrete ramp and it was fitted for when I left hospital. So I could get in. It was ugly, steep, had a steel scaffolding type "safety rail" and looked terrible!

So I did the job properly, now theres a gradual rise in levels that your mum wouldnt notice. And it looks great. By redoing the driveway completely. In a controlled way. I am a control freak for a reason! Obviously if you dont want that, for whatever reasons its your choice.

Here is my 2 concrete steps, then council built concrete steep ramp, ripped out and done my own way. So that nobody would even even consider it is know its an adapted/ramp. I did this everywhere. Its better for everyone, old, women ith push chairs/prams, deliveries, ABs, as well as wheelchairs. Theres no sign that my house is adapted. Wider doors, bigger rooms (walls removed, extentions etc) all so that its easy for everyone. Not only chairs.

Ramp? What ramp... Your mum wouldnt know she just went up 2 steps...