Best standing Power chair?

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Best standing Power chair?

Postby midtoad » 19 Sep 2019, 03:42

All, I currently Own A PerMobil CS 500 VS standing power wheelchair. I picked it up used in 2012 And it was built in late 2011, So it's now eight years old. It has its good points and bad points, but I wouldn't buy the same model again. And my wheelchair mechanic has nothing good to say about the reliability of the new F5.I'm looking for recommendations on what is the best standing power wheelchair available today? I realize that is a subjective question. I really enjoy, and use every day, all of the features like recline, tilt, Elevate, And stand, And hope I don't have to live without them As they provide a little bit of the mobility I otherwise lack.I would prefer not to have another front wheel drive chair, and also more speed than the present 4 mph/6 km/h.

What are your opinions?
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Re: Best standing Power chair?

Postby Burgerman » 19 Sep 2019, 09:19

There are a lot of people that complain on here about permobil reliability. But since they use the exact same actuators, motors, and control systems as other manufacturers do theres no logical reason for this. They are basically the same as every other chair out there. With the exception of 2 things. They use their own seating electronics. And their own gyro/stability electronics. That causes a lot of these issues. And they can be hard to fix because you are forced to rely on permobil. Who dont seem able... And programming can be pronlematic too. So yes avoid permobil.

As for front drive, I agree, its a bad idea under most circumstances, esp with stability and control at speed. But its the only layout that makes much sense with standing. So standing causes a big compromise in itself. It also can mean you are forced to use smaller batteries on many chairs.

And... Smaller batteries are a terrible idea. Made much worse if the chair is geared for higher speeds. Because that also sucks more Amps from these smaller batteries all of the time, even when going slowly. So another copromise. And it means very frequent battery replacement and short range.

I cant recommend a chair. Only advise on the above. To give you an idea of the compromises you are facing.
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Re: Best standing Power chair?

Postby Irving » 19 Sep 2019, 15:15

A case in point being the Lifestand LSC. It is, AFAIK, the only RWD stander on the market. But to get stability you stand centrally behind the castors, roughly midway down the wheelbase. This severely compromises the battery space and you end up with a 2s2p configuration of four 12v 17Ah cells. Giving a realistically usable pack of <20Ah! Hopeless.

The MWD chairs, C500, Levo, F5, fare only a little better.
C5/6 A (complete)
Puma 40, 75Ah LiFePO4 (pic is on tour @ Whistler, BC)
Puma 40 backup, 73Ah MK (for now)
Spectra Plus (weedy 40Ah MK)
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Re: Best standing Power chair?

Postby midtoad » 19 Sep 2019, 18:28

Burgerman wrote:As for front drive, I agree, its a bad idea under most circumstances, esp with stability and control at speed. But its the only layout that makes much sense with standing. So standing causes a big compromise in itself. It also can mean you are forced to use smaller batteries on many chairs.

And... Smaller batteries are a terrible idea. Made much worse if the chair is geared for higher speeds. Because that also sucks more Amps from these smaller batteries all of the time, even when going slowly. So another compromise. And it means very frequent battery replacement and short range.


Thanks for those observations. I understand the concern about higher speed Affecting Range and life of batteries. But being limited to only 6 km/h, I would be happy with even a slight increase to 10.

Yes, front-wheel drive means rear-wheel steering, which is inherently unstable. And it is especially problematic on surfaces With low grip, such as ice or snow. As soon as one wheel gets stuck, the chair pivots and points into the material causing the problem!

The Levo Combi XL Looks like a possible alternative to front-wheel drive. It does have slightly smaller batteries you say, 55 Ah. I would say it is an improvement over the earlier C3 model. But I rarely find any used ones for sale, And user commentary is lacking. I would be happy to hear from anyone with experience with this model.
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Re: Best standing Power chair?

Postby midtoad » 19 Sep 2019, 18:34

Irving wrote:The MWD chairs, C500, Levo, F5, fare only a little better.


So, Have you found a standing chair that you like and that you are using?
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Re: Best standing Power chair?

Postby Irving » 19 Sep 2019, 18:42

midtoad wrote:
Irving wrote:The MWD chairs, C500, Levo, F5, fare only a little better.


So, Have you found a standing chair that you like and that you are using?

No, I've tried a couple but couldn't live with the limitations, they would be too restrictive.

Incidentally, the Lifestand I mentioned earlier is a 10km/h (6mph) chair.
C5/6 A (complete)
Puma 40, 75Ah LiFePO4 (pic is on tour @ Whistler, BC)
Puma 40 backup, 73Ah MK (for now)
Spectra Plus (weedy 40Ah MK)
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Re: Best standing Power chair?

Postby ex-Gooserider » 01 Oct 2019, 05:52

I have an old Redman stander as a project chair - I don't know if the company is still in business or not, but they did a chair that could go from 100% recline, to standing and any position in between.... My chair was nominally RWD, but the newer versions were mid-wheel...

IMHO the biggest drivability issue is that they were very long as the battery box stuck out the back behind the seat (under the seat was where all the actuators lived) and got moved even further back for balance when standing... They also had a lot of actuators and linkages to deal with. Upside from our standpoint is that while they supposedly had mobile techs that could come service the chair, they were much more inclined to support users doing their own repairs to at least some level...

Not sure if they are / were very available outside the US...

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T-5, ASIA-B
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Want to make / get a better chair, ideally one that stands.
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