The Ultimate Electric Wheelchair Buyer’s Guide

Are you looking to buy a new electric wheelchair? The following crucial points will help you make the perfect choice in your purchase.

No doubt that the invention of wheelchair has solved mobility issues for thousands of disabled men and women around the world. An accessible transportation device that has changed the course of mobility for the physically challenged. Still, technology took it a step further and introduced an electric-powered wheelchair to make things slightly more, let’s say, easy.

Fact: The electric-powered wheelchair was invented by George Klein who worked for the National Research Council of Canada, to assist injured veterans after World War II

Now, with an electric wheelchair, people with mobility challenges can cruise through with ease by just a touch of a few buttons. However, if you are new to this accessibility device, there are a few important things you should know before making the switch from a traditional manual wheelchair.

The Electric Wheelchair Shopping Guide

This electric-powered wheelchair buyer’s guide will take you through the following points —

1. Body chassis and Design
2. Types of Wheel Drives or Drive system
3. Size and Portability
4. Battery and Electronics
5. Controllers
6. Seating and Comfort
7. Insert Picture

With all the information laid out in front of you, you will be able to analyze what type of electric-powered wheelchair you need to purchase for your specific requirements. So let’s begin!

Click on the image for full size view

1. Chassis or Body

Every good machine needs a sturdy frame to hold all its goodness intact. That’s why the chassis is the most important part of your electric powered wheelchair that will increase its longevity. You should make sure that the body frame of the wheelchair has no compromises in quality. You may also find that some powered wheelchair chassis also provide kerb-climber, which is used to lift the front wheels over a kerb of 10 cm or less.

2. Drive System

The drive system is the mechanism behind the mobility of a powered wheelchair. Usually these wheelchairs come in either four or six wheels. No doubt that six wheels set provides a better ground grip and stability.
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Four different kinds of drive system available in powered wheelchairs are —

Front Wheel Drive – In this case the front two wheels of the wheelchair are carrying all the juice. Although great for quick control and maneuvering, this system falls short when it comes to stability and power. If you are planning to use the wheelchair for home or anywhere indoors, front-wheel-drive wheelchairs will do the trick.

Rear Wheel Drive – Like in the usual cars driven by people everyday, the rear wheel drive turns out to be the most reasonable one. This system provides stability and also adequate controlling freedom of the chair. Rear wheel drive wheelchairs are an all rounder for both indoor and outdoor use.

Centre Wheel Drive – If you are looking at a wheelchair with six wheels in the frame, then mostly likely it has a center wheel drive system. Due to its high performance in stability and control, these wheelchairs can often end up heavy on the wallet. However that has its benefits as these wheelchairs can perform extremely good both indoor and outdoor environments.

All Wheel Drive – For those of you who are looking for extreme power, an all wheel drive powered wheelchair is the way to go. It’s the supercar of electric wheelchairs with all of the wheels thrusting the wheelchair with speed. Although this too comes at a high cost, both on the budget and energy.

3. Size and Portability

While you are out picking the electric wheelchair of your choice, you will see that the larger ones pump more power and are better suited for outdoors. Whereas the portable ones can be folded and are ideally used for indoors, public or car transports. In rare cases, you may also come across an all-terrain powered wheelchairs which are used only under extreme conditions. If you are someone who likes to stay on the safe side, look out for ones with backup power generators which are incorporated into the frame itself.

4. Battery

Since it is a portable mobility device that you can depend on, it is absolutely necessary to weigh your decisions on the battery in sports within. Although these batteries are rechargeable, it is important to pick one that can back you up for at the least over 24 hours. Make sure that a secondary battery is placed so your electric wheelchair never runs out of power when you need it the most. The charger equipped with these wheelchairs is regionally compatible with the most common outlets available in your country. If you are travelling on your powered wheelchair to another country, find out if there are converters available for your power cord. Another thing you must remember that these batteries come in two types: dry cell and wet cell. For travelling purposes, always go for dry cell batteries as airlines require travellers to disassemble the wet cell batteries prior to air travel.

5. Controller

The most commonly found controllers on a powered wheelchair are in a form of joystick. These work pretty much like the Atari joystick controller that came out in mid-80s. This is the usual and effective way of driving or controlling a powered wheelchair. Pushing it forward makes the wheelchair drive forward, and pushing it left or right will do so respectively. No rocket science there. You may also find additional buttons on the panel which control the sensitivity or other modes (depending on the model of the wheelchair). There are other ways of operating available too. Some of which are, controlling through breathing and blowing, or a remote control operated by the accompanying non wheelchair user.

6. Seat

On electric wheelchair you will find a variety of fabrication on seat, everything from cushioned, backrests, headrests, footrests etc. The choice is all yours and the level of comfort you are looking for in your powered wheelchair. Don’t be hesitant to ask for your specific requirements no matter how luxurious they may be to you. In unique cases you will also find wheelchair seats that can recline for added comfort.

An electric wheelchair is a great choice of device to increase your mobility and comfort. While keeping a check on all the points mentioned above, you are all set to buy your electric-powered wheelchair with all the important information at hand.

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