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I think you might be overemphasizing "off road." This doesn't look like the wheelchair version of a quadbike. It looks more like a wheelchair that can handle ba

I think you might be overemphasizing "off road." This doesn't look like the wheelchair version of a quadbike. It looks more like a wheelchair that can handle backyards, beaches and broken footpaths. Besides that, handsfree control sounds nice. You don't need hands to operate legs and the wheelchairs do legs' job.

dsfyu404ed 8y ago
>It looks more like a wheelchair that can handle backyards, beaches and broken footpaths. It won't handle them very well until at least a month or so from now when "mud season" is over in the parts of the world that have a winter in which the ground freezes. That rim and tire package is worlds better than a normal wheelchair but still not very good for not sinking in the soft stuff.
- bluedino 8y ago
  Even worse are 'mobility schooters'. Tiny wheels, many of them are front wheel drive, they get stuck very easily when tehy are not on a hard surface.
oblib 8y ago
"I think you might be overemphasizing "off road."" I'm pretty sure that term was used by the developers of this chair, so I'll defer to their definition of that, but I think you are unaware of what quadriplegics consider "off road" and "beaches and broken footpaths" qualify for them. They have a much different view of these kinds of adaptive devices, which is why I mentioned I had "listened" to a lot of them. For you and I, leaning forward and back, or side to side, isn't even given a thought. They simply cannot do that like us, they have very limited upper body muscle control and pretty much no lower body muscle control We grab that joystick and control it with our hand and fingers. They have very little dexterity in their hands and arms. They move their hand and arm mostly with their upper body to position it on the joystick, and move the joystick with very subtle shifts in the upper body and arm, and almost not at all with their fingers. So, really, this chair requires a greater deal of upper body control to operate. I can imagine many quads could learn how to control it with practice, but my experience is it's unlikely they'd feel as safe in it first shot out of the box. Another, very important, aspect we (the fully able bodied) have to consider is that most quads have suffered a severe accident of some kind that put them in a chair. That's some traumatic stuff to go through. After that they've spent a good deal of time in rehab just to get to the point where they can use a powered wheelchair. After going through all that telling them "Hey, you can zoom around on footpaths and the beach in this!" makes them cringe.

dsfyu404ed 8y ago

>It looks more like a wheelchair that can handle backyards, beaches and broken footpaths. It won't handle them very well until at least a month or so from now when "mud season" is over in the parts of the world that have a winter in which the ground freezes. That rim and tire package is worlds better than a normal wheelchair but still not very good for not sinking in the soft stuff.

bluedino 8y ago
Even worse are 'mobility schooters'. Tiny wheels, many of them are front wheel drive, they get stuck very easily when tehy are not on a hard surface.

oblib 8y ago

"I think you might be overemphasizing "off road."" I'm pretty sure that term was used by the developers of this chair, so I'll defer to their definition of that, but I think you are unaware of what quadriplegics consider "off road" and "beaches and broken footpaths" qualify for them. They have a much different view of these kinds of adaptive devices, which is why I mentioned I had "listened" to a lot of them. For you and I, leaning forward and back, or side to side, isn't even given a thought. They simply cannot do that like us, they have very limited upper body muscle control and pretty much no lower body muscle control We grab that joystick and control it with our hand and fingers. They have very little dexterity in their hands and arms. They move their hand and arm mostly with their upper body to position it on the joystick, and move the joystick with very subtle shifts in the upper body and arm, and almost not at all with their fingers. So, really, this chair requires a greater deal of upper body control to operate. I can imagine many quads could learn how to control it with practice, but my experience is it's unlikely they'd feel as safe in it first shot out of the box. Another, very important, aspect we (the fully able bodied) have to consider is that most quads have suffered a severe accident of some kind that put them in a chair. That's some traumatic stuff to go through. After that they've spent a good deal of time in rehab just to get to the point where they can use a powered wheelchair. After going through all that telling them "Hey, you can zoom around on footpaths and the beach in this!" makes them cringe.