My titanium manual wheelchair is squeaking its last breath and, since I primarily use a power chair, it's not practical to replace it with another ultralightweight chair due to cost. At this point the manual chair is a secondary chair and the power chair is where my budget has to go.
I'm still paying off the power chair and I've noticed that the prices, even on online stores, of ultralightweight chairs has gone up since the economy got worse. I've been checking ebay for more than six months now and haven't really found anything there. I also checked our local resources for used wheelchairs and their lightest chair was 36 pounds.
So I started looking around for a manual chair in the next price range down in a chair weighing more like 27 to 35 pounds. This increase in weight has me concerned since I'm in a power chair due to pushing issues, but I'm pushing the chair very little in a small area so this is a concession it looks like I'm going to have to make.
I discovered the Karman ergonomic line of wheelchairs. They fold, which would be good since I'll be using it in situations where someone was assisting me, and have an "S" style type of seating which takes stress off your knees, which is good since my accident caused multiple injuries. Better yet, the price range for the Karman chairs range from as low as $399 to the $600 range, rather than from $1100 up. (The GPV/GP used to be available at a starting price of $875 new and has shot up to about $1100 and that's before you add anything to it.)
I'm not quite sold on this idea yet and hope to get up to the disability expo to see if any vendors have used wheelchairs that are lighter in a price range that's do-able.
Or I can just ride my titanium into the ground, which has been Plan A and, due to the lack of used chairs on ebay, I'm assuming is a lot of peoples' Plan A.
6 comments:
We have thought about getting a manual wheelchair for some situations/challenges but haven't since the cost is likely to be close to that of the scooter and we just can't (especially until we have real income again). I'll definitely take a look at this brand.
A transport chair would just hurt, though at the assisted living center where my husband's grandmother is, that's what most people have! Not even a real manual with good seating. I wonder if that's all medicare will give them.
That's awful that the prices have gone up.
Frida-
The transport chairs, of course , require someone to push you so they're light and cheap LOL Amazing how our system encourages dependence.
I just checked the message boards at CareCure and wheelchair junkie.com to see if anyone has chairs for sale too and found a few possibilities, so we'll see.
The church we belong to started a lending "closet" for assistive devices that people don't currently need. Because of space considerations, people keep them at home until someone needs them. That might be an idea--sometimes people need canes or crutches or walkers temporarily too or no longer need equipment.
Frida-
thanks, that's another good suggestion. I haven't found any of those aroud here, but have heard of them.
I have a bunch of places I contact (usually for other people) and I'm spending part of this weekend lookin' around. At least I already have a list of places to start :)
good luck and I hope you get a great chair !
Thanks, Greg :) Hope you have a good weekend!
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