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A $1k Wheelchair

newmobility.com

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Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#131

Post by robocat »

Hopefully someone does the same thing for rollators (walking frames). I bought a few second-hand for my mum and they were all had disgustingly terrible usability. Brakes that didn't work properly (huge safety issue). Parts poking out (and flying brake-lines) that would catch on everything, or cause mum problems.

One sharp bit at the wheels damaged the skin at her ankle and she couldn't do anything for weeks to recover. It was a very serious problem caused by thoughtless design.

And we are in New Zealand which is better than many places. It is terrible watching people struggle in other countries (or lack access to the simplest requirement).

Good usability is hard enough to find for the smart and strong.

It is extremely hard to find for the weak and infirm. Especially when supplied through government services!

Finding her a wheelchair was hard because she is tiny and needed a teen sized one. But everything available second-hand or through our social services was designed for heavier people with wide arses (imported chairs?). Luckily found a wheelchair manufacturer in my city that had one designed for a teen on special (end-of-line - not manufacturing standard wheelchairs any more - changing to focus on expensive specialist sports chairs).

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#132

Post by amiga »

humbleferret wrote: post #116
fotta wrote: post #16

Custom fit lightweight wheelchairs are expensive. My Ti-Lite (one of the most popular lightweight chair brands) Aero Z starts at $3k and goes up quickly with wheels and backrest and casters and various other options that I need for sitting 16 hours a day without creating more problems. Insurance covers this for me every 5 years, but of course that's not a luxury every one has. Most plans don't cover DME 100%. What Za…

I was curious so looked at a few power wheelchairs...It's wild how expensive they are, especially considering the advancements in electric mobility tech elsewhere. You'd think they'd share some components with e-scooters, e-bikes, or even electric cars – motors, batteries, controllers. Are the powertrains and control systems in power wheelchairs really that specialised? Or is it another case of the medical device mar…

I'm a guy who has disassembled and reverse engineered a standard Jazzy power chair, and what I noticed was the attention to detail regarding failures. The chair is thoroughly designed to shut down at the slightest bit of trouble. There's some redundancy in things like the controller, where it used redundant hall effect sensors that were identical to the others, but ran in an inverted power profile, to detect any weirdness in the sensor outputs.

I ended up adding a long range remote control to it. A remote control power chair is fun to drive around. People do get a little concerned when they see a chair rolling around without a driver

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#133

Post by nine_k »

bee_rider wrote: post #32
rtkwe wrote: post #26

It's odd seeing the number of dismissive comments missing that there are whole categories of wheelchairs for different purposes. It's like asking why XPSs exist when there are Chromebooks, something most people commenting here would immediately realize as a silly question because they suit different needs and functions but the idea doesn't come up because it's an unfamiliar problem.

That sort of “I googled for 30 seconds, and found a cheaper option, why does this project exist” type response is anti-curiosity and anti-learning. It is possible that the YouTuber guy is a total idiot and decided to make a $1000 wheelchair instead of buying a $200 one, but that shouldn’t be a default assumption, haha.

Indeed. If I google for 30 seconds, and see a stark contradiction with what somebody offers, I try not to conclude that that the guy in question is a fool. This is always possible, but rarely true.

Instead I conclude that likely my understanding is lacking, and maybe educating myself a little bit would be beneficial. Either I find out something new and potentially useful about the world, or finally see through a swindle and understand how it works, which is always a good skill to exercise.

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#134

Post by diebeforei485 »

xnx wrote: post #30

Went down a bit of a rabbit hole and found this industry guide to Taiwanese contract bike manufacturers: http://www.wheelgiant.com.tw/ebook/flib/2024TBS_%E6%95%B4%E6... If there was enough demand, I'm betting some of the companies in here could make quality wheelchairs real cheap.

Each wheelchair is custom so it's totally different than other products.

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#135

Post by password4321 »

kube-system wrote: post #57
123pie123 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i think he's a better than average presenter for a youtube channel. I did like his huge bunker videos my biggest annoyance is his plugging or advertising stuff too obviously

Obvious advertising is the most ethical kind.

Thank you for pointing this out so clearly, I'd not thought about it this way before but this makes perfect sense in a "best of the worst" kind of way.

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#136

Post by Suppafly »

maxglute wrote: post #109
Suppafly wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Dude wants Made In America, quick shipping time (which I wager is important) which is fine, but it's going look like a $200 product that cost $1000. We sorta have that with everything though, you can source direct from china for a fraction of the cost, but the often pay several multiples of the actual cost for someone else to import it and provide the level of support and QA you expect from products.

TW also makes a lot of bikes. The amount of parts and fabrication on these wheel chairs don't look close to a $1000 bike, but I don't know how much component costs for wheel chairs are. Again, speaking from ignorance, this looks like $200 of assemble at parts that can then be taken to a bike shop to tune up for another $100. IMO the disconnect is this looks like such a rudimentary/basic product and it's hard to see t…

>The amount of parts and fabrication on these wheel chairs don't look close to a $1000 bike

Only because bikes are made up of commodity parts from many suppliers which drive the costs down, whereas this is mostly bespoke.

It is hilarious that people keep throwing out prices of $200 or $500, when $200 might get you close to the cost of one of the wheels on this.

>IMO the disconnect is this looks like such a rudimentary/basic product

Only to someone that's not familiar with what this is and what its competitors are.

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#137

Post by diebeforei485 »

basirulbillah wrote: post #89

1k for a wheelchair is unbelievable for me. In Bangladesh they cost about 7 to 9 thousands taka which is equivalent 60 to 100 USD. I don't understand.

Those are not custom (typically come pre-sized) and are generally not very usable outdoors to get around other than short distances. Sometimes known as "hospital wheelchairs". For people with temporary injuries who are mostly taking time off from work it's fine.

This is a everyday wheelchair that people can use to get to somewhere a mile or two away and back, often used by people to get to work or around a university campus independently. It is custom made to your measurements: https://notawheelchair.com/pages/configurator

https://www.sammcintosh.com/blog/wheelchairtypes0620

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#139

Post by janalsncm »

bee_rider wrote: post #32
rtkwe wrote: post #26

It's odd seeing the number of dismissive comments missing that there are whole categories of wheelchairs for different purposes. It's like asking why XPSs exist when there are Chromebooks, something most people commenting here would immediately realize as a silly question because they suit different needs and functions but the idea doesn't come up because it's an unfamiliar problem.

That sort of “I googled for 30 seconds, and found a cheaper option, why does this project exist” type response is anti-curiosity and anti-learning. It is possible that the YouTuber guy is a total idiot and decided to make a $1000 wheelchair instead of buying a $200 one, but that shouldn’t be a default assumption, haha.

> anti-curiosity and anti-learning

You nailed it. If I could go a bit deeper, I think the drive-by cynicism comes from a fundamental misunderstanding of people.

Statistically, you are probably not significantly smarter or dumber than most people you meet. In other words, someone who has spent months or years on a problem probably knows more about it than you do if you’re just now reading about it. So if someone with more experience is doing something you think is dumb, your first reaction should be to ask why rather than dismiss.

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#140

Post by 91bananas »

hinkley wrote: post #75
sethrd_ wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you looking at "hospital" style wheelchairs, or dedicated use wheelchairs? The difference is huge. Those hospital style, one size fits all chairs are HEAVY, clunky, slow, and tire you out very easily if you don't have someone pushing you. Someone with a spinal cord injury or a variety of mobility constrants would be better off in a dedicated chair like this as they are lighter (sub 20lbs), designed to fit to the…

The weight of a bike or a wheelchair matters a lot less when you're at low speeds on level terrain without many turns, which describes a hospital to a T - they have to be able to get gurneys through these spaces, and if you think a wheelchair is heavy then brother have I got news for you. But the moment you go outside now you're dealing with ramps and hills.

I'm 38, more fit than most, I had to interact with my father-in-law's wheelchair this weekend for the first time. He is 73 and expected to travel with it everywhere, lifting it in and out of some kind of a vehicle. I would _very_ much describe it as heavy, especially in the context of a 70+ (maybe 60+, maybe 50+) year old individual. I'm wondering what the news is.
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