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A $1k Wheelchair

newmobility.com

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Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#401

Post by leghifla »

ninalanyon wrote: post #303

In the UK you can buy a simple wheelchair for 132 GBP: https://www.uk-wheelchairs.co.uk/ugo-essential-self-propelle... And what look like slightly fancier ones for between 300 and 500 GBP: https://www.millercare.co.uk/collections/self-propel-wheelch... A magnesium alloy framed one is only 450 GBP: https://www.mobilitysmart.co.uk/magnelite-self-propelled-whe... So what am I missing?

You are missing the experience of being tied to a wheelchair for a complete day.

None of the chairs you have shown are suitable for daily use. Even the "Magnesium" one.

One of the most important point (beside being the right size) is to be able to move the center of the rear wheels just behind the center of gravity. Too far rear and you have very good stability (hospital chairs), but you need to use most of your strength just to be able to turn (and you take a lot of space for turning). Too far ahead and it becomes dangerous. So it must be adjustable. In theory this should be possible on a cheap wheelchair, but I have never seen it. Probably the weight ditribution is too different (most is on the rear wheel) that the chassis must be thought differently?

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#402

Post by diebeforei485 »

kanwisher wrote: post #323
diebeforei485 wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

not at all I've been buying wheel chairs for my sister for a decade now. finally electric ones from china are getting to $1500-2000 range, before it was $10k-20k when they can scam insurance companies

Sounds like you aren't buying custom wheelchairs then.

This is what the order form for a custom wheelchair looks like. Look at the customization possibilities: https://www.adaptivespecialties.com/PDF/TiLite_AeroZ_series2...

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#403

Post by TrainedMonkey »

daedrdev wrote: post #353
imhoguy wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> abandoned oil wells which are leaking methane What? That still happens with so much CO2 and climate change outrage and people literally gluing themselves to roads as protest? Ok, did more research: "In 2021, fugitive U.S. methane emissions from abandoned wells were 295 kilotons—equivalent to 8.2million metric tons (MMT) of CO2 with a 95% confidence interval of 1.4 to 25.1 MMT, the largest uncertainty range among th…

Which is like 0.1% of us co2 emissions

I actually looked it up, per EPA in 2022 6343mmt of CO2 were released in U.S - https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/inventory-us-greenhouse-gas...

So the estimate would range from 0.12% to 0.4% (for 8mmt and 25mmt respectively).

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#404

Post by vasco »

-mlv wrote: post #124
vasco wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most left handed people I know (me included), use the mouse with the right hand. Might be a bubble though, but I never thought to get a left handed mouse, or left handed scissors or most left handed things. There's a few things that really don't work (I play my drumkit with hands reversed), but most things are fine.

A lot of left-handed people are actually cross-dominant or selectively ambidextrous.

In school for fun when it was boring I many times would do writing exercises with the right hand (like write a line of A's, a line of B's, etc) and after a couple of weeks I got the right hand up to maybe 80% speed and accuracy of the left, but I realized I needed to do constant training to keep it as good as the left (admittedly the left had daily training of many hours due to having to take notes, etc). But it does sound plausible!

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#405

Post by wojo1206 »

We live in IL, US. I just received wheelchair for my 3 year old son. We waited for this 9 months. This wheelchair has not any electronics or complex parts and, according to EOBs, costed our private insurance exactly: $18,212 (yes that is 18K! I just added this up and verified) after all deductions and discounts! After that, we received follow up call from the company that delivered the chair. We expressed our not satisfaction because we seen other wheelchairs that looked much more portable and sleek comparing to ours. I think the problem was that we were not provided with options at all. After which, they stopped communicating with us.

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#406

Post by spaceman_2020 »

zxexz wrote: post #320
throwaway346434 wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bicycles built for long duration use - people do ride for 16-24 hours straight more than you'd think do exist.

How many of them do that every day? And of those people that do, how much do you think they spend on their bikes?

The parent comment is so bizarre

No one who uses a wheelchair does it because they like doing it

Everyone who rides a bike for 16 hours a day does it because they like doing it, and/or they’re an athlete

When you’re done riding your bike for 16 hours a day - likely one week in a year - you can go to the gym, stretch out

The wheelchair guy has to drag himself everywhere

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#407

Post by spaceman_2020 »

space_oddity wrote: post #364
spaceman_2020 wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think most bicycles are designed for 16 hours of daily use…

That being said, the significant price gap still seems disproportionate

How much does a quality ergonomic chair cost vs a pair of walking shoes?

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#408

Post by spaceman_2020 »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #382
spaceman_2020 wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think most bicycles are designed for 16 hours of daily use…

In nations where bicycles are the norm, I would not be surprised if many of them get used 12+ per day. NYC is awash in bicycle couriers, and they probably ride all the time.

Some of these comments are so bizarre that they could only be made by AI

Do people here really not grasp the difference between a disabled person being forced to use a wheelchair - which they can’t get out of casually and stretch about - vs a fit person willingly using a bicycle?

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#409

Post by rtkwe »

maxglute wrote: post #220
rtkwe wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shipping will eat labor savings alive for these. Their frames are rigid so you'd have to either ship them in huge boxes the slow way (terrible for a custom product like this [0]), air freight them (probably upwards of 300 dollars for the size? That's just a wild guess though) or ship them disassembled and take the durability hit that would require. If they were less customized to fit the user you could but it's not t…

Looking the configurator (very cool btw) the bespoke part is a few bends in the front fork, rest of it is modular parts that are fastened together. Looks like you can stuff hundreds of these in a container to bring piece cost down. I do think the big selling point is speed since they talk about months of lead time from other vendors. Regardless, looks like much cheaper than competition - I admire what they're trying…

Stocking when you have 25k different variations is a whole different nightmare and massive cost that probably rivals the cost of just making them to order with the right equipment here in the US. Maybe there are common enough configs that people take you could prestock a subset and make to order the rest but it's still a huge amount of work and cost to manage and stock that vs the option they took of making the frames to order.

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#410

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #408
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In nations where bicycles are the norm, I would not be surprised if many of them get used 12+ per day. NYC is awash in bicycle couriers, and they probably ride all the time.

Some of these comments are so bizarre that they could only be made by AI Do people here really not grasp the difference between a disabled person being forced to use a wheelchair - which they can’t get out of casually and stretch about - vs a fit person willingly using a bicycle?

What is the malfunction?

> I don’t think most bicycles are designed for 16 hours of daily use…

Was stated. The answer directly to the statement was:

> In nations where bicycles are the norm, I would not be surprised if many of them get used 12+ per day. NYC is awash in bicycle couriers, and they probably ride all the time.

No AI needed.

Looks like it might be necessary for interpretation, though. That's not something I have any control over.

BTW: I am quite familiar with Serving disabled folks. That's pretty much my job, at home.

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