K. POWER ASSIST*

K. POWER ASSIST* new in 2023

My advice

For many years, quads have had to decide between using a power chair and a manual chair.

Power chairs allow people to get around without the effort pushing, but also create many problems. Their size can make it difficult to access buildings of all sorts, whether they be work, entertainment, retail or the home. They also create problems in terms of accessing transport options, both public transport and private vehicles

In contrast manual chairs solve many of these problems. There is no problem getting into buildings, as long as they’re actually accessible in terms of steps. There’s less problems with getting in an out of public transport and Taxi’s because the chairs are smaller. There are also less problems with private vehicles because on your chairs typically fold up or come apart in some way that allows them to fit in most vehicles. They also look better and give you some exercise. The downside for quads though, is that our limited arm and hand function, and lack of balance makes it difficult to push chairs long distances on flat terrain, up rising terrain, or to slow down on steep downslopes.

CLICK HERE for a great article by the late Jeff Shannon on the pros and cons of manual and powered chairs for quads.

Fortunately there is now an in-between option in the form of power assist devices. There are many such devices on the market and it’s likely that one for other of them will help you. I recommend you seriously look at what’s available and find the one that works for you.

This page provides a good over view of the categories of devices available

Power add-ons

Klaxon Twist R  and Smartdrive with Speed Dial

Push rim activated

Alber EMotion

Trike style

Batec comes in several versions all with options designed for quads and Klaxon Twist handlebar option

Power drive style

Quickie IExpress

Pictures:

This page has pictures of many of the devices available on the market.

My experience up to late 2023

The only one I have used extensively is the SmartDrive. It gave me many problems particularly for the first few years. In those years the only option provided to control the unit were various iterations of wrist watches. They were all dodgy versions of a fit bit or similar smart watch. They all connected to the Drive via Bluetooth and the connection was very unreliable. This made the unit extremely dangerous because you would lose control of it often, and it would drive you into walls or into the traffic or some other terrible outcome. If you look for consumer reviews of the Smart Drive, you’ll find a lot of scathing ones with many horrific stories of near misses for bad injuries. As a result, many people have given up using their smart drives. All of that is true. I had those experiences. Those Bluetooth controllers were terrible, highly unreliable and highly dangerous, so I also gave up using my smart drive for a year or so.

However, in the last 12 months, they have come out with a much improved control system called the speed dial. It is wired in, so it does not require Bluetooth. I now find the smart drive with the wired in Speed Dial controller to be great a lot of the time. Unfortunately the build quality of the drive itself is still really poor so it still breaks down and needs to be repaired a lot. In fact I have two of them, soon to be three, because they break down so much and need to be repaired so often. However, when is working it is fantastic.

It sits under the chair so it does not increase the chairs footprint. It rolls along quite well and turns easily so it doesn’t make the chair a lot more difficult to push. That means it can just stay on the chair and I can use the chair as normal most of the time and only use the smart drive when I really need to, such as if I’m going a long way or uphill.

It can be taken on and off. Unfortunately really as a Quad you need someone else to do that. I did come up with a system where I could get it on and off myself, but it was quite complicated and difficult. So it’s possible but I would not recommend it unless you are super determined. I could not find a way to take it off or put it back on from the car. So if you are somebody who gets in an out of the car a lot and wants to use it with you car; as a C6 that doesn’t seem realistic. But if you’ve got someone around who can take it on and off when you need to then that’s great. Alternatively, if you don’t need to take it off you can leave it on all the time, which is what I do. I find it relatively easy to unplug it and recharge it while it’s on the chair and I’m in the bed so that works well for me.

One of the best things about the speed dial is you can adjust the speed very precisely so you can go as fast or as slow as you like with the smart drive. This allows you to match the pace of whoever you are walking with, which is great. It has quite a long range so you can go for really quite long distances. For example if you’ve got a good long cycle path or something near where you live you can enjoy that without getting too hot or too tired or too sore so it’s great for that.

Another good thing is that it has no impact on your ability to lift the front wheels to get over bumps and little steps etc.

One other thing to be aware of is that it makes it much harder for people too help you down guttters/steps backwards. If the step is quite high and someone helps you down backwards the smart drive gets in the way and can cause a big problem. Its ok for small steps say 5cm and less but over 10cm  it starts to get risky and whoever is helping you needs to be very careful.