Mid Wheel Drive Powerchairs – Lenny’s Favourite

Thanks to many years of experience, our team members have a selection of favourite products to recommend to customers. We recently spoke with Lenny, Complex Rehabilitation Specialist Assessor, to learn about his favourite product. Lenny actually chose more than one product, picking out a small selection of mid wheel drive powerchairs. Here’s some of what he had to say about why.

Thanks for your time today Lenny, would you like to tell us a bit about what is your favourite product and why?

The Magic 360 Powerchair

Obviously with prescriptive products such as I work with, there’s going to be subjectivity for the end users. So it’s very, very difficult to fully narrow it down. The Permobil M5 and Magic 360 are right up there, for example. The Quickie Q500 M is another model which I find works for a lot of users.

Generally, I work with mid to high-range prescriptive products, if we’re talking powerchairs. I’d say also, that, besides the kind of product niche we’re talking about, there’s a reason why I’ve chosen to focus on mid-wheel chairs. Partly because of improvements in suspension technology, mid wheel drive chairs are increasingly becoming the staple drive configuration. There’s always going to be a place for the other two drive types, of course, it just might be that they become more of a chair choice for users with particularly specialist needs. There’s more diversity of function coming up in this configuration than there used to be. I’m going to be focusing more on the Q500 M today, but, to be honest, I could say similar things about the Magic 360 and the Permobil M5.

Are there any stand-out features of the Q500 M?

The Q300 M Mini

As I said, I personally think that mid wheel drive is going to become more dominant in the powerchair market. The Q500 M is a good all-rounder. The more specialist user might, perhaps, do better with a Magic 360, if they are wanting to go offroad. As an all-rounder, there are certain aspects of this chair which are less specialised. So, the Q300 M Mini is another consideration if you have less space, because the Q500 M is bulkier. Still, this is a compact chair. And, in this price bracket, to get plush suspension and the power options which the Q500 M has is really good. Plus there are tilt-in-space and powered centre mount legrests which you can choose. Obviously, with any powerchair, “best” is a bit subjective. After the assessment which we carry out for prospective users of prescriptive chairs, that’s when the best chair for that individual can be chosen.

Obviously, one of the advantages of having the assessments carried out is that end users don’t generally find themselves having misconceptions as to what they can expect from a particular product. With the sums of money which are involved, this is extremely important. And that is something which Lifestyle & Mobility care a lot about – getting product and user matched correctly.

Can you tell us a little more about this product’s features?

The feature I’d point to on this particular product is something called the C-me function. It enables the chair to drive faster with fewer restrictions. So, with this option, you can drive up to 3mph when elevated. That means that the end user can keep up effectively at eye level when in a stroll situation. So they get more independence, more dignity, and enhanced social interaction.

What trends do you see in mid-wheel drive powerchairs going forwards? 

Enhanced suspension. This has been so important across all the major mid-wheel drive powerchair manufacturers. The quality of suspension with this powerchair drive type has come a really long way, to the point where, unless you have more specialist needs, they are usually the obvious choice. Because nowadays, a lot of mid-wheel drive powerchairs can be effective hybrids and do indoor and outdoor performance well. A knock-on effect of this is that there is a lot more diversity of function coming up in this drive configuration than there used to be.

Last but not least, a huge thank you to Lenny, for taking the time out of his busy schedule to talk about Mid-Wheel Drive Powerchairs.