Drive Medical TR18 Poly-Fly High Strength, Lightweight Wheelchair/Flyweight Transport Chair Combo, Silver

This is a very, very versatile chair which takes care of multiple situations for 93 a year old mother who gets around only for short distances with a walker before she gets too shaky for safety.It is much easier to get her into a restaurant and maneuver to a table with this then using a walker, when we use this as a "transport chair" In the transport (4 small wheel) configuration it is far less cumbersome to navigate between tables than guiding her with her walker because the overall foot print is far smaller.Folded, this chair is extremely compact, light, and lifts easily into the back of our car. It sets up and collapses easily. (A competitive chair with lots of positive reviews is 4 1/2 pounds lighter than this one but doesn't offer the versatility of this.)It is important to understand that "transport chairs" are moved either by an attendant, or otherwise can only be propelled by the users feet pushing on the floor with the foot rests out of the way. For a "wheeled chair" to be self propelled, this chair can have the large wheels easily attached or removed.Besides having the benefit of maneuverability of a transport chair, this weighs barely over 21 pounds with the foot rests attached. I discovered that the quoted weights of transport chairs are invariably given "without" the foot rests included. This low weight makes it easy for my wife to lift it in and out of a car. For the more ambitious street outings or if the situation arises that self propelling is needed, it converts in less than 2 minutes with the addition of the large wheels, of course the weight then goes up to I think something close to 31 or 32 pounds. Even this total weight is less than the typical "lightweight" wheelchairs that are usually 36 pounds or more. The light weight is achieved due to an all aluminum meterials usage.A Safety Note! This chair has two sets of brakes for making it stationary. The ones for the small rear wheels when used as a transport came properly adjusted. The second set of brakes which are used to lock the large wheels were positioned so that they would contact the tires, but were not adjusted right so that they snapped into a locked position where they can not accidentally disengage. (engineering wise this lever should snap "over center") The device is properly engineered but simply wasn't adjusted when assembled at the factory, so it took me about 10 minutes to make the adjustment. I'm glad I did this before we took this out away from home, especially since it required an allen wrench which oddly wasn't in the included tool kit even though two other sizes were - strange considering an allen wrench costs the manufacturer about 18 cents!I'm very pleased with the purchase and would buy it again, it is very sturdy in engineering and construction and is intelligently designed to fold down very compactly for car usage. The price with shipping was literally half of the cost of purchasing it from a local medical supply ($595 + tax).

My husband had a pretty severe stroke, and though he can walk with a cane, there are places that aren't safe for him to walk and times when we don't have the time for him to try to make it nor he has the energy. This chair fit the bill perfectly for us. The ability to easily modify it from a full-boogy wheel chair to a transport chair is great. Just pop the big wheels on or off with the buttons on the center of the wheel spoke. It is light enough I can lift it in and out of the truck, even with the large wheels on it, and I am just a little 5 foot one inch woman. The handles at the top fold down to make it extra compact if you need that. The leg rests are super easy to pop on and off, and to lock. The wheelie bars in the back are also very easy to take off and put on. Most importantly, the chair is very comfortable to sit in, though we do wish the arm rests were a bit longer. But we can modify that if we have to. And it's a very atrractive chair to boot. The sleek black and dark gray combination looks very stylish. We are so glad we spent the extra money on this chair versus some of the other ones out there.

Was sent wheelchair quickly, but one leg support was broken. We sent it back and company sent only PART of the leg support. Called company and they still didn't send the entire missing part. We finally returned it, ordered a new one, and it's fine.For some reason, this wheelchair does NOT have a belt to hold the patient in place, despite converting to a transport chair, and in fact my mother slid out while going doen a very small (and not steep) ramp at the curb. We now use a large belt around the chair, but it would seem to make sense to include a safety belt on a transport chair.EDIT 4/22/13: Having used this chair for a while, we realize a significant problem for my mother's particular condition (in addition to the belt mentioned above, which was easily remedied). It doesn't have calf support pads on the leg supports, and her feet frequently slip off the foot rests. This wasn't a problem we anticipated, and we knew the chair didn't have them, but it turned out to be an issue. Most of the time, she is now using a heavy (Medicare-supported) regular wheelchair that has the calf support pads. That said, she seems to be improving with her walking, and hopefully won't need the wheelchair before long!

This same wheelchair is more than double the price locally. Easy to Assemble. Being able to remove the larger wheels to make it a lightweight transport chair for doctor's appointments is great. The need for the chair was only temporary, but an excellent purchase, nonetheless. Am keeping for family and friends to borrow as needed.Suggestion to those with carpet and new to wheelchair usage. Go to your local lumber/hardware store and by Ram Board and Ram Board Tape to lay on your carpet. It makes it so much easier to maneuver the chair when you first get it and it saves your carpeting. Did my mother's side of her bed into her bathroom with it, and created a path through the living room and dining room so she was not limited in where she could go in the house. Am pulling it up today since she is no longer wheelchair bound and can walk again. Excellent purchase.

So far have had to replace a front large wheel brake at my expense, and now both of the small wheel brakes are worn out, evidently the wheels are worn down and brake no longer tightens. A dangerous situation for a handicapped person. This wheelchair was recommended by the PT who is also surprised at the flimsiness of the item.This chair doesn't even get heavy use.