8:27 AM (7 hours ago) to greg, wheelchair, quad-list I am thinking of getting a new power chair. I like the mid-wheel Permobil. Have any tried a rear wheel drive or front wheel drive? I live in a small house so do not have a lot of room to turn etc. What is the better chair for a small area? Thanks for any help. Rose
Hello Rose About a year and a half ago I got a Permobile F5 VS (vertical standing) front-wheel-drive power chair with sip and puff controls (because it is a standing chair there is no other option). Personally, I've had a fair amount of mechanical issues with it, but that's another story. As I understand it is a new model for them, and they're working out the kinks. Well it's been slow my wheelchair provider and Permobile have been and are still working on it. With no additional charges from either company. In the past I've had Invacare's, first one was real wheel second one was mid-wheel. I much preferred the mid-wheel in every way, handling, traction/going over stuff, tight spots/areas etc. The front-wheel-drive that I presently have now goes over stuff better than anything I've had. I think probably because there is no front wheels except the drive wheels, so the drive wheels don't have push the smaller wheels over first in the drive wheels being bigger tend to climb over things better. If you happen to look at a VS on their website there are wheels in front but they do not go down to floor level until you go into the standing option, for stability. On my VS I believe the backend may stick out further than a regular front-wheel-drive (you could check their website). Because the backend is out so far you really have to watch the cornering because it likes to run into everything, corners, chairs, cars, you name it. However and take corners of front-wheel-drive works differently than the mid-wheel. It turns sharp enough but instead of swinging wide to take the turn you come in close and take a sharp turn. Say, you are going down the hall of the house and the bathroom door was on the left, you would stay close to the left wall and then take pretty much of 90° turn. But if you don't get close enough to the left wall your backend hits into the right wall ( think of a woman with a BIG bustle on her dress). With that in mind, say you drive up along the kitchen counter on your right side close enough to reach or see something. When you go to leave the counter and try to go to the left, your backend likes to run into the kitchen counter that you're trying to get away from. With my front-wheel-drive I had to get used to the backend feeling kind of squirrely/snaky at higher speeds. My Permobile and I've heard of others has a nice backrest with nice support of back and sides, but as with most chairs you have to get all the way back in the seat. I would suggest that if you like the mid-wheel or believe you would like it, I would go with that. But that's just one guys opinion. Good luck, Randy
