Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)If you want a transport chair with large rear wheels and removable arms, this is pretty much your only choice.
That said, it has real problems.
The plastic clips attached to the rear of the sliding seat support do not fit closely, and can easily pop off the rear vertical tubes when the chair is folded up.. When this happens, the chair is locked; it cannot be opened unless you get your hands into the closed seat and snap the clip back on, which is not easy given the limited space.
The footrests are tensioned by the plastic cap at the end of the support. On our chair, that cap is somewhat loose, which means that the footrest is loose and will not stay in the upright position, but rather falls down. This means that the person in the chair cannot easily get in and out with the footrest down.
And the person pushing the chair should expect black hands; the rubber used in the handgrips leaves your hands stained black.
All of this is after about a month of use.
We got the chair because it met the criteria, but these problems really do affect use of it.
EDIT: It's two years down the road now. A silicone potholder wedged around the footrest tube solved that problem. And the replacement plastic slide still sticks, but it has eased up enough.
The long term problem with this chair, at least for my plus-sized mother, has been wear between the footrests and the upright. She splays the footrests.
Eventually, we installed a hose clamp on the upright, so the wear surface is now slotted steel rather than soft aluminum. If we buy a new one, we will make this modification right away, before the challenge of a slot being created in the upright. If you see the footrests splaying, hose clamps are cheap.
We also broke a front wheel out. This can come when the wheels go at right angles to the chair, rather than staying in line. The technique of tipping the chair up when you feel it resisting can help the wheels straighten out again, though it still freaks my mother out.
The particular size is very hard to find and the manufacturer offered no help in sourcing one. We now have a narrower wheel; less desirable but it seems to work.
Still, the chair has given over two years of use, and for the price, that's value, especially because I still haven't seen a chair with this mix of features.
EDIT #2
The frame broke, on the upright between the left handle and the seat carrying crossmember.
We called NovaOrthoMed and they sent a new chair, arriving overnight. They did ask us to mail in photos of the break, but they authorized it before seeing those photos.
Impressive customer service on a two and a half year old chair.
The new one looks like the picture here, with straight handles, while the old one had an outward bend between hinge and handle that let it collapse more easily and gave a bit less ease to the pusher, but may avoid some scraped knuckles.
We put the hose clamps on right away, though.
Click Here to see more reviews about: NOVA 352 Lightweight Transport Chair with Detachable Desk Arms, Hand Brakes and 12" Rear Wheels, 19"
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