My new powerchair is a much smoother ride

Me in my new Quickie Xperience

So I received my new powerchair on Thursday but I wanted to test drive it before I write about it. Last week I got a call from Mike D'Angelo of H.M.E. to tell me that John Crawford had left the company. He wanted to know what I knew about the status of my new powerchair. Sometimes this can be a sign that something has gone wrong. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. I told him the chair was approved and the service department told me it was on order. He told me last Friday the chair had arrived and they were waiting for the seating and I should receive it in the next week. And he called me on Wednesday and said one of their service guys would deliver it on Thursday. So I got a call from Moe and he delivered it. I took it outside for a quick spin while he was here to see if there were any immediate adjustments. While navigating a curb, I found the footplates were too low and Moe raised them up about an inch. He also adjusted the backrest as I wanted to sit a little farther back in the seat. And that was about it. I gave them my old chair to donate. And I went out the next morning as usual to give it a real test. The big difference with the Quickie Xperience as opposed to my old chair is the mid wheel suspension makes for a much smoother ride. With the old chair, I would get heavy bumps even from an average sidewalk to the point where my lower back started bothering me and I was having problems transferring. These same bumps are now absorbed by the Quickie Xperience suspension and I don't feel them anymore. That's a big deal. With the different sidewalks and curbs and streetcar tracks, a powerchair user will receive some bone rattling bumps from seemingly innocent looking sidewalks. Not with this chair. The footplates are high enough that they seem to handle all curbs smoothly and I'm sitting low enough to get underneath tables. There must be something about the design because my height has been an issue in the past. I haven't taken it on the bus or subway yet but I don't anticipate any issues. And of course I don't know how it will do in rain or snow. It does need a couple of things. They were supposed to deliver a backpack to hang on the back of the chair and they didn't do that. The hand control has a golf ball instead of a joystick and I prefer a joystick because my hand will cramp from the golf ball. I would like it to turn a little quicker in tight spaces. I know the electronics can be reprogrammed but I don't know if that can be changed. Those are minor things. I will call Mike on Tuesday to discuss that stuff. I chose H.M.E. because of their service department and all the guys there have been great. It all went very smoothly even with the personnel change. So thanks to H.M.E. I hope I won't need to see them too often.