The pleasure and the pain

Pleasure points

Julie Insley loves to get out and in touch with nature.

What is it about using your powerchair that gives you the most pleasure? Nearly everyone talks about the pleasure of feeling free to go where they want and be as independent as possible, but we’d love to hear your particular sources of pleasure.

Back to nature – all-terrain capability

Lots of people find pleasure in having the chance to get in touch with nature. As an antidote to depression, amongst the most important values our users tell us about derive from their chairs’ all-terrain capabilities. New Zealand resident Julie Insley expressed it this way: “A friend took us for an adventure along an old, unmaintained forest track. It was so nice to get back into the native New Zealand bush.

It had been literally decades since I had smelt the smells of the bush and seeing varieties of trees I have not seen for many a year. It made my heart sing.”

Going out with friends and family – all-terrain capability

Spending quality time with family and friends is another great source of pleasure. For example, Douglas Hutchinson from California told us, “Recently my youngest son and I were able to take a day hike in a local forest. We spent the better part of the day under the redwoods canopy, had lunch, and just enjoyed the time together. I often feel bad when I have to miss time with my kids because of my disability, but days like this one were just about perfect.

The ability to get out and enjoy nature with my son is overwhelming. I can’t describe the feeling of making such good memories with him.”

Speaking face-to-face – chair lift

One of the simplest sources of pleasure users often mention is the ability to be able to elevate their chair to speak face-to-face and at eye level. Like Tim from Michigan who says “Elevate has allowed me to look the people I love in the eye and give them a hug on their level. Seems so simple, but it’s so valuable.”

Many Magic Mobility users enjoy being able to elevate their powerchair to look people in the eye.

Staying comfortable – seating and tilt feature

Chair tilt can make a huge difference to users’ comfort levels.

All-day seating comfort is a huge issue for most of our users and knowing they can remain comfortable is a big factor in the pleasure they derive from using their powerchair. Apart from great suspension and excellent seating, chair tilt and recline make a huge difference to users’ comfort levels – particularly where they are spending extended periods of time in their chair.
According to Ray Jordan, who often spends all day in his Frontier V6 C73 for travel or work, “tilt and elevate functions are not only important, they are essential to ordinary day-to-day life. Tilt allows you to reposition or lay back and rest in order to relieve pain when it is not practical to transfer out of the chair.”

What’s your pleasure?

We’d love to hear about the most pleasurable experiences or abilities that are enabled by your powerchair. You can share via our Facebook page or send an email (ideally with a photo) to tellus@magicmobility.com.au

Pain points

The retractable docking pin – a great enhancement for all-terrain chairs.

The only way Magic Mobility can continue to make better powerchairs is to understand the problems or drawbacks that still cause our users some form of pain – even if it’s only annoyance or inconvenience as opposed to actual, physical pain! Some examples of pain point feedback that have led to significant improvements in our range include:

Vehicle docking pin snagging – Retractable docking pins

As great as it was to be able to drive a vehicle in your all-terrain wheelchair, we heard that it was a real pain when the fixed, under-chassis docking pin got snagged on rocks, roots or other elevated obstructions they might encounter.

That’s why we came up with the retractable docking pin as a way to allow the pain-free possibility of vehicle driving with true off-road mobility. Please note, this feature is not currently available in the US.

Keeping your valuables secure is much easier with our secure locker feature.

Getting ripped off – secure storage

Lots of our users love to get out and get amongst it – to sporting events, music festivals, night clubs or wherever. A big pain for them was having nowhere safe to stash their phone, wallet or other valuable items.

That’s why we came up with secure storage boxes as an option for our go-anywhere users.

Extreme off-road range anxiety – 20% bigger X8 batteries

While most Magic Mobility powerchair users are rightly confident that their standard issue batteries are big enough to keep them going on their adventures and all the way home again, extreme off-roaders were still worried about getting stuck in the middle of nowhere.

More battery power means more adventure and freedom.

That’s why we engineered an option for an Extreme X8 battery that features up to 20% more battery range, even though it meant designing and testing a specially-modified chassis big enough to house them.

What’s your pain?

If you tell us more about what gives you pain, then we promise to do what we can to positively address it. Sometimes our users tell us it would be great if we could make our chairs float or fly, but unfortunately not all things are possible! For example, we aren’t yet able to safely or reliably adapt lithium battery technology or offer a generic trailer hook solution, but if there is a solution, we’ll get onto it and let you know.

You can share via our Facebook page or send an email (ideally with a photo) to tellus@magicmobility.com.au