Current chair is a P200, new chair is unknown!

[salamero]

Hi all! I am a C-5/6 quad and I have had all Quickie PCs since my SCI. I’m in the 7.5th year of my second P-200 and I love that chair. The 15 degree bucket is great for my spasm and balance, the 14.5” seat-to-floor height allows me to fit in my van & under tables with ease and it is small so I don’t feel like I’m driving a tank!
On the down side it’s a very harsh ride, it doesn’t tilt, and I’m using it for power soccer…So I need a new chair and I’m dreading the alternatives! I narrowed it down to three chairs: that quickie 646, the Invacare torque, and the permobil C – 350. I had my heart set on the quickie because I think Quickies are the most reliable power chairs (I have never had problems with any of mine), I like how it looks, and it’s almost 200 pounds less than the other two. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to fit into my minivan (dodge caravan) and that demo didn’t even have the tilt mechanism which adds a couple inches more in height. The Invacare fell most like my quickie P – 200 but the version I tried did not have tilt installed either so it had a 5° bucket that you lose with tilt installed. I am currently sitting on a demo permobil c350 and is a very nice an well built chair. The suspension is fantastic and drives nicely. It is a bit harder to maneuver in my van than the torque but I can manage. Again, no bucket on this one either so I am a little uncomfortable.
In either case, I am hoping that they can be adjusted so I can be a comfortable. I am looking for everyone’s take on these two chairs in terms of reliability, drawbacks, and pros or maybe opinions on alternatives. Thanks everyone.

[CowboyCrip]

I feel for you. I went through the same thing last year. Orig chair was Quickie P222. I would buy it again in a heart beat, but told Sunrise is d/c'ing it,. Demoed several other chairs and went with the 646se. So far not bad but not as good as P222. It is longer. hard to reach taps, etc.

[cass]

you sure? i have had p200 and 2 p222, find it hard to believe sunrise stopping production of such a pop chr...will look this up.

[salamero]

P222 is still in production as the P220 but the p200 has been out of production for 6 or 7 years.

[Kulea]

I just received my P222-SE a couple weeks ago. More on tis later.

[salamero]

Are the any c-350 or torque owners out there with opinions on these chairs?

[engineermom2]

I am an engineer who had the exact same problem as you (Loved and still do the p200!). I found the c-350 was huge, the 646 was too wide and too tall, the invacare chairs had too long of a distance between the front caster and rear wheel making the 90 degree indoor turns in hallways and at work impossible. But I needed tilt...

The solution to fit home, van, and me was to get the p222se with tilt BUT not the tilt that would come with the chair because it is old technology that would have added
1 3/4" to the lowest seat height. The tilt is aftermarket Amy system. This keeps the STF to 18.5".

I get a short narrow chair that has tilt, gives me a decent STF that gives me both sight lines out of the van and is narrow enough for my environment-And powerful enough to jump a curb. It has about 4" of ground clearance and is one of the more reliable chairs made.

I needed to have the footrest hangers custom. They are tapered in (like what the P222se with fixed front end/tapered looks like) but they are the swing away style that were also requested to be made flush with the seat pan instead of sticking way up in the air. The cushion height is 3". 9x3's casters on the front, knobby 12x4's on the rear.

Hope this helps!

Engineermom2

[Kulea]

If you search, you will see that I, like engineermom2 went through your exact same circumstance. I had a P200 for 16 years. during that time I got 2 Invacares and hated them. One was the RangerX, which has the same frame as the Torque (slightly different drive package). As EM2 said, it is longer, wider and higher than the P200. The build quality is crap (things started bending and misaligning from day one) and I could never get the programming to feel responsive. I had searched for 6 months for a similar chair to the P200. Nothing is available in the US (and certainly not within Medicare guidelines, which most insurers follow). They are all too big, including the C-350. The P222se is the closest I could find. It maneuvers identically to the P200. It is the same length, and even narrower (2" narrower if you get the 3" wheels) than the P200. The response is good and the build quality (as far as I can tell after 2 weeks) is very good. The only downside is the seat height. The minimum rear seat height is 18", which is more than 2" higher than my P200. It sucks having to try to adapt to this height (with dump, I can't get under many restaurant tables). But, that is still the lowest seat height of any rear drive chair available through insurance. Amysystems has started making a chair that might be lower, but it hasn't met certifications yet and they never responded to any of my inquiries. If you need tilt, getting the Amy Seat that EM2 mentions at only 18.5" high on the P222se is probably the lowest you'll find. So, with tilt, if you get the P222se you'll probably have the shortest, narrowest, lowest, most responsive chair you can find. The only option if you want something lower is to go with a mid-drive chair. But those are not active (soccer) type chairs. Considering all the chairs you mentioned, you will be happiest with the P222se as being the closest you can get to having the P200. You can adjust the bucket, but starting at 18" in the rear, a 15 degree bucket will probably make your front much too high. But, as I said, you will have this problem with any current rear drive production chair in the US.