I am transitioning from a regular manual chair to some type of power assist. Saw the Next Mobility Tailwind chair last weekend at the Abilities Expo. Also considering a new Quickie manual chair with the Emotion wheels. Anyone familiar with both? The Tailwind has an integrated braking system so when you are going downhill you don't even have to hold on to the wheels...nice feature! But the Emotion wheels are cool since I could easily swap them for a regular set of wheels if I needed to be lightweight at times.
The Tailwind seems a little more rugged? The Emotion gives you options and probably works as well-that's a guess. I'd tend toward the Emotion for flexibility.
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"...only the shadow knows"
Thanks. I think you are right. I will be able to use regular wheels if necessary. Not to mention, the Tailwind folks won't return my calls and emails...not a good sign so soon in the game!
I've used both. I spent 5 years using the iGlide which is the older version of the Tailwind. I've now been using the new lithium-ion emotion wheels on a TiLite TR for 6 months. Here is my take. The power assist technology on the Tailwind is much, much better in terms of simplicity and feel. Plus it's really nice that it slows you down as you go downhill. But it also doesn't ever allow you to coast even on flat surfaces. The battery technology on the new emotion wheels is light years ahead of the tailwind. I can go all day long on one charge with the e-motion even if I play tennis or go on a 5 mile push. With the tailwind, you'll need to always have a backup battery with you. The new e-motion wheels are great and have several different programmable settings which can handle almost any need. My only 2 complaints would be that I find the wheels are too hypersensitive and while they have great power, they don't have much torque to get you over bumps and curbs. Overall, I switched to e-motion for the longer battery life and because I could put them on a TiLite wheelchair. If the tailwind changes to lithium-ion batteries, I'd consider switching back.
I am transitioning from a regular manual chair to some type of power assist. Saw the Next Mobility Tailwind chair last weekend at the Abilities Expo. Also considering a new Quickie manual chair with the Emotion wheels. Anyone familiar with both? The Tailwind has an integrated braking system so when you are going downhill you don't even have to hold on to the wheels...nice feature! But the Emotion wheels are cool since I could easily swap them for a regular set of wheels if I needed to be lightweight at times.
I would go with the Tailwind, it seems to be better overall quality. EMotion wheels in my experience break down very quickly and become very costly to fix.
