Have infusion, will sample rollator

Ahh and you thought PML was the most daunting thing about Tysabri:  OTT seating on the chemo day ward  

My Tysabri infusions are turning into a surprising hub of info swapping and convivial ms insider info each month.

Month before last, airline travel assistance and aids turned out to be the conversation du jour - I promise it wasn't instigated by me, the discussion was already going on when I arrived. Thrilled, of course, to add my two cents worth (unasked or otherwise!) as one of the others was nervously considering travel o/s in a few months, and wondered if any of us had travelled recently. As it happened, one of the others with decades long ms had just gotten back from an extended sojourn in parts of Europe with her husband and daughters, while yours truly had done the long haul trip to Blighty a couple of months earlier in September. Ahh the zeitgeist hey.

Out of that conversation, it emerged that the aforementioned European jetsetter had recently purchased a Volaris S7 Smart - although, she had wisely desisted taking it with her o/s: romantic European cities? Hallo cobblestones for starters. Instead she had (successfully)  made the most of a combo of borrowed and  hired wheelchairs and her own crutches for the trip - so I was quite keen to catch up with her this time to interrogate her on how she was finding her rollator - and she would have it with her.
 
Plus she was more than happy to let me give it a red hot go, demo on the clinic floor. Alas, my camera snapping angles leave something to be desired and it doesn't look nearly as spiffy in the pic as it did in real life but fingers crossed you'll still get the gist: 

the Volaris S7 rollator -look at those aligned swivelling wheels as compared to the supermarket trolley wedgie grrr below of a Made in China bog standard number...

Here's the lowdown:

Lots of the good
Indeed: a fab turning circle, lightweight, easy grab strap for vertical folding so remains stable and standing even when folded, internal cabling so no inadvertent snagging, easy effective braking.

I only tried it indoors on the clinic's smooth floors but its merits (I was reliably informed) included curb capable action and the bumpy outdoors. (There's a review over at US Amazon gives a good lowdown, too, although she(?) is referring to the S7 rather than the S7 Smart - the difference is in whether the cabling is internal or external, which looks like it may affect the price point too).

My fellow infusee had found being able to trial it for a week or so invaluable as was having the distributors come to her rather than having to go to a showroom.

Made from 're-useable materials' - well, I guess that is good. It sure sounds nice. I wonder what it means: you can put it out in the recycling?? Doubles as garden furniture?... Who knows?

Plus immediate improvement in posture and walking speed. There were two of us who gave it a whiz around the ward and the infusion nurses commented on how much more confidently we each walked straight away compared to our usual modes: me with crutch and  her with no aid :P


The bad
There is a basket or bag available as extra. My fellow infusee had the basket (although not on the rollator that particular day). She was very happy with it, but it does (as is the case with many rollators) need to be taken off before the S7 Smart can be folded. So 'parking' it out of  the way in cafes or such is still less than ideal.

A lot of good design features are available but not included as standard, so they still have to be purchased as add-ons. This extends to, not just storage options but, the back strap (pic'd above) to make sitting safer and more stable is an extra.

Ditto for a travel strap to hold it closed during transporting/ while stored.

The still on the ugly side
Well, the price. I understand that for something well made and durable it is not bad. But $450 as the starting point is still a nasty chunk of the hard earned to have to hand over and that is before including any add-ons (several of which I would find a significant drrawback not to have included) means some pause for thought ie could I just stay at home and be as social with poor posture and an ipad instead for the same money???!  

Who What Where

In Oz, Rollators Australia is the sole distributor. It retails them for $450 (or there are sometimes second hand ones available for around $300). Accessories offerings as well, along with - curiously - a little pitch on the  home page specifically aimed at ms-ers to click through to check out the testimonials from happy campers.


In the UK, Doability have them available for a couple of hundred pounds. (For those in Aus, although they are a touch cheaper than from the Aus distributor, the shipping estimate is over $1000 lolz!)


For those in the US over at All Terrain they are also retailing for just under the $300 mark (US) plus free shipping within the US. It also has some good pics of the (many) additional accessories available.

...And as Dabble mentioned (for rollators generally), it's worth checking out the Amazon monolith for some good prices ... although the shipping may turn into a deal breaker (esp. for those here in Oz).



Ooh, I  have gone on a bit haven't I? Anyone else out there in cyber space sampled any of the Volaris rollator offerings? Good? Bad? Or Ugly?