# For all wheelchair users: Would you use this?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-all-wheelchair-users-would-you-use-this/195148>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [August 14, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-all-wheelchair-users-would-you-use-this/195148 "2003-08-14T15:20:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-all-wheelchair-users-would-you-use-this/195148/1 "2003-08-14T15:20:45Z")

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I came across this [news story](http://www.msnbc.com/news/285231.asp) about a “revolutionary wheelchair.” It looks plain scary to me! But I thought I would ask those in the Doper community who use wheelchairs their opinion.

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**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-all-wheelchair-users-would-you-use-this/195148/2 "2003-08-14T15:26:03Z")

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I don’t use a chair all the time, though I have sometimes, and this looks DAMN cool…

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-all-wheelchair-users-would-you-use-this/195148/3 "2003-08-14T15:30:39Z")

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Dean Kamen is a effin genius. That chair has been around for a while, actually, and is in the final stages of FDA approval. They will cost a pretty penny, though.

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**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-all-wheelchair-users-would-you-use-this/195148/4 "2003-08-14T15:53:22Z")

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It has been approved by the FDA, and at the bottom of the article, it says it should retail for about $20,000! :eek:

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**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-all-wheelchair-users-would-you-use-this/195148/5 "2003-08-14T20:20:59Z")

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I’ve seen videos of it before, and it’s everything awesome people say it is.

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**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-all-wheelchair-users-would-you-use-this/195148/6 "2003-08-14T20:59:03Z")

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$20,000???

Wow. That’s eight thousand more than my CAR cost me.

It had BETTER be as cool as it looks!

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**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-all-wheelchair-users-would-you-use-this/195148/7 "2003-08-14T21:20:28Z")

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I don’t imagine that a normal powered wheelchair is that cheap either.

Wonder how much of it is covered by insurance?